Safest and most functional browser

Opera is probably the safest.It has lots of features too.

K-Meleon is an excellent browser in it's own right.
I'd take K-Meleon over Firefox.
It's probably similar in safety to Firefox because of the gecko engine connection.
It's still safer than IE6.

 

Not true. There are scenarios where malformed html could lead to exploits.

 

Can,t say about safety.
But Opera seems most functional without add-ons.
FF has a lot of extensions on the other side.
Ultimate safety of browser is by sandboxing only.

 

Opera is the best in all ways.

 

Hello,
Could you show me an example?
Mrk

 

Who knows? I'm sure they exist though.

 

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15124/exploit
http://www.gatago.com/comp/security/misc/18327362.html... don't think that since these lead only to denial of service that makes any browser safe from other, more dangerous "malformed html"-related attacks. It sure is harder to create this kind of attacks, but I don't see any reason why it should be thought as "impossible" or even "very unlikely", especially now that fuzzer tools are used by white and black hats.

 

Hello,
First, neither of the examples relates to FF, but good examples nevertheless. Thanks. Second, when talking about safest browser, we should take into account reason - possible and probable versus sci-fi proofs of concept. Joanna proved the blue pill and red pill - and ... - do you see bios and such rootkits flying around?
Malformed html will at best mess up with the viewer that shows it - browser. But from there to taking control over the system by text is rather farfetched. I think a person is more likely to lose a pc to power outage than something like the above. Major venues of attack come from direct execution of code and scripts run through the browser - which if you deny (convenientlly), you end up with static stuff mainly. Like asking what if a mountain topples over.
Cheers,
Mrk

 

I think Herbalist hits the nail on the head here!

the browser is your choise, but no browser is safe. I like Firefox for its configurability, but beware the addon you dont know and trust!

If you have addons, then the java, java script, and active x, can be disabled. They can also be disabled through a fire wall like ZApro, and might be more effectively limited this way. If you go to a site you trust, you can always enable them easily.Avira guard is handy as well.

Its either that or just do as i do, use sandboxie, and an SSM combo! ....no conflicts, and if the sandboxie gets breached, (unlikely), then SSM rules will stop any unconfigured processes running automatically.

I think Herbalist will bare me out on this, but im always willing to stand corrected by my betters!

 

Rubbish. I have been using Windows and OpenBSD for ages and I've never, ever seen the former fix security holes faster than the latter.

 

From my signature you can see what's running resident on my machine, but ever since I've used Opera as my main browser (about a year now) I never get any prompts from my AV or HIPS. You might say I can never be sure if I'm infected, but I don't even run anymore on demand scans as they never find anything.

I'm not a routine high risk surfer, but I've visited web sites that were obviously dangerous, and again Opera seemed to to be inpenetrable.

The latest builds seem to be functional anywhere on the web, and IMO, if this browser remains relatively unobtrusive, one could safely say it will be a very reliable choice for many years to come.

 

"Opera was the only browser tracked by Symantec that saw the number of vulnerabilities decline, but not by much. Opera bugs dropped from nine to seven during the period."

What can I say? Good news!

 

Thx for the support guys.

I am still trying to comprehend how I got infected as I always access the Internet under Limited.

Now, I realised that I was probably carrying the virus under limited but once I accessed Admin then the infection triggered up after the following reboot.

I doesn't make sense to me as these are the only websites I have visited for the last month (last time I reinstalled Win was because I missed the last Microsoft update by two days. My fault as I turned off by mistake Automatic updates):

1. Gmail
2. Hushmail
3. DSLReports
4. Wilders Security Forums
5. Martial Arts Planet forums
6. Summitpost
7. OpenWares.org to take screenshots for a thread at DSLReports security forum. I didn't click on any link or downloaded anything.
8. Ahh! I forgot I also visited Foxie's official website, getfoxie.com. Maybe this was the "place."
9. Amazon
10. Lavasoft
11. Ewido
12. A-squared
13. Spybot's site
14. Firefox
15. Opera
16. IMDB
17. TweakHound

And I reckon that's it as I stopped general surfing a while ago.

I haven't downloaded anything (P2P, sharing files), haven't used IM for the last 2 months, etc.

And I swear that's it because I am very conservative.

I have the feeling FF has let me down (mainly because I was using up to 30 extensions. Bad thing IMO). Security is my main concern now and after using Opera for this last two days I feel it is more solid. I am more relaxed now, even though my security set up prior the last infection was quite tight already.


Note: I couldn't get that virus's name as my PC was locked down. I was lucky enough to reboot and reinstall Win.

BTW, Highly disappointed with Avast. Aargh! It's the third time this AV has failed to stop a "pure viral infection" (not trojan or anything like that). Just a damn simple virus!!! Guess is time to give KAV or NOD32 an opportunity.

Had enough of Avast. Don't really care if I have to invest $100 bucks a year for proper maintenance. What do you reckon, guys? Is the investment really worth it?


Cheers.

 

Which virus, exactly? Did you submit a sample to virus@avast.com?


Thanks
Vlk

 

I just found something strange on Opera.
You need to set master password.
You can try on this forum:

1) Use Wand
2) Cancel Prompt
3) Use Wand
4) Enter Master Password
5) Log Out
6) Use Wand

And no more prompts until you exit n restart the browser. If you are using master password and sharing the comp with others. Be sure to exit it after you are done.

 

One of the most effective ways to secure any browser is to filter the content reaching it. While tools like NoScript do help, there are more powerful filters, Proxomitron being one of the best. Unfortunately for the casual user, it has the same problem as rule based firewalls and classin HIPS. It's only as good as it's configuration. It's almost unlimited in its configurability, but to work it to its full potential, the user needs to understand web content. Unlike classic HIPS and rule based firewalls, there are filter sets available for Proxomitron that are pretty good. Like some of the other good single purpose programs, proxomitron is free, as are the filter sets. Both are available at http://www.jd5000.net/ At least one security forum has several forum sections devoted to just Proxomitron filters. Getting into how Proxomitron works is an education in itself, one I'm still learning.
Regarding vulnerabilities in browsers, the more popular a browser gets, the more it's going to be targeted. It wasn't that long ago that many thought Mozilla and Firefox (Firebird back then) were bulletproof, and were proven wrong. One feature in Firefox and Mozilla that has been targeted before is the XPI install, the method used to install most of the plug-ins. This was fixed once, but is a tempting and useful item to exploit, so expect it to be exploited sometime again. I'm not familiar with Opera, so I can't say if it uses XPI install. While I can't confirm this on an XP box, on a 98 box, HIPS software does not intercept the XPI install process as it occurrs in an already running process, the browser, without the need to hook or call any other process. I can't say if this is true of all XPI installs, but SSM didn't react to several browser plug-ins being installed on Mozilla. It would benefit others if someone running SSM or PG on an XP box could check if they detect the XPI install process for browser plug-ins and other software. If this works the same on XP, I strongly recommend Firefox and Mozilla users disable XPI install. This can be done by typing about:config in the address bar, then scroll down until you find "xpinstall.enabled". Change the value to "false". This will disable XPI install. If you want to install a new plug-in or update an existing one, you'll need to change this back to true.
This does work on Mozilla and worked on the older versions of firefox. I'm pretty sure this hasn't changed on the newer versions. I haven't tried FF in a while so I'm not certain that it's in the same place or listed the same way.
Either way, if HIPS isn't able to intercept or control XPI install, it's a big tempting target that isn't defended by anything except browser configuration. Potentially it could be as dangerous as exploits in any of the other browser features, including ActiveX.
Rick

 

Firefox is pretty cool - extensible, relatively fast, and safe enough but as it gets adopted more it will be exploited more. K-Meleon is lighter but it's a rather basic browser with few plugins.

Opera is fast, light and safe but seems to have more problems with sites then firefox.

 

Hi, go to tools> preferences >advanced> security and click on drop down column Ask for password, u can set it to ask for password as u like, even on each login.

 

Forgot to mention that my setting for 'Ask for password' is 'Every time needed'.
Seems I'm the only one. Thanks anyway.

 

On mine if I set like this, it asks password each time. It,s weired on ur system. Pls post on their forums.

 

Well, if you use Noscript with Adblock Plus, Refcontrol and Cookie Button (plus Cookie Culler) you'll get a combination that is actually comparable with Proxomitron while much easier to handle. And you'll have no problems with SSL sites - have a look at this thread!

Difficult, as only whitelisted sites are allowed to install any plugins/extensions.

A bad comparison as ActiveX is an inherently insecure technology.

 

Old Sysadmin Recovery quote: "All software sucks, but some suck more than others". Same can be applied to software and security

I moved on from Opera 5/6 to the first Mozilla's because Opera didn't render IE optimized sites very well and I didn't want to pay for a browser. Just tried Opera 9 and it looks good. Took some time to have the tabs behave like FF, but now I'm going to use Opera as my default browser and see how it works.

 

I love that statement. I have to remember that one.

 

Safest browser according to me (and secunia) is Opera and the most functional today is Firefox. This is "old" news, but what is interesting is that since Opera now have the capability to allow plugins (xpi I pressume...), then it´s a matter of time until its security rate will fall to the level of FF. I´m using them both and I think they are both great but it´s important to know your software, and how to configure it right. Therefore I have nothing against IE, but you have to know how to disable some functions that can be a security issue to your system.

Regards, C.