IE vs. FireFox

[AR Husker Fan]

Why is that?

That's part of the magic of IE. Actually, it has to do with the fact that FF tends to follow web standards, and IE doesn't. The code for most boards are "optimized" for IE, since it has so much of the market.

 

[BigRedJake]

Why is that?

That's part of the magic of IE. Actually, it has to do with the fact that FF tends to follow web standards, and IE doesn't. The code for most boards are "optimized" for IE, since it has so much of the market.

Which is a shame. IE is complete trash.

 

[DaveH]

Why is that?

That's part of the magic of IE. Actually, it has to do with the fact that FF tends to follow web standards, and IE doesn't. The code for most boards are "optimized" for IE, since it has so much of the market.

Which is a shame. IE is complete trash.

Eh, it's not that bad when configured right. Problem is, it isn't configured right "out of the box"

 

[BigRedJake]

Why is that?

That's part of the magic of IE. Actually, it has to do with the fact that FF tends to follow web standards, and IE doesn't. The code for most boards are "optimized" for IE, since it has so much of the market.

Which is a shame. IE is complete trash.

Eh, it's not that bad when configured right. Problem is, it isn't configured right "out of the box"

IE has more holes than a kitchen sponge. It runs ActiveX, that alone is bad enough. Throw in the lack of tabbed browsing, a download manager, mouse gestures, or any type of pluggins and you are left with a garbage browser that doesn't even follow current standards. There is no reason to use IE. None at all.

 

[DaveH]

IE has more holes than a kitchen sponge.

Prove that FireFox doesn't. Patches are a way of life for any software company.

I'll give you that IE is a bit behind the times in terms of features like tabbed-browsing. Firefox will use ActiveX controls as well, however out of the box it is more stringent as to which ones it will run. IE can be the same way, if the Internet Zone is properly configured.

I loaded a VMWare box the other day with Longhorn Beta 1 and subsequently, IE7. It finally has tabbed browsing, but I haven't drilled down into it much further.

 

[BigRedJake]

IE has more holes than a kitchen sponge.

Prove that FireFox doesn't. Patches are a way of life for any software company.

I'll give you that IE is a bit behind the times in terms of features like tabbed-browsing. Firefox will use ActiveX controls as well, however out of the box it is more stringent as to which ones it will run. IE can be the same way, if the Internet Zone is properly configured.

I loaded a VMWare box the other day with Longhorn Beta 1 and subsequently, IE7. It finally has tabbed browsing, but I haven't drilled down into it much further.

FireFox hasn't gotten this:

http://www.internetnews.com/security/artic...cle.php/3374931

I used IE for 4 years on my last computer, and despite McAfee, Ad-aware, and Spybot, I had to reinstall windows a grand total of 11 times because the adware, spyware and visruses got so bad. I've had my current computer for 3 years and have used nothing but Opera. I've never seen a popup. I've never had to download Ad-aware or Spybot and I've never heard a peep out of McAfee. In 3 years. And I go to some sketchy sites.

 

[DaveH]

FireFox hasn't gotten this:http://www.internetnews.com/security/artic...cle.php/3374931

No it hasn't. Maybe it will? Who knows. It is quite the infant compared to IE. Don't get me wrong, I like FireFox, I'm using it right now. But it isn't the end all be all in making sure your computer malware free like some make it out to be. A false sense of security is worse than non at all!

I used IE for 4 years on my last computer, and despite McAfee, Ad-aware, and Spybot, I had to reinstall windows a grand total of 11 times because the adware, spyware and visruses got so bad.  I've had my current computer for 3 years and have used nothing but Opera.  I've never seen a popup.  I've never had to download Ad-aware or Spybot and I've never heard a peep out of McAfee.  In 3 years.  And I go to some sketchy sites.

I use IE and Firefox and don't have any kind of problem with malware. Then again, I usually visit the same sites and I don't run my browser, either IE or Firefox, under an administrators security context which really, is the root of most people's problems.

Browsing the Web and Reading E-mail Safely as an Administrator

 

[AR Husker Fan]

IE has more holes than a kitchen sponge. It runs ActiveX, that alone is bad enough. Throw in the lack of tabbed browsing, a download manager, mouse gestures, or any type of pluggins and you are left with a garbage browser that doesn't even follow current standards. There is no reason to use IE. None at all.

IE now has tabbed browsing via the MSN Search Bar utility, for what it's worth.

The main issue that has kept me from using FireFox completely is that so many sites are optimized for IE - in particular bank and financial sites. Makes it impossible to use those sites with FireFox.

I'll probably load the beta for Vista soon on a test box, and try out IE 7.0 - from what I read, it has made some significant improvements.

 

[BigRedJake]

FireFox hasn't gotten this:http://www.internetnews.com/security/artic...cle.php/3374931

No it hasn't. Maybe it will? Who knows. It is quite the infant compared to IE. Don't get me wrong, I like FireFox. But it isn't the end all be all in making sure your computer malware free like some make it out to be. A false sense of security is worse than non at all!

Infant? You know Mozilla is what became of Netscape, right? Mozilla as a seperate company is relatively new, but the developers and the product are not. And I don't have a false sense of security, but it's simply a fact that FireFox and Opera and Safari are simply more secure than IE. It's undeniable. You still have to be careful, and you still need to keep track of what you're doing, but the alternatives are designed primarily with security in mind, and that's not the case with IE. Until Microsoft fixes it, it's completely worthless when there are alternatives available. There isn't one thing that IE can do better than FireFox or Opera. The only reason to keep it around are for websites that can't be viewed without it; and personally, if a website requires IE, I don't visit it.

 

[DaveH]

FireFox hasn't gotten this:http://www.internetnews.com/security/artic...cle.php/3374931

No it hasn't. Maybe it will? Who knows. It is quite the infant compared to IE. Don't get me wrong, I like FireFox. But it isn't the end all be all in making sure your computer malware free like some make it out to be. A false sense of security is worse than non at all!

Infant? You know Mozilla is what became of Netscape, right? Mozilla as a seperate company is relatively new, but the developers and the product are not.

Yes, I know about Mozilla and yes, FireFox is based on that in some form. However, it as a product isn't that old. That was my point. Just because the developers have been around doesn't mean the code they produce has no vulnerabilities or bugs.

My other point is that it is very, very difficult to prove that one piece of software contains more vulnerabilites than another in their current state. Testing will only get you so far. For example, if you hire a group of people to test your software and they find no bugs, does that mean there are none? No, not necessarily. They either simply didn't find any at that time or you reached the limits of the testers capabilities.

Sure, IE has been patched more, but it has been around more. Saying one is more secure than another because of the history of vulnerabilities doesn't really prove anything. Who is to say that tommorrow a vulnerability with huge scope won't be released for either browser? You can't. Past success is no indication of future success.

So, anyway, how could you prove it one has more than the other? Find ALL the vulnerabilities. That's quite a daunting task, though. I would bet there are vulnerabilities in both pieces of software that lay undiscovered today Like I said, I like FireFox. I use it all the time. I like it because the layout is simple and I couldn't get along without tabbed browsing now that I have it.

One thing is for sure, this issue goes way deeper than browser preference. If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, there is no "more secure". The idea of security is an all or nothing notion. You either are or you aren't. Trusted is a better word.

So, in closing, yes FireFox is great. It is small, quick and simple. It contains features that really should be in any new browser, like tabbed browsing. I use it, I will continue to use it. Not because it is "more secure", but because I like the way it works and it's features. However, it simply isn't the panacea of security that people love to talk about.

 

[slacker]

I don't know if it's more secure but it sure seem more secure. All the proof I need that FF is better the IE came when I switched. Using IE I would get so mush spyware crap and pop-up junk and them magically when I switched to FF it all went away. Yes I'm sure there still could be some that I don't see, but the fact is I don't see it.

 

[DaveH]

I don't know if it's more secure but it sure seem more secure. All the proof I need that FF is better the IE came when I switched. Using IE I would get so mush spyware crap and pop-up junk and them magically when I switched to FF it all went away. Yes I'm sure there still could be some that I don't see, but the fact is I don't see it.

Great.

 

[BigRedJake]

And I might have been born with latent super powers. IE has a long history of security holes. FireFox doesn't. Netscape didn't. Anything might happen, sure, but how can that blind you to how they've performed in the past?

 

[DaveH]

And I might have been born with latent super powers.  IE has a long history of security holes.  FireFox doesn't.  Netscape didn't.  Anything might happen, sure, but how can that blind you to how they've performed in the past?

Now you're getting a bit ridiculous. I'm not saying ignore IE's past, but the fact that one piece of software has had more vulnerabilities in the past doesn't necessarily there will be more in the future. There will be more patches for both pieces of software, that's pretty much a certainty.

 

[BigRedJake]

And I might have been born with latent super powers.  IE has a long history of security holes.  FireFox doesn't.  Netscape didn't.  Anything might happen, sure, but how can that blind you to how they've performed in the past?

Now you're getting a bit ridiculous. I'm not saying ignore IE's past, but the fact that one piece of software has had more vulnerabilities in the past doesn't necessarily there will be more in the future. There will be more patches for both pieces of software, that's pretty much a certainty.

Of course there will be patches for both, and have been. There will be more vulnerabilities for IE because it is a shoddy, obsolete piece of software. I've never seen IE7, and I hope it's much much better. As IE6 stands right now, it is, in every way, deficient.