Internet Explorer Major Flaw

[Ismenia]

I read this and was a bit concerned. I am not tech savy at all, so I wanted to get your input. Do any of you use the browsers mentioned.. Foxfire, Chrome, Opera, etc?

Major flaw revealed in Internet Explorer

The major press outlets are abuzz this morning with news of a major new security flaw that affects all versions of Internet Explorer from IE5 to the latest beta of IE8. The attack has serious and far-reaching ramifications -- and they're not just theoretical attacks. In fact, the flaw is already in wide use as a tool to steal online game passwords, with some 10,000 websites infected with the code needed to take advantage of the hole in IE.

[Talsek]

My primary browser is Firefox. As a rule, I use IE only when Firefox cannot properly display a page.

I do feel safer using Firefox than IE (particularly with add-ons such as NoScript, Adblock Plus and either the Netcraft Toolbar or WOT enabled). I don't harbor any delusions of invulnerability, but putting in a little effort to protect yourself certainly helps.

[Rosuav]

A major security flaw in Internet Explorer? I'm shocked - that's what I ham, shocked!

Levity aside, here's a few hard facts:

* IE is, at present, the bulk of the browser marketshare. It's an easy target.

* Microsoft's policy is to add features first, and security second. This is evidenced by the overwhelming number of other security holes that have already been found, and in MOST (but not all) cases, patched. Every major new version of Windows, IE, Outlook, etc, etc, etc comes with a new suite of exploits. That's why it's a REALLY bad idea to put an unpatched Windows system on the internet.

* No browser is 100% perfect. Mozilla/Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome (which uses Safari's Webkit engine), etc, all have their security issues. (That's why, for instance, the Firefox 1.x line kept getting updates for some time after the 2.x line came out.) Microsoft is slow, compared to the rest of the industry, at rolling out their fixes

* Microsoft is a monopoly and afraid to lose that position.

This quote amuses me: 'Microsoft has stubbornly said it "cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw."' Yeah, of course they will. They would rather face the EU in court over monopoly charges than lose marketshare.

Switch to Firefox. Or better still, install multiple browsers. Play with them all. I use Firefox primarily, and Chrome and Opera as secondaries; both of them have their place, and I use all three every day. I haven't tried Safari, but I assume it's going to feel like a Mac program (the way, for instance, Adobe CS does), so it's getting the miss for now.

By the way: Internet Explorer just lost the game. Do you hate it now?