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Security Protection - Harry Waldron (CS)

Security Best Practices, Breaking News, & Updates

Mozilla releases Firefox 1.0

  I've been using Opera and Firefox as additional browsers with IE 6 to test newly developed webpages plus they can complement Internet Explorer to offer users improved safety for some current unpatched security exploits. 

Microsoft has substantially improved security in XP SP2's version of Internet Explorer.  If you have older Windows 98 or 2000 PCs, both Firefox and Opera can co-exist as additional browsing tools.    

I would recommend that if anyone wants to install Firefox as an additional browser, that they leave Internet Explorer installed on their PC for the following reasons:

1. Some sites will only work with Internet Explorer

 2. Uninstalling Internet Explorer will impact the Windows Update and Office Update facilities

3. Some Antivirus and 3rd party updates rely on Internet Explorer's engine for updating.

4. Internet Explorer is still an excellent browser for trusted sites and it handles file extentions and associations better.  

Mozilla releases Firefox 1.0
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5443931.html

After 19 months of development, two name changes and more than 8 million downloads of its preview release, the Firefox browser is finally turning 1.0. Firefox, a browser based on the Mozilla Foundation's open-source development work, was made available for free download at 1 a.m. PST Tuesday.

Posted: Nov 10 2004, 07:40 AM by Harry Waldron | with 1 comment(s)

Comments

Harry Waldron said:

I just installed FireFox 1.0 on my computer in an attempt to protect myself from the ones that exploit the holes that exist in MSIE and because my version, MSIE 5.5, has been crashing and locking up my machine to the point where it is almost useless. I cannot upgrade because I am running Windows 98SE and I understand that I would have to upgrade my Windows OS to use a newer version of MSIE. I have not had one crash or system freeze with FireFox.

I am also running McAfee VirusScan as my AV program. Today I happened to surf over to a site that I know has a link to webpdp.gator.com. The address for this and other sites are in my Mcafee list of banned URLs and IPs, but I didn't get the warning from Mcafee. When I went to this address with MSIE the warning came up as expected. I then went to eicar.com with FireFox to test my AV protection. Much to my surprise I was able to download all the test files without any warnings at all. It looks like I am surfing the net without any AV protection at all. I have sent inquires to Mcafee and looked through the McAfee Support Forums for a solution but no luck. The only issue with FireFox and McAfee seems to be the automatic update of the DAT files and the lack of Active X.

I would like to urge all FireFox users to test their browser to make sure that their AV programs are working. In the meantime I'll will be attempting to get some answers from McAfee and Mozilla about this problem. I would appreciate any suggestions or help with this matter.

Donald
# December 17, 2004 7:13 PM