July 02, 2004

Homeland security recommends IE alternatives. Ripped pretty much whole cloth from /. The department of homeland security has decided (way too late, IMO) that using IE is a security hazard and has started recommending the use of other browsers. Microsoft, in its typical, "don't-do-anything-about-your-misdeeds-until-someone-is-suing-you" fashion has announced they'll be releasing a much more secure version by the end of the summer. I know blog's corporate overlords are forcing him to do it, but how many of you monkeys are still using IE voluntarily?
posted by surlyboi 20 years ago
  • voluntarily? Oh hell no. However there are some . . umm . .less-enlightened folks at work that design things that can only be viewed with The Exploder.
  • I switched to firefox after my home computer got some worm or other. Yeah, yeah, closing the barn door, bla bla bla. ;o) I'm about to put my office on firefox as well. The Exploder Ha!
  • I'm a mac user. What is everyone's opinion of Safari in terms of security?
  • I'm a Luddite who willingly uses IE. Having tried almost every other option, I happily get back in the horse and buggy and see sights other modes of transport deny.
  • Ugh. Firefox all the way. It took me less than a day to fully switch from IE to Firefox, and I've never looked back.
  • I use IE since that's what my ISP's browser is built on. Also, because I figure I'd get myself into trouble if I tried to join the hip kids. (Visions of formatC: running through my head.)
  • I have to use IE at work. Otherwise, it's all about Firefox 0.8.
  • path: It's really no harder than downloading a program. You don't need to delete IE: just run Firefox or whatever instead. I run Firefox, but I've never quite managed to work out how to make Shockwave run on it, so occasionally I run back with my tail between my legs.
  • Safari is fairly secure as long as you keep it up to date with all the latest patches. There was a period there a couple of months ago where there were a couple of potential exploits. But all the holes have been patched since.
  • Firefox brings great joy to my household. Opera's the shiz too, if you don't mind paying for the no-ad version. Firefox is much faster that IE, and more customizable.
  • I do love my Firefox, but I've run across web pages that crash it outright (in Linux, anyway), and it really doesn't like Flash (but I think that's a Flash issue--all of my browsers seem to have problems with it). So I have to get my Homestarrunner fix in Opera. That's still better than installing a virus that turns my computer into a kiddie-porn spam zombie.
  • Firefox! Firefox! Firefox! *points at Microsoft* Ha-HA! The beauty of Firefox (along with a bunch of nifty tricks, natch) is that if there's a problem, there are many, many people available to fix them. Response time is fabulous.
  • I WAS using exploder voluntarily, just out of habit. I had been thinking about trying something else for awhile, especially after all the effing popups and effing dataminers and effing "you're going to download this crap software/virus whether you want or not" garbage were getting through the blockers I set up. Read the first paragraph of this post and downloaded Firefox right away. Thanks for convincing me to switch.
  • I just wish it was Firef8x...
  • To: Blaise, dirigleman, and all other Monkeys From: Guy who loves me some FireFox Re: Shockwave, Flash, and Java in FireFox; the Final Frontier -------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been able to get FireFox to work with Flash, Shockwave, and Java, although I've noticed that .8 does a better job at handling the protcols than .9 does. May be time for me to roll back a version. Anywho, some genius created this information: http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/faqs/firefox-windows.html Sorry for the no direct linky, but I'm not feeling very HTML-y today. Nyah. Anyway, depending on how you are "install" FireFox, you may need to download a registry key. Versions of FireFox prior to .8 (when it was still called Phoenix) did not have a Windows installer, and would not generate the reg key necessary for Flash and Shockwave installation. The plugins would not see the browser, and so would not install. Merging the reg key would solve that, and I've been happy ever since. Email me if you guys would like some more information. I've updated my profile with my gmail account
  • Plus it comes with cash. And whiskey. And hookers. And hookers with cash who smell like whiskey. And it handles pdfs.
  • I use Firefox for about 90% of my browsing and Avant Browser (Exploder shell) for the few things that I can't get to work on Firefox (some streaming, etc.)
  • Thanks for convincing me to switch. You're quite welcome =)
  • count me with shinything. why do I use IE? I'm lazy. However, hangin' with you lot has so far improved my net savy by quantum leaps, so I'm willing to roust myself to Firefox, and between your collective stamp of approval AND the U.S. government, how can I go wrong? OH! That *ding* means it's ready, let's go see if it works...
  • Official word from on high was that we were not allowed to download any software onto work computers, so I used IE until about a month ago. Then I got so much adware, etc. that in a fit of rebellion I installed Mozilla (the whole thing, I didn't know the difference at the time), along with Adaware and Spybot S&D. There's still something on here that Adaware can't remove and it opens windows in IE even though I'm not using it (grrrrrr...) but it's better than it was. Plus I'm afraid to ask for help from the IT guy because I will reveal my little act of mutiny.
  • I have one of the firefox plugins where I can highlight a word and right-click for a Dictionary search. Way handy when you're in paw-to-paw monkey combat with the likes of wendell and languagehat.
  • must. resist. taunting. IT. again.
  • FF extensions are tasty. Though the adblock extension ain't working well for me. Could be I'm just too dumb.
  • must. resist. taunting. IT. again. Do it! DO IT!!!! They're mostly tools anyway...
  • I tried Firefox and it seemed to render about 50% so that they required horizontal scrolling(this may have something to do with the fact that I make all pages render in my colors, my fonts, and my font sizes), which was very annoying. If they fixed that and made it easier to choose colors(what kind of program doesnt have a color choosing dialog?) I might actually consider using it.
  • I use Firefox now. I've had too much malware get through even when clamping down on security and ActiveX controls in IE, so I gave it the boot and deleted the IE shortcut so that I won't be tempted to sin again.
  • Switching made easy.

    Setup

    Flash

    Shockwave (just say no to the Y! toolbar that will try to install with it)

    Java (do this last one from Firebird)

    I have been using Firefox since it was Phoenix .3 and have no reservations about recommending newbies switch.
  • correction:do Java from Firefox
  • I've been using Firefox since May, when I switched from Mozilla, and generally like it. I also have problems similar to dirigibleman's with Flash, which have only gotten worse with the latest version of the Flash plugin for Linux. I am fully prepared to blame Macromedia for this. firef8xmulder, here is the extension for you.
  • Since I pimp firefox and mozilla every chance I get, you all know I'm pointing and saying, "ha, ha!" to those who haven't changed yet. As far as those who are not allowed to install programs on your work computers, you can download a .zip version, unzip it and run it from there (technically you haven't INSTALLED anything, just unzipped) or go one step further, burn the unzipped folder to a cd and run it off of the cd. I might take a little bit to start up, but it should work. I run firefox off of my university online storage space whem I'm at a campus computer lab (I also run winamp the same way. I am NOT going to run realplayer or windows media player to listen to a shoutcast stream).
  • I recently switched to Firefox and to say the least, it has improved my quality of surfing remarkably. No more freakin' pop-ups!
  • Can I claim ignorance? I don't know why but it never really clicked that changing browsers might help might websurfing experience, but this thread has shown me the light. I've been using Firefox for an hour now and I really like it. Thanks.
  • I switched to Firefox and lost seven pounds in the first week!
  • Mozilla and his/her progeny have been faves since Netscape died, but I'm surprised the government doesn't recommend something unexploitable, like Lynx or Mosaic. I used to keep five or six browsers handy, just to see which rendered best, and was always ready to try out a new one. Of course, Safari seduced me away from my browser-slut past.
  • Seem to collect browsers, and I suppose I'll end up with Firefox as well as Mozilla, thanks to these comments.
  • I have to use IE at work and I detest it. At home I've paid for and been using Opera for years. The only web sites that Opera has a problem with are microsoft.com and aol.com. I think I can live with that.
  • What, specifically, are the advantages of Firefox or any other browser over IE? I've used IE for years now, and since adding the google toolbar I have no more popup issues. I can view any webpage, and never have any problems with multimedia or flash. So, apart from "being like the cool kids" or "I hate Microsoft", can someone tell me how my life will be better if I switch?
  • Rocket88:
    Tabbed browsing; extensions that let you right click a highlighted term to: search google, dictionary.com, imdb, use mouse gestures and click a non hyperlinked url and follow it (among many many many other extensions); easier customization of buttons and bars; better security. Instead of listing all the reasons, I will let this page do it.

    And just for reference I have never had any problems with Flash or multimedia. In fact one extension gives you even more control over flash.
  • In my experience, FF also seems to render pages and handle downloads faster than IE. I did a little test with the badger flash animation, and on my system FF loaded it up much faster.
  • The security hole was fixed in the 0.9.2 release, which is available from mozilla.org. Or, if you want to continue to use your existing version of FireFox, just download and install the following extension. You can also manually edit the attributes of the string via about:config, but the extension will work just fine.
  • Funnily enough, the security hole is still ultimately a 'doze thang.