firefox v IE

[martym]

hi all im not sure if this has been posted before
but it makes interesting reading
marty


A report issued today by Symantec Corp. seeks to satisfy users of both Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox browser and Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer (IE).

In its latest Internet Security Threat Report, covering the last six months of 2005, the company now features two different ways of counting browser bugs: one that finds IE has the most vulnerabilities, and a second that reports Firefox as the bug-leader.

Firefox had the highest number of "vendor-confirmed" vulnerabilities, with 13 bugs reported during the six months covered by the report. That compared to IE's 12, said Dave Cole, a director with Symantec Security Response.

However, the latest report also includes a count of bugs found by security researchers that have not been confirmed by Microsoft or the Mozilla Foundation, which owns Mozilla Corp. By that count, IE had the most security issues: 24, compared to Firefox's 17.

Symantec decided to begin counting the unconfirmed bugs "partially in response" to feedback from the Mozilla team after it published its previous report in September 2005. That report counted only confirmed bugs: 18 for Firefox and 13 for IE.

"We said, 'O.K. for the next report we'll look at them both,'" Cole said. "It's something we might have looked at anyway."

The report caused a stir amongst Firefox fans, who have long considered their browser more secure than IE.

At the time, the Mozilla Foundation criticized Symantec's methodology, saying that counting only the number of confirmed flaws skewed things in Microsoft's favor, because the software vendor tends to group several vulnerabilities together, while Mozilla announces each one individually.

Cole would not say which browser Symantec considers to be the most secure. "The reality is, if there's enough motivation there, people are going to find some way to get in," he said. "The concept of the impervious technology is really a mistaken one."

Mozilla and Microsoft representatives were unavailable to comment.

The security company also found that denial-of-service (DOS) and phishing attacks continued to rise. DOS attacks were up 51% from the first half of the year, Cole said. On average, there were 1,400 such attacks each day.

Symantec also tracked a "dramatic growth in phishing," and blocked 1.5 billion phishing messages during the period, up 44% from the first half of the year.

[randiroo76073]

Not to be dising Symantec, but I don't really trust much they have to say on security, JMHO

[Elwood]

Such BS.

Mozilla hits back at browser security claim - ZDNet UK News

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Highly critical

Currently, 23 out of 93 Secunia advisories, are marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database.

Mozilla Firefox 1.x with all vendor patches installed and all vendor workarounds applied, is currently affected by one or more Secunia advisories rated Less critical

Currently, 2 out of 27 Secunia advisories, are marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database.

[added]

One of the Firefox vulnerabilities is Mac version only and they're both very minor.

[sirfredrico]

they know not what they be talking about.

firefox is great. much faster than IE
i never use it...

[Elwood]

I think they're worried that if people use Firefox that they won't need Symantec.

I don't like recent versions of Norton/Symantec products anyway, they've become too bloated to be useful anymore. They cause problems that other antivirus/firewall products don't and they're hard to fix.

[Red Squirrel]

IE has always had problems and always will, until they rewrite it from scratch, using proper standards. But MS wont be bothered to do that. HAve to keep in mind too that MS has way more then a browser to worry about, while mozilla concentrates mostly on Firefox, so Firefox will always be better.

I still dont understand why so many people use IE. Those people live in the darkest of ages and need to get back to the 21st century.

[martym]

thats a load of crap
when people have problems with a browser.
it is the fault of the user not the browser.
are you saying when you get a vurus
or spy ware that the browser does it for you
come on.
many of us use IE with out any problems
as a matter of fact sixty million of us
IE with only 5 precent having browser troubles
mozilla firefox and others have only 9 percent
of the total market
and have equal troubles as IE
as that article points out
so dosent that tell you it is
the user and not the browser
you firefox users are blind to any
problems with your browser
and blame it on all but your selves
marty

[Elwood]

Lol!

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by Elwood

I think they're worried that if people use Firefox that they won't need Symantec.

I don't like recent versions of Norton/Symantec products anyway, they've become too bloated to be useful anymore. They cause problems that other antivirus/firewall products don't and they're hard to fix.

yep... money money money... you know how that goes...

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by martym

thats a load of crap
when people have problems with a browser.
it is the fault of the user not the browser.
are you saying when you get a vurus
or spy ware that the browser does it for you
come on.
many of us use IE with out any problems
as a matter of fact sixty million of us
IE with only 5 precent having browser troubles
mozilla firefox and others have only 9 percent
of the total market
and have equal troubles as IE
as that article points out
so dosent that tell you it is
the user and not the browser
you firefox users are blind to any
problems with your browser
and blame it on all but your selves
marty

nope. ...

example>>>>>

it takes IE 10 seconds longer to load than firefox on my computer..
thats just loading it, not the other things involved...
so, am i cliking it wrong?

[Crockett]

It's all a load of crap, marti....sorry.

You can visit all of the top computer bulletin boards on the net and a vast majority of the smartest people on those boards do NOT use Internet Explorer. That alone should tell people something.
If people on those boards are popular helpers and are still using Internet Explorer, dollars to donuts those people are "old" and don't like change.

Ask Bill and Bruce.

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by Crockett

It's all a load of crap, marti....sorry.

You can visit all of the top computer bulletin boards on the net and a vast majority of the smartest people on those boards do NOT use Internet Explorer. That alone should tell people something.
If people on those boards are popular helpers and are still using Internet Explorer, dollars to donuts those people are "old" and don't like change.

Ask Bill and Bruce.

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah some people seem resistant to switching browsers. Heck lot of those people think that IE *IS* the internet, so by using a different browser, they can't access the actual Internet, but some different internet. "But ebay is in Internet explorer I can't use Firefox!" It's sad, but I've seen it multiple times too.

[randiroo76073]

Red Squirrel
What happens when you go to Ebay in Firefox? I don't go there, but I've seen Ebay ext's at Firefox ext site.

[Elwood]

Originally Posted by randiroo76073

Red Squirrel
What happens when you go to Ebay in Firefox? I don't go there, but I've seen Ebay ext's at Firefox ext site.

I think he was using that as an example of the ignorance of some people. They think eBay is only accessible with IE. IOW, Firefox sees a "different internet".

I think it really is a "different internet", a much less hazardous one.

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by Elwood

I think he was using that as an example of the ignorance of some people. They think eBay is only accessible with IE. IOW, Firefox sees a "different internet".

I think it really is a "different internet", e.

hmmm..a much less hazardous browser...
... i like that.

what about, the lesser of 2 evils?

[randiroo76073]

..... ..... .....
Right you are

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by randiroo76073

.. ..... .....
Right you are

lol...

[martym]

what ever browser we use
none is any good with out a platform to launch from
any browser that has no platforn to work from
has a much easier task
so with out windos firefox ect would be
a stastic.
so we need get this discussion into perpestictive
ive used IE since ive used a compt
and ive had no troubles
if ive had troubles which has been rare.
it has been my fault
i used firefox long before i came to this board
and it was always interfering with my cookies
and i didnt know how to fix it
as well when i joined this board
and techtvg4
we got inundated with
people breaking into the thread saying if
you are having trouble
change to firefox. instead of addressing the problem
at hand
so i became anti firefox and mozilla
i use slimbrowser as an alternate browser
when i posted this some posted back and said
slimbroser
is a clone of
IE.which is utter B-----t
so with firefox users you cant win
but right now firefox is haveing its problem
which was inevetable
as more people used it
some of you go to
techtvg4
and see an alternate view of firefox
where i got this article from
marty

[sirfredrico]

Originally Posted by martym

so with out windows firefox ect would be
a stastic.

i agree, im thankful to have windows which im able to use firefox on.