Web Browsers: The Road To Hell

Web browsers, whether it's Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera or Safari, are the main way (aka vector) for spyware and viruses to attack your computer. It's done via scripting. And the bad guys know this. As websites developed to deliver multimedia, so has the coding of more sophisticticated programming languages.

Scripting in languages like ActiveX and Javascript, even Flash, give sites like MySpace and YouTube their pizazz. But they also enable more vulnerabilities in browsers. Vulnerabilites that are easily leveraged by bad guys using social engineering. Gambling and adult sites are rife with this. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself.

FireFox with NoScript

Firefox has quickly become the most popular alternative to Internet Explorer. And for good reason. It's easy to install and uninstall (try uninstalling IE!). Firefox is highly configurable and has some good plug-ins. One of the best plug-ins is NoScript, a small applet that lets you control any scripting via Firefox. And finally, it comes without ActiveX scripting by default.

Firefox deserves a good look from Windows users for several reasons. One, Firefox is safer by default than Internet Explorer by virtue of more frequent updates and ActiveX's absence (there is a plug-in though). Two, it lets you work with additional 3rd party plug-ins IE lacks, while retaining all the default settings in IE, for which so much of the web is designed around (the best of both worlds). And three, Firefox is widely supported and with it installed, you have the option of using both browsers (or more).

Internet Explorer, the Standard Bearer

Internet Explorer (aka IE) is Microsoft's webbrowser, built into Windows. It's easily the most widely-used browser today. Currently three different versions are offered: IE6, IE7, and now IE8. Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is a throwback to Windows 98 and 2000, and which carried over to Windows XP. IE7 is the latest stable version as of May 2008, and is compatible with XP and Vista.

Internet Explorer has always posed unique risks. First, IE utilizes the most leveraged scripting language on the web, ActiveX. Second, Internet Explorer's tightly programmed into Windows and not in any way modular. You generally cannot run Windows without it, unless you use some 3rd-party tools. Internet Explorer has always posed unique risks as a result.

Microsoft's bringing Internet Explorer up to speed by incorporated some important new features such as tabbed browsing (common to other browsers) and anti-phishing. And in March 2008, Microsoft released IE8 Beta (a test version) with new features. It will certainly run on Vista and perhaps XP.

Common Sense

Finally, stay away from "sin" sites, like porn and gambling. Warez sites (for illegal downloading) too. These sites are rife with spyware and malware just looking for a vulnerable computer to infect. Stay current with your updates. Firefox and Opera automatically update quite frequently.

Having a second browser is always a good idea for troubleshooting (IE can be problematic). And since ActiveX, a standard Internet Explorer plug-in, is so widely used on the internet by perfectly legitimate websites (like banks!), why not surf with one of the alternatives like Firefox or Opera and leave IE on its standard settings?