Improve Your Web Browser For Free!

MSE_Martin

Browsers are the software used to view the Net. 90% of people use Microsoft's Internet Explorer, yet Mozilla's Firefox is commonly regarded as beating it hands down & a free 'British' English version is available.

It's worth a look (you don't have to get rid of your old browser) as amongst other things it allows free live updates to sites such as MoneySavingExpert!).

Download/Read more about Firefox (the download is top right)

Read about RSS live bookmarks for MoneySavingExpert.com

scotty

And you can make Firefox better by tweaking the settings using the instructions I came across on another site:

" Heres a little trick to speed up firefox.

To start, get Mozilla Full or Mozilla Firefox. Now, in the Address bar type

about:config (hit enter)

You will see a whole load of options (reminds me of Regedit) Change the following values as stated:

network.http.max-connections = 64

network.http.max-connections-per-server= 20

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server= 10

network.http.pipelining = true network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = 100 or 200 (choose one)

nglayout.initialpaint.delay = 0

network.http.request.max-start-delay = 0

If nglayout.initialpaint.delay doesnt exist, Right click, new integer.

Close mozilla and start it again. Now Mozilla Burns sites like wild. "

Fran

The following links are well worth reading if you are thinking of changing browser or if you want to know more about Mozilla.

Firefox v IE

Tool to check your favourite browser/bookmarks

Firefox - Critical security vulnerabilities

Firefox seems slower than IE to me

A different browser - Avant

Firefox/Opera vs IE

Speed up Firefox (broadband only)

New ie view for Firefox - Visit webpages that Firefox can't reach

Help Mozilla search

Opera 8 internet browser - seems v fast and free download now available try it out

sra

scotty wrote:

And you can make Firefox better by tweaking the settings using the instructions I came across on another site....

Tweak Network Settings does a similar thing - and you can switch settings back to default at the touch of a button

Jay1b

Firefox has serious unresolved security issues. Microsoft ones are generally fixed within 24 hours of becoming found.

*This is what i do for a living, so any Microsoft Haters out there, please dont argue. :P

Fran

Jay1b wrote:

Firefox has serious unresolved security issues. Microsoft ones are generally fixed within 24 hours of becoming found.

*This is what i do for a living, so any Microsoft Haters out there, please dont argue. :P

Can you be more specific?

Rex_Mundi

Firefox has serious unresolved security issues. Microsoft ones are generally fixed within 24 hours of becoming found.

WOW. I'm amazed that there are still people out there that think this way. The above advice is not only wrong. It is dangerous advice.

There are still security problems with IE that have not been patched despite MS knowing about them for over 12 months.

According to vulnerability monitoring service Secunia, 19 out of an estimated 80 security advisories for IE 6.x currently remain "unpatched" compared to four from a total of 15 Firefox 1.x advisories. Secunia says warnings for IE range into the category "highly critical" while outstanding Firefox alerts are "less critical".

The US and UK governements now advise people NOT to use IE to surf the web. A lot of top security companies also give out this advice. The way that IE works leaves it open to far more serious security flaws than Firefox (ActiveX still seems to be the biggest security hole)

Before I used Firefox as my default browser (I used IE). Every time I scanned for spyware I would find anywhere between 2 and 10 bits of it on my system several times a week. Since switching fully, I have not found any spyware on my system for nearly 3 months. This is a direct result of using Firefox.

I don't know how anyone can honestly say that IE is more secure than Firefox. It's good to constantly question whether products we use are kept up to date, but it would be nice to see some evidence to back up these claims that IE is more secure than Firefox. To make claims without any evidence to back them up could cause people to worry unneccesarily.

Rex_Mundi

I just had a quick check round for unpatched issues in browsers. This is what I came up with.

Opera has the cleanest security record, according to Secunia, with zero unpatched Secunia advisories.

IE rated by Secunia as highly critical, averaging over 20 Secunia advisories remaining unpatched at a given time.

Firefox rated by Secunia as moderately critical, averaging 5 Secunia advisories remaining unpatched at a given time.
Taken from THIS page.

The following two pie charts show the amount of patched and unpatched issues in IE and Firefox.




The following two pie charts give an idea how serious the flaws are that were found in IE and Firefox.




Jay states that IE patches are fixed within 24 hours. I would like to know how, seeing as MS only releases its patches once a month (first Tuesday of each month)

wolfman

I agree, it's actually the other way round. With open source applications such as Firefox bugs are found and fixed much more quickly.

On another note though, over recent months, Firefox has had far more security flaws found than IE, mainly due to it's rise in popularity. However, they are usually of much less severity.

I personally use both. I have to being a developer, especially as I often do contract work for Microsoft. In all honesty though I don't find IE insecure, especially if you have it setup correctly. You should never really be relying on the security of your browser. A decent hardware firewall, and real-time spyware detector are essential.

For the average joe though, probably best to stick with Firefox although if you're setup correctly IE shouldn't cause you any problems.

sra

It's interesting to view how the new Netscape view things. Version 8 Uses both IE and Firefox technology.

Haven't tried it yet myself

But as I understand it, it only shows trusted sites in IE - anything that it doesn't trust it shows using firefox's system because of Firfoxs better security

Rex_Mundi

The latest release of Netscape (8) seems to be a new idea of marketing a product. When installed, Netscape disables some features in IE.

When I first read this, I've got to say I was rolling up laughing. What a tactic! Install a product, then it disables its competitor. ROFLMAO!

More info HERE