Firefox - releases fix 7 critical security issue

Bob Lawrence · Post by **Bob Lawrence** » 15 Sep 2004 9:03 am

Firefox Preview Release, Thunderbird 0.8, and Mozilla 1.7.3 are available for download at www.mozilla.org

These releases fix 7 critical security issues, detailed on the "Known Vulnerabilities in Mozilla" page: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html

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Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 15 Sep 2004 3:33 pm

I thought these browsers were recommended over Internet Explorer because they have no security issues?

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 15 Sep 2004 6:56 pm

All computer programs are written by people, and people make mistakes, especially when writing complex software. The security advantage of using Open Source Software (such as Mozilla, Firefox, Linux...) is that anyone who wants to can inspect the programing instructions and try to determine if there are security holes in the instructions. Your average pedal steel player probably isn't going to do this, but there are lots of computer programmers out there that do. Additionally Microsoft has been known to take weeks or even months to release updated software when security holes are found, where as Open Source Software projects often have secure versions available within a day of a security hole being found.

No one should be claiming Firefox is perfect -- just better at somethings.

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 16 Sep 2004 5:41 am

Every program ever written has security issues. The difference is that because Mozilla et. al. are not tied directly to the operating system, attacks on them cannot cause the same system-level damage.

Which is not to say that security problems with Mozilla-based browsers are trivial. But they are much easier to contain and control.

Example: although I haven't read the details, I'll bet you that every one of the folks complaining about browser hijacking at the other forum site was using IE.

Bob Lawrence · Post by **Bob Lawrence** » 21 Sep 2004 4:47 pm

Jeff,

I agree. The difference is that Mozilla has many!! less problems. Also, they are not as much a target as Microsoft.

Jim Hinton · Post by **Jim Hinton** » 1 Oct 2004 7:00 am

Okay, I'm convinced ... after reading about the guy that tried to trick b0b into opening a virus, and the steel guitar site that Nick Reed got "attacked by", I want to change my browser.

When you download the program and install it, does it automatically import your "favorites settings" from Internet Explorer?

I've heard nothing but praise for this browser, and would love to not have to worry about getting crap on my computer.

Does Mozilla come with an "installation wizard" to make things as "easy as possible"?

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Hinton on 01 October 2004 at 08:02 AM.]</p></FONT>

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 1 Oct 2004 7:06 am

Jim, it only takes a couple minutes, very intuitive, and it does import your favorites. You can leave IE on your computer, if you don't like Mozilla, just get rid of it and go back to IE. JimP

Jim Hinton · Post by **Jim Hinton** » 1 Oct 2004 7:43 am

Great! Thanks for the feedback Jim!

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 1 Oct 2004 12:03 pm

I put off changing over for a long time just because I didn't want to deal with trying to figure out the details like importing bookmarks and I didn't want crippling surprises. As stated above, it turns out to be simple and intuitive. Nothing came up that left me wondering what to do. No trauma, no drama.
There are a few little differences from IE that took some getting used to and there may be a couple of things that I think IE does better. But in the name of security, I have absolutely no regrets. I can't even find any spyware on my system with Ad-aware since going over to Firefox. I want my Ad-aware money back! Oh yeah, it was free....

Jim Hinton · Post by **Jim Hinton** » 1 Oct 2004 12:24 pm

Since you guys didn't have a problem, then I guess that's good enough for me.

I'm very set in my ways, and hate to change things that don't need to be changed. After reading all the horror stories that can be prevented, I would be foolish not to change browsers.

Thanks for boost of confidence!

mickd · Post by **mickd** » 1 Oct 2004 2:09 pm

changing is a piece of cake - I did it a couple of months ago and have had no probs whatsoever. Occasionally you'll come across a site that doesnt work quite right without IE - so you just use IE for that site alone. You don't have to de-install IE, you can keep it and only use when you really have to.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 10 Oct 2004 12:24 pm

I use both Firefox (PR1) and IE 6, SP1, with IE as my default browser. I am using very restrictive permissions in IE, plus I have Spybot S&D resident to watch for installers or homepage hijackers.

I use IE to design websites, since that is what the majority of people will view them with. I double check my work in Firefox, for the few that care about standards.

Wiz