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In researching the latest IE security disaster, I am across this article. Date: just over a year ago. Subject: Major flaw revealed in Internet Explorer; users urged to switch. Microsoft response: "cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw". Well exactly how many flaws does it take? How serious do those flaws need to be?
Now fast forward to today. The headline is the same. Again. The only thing that has changed is Microsoft's response - instead of "it's only one flaw", they say "it's only in one very old version of IE" - which is a sly way of implying that it is the users own fault. Never mind that independent experts have said that it exists in IE 7 and IE 8.
How many times do we have to do this? How many zero-day bugs does it take? Here is the solution to these problems: links where you can download a different browser. Try one. Heck, try them all, it's quick and easy to download and install any or all of them. If you have been a "loyal" Microsoft / Internet Explorer user until now, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at how nice, easy, fast and secure every one of these are. Best of all, these are only the most obvious options, just a tiny bit of looking around will reveal several more which are probably just as good.
Firefox - probably the best known and most widely used alternative. Available for Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Opera - My personal favorite. You have to see Speed Dial to realize how nice it is. Available for Widnows, MacOS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and a variety of mobile devices and operating systems.
Chrome - Google's alternative. I don't care for it because of privacy concerns, but that's just me, a LOT of people think this is the greatest thing since indoor toilets. Available for Windows, and in Beta release for MacOS and Linux.
Safari - Apple's browser for MacOS, also available for Windows. Beats me why it isn't available for Linux, but there are lots of people working on remedying this one way or another.
So, that's the four major alternatives. As I said, there are others - if you have a favorite that isn't listed, add a comment with a link, and maybe a short description. This is a golden opportunity to show a lot of users that there are vastly superior alternatives available to Microsoft's stupid, buggy, massively security-challenged browser.
Of course, it won't be the last opportunity. There will be another... and another... and another... ad nauseum.
jw 19/1/2010
Talkback
The other option is to stop using Windows. No other operating system suffers from so many security flaws, and no other operating system ever will. Microsoft made major design errors in both Internet Explorer and Windows, errors which the average user is paying for.
With IE integrated so tightly into windows other browsers may display differently, or may not display some items at all. Mad Hatter has the best solution. I gave up on MS in 2001, and made the switch to Linux at age 61. Windows is okay for games, with the ethernet cable unplugged, but I don't trust it for surfing or doing online banking,or shopping. The speed difference between Linux and windows is extreme, not to mention the security, and the pure pleasure of being able to customize, change, or even make your own version. To run windows you first must register. To register Linux, you must be running it. Big difference.
Well said! I have been following the trends of Firefox vs. IE and Firefox is slowly chipping away at IE's declining market share. I think more and more people are realizing that not only is IE bloated as in Windows, but it is not as secure and have therefore moved to Firefox. It says a lot when you have Windows occupying around 90% of the market, yet Firefox is approaching 30% of the browser market. This means there are a large chunk of Windows users (assume 20%) that have decided to scrap the built-in browser (IE), and get something better like Firefox. Also, you still run into the issue of corporate users that are stuck using IE because of intranets and Microsoft proprietary sites and are victims of vendor lock-in. Personally, I agree 1000% with the other posts that state using Linux over Windows. I couldn't agree more. I use Fedora Linux on everything, and I couldn't be happier, knowing that I'm secure. Our own Department of Defense in the US recommends the use of Linux as a secure operating system, so they have obviously seen the benefits as well.