Still use IE?

None of that in my IE.
I like IE, it's a good enough browser for what I need it to do.

You might say...

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Original post by CodeMunkie You might say...

That wasn't intentional :D

delete your other thread.

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Original post by capn_midnight delete your other thread.

I did already. you posted that late :)

after IE and ad-aware combined failed to stop some adware getting through i've jumpped ship to Firefox and I have to say I'm quite happy with it [smile]

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Original post by _the_phantom_ after IE and ad-aware combined failed to stop some adware getting through [...]

Must be user error, because I've been using IE for a long while now and I haven't gotten any kind of spyware or adware beyond simple tracking cookies (which don't bother me at all). I regularly run ad-aware and spybot S&D and all they ever find is tracking cookies...

I'm actually a Firefox to IE switcher. Firefox had too many annoying keyboard focus problems, and the HTML editor was atrocious (it's used by a blog site I use). So yeah, I switched back to IE + SP2 recently, and although I miss tabbed browsing and adblock, it's not enough to bring me back to Firefox for now. I also used Firefox for months, so it wasn't like I was annoyed after a few minutes and went back.

I watched a user click a link with IE. It proceeded to install all sorts of spyware without any user intervention. By the time it was done, the desktop was filled with useless icons for dating sites, gambling, etc., and the user could no longer browse due to the multitude of popups coming every second.

It was horrible. Good thing the computer restores an image on reboot

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Original post by Extrarius Quote: Original post by _the_phantom_ after IE and ad-aware combined failed to stop some adware getting through [...] Must be user error, because I've been using IE for a long while now and I haven't gotten any kind of spyware or adware beyond simple tracking cookies (which don't bother me at all). I regularly run ad-aware and spybot S&D and all they ever find is tracking cookies...

Lucky you...
I remember sites that used some IE exploit to force it to install any software they wanted. Assholes... [flaming]

With google toolbar and by changing the settings in ie you can make it a good browser. The only reason I dont like it is is because it doesnt have tabbed browsing.

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Original post by Ainokea With google toolbar and by changing the settings in ie you can make it a good browser. The only reason I dont like it is is because it doesnt have tabbed browsing.

I don't have any toolbars. I just set up several links on the "Links" bar that use &#106avascript to prompt for search terms (which opens a new window with google), words to lookup(which open a new window with dictionary.com), etc. It works remarkably well =-)<br/>I did have to change a few settings though, like turning on 'prompt before downloading arbitrary code(aka activex)' and such.<br/>As a further countermeasure, I changed my browser's useragent field, but I'm going to have to change it back because windows update won't let you override it's OS/browser detection (so I get an 'Inavlid OS' or 'Invalid Browser' message despite the fact that I'm actually using IE on WinXP).

IE is fine as long as you make sure it's updated against all known exploits. I didn't protect mine against a common DSO exploit which basically allowed webpages to execute programs on my computer without permission. Looked that one up damn fast!

But other than one or two little spybots that got on (since been mutilated and massacred and slain) I'm fine. Never gotten any adware, or menu bar thingies.

But if I ever have to browse questionable sites, I do use Firefox, everything disabled, because frankly, it's not "user-friendly" (ergo is "computer-safe")

Let the buyer beware...

I find it funny how some people refuse to even try out Firefox. I swear, once I tried it and found out about extensions, I was hooked.

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Original post by Extrarius Quote: Original post by _the_phantom_ after IE and ad-aware combined failed to stop some adware getting through [...] Must be user error, because I've been using IE for a long while now and I haven't gotten any kind of spyware or adware beyond simple tracking cookies (which don't bother me at all). I regularly run ad-aware and spybot S&D and all they ever find is tracking cookies...

well, tbh if it was I'd be impressed, I know where it came from and I clicked 'disallow' to ever reg change and program run that popped up, still didnt stop me finding 2 rogue programs on my system, both of which ad-aware and spybot failed to stop or detect, so gg there (and i checked for an ad-aware update before scanning).

now i've switched to firefox it also means I've killed two processes from running as well, which is nice [smile]

I've had viruses installed through Firefox before.

So all you IE bashers be damned. Firefox isn't perfect.

If you want tabbed browsing on IE them you can use a frontend called Avant. I have been using it for about 6 months and am pretty happy with it. Has popup blocker and some other niffty feaures. It is at least worth a look.

I got nailed by some crapware once while I was using Firefox too. I wanted to check out the lyrics to a song, so I googled and clicked the first link. Once the page started to load, I switched to another tab where I had been typing something -- probably a post here -- and continued typing where I had left off. A few seconds later, as I'm typing, this window pops up, and I just happened to hit space, "y" or enter right at that second. The window of course was a "Do you want to install this crappy software?" so it naturally went ahead and installed. Dammit.

Now I've got Software Install entirely disabled in Firefox. If I even want to install an extension, I have to go in and turn it on first.

I would think that the it's only a matter of time before the alternative browsers are targeted. I mean, why create spyware for a browser that is used by 1% of users when you can just focus on IE and capture a large audience? Is there something about FireFox that makes it immune to spyware or is it just that no one uses it, so as a crook, why waste your time? Sort of like how for a long time people said "Mah Linoox box never gets teh virriz!" Now that Linux is more popular, there are more and more exploits and viruses targeting it.