Anonymous Patron writes “dailypennsylvanian.com – Internet Explorer use poses security risk problems have grown so bad that officials at Penn State University recently recommended that all 80,000 students and staff switch to a different browser.
But IE remains the browser of choice for many on campus.
“I feel pretty secure using Internet Explorer, so I still use it,” Wharton freshman Krishna Kantheti said.”
Okay
Internet Explorer has over 15 known security holes allowing someone to install software on your computer without your approval. This is with ALL the most recent patches installed.
The fact that a Wharton Freshman “feels secure” should not even be noted, “feeling secure” is the sense you have prior to being attacked. All responsible net users should be on Firefox, it offers three benefits in terms of security. The first benefit is that not being integrated with the Operating System it is much less vulnerable to attack, the second is its(The Mozilla Community) overall ability to respond to problems in the way Microsoft can not match, and third the very fact that IE will be targeted more and more since it users indicate a clear lack of knowledge about system security.
There’s always Safari
I am perfectly happy with my Mac at home, and feel no need to download any other browser.
At work, we use Netscape, (though I am keen to try Firefox), but the kids will use IE if I allow the shortcut on the desktop. Occasionally, someone will look through the programs for it, but having only one browser available works best for us.
Re:There’s always Safari
As a Mac user you avoid a lot of the hassles connected to PC use for one of the same reasons that Firefox is better than IE…you are under the radar of spammers, and script kiddies by not being the most used software. The downside to Firefox is that when it has a dominant market share it will become the new target, just as you would start finding new security holes in Macs if they held the majority market share ( and with OSX they are rife with susceptibilities ). But for PC’s and for the time being, Firefox is the choice.
On the other hand, I think FF is better than most Mac Browser choices also, purely from a functionality standpoint 🙂