Internet explorer - a safe alternative ?

milla

Fine now .

ukbill69

Been using google chrome for over a year now and wont use anything else, its so fast.

mmw

I agree - I have been using Google Chrome for 10 months and absolutely no problems

kwikbreaks

espresso wrote: »

It's not negg here it's kwikbreaks here

:rolleyes:

Ooops - sorry about that folks - I of course didn't see it at all as my password was already stored by the browser

theloft

Thanks for all the advice - looks like a choice between Firefox & Chrome. But if Chrome is a Google Prouduct and they were attacked easily by hackers - it makes me wonder - how secure is Chrome ?

heavy_t

Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu are at MUCH lower risk from viruses etc. than Windows, but this option is not for everyone. As they are free though, it's got to go down as a moneysaving tip.

Firefox with the Noscript plug-in (as someone already mentioned) is a good bet for a browser. Lots of people prefer it to IE anyway.

theloft

heavy_t wrote: »

Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu are at MUCH lower risk from viruses etc. than Windows, but this option is not for everyone. As they are free though, it's got to go down as a moneysaving tip.Firefox with the Noscript plug-in (as someone already mentioned) is a good bet for a browser. Lots of people prefer it to IE anyway.

For a non-techie, can you explain what a 'Noscript plug in' consists of and does it come with the download ?

Jemma-T

theloft wrote:

Internet explorer - a safe alternative?

There's a safer and that would normally be Firefox.

The most used internet browser is always going to be dodgy as it's more attractive to people who want to damage your PC or steal your data. It's always been the same and it's nothing new. If you like IE go get 6 which is still used by many security departments of governments.

www.firefox.com

Jemma-T

theloft wrote: »

For a non-techie, can you explain what a 'Noscript plug in' consists of and does it come with the download ?

Read up on it first then make a white list (your most visited sites) and add them.

NoScript essentially 'breaks' Internet browsing which many of us like and then we add back what we like. It's not and never 100% safe but it is good.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722

Scho

Just thought I'd clear up, IE is not UN-SAFE.
A combination of Windows XP or Windows 2000 with IE6 or 7 have not got the correct fixes in it to prevent the issues faced by Google and others being victim to a flaw. It isn't really new either, as it's called a 0-Day flaw, or something that was wrong from the release day it's just that these attacks are simply more common as of late.
Windows 8 running on Windows XP, Vista or 7 machines are safe to this problem. Windows Vista and IE7 are also safe.

The best thing to do is to get a decent anti-virus package installed (Symantec, Kapersky, Checkpoint etc) and then upgrade IE if you use it to version 8. Alternatively, use a different browser as above - there are lots out there with Firefox, Chrome, Safari and a whole bunch of others being quite popular as stated above. I personally use Firefox with Ad-Block Plus and NoScript add-ons but the choice is yours.

If you google the Guardian website for "google china ie6 zeroday vulnerability" you'll get a page with a nice looking chart to show you which versions of IE with what OS are at risk. (Can't post as a new member).
Don't read the story as it's a load of bumf as usual for the Guardian(see the comments!) but the bit at the top does help you identify the combinations that are open to this flaw.

I'd also recommend having a look at online news site TheRegister.co.uk - a tech news site that has competently covered this in detail IMHO.