question regarding javascript

hi,
i don't know what this javascript is,but is it alright if i disable it? i noticed that yahoo mail still works without javascript enabled,and the interface is much cleaner without it.
i know that some sites may be inaccessible without javascript,but from the security point of view,is it safer with or without javascript?
what would you recommend?can i leave it disabled?
thank you.

 

Hello,
What browser are you using?
Mrk

 

Disable it if at all possible. If you must have it turned on, have someone else access the site first so that they will be the sacrificial guinea pig.

But really, I would avoid running scripts unless there was no other choice. The website also has be to one of those "must use" websites and not an unfamiliar site.

 

firefox

 

Hello,
Then you can try the Noscript extension. Allows you disable javascript and many other plugins, and then you can allow these on per-site basis. Very convenient, safe and fast.
Mrk

 

thank you Mrkvonic & ccsito

 

One of the other things about NoScript, is that when clicked on you get a view of just what sites would be running scripts on the page without it. The number is sometimes quite staggering.

 

NoScript is the very reason for my going back to Firefox from Opera (Opera too can be tweaked to disable javascript, but not so conveniently as in NoScript).

The problem of bad scripts still persists though, even with NoScript because if you want a particular site to work you have to allow certain scripts and therefore you might get unwittingly infected (without even noticing anything for a while).

A solution is not to allow any scripts if you know the site is potentially dangerous. Even better is to run in a sandbox/snapshot system, once you're done, good or bad the session is deleted usually with a simple reboot.