Browser security question

I use Avant and Firefox.

Avant is like Maxthon or any of the other programs that ad pop up blocking, tabs and other features that Internet Explorer should have. What I do not know is if this browser is any more secure than IE.

Do you know if I am still in danger of the fallings that IE is plagued with ?

If so, how do I secure it or (more likely) IE that it runs on? Any good hardening IE tutorials around ?

I have a D-Link firewall router and I use the XP SP2 firewall. I am researching whether to install a 3 rd party firewall or just use CHX-I or something like it for outbound.

Thanks,
B

 

no, avant and maxthon share teh same vulnerabilities as IE. im sure u can disable stuff like flash, java, javascript, and activex tho. for hardening i recommend secure-it, ie-spyad, and enough is enough. also use drop my rights to run IE or avant as a limited user.

 

It would probably be better to use Firefox since I think most of the IE wrappers suffer from the same underlying problems as IE since they're based on IE.

If you have a router, then it is pointless to run either the XP firewall or CHX-I since all they do is filter inbound traffic. You would just be filtering inbound nothingness, since your router will screen everything out first, before it even reaches your PC. Just stick with the router, and if you want outbound protection, then you could install another app based firewall like ZA or Outpost or Kerio etc. There are many choices, many free also.

 

thanks for your help. I guess that I will probably stop using Avant. I will miss it though. Being able to highlight the word that you are looking for in a web page by searching the page for it is so helpful for me. Maybe the google final toolbar for firefox will eventually come out. It has that highlight feature for the IE browser. I also like that if I get tired and cannot finish readin all of the tabs that I open, I can shut down avant, have it remember every open page and I can tackle them again when I get more time. I do not think that firefox has that option.

By the way, isn't CHX-I an outbound control program rather than a firewall. I thought that it with inbound protection is a good setup according to most paranoid and cautious folks.

 

Firefox should have extensions for most of what you need there. I use the session saver extension, which remembers which tabs you have open at shutdown, and then restores them when you start up again. Very handy.

Regarding CHX-I, nope, there is absolutely no outbound app control in the traditional sense, like ZA and the others for example.

You can write rules in CHX-I to control outbound traffic by port, address and so on, but not any app specific rules are possible.

Some people run CHX-I for inbound, and then ZA with internet filtering turned off just for app control outbound. Jammer also works as an app filter and LnS can be configured to do the same.

However, if you're using a router, CHX-I would be totally unnecessary and redundant. The router catches everything rendering CHX-I useless for the most part.