Firefox is slowly taking away from IE

[alexander]

according to these 2 articles:

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162475

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161584

Firefox is the fastest growing browser in the world. In march, the total downloads of firefox has reached an astounding 25million, ofcourse that does not mean that firefox is used by 25million people, but the browser popularity is growing, according to the first article firefox has seen 2.6 million downloads in the month of march. Although IE is still used by the majority of people, their market sharehas been falling in the recent past, and for the first time in years, IE's market share has dropped below 90% and is now at 87.7%. Firefox market share has now grown up to 8.47%.

Now for the question, what in the world are people that dont use Firefox are thinking? Yes IE should be used, but only for 1 banking and 2 downloading windows updates, and not more than that. People complain about spyware, popups and some viruses that attack them when they go online, well why dont you switch to Firefox and eliminate the need for numerous spyware tools, popup blockers, numerous search toolbars.

[UncleAl]

Mozilla if you like Netscape 4.78, otherwise Firefox. Preferably Firefox. There is no excuse for using IE unless you want to have your lungs ripped out by any and every hacker older than 14 years with better than an Apple computer. If you have DSL or Cable, you need a good firewall (ZoneAlarm-Pro) properly configured. If not, you will be online maybe 5 minutes before your box is hijacked. (A hardware router is also a good barrier.)

 

Microsoft is the perfect /dev/null/ expert on computer security - never had anything adequate, never will - in all of its overpriced buggy bloatware. Wintel can burn in Hell. Go AMD/Linux (and say hello to 64-bit computing right now). "My Computer" is sabotaged by Microsoft to limit what you can see. Get ZTREE to manage your hard drive,

 

http://www.ztree.com/

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/zt.zip

is a nice ZTREE config file for screen colors

[Tormod]

According to our forum stats IE now has about 75%, the rest is mostly Firefox. Last year the figures were 90% IE and, 5% Netscape/Mozilla, and <5% Firefox.

[alexander]

To secure your windows box where it will be close to being as secure as linux:

 

Ok, first of all setup Gentoo with propperly configured iptables and permission tables, as well as well-patched, propperly setup user permissions, rootkit sniffers and cron to rebuild core system utils once a week (and do updates at the same time).

 

use UML patchset and setup UMLs

 

create a UML of SElinux with all the SE patches, a well locked down kernel, make sure that it keeps the system in one file, again filtering, but any changes you make in your UML is saved in a separate file. (called cow loop or loop cow whatever, its a modified loop back device driver)

 

ok, you will need to setup VMware in the UML

 

create a virtual machine of windows in UML

 

install Aguntum pro firewall in the vm, also freeware vesrion of spy-blocker and some kind of anti-virus software.

 

ok, you work with windows in a UML(chrooted) running VMware in the cow loop mode, so all the changes are saved in a separate file, so when you have a problem, shut down the vm and restart the pristine image, and if you have problems, not only will you be able to trace anything that came in in your logs, you will also be able to parse the changes file, and the changes file in the uml if anything breaks out of vm and screws with the UML...

 

That is the safe(for people paranoid with security) way of running windows that comes to mind (only if you have to run it), this does however generate a termendous overhead, but if you have to just use windows, not for performance, your high end P4 with HT will be able to do the job decently well...

[C1ay]

To secure your windows box where it will be close to being as secure as linux:

Wouldn't it be easier to just disconnect all wiring from the windoze box, including the power cord, and then locking it in a safe. That is what I generally recommend. :xx:

[Biochemist]

....Yes IE should be used, but only for 1 banking and 2 downloading windows updates, and not more than that...

Good point alexander, but the banking usage is (I think) only for those who use Microsoft money. I use Quicken, and I don't think it needs IE.

 

Gee, Bill could actually be in trouble. Sure would hate to see that.

[C1ay]

Good point alexander, but the banking usage is (I think) only for those who use Microsoft money. I use Quicken, and I don't think it needs IE.

 

Gee, Bill could actually be in trouble. Sure would hate to see that.

He's referring to online banking. Many banks have hardwired interfaces using ActiveX controls that only work with IE. It's kind of ironic actually that the banks have used such a proven insecure technology in order to provide security. Somewhere in all of that is the makings for a good trick question :xx:

[alexander]

Wouldn't it be easier to just disconnect all wiring from the windoze box, including the power cord, and then locking it in a safe. That is what I generally recommend.

lol, nah, what is recommanded is fully dissassembling the box, burning every milimeter of it with an accetiline torch, put the rest in a 30 thousand degree oven for an hour, pitting the reamains in a conatiner strapped to a nuke burried in the middle of a desert with morion sensors going 200 yards in every direction :xx:

[Biochemist]

He's referring to online banking. Many banks have hardwired interfaces using ActiveX controls that only work with IE. It's kind of ironic actually that the banks have used such a proven insecure technology in order to provide security. Somewhere in all of that is the makings for a good trick question :xx:

Thanks for filling me in. Maybe if Firefox included a copy of Quicken in the browser, folks would quit the online bank connection.

 

Hmmm. Interesting merger. Mozintuit.

[C1ay]

Maybe if Firefox included a copy of Quicken in the browser, folks would quit the online bank connection.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. Many banks do not let you make online bill payments with Quicken or Money, you are forced to use the bank's online interface. As long as those interfaces use ActiveX, IE will be needed :xx:

[Queso]

oy,

that's a hopefully-temporary-bummer.

[nemo]

While you're waiting for your bank to drop it's M$ addiction, you can deal with your financial issues just as effectively with GnuCash. Apparently online banking is supported in Germany already, but US banks are not being as cooperative as the developers would like. The software has a number of impressive features, and it will import your Quicken data natively.

[Tormod]

For the record, I use Firefox for two banks here in Norway. One uses a password login/SSL cert installation, the other a calculator/crypto thingie. None of them require IE - they even work fine on my Mac. :xx:

[C1ay]

but US banks are not being as cooperative as the developers would like.

That's because they bought the M$ signed code story hook, line and sinker. With every day that goes by I can't believe there hasn't been a class action lawsuit against M$ for such shoddy workmanship.

[alexander]

anyone tried aqmoney package for linux to do any kind of online banking?

[C1ay]

anyone tried aqmoney package for linux to do any kind of online banking?

We would probably need a German member to anserw that question since Aqmoney is popular in Germany. It would surprise me if any american banks support it any time in the near future since they are sold on M$. I can synchronize with my own bank using Quicken or Money but I am strictly limited to the bank's interface for making online payments :) I suspect I will be left to endure that for sometime to come. At least my bank is using a Unix box, Solaris/Netscape, for their online services instead of some IIS, ActiveX, vbscript software designed to give my money to anyone that wants it.

[alexander]

password login/SSL cert installation

actually a better way of doing that is via public key private key encryption, in that case there is no password ever passed from your comuter to their system, but i guess its a bit troublesome as well as very much not user friedly to set up, so RSA and SSL tunneling i guess would be reasonable.

It would surprise me if any american banks support it any time in the near future since they are sold on M$.

actually many ATMs have been switched to unix, because people were able to easily get into the windows ones and initiate false transactions (well, aside from also seing peoples credit card numbers, passwords, and even possibly images from the camera), but yup, most american business is sold to M$, why do you think they make so much money, a lot of the general public never bies their OS, it is the businesses that make a lot, if not more than half of the M$es income...

At least my bank is using a Unix box, Solaris/Netscape, for their online services instead of some IIS, ActiveX, vbscript software designed to give my money to anyone that wants it.

lol, nice quote, its true too :)