Firefox... good browser?

I've never used Opera, but i always hear good things about it.

I use Firefox myself with about a dozen extensions installed.

The only problem I have had with firefox is,
1) it doesn't display Outlook Web Access pages properly, and
2) it screws up the tooltips (the little box that comes up if you hover your mouse over something)...it puts the whole sentence on one long line that runs off the screen.

Other than that, no probs here

 

One of the better measures of security is to compare vulnerability lists - Internet Explorer 6.x (19 unpatched vulns), Firefox 1.x (3 unpatched vulns) and Opera 8.x (0 unpatched vulns at time of posting).

 

Very interesting comparisons which definitely help me with the fact I have recently installed Opera. I think this will help me to make my mind up and install Opera on my main computer next.

I may still give FF a try but each day I use Opera I am really enjoying it a lot more than I did after the initial install. I am also finding more and more features I didn't know where there
I haven't used the mail part but for browsing I really am a lot happier now

 

You just might find the same thing with FF plus it has Thunderbird for email...also good.

 

Well if you can be sure you will never install software bundled with adware, then you dont need it. But how can you be sure?

 

Well, sorry for the cocky statement.
But I speak from my experience from the last two years with firefox.
Before Firefox I used IE or IE based browsers. I had these antispyware programs that scans ones computer. They often found stuff they were supposed to find. Since I switched to FF they are useless - they dont find anything in my system. I might add that I do browse on the dark side of internet too. Either antispyware programs dont do their job very well or I dont have the same problems as I had when I used IE.

Of course one cant be sure, now that FF gains popularity, that someone does not writes bad stuff for FF, but until that happens I have no reason to worry. And the fixes for eventual security related issues is relatively easy to fix in Firefox. Usually it takes a couple of hours or so until one can find atleast a temporary solution for holes in FF, without having to change browser or turn off important and useful parts of windows.

Maybe IE has evolved within the past two years, but that is not anything that one sees in the forums with an endless que of people with problems that post their damn hijackthis logs wanting help to interpret them.
Now it´s been a while since I bothered with HJT-logs but when I did, almoust all the problems they had was IE related.

I know also that it is a bit hard to convince average joe to use FF, since many of them are so custom to IE, they find it hard to grasp the concept of extensions and the way FF is working. Maybe FF is for geeks like me, but the thread starter asked for opinions what he/she can use to enhance his/her security, and my opinion is that with FF (or Opera) one will enhance security (and get rid of all of annoyances like BHO, hijacked startpages and so on), and one of the main reasons for that is that they do not have tentacles buried deep into windows operating system. (yeah, I know using non-windows enhance security even more)
So I gave him/her a glimpse of my experience with FF vs IE. If someone, who uses FF, and has had security problems because of it, they are welcome to challenge my (and many others) views. In fact, I am dying to hear about such real life experience. I dont mind being wrong. My experience is not the final truth.

*edit* I forgot to mention that I use security programs that alert me when something happens behind my back, ie actions that I have not initiated. So I have some sence of what FF and IE is doing behind the screen so to speak. And these programs tells me that with Firefox you get what you see.

 

I was not trying to attack you or anything.

My point is there are other ways to get infected.

Eg. No matter how secure your browser is, if you decide to install say kazza, or cracks infected with itsbar the game is over. And some of these adware will work by causing popups even with firefox,opera etc, Host redirects works with whatever browser etc

Of course, if you exercise discipline over what you choose to use, chances are you won't need any Antispyware. But most probably you wont need AVs either.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but I'm just warning that security is multi-faceted, it's not just about the browser you use.

For someone who tends to get infected because he plays with warez, the brand of browser he uses isn't going to make a difference.

And Yes, I use firefox and before that mozilla.

 

Np mate. Sorry if my english (not my native language) gives the impression that I look like under attack (not intended, just explaining)

Absolutely.
I know there are other ways to get infected, and I do have dicipline. I was cautious before firefox too, but my point was that all the hassle that came in spite of me being cautious disappeared when switching to FF.

But to be fair: I know there are people that are happy with their IE and are not bothered by spyware, BHO and so on. One can tweak IE (or/and use progs like proxomitron, HostsMan) to be secure and not getting all the annoyances. But I would say that FF works better "out of the box". And "out of the box" is how average joe have their browser configured.

 

You can take a look at these websites:
Browser speed comparisons
Browsers compared - A comparison between all popular browsers.

 

Firefox is an absolutely terrible browser. It has caused me nothing but problems. It is ultra slow running and fails to respond to anything i ask of it. It seems to have many many holes and problems far more than the golden IE. IE is by far the absolutely best browser in the known world. I couldn't live without it. All hail to Bill Gates. Firefox is a disgrace. I get spyware every day while using firefox. Firefox should be banned from all computers on the internet. I just can't stand firefox. Everyone's always saying firefox this firefox that....but do they know how terrible a browser it really is? I think not. Please disregard the previous comments. Anyone who uses firefox should be awarded by supporting such a great browser. I mean do they really understand that firefox is fantastic? If they only could see that when they use firefox they are actually helping themselves to not get spyware anymore? Maybe someday they'll wake up and see that the only way to go is the fox baby. I just love firefox and think it is the greatest browser in the world. I would never tough that buggy IE after tkaing a ride with the fox! Firefox is the way to go, oh baby don't you know. You may search high and low, but FF's the best browser for your dough. Opera is good too.

 

doubletalk,
Thanks for your post. It was a real thriller

 

First of all, spyware does NOT get installed just by 'drive by download'. And second, the fact that Firefox is unquestionably more secure than that piece of crap IE does NOT automatically mean that it's just impossible to find security flaws in it; especially since they have been found already; luckily they were not found by malware distributors.

Personally, I think a browser should be far more protected than what Firefox gives in its default install. FAR more protected. But that's OK, Firefox, right now, is the best browser around and altough spyware WOULD exist if everybody used Firefox, its distribution would be more limited.

 

Opera is my browser of choice but when I have to use IE, I have discovered that the MSN Toolbar adds some nice tabbing capabilities. The tab features of MSN are primitive compared to the tabbing of Opera and FF but compared to non-tabbed IE, it is great. Also, using MacroExpress, I have added some of the tabbing features of the better tabbed browsers to the MSN toolbar -- but still an Opera man overall.

Acadia

 

Sure it does. Weak security settings and/or exploits in IE will do it easily.

True.

How?

 

Please read my sentence again. Spyware DOES get installed by 'drive by download', but that's definitely not the only way it gets installed, is it?

 

Actually, Firefox gets it right. It's IE that, like many other things, gets it wrong. The 'alt' tag is not a "visual enhancement" for people who want to see the text when passing the mouse pointer, it's an alternate text for people who have text browsers, or for blind people who use a text reader. The 'title' tag is the one that should display the 'tooltip' (and it does, both in IE and Firefox). So, instead of alt="this text" use title="this text". And by the way, ALWAYS use the 'alt' tag, too; head to w3c.org for the HTML standards, they ARE important.