Is Mozilla Firefox safe to use? I got Trojan Horses!

Tiggywood

Help! I recently switched to Firefox from Internet explorer - on advice from the weekly email and I've just scanned my computer and I had 4 Trojan horses - are Trojan horses bad?
I think AVG got rid of them - but it said that two were inaccessible, so I searched on here and somebody said try Malware so I just did that as well, but to be honest I didn't really have a clue what I was doing.

I've uninstalled Firefox as I thought that it may have caused the Trojan horses, as I read on the BBC website a couple of weeks ago that the Germans had banned it for security problems (?) and I don't tend to go on any dodgy websites (as far as I know!)
Firefox was quicker than Internet Explorer (which is so slooooowww) and I did prefer it and people also say that it has security problems - so what should I use? A friend of mine said Safari - does anyone have any opinions?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

closed

It's not your browser at fault, it's what you do, and where you go, and how good your antivirus is. All browsers are susceptible to exploits, which is why they are constantly updated. The German FOIS recommended avoiding IE due to an exploit in January too, they don't ban use of browsers.

Try avast instead of AVG, make sure windows updates is turned on, and let malwarebytes deal with what it found

bat999

Hi
I don't think that Firefox is responsible for those Trojan Horses.
It can't download and install them by itself.

It's your decision though which browser you use.

Tiggywood

Thanks
OK, well that makes me feel better, although why did I hear that the Germans has security problems with it?
If it's definitely not Firefox then I will reinstall it as it seemed better.
Do you know anything about Safari? I really don't mind what I use as long as it's safe - but if it's me that's making it unsafe I have no clue what I am doing wrong...I'm not very high-tec (...and I don't even know how to spell it properley!)
Thanks for your replies

closed

You need a better virus scanner (same rule applies, non are perfect), you can get a virus from any website (if it's infected).

Tiggywood

OMG it's ME then and not Firefox! I probably need to be more efficient with my scanning and updating.
Is it bad to get a Trojan horse? Do you know what a Trojan horse is?

debitcardmayhem

Tiggywood wrote: »

Thanks
OK, well that makes me feel better, although why did I hear that the Germans has security problems with it?
If it's definitely not Firefox then I will reinstall it as it seemed better.
Do you know anything about Safari? I really don't mind what I use as long as it's safe - but if it's me that's making it unsafe I have no clue what I am doing wrong...I'm not very high-tec (...and I don't even know how to spell it properley!)
Thanks for your replies

Firefox is fine usually, but I would suggest you add NoScript as an add on, it is a bit daunting at first since it will not allow scripts to run, you have to allow them first, but it does make you think whether you want allow scripts to run from sites which you have not specifically asked to visit. A lot of sites have links (whether genuine or not) try to run when you visit the host site. I would echo the other posters views change your Anti-Virus to iether avast or Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira. Also make sure you allow Windows update to patch your system automatically.

It might help if you use Malwarebytes say weekly too (don't forget to update that beforehand too).

closed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_%28computing%29

debitcardmayhem

Tiggywood wrote: »

OMG it's ME then and not Firefox! I probably need to be more efficient with my scanning and updating.
Is it bad to get a Trojan horse? Do you know what a Trojan horse is?

Don't beat yourself up about this, it is a learning experience, the most important thing is to think before opening links either in your browser or ones in emails and / or instant messaging / facebook etc

Tiggywood

Thanks. I have no idea what you mean by NoScript, but I think I will try Avast, would I need to uninstall AVG first? What does Malwarebytes do differently (in a nutshell for a non-technie!) I have that as I downloaded it when I panicked when I saw the Trojan horses.

closed

download avast, uninstall avg, install avast, register avast by right clicking on icon.

malwarebytes is just another scanner, that can pick up things your resident scanner has missed, it's not a replacement for a resident virus scanner, it's a second opinion, as suggested update it and do a manual scan occasionally, and let avast do most of the work.

nocscript is a plug-in for firefox, that stops scripts running, more trouble than it's worth for the average user imo, because it breaks almost every site on the net, until you allow all the scripts.