Stop Using Internet Explorer
June 11th, 2009 by ComputerBob
I wonder how many hundreds of warnings it will take before a majority of Windows users finally realize that they need to stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser and switch to either Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome or Opera.
The warning du jour comes from the Windows Secrets newsletter, which tells us the following: “Going by such names as Gumblar, JSRedir-R, Martuz, and Beladin, a new generation of malware has managed to surreptitiously place malicious JavaScript code on tens of thousands of popular Web sites… The hacker scripts try to infect site visitors and then attempt to use their compromised PCs to spread the infection to yet other sites.”
Can you guess which browser is especially susceptible to the new generation of malware? I’ll give you a hint — its initials are I.E.
Regular readers of this Journal know that I’ve been using Linux full-time instead of Windows for almost 3 years — but even when I was a full-time Windows user, I was smart enough to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. And in Linux, I use the unbranded version of Firefox called “Iceweasel.”
For added security, since Firefox allows users to quickly and easily install addons that modify and/or enhance its features, I also use the Firefox NoScript addon, to block all JavaScripts, Java and Flash content on the web sites that I visit, except for those that I specifically give permission to run.
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Consumer Info, Cybercrime, Google, Internet, Linux, Microsoft, Security, Software, Tech Support, Windows