Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Depending on how secure your computer already is, you may or may not want to switch to Firefox as an internet browser.
Every day it seems I hear of some new exploit or vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Several of my friends have suggested I switch from IE to this other browser they claim is more secure: Firefox. Will I be safer if I switch?
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Maybe. It really depends on how secure you are to begin with.
But before you switch it's worth understanding what you are and are not getting and what you'll still need to do.
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I actually run Firefox. It's a fine internet browser, and works very well on 99% of the web sites I visit. Like many of the IE alternatives, it actually does a better job of implementing the various HTML standards than IE does. Unlike IE, it's in active development, which means that features are being added, and bugs are being fixed on a regular basis.
Firefox works well.
If you do switch, you'll still need Internet Explorer at times. Not surprisingly, several Microsoft sites, including Windows Update, require Internet Explorer to work. In addition, many sites are "optimized for Internet Explorer" often whether they know it or not, and they take advantage of IE-specific quirks, extensions, and features not supported in other browsers. The result is that some sites just won't look the same in browsers other than IE.
But what about all those exploits?
In my opinion, IE is an "ok" piece of software; it's better than some and worse than others in terms of overall quality and security. Certainly the news would have you believe that it's a total disaster and security nightmare, but I disagree with that strenuously. I believe IE (and in general Microsoft) is a victim of its own success.
All software has bugs. Period. It's a fact. IE has bugs, Firefox has bugs, and some of those bugs are certainly security related.
Pretend you're a hacker. You want to cause some trouble, and gain a little notoriety - do you look for exploits in the product that 85% of people use (that's Internet Explorer, by the way, though market share is falling), or the one that perhaps 10% of people use (Firefox, who's market share is growing)? Obviously you want the bigger bang for your hacking buck, and you'll target the bigger crowd - the crowd using IE. Couple that with a strong anti-Microsoft sentiment in the hacking community, and you can see that the number of times IE gets exploited actually says more about the number of people trying and nothing about the relative quality of IE versus alternatives like Firefox.
Regardless of their relative merits, IE will be hacked more often simply because it's a bigger target. And as I said, I believe the same is true for Microsoft software in general.
Should you switch? Well, as I said earlier, it depends on how secure you already are. If you're doing the right things already:
- you run up to date anti-virus and anti-spyware software with regularly updated databases
- you have auto-updates enabled, or you regularly visit Windows Update
- you're behind some kind of firewall
- you general visit only "safe" websites
- you don't download things you don't trust or open email attachments you don't recognize
you're probably just fine with IE. The fact is, you should be doing all those things even if you're running an IE alternative.
However, if you want a little more protection and if you want to make yourself a little less of a target, then by all means, Firefox is a great alternative.
Yes, I have all those things, and I run Firefox. Why? Mostly to become familiar with it enough to write articles such as this. I also happen to like tabbed browsing (also available for IE via some add-on products), and appreciate some of the add-ons that are available for Firefox. However my wife, who is probably a more typical computer user, has been using IE for years without a single incident. Not one.
So absolutely, use Firefox if you like. But you don't have to, and if you do, you shouldn't let it lull you into a false sense of security either.
Article C2268 - January 23, 2005 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
January 1, 2012 9:15 PM
I disagree with Leo.
Leo has stated on another article, that you CANNOT import XP image viewer to use in Windows 7. Therefore, you have to use something like Irfanview.
I have successfully imported the required dll file + reg files needed to make it run. It DOES run XP image viewer in Windows 7, because I am using it right now.
I said that, because Leo is wrong on some of his assumptions. Leo generally has good advice, but he is not perfect.
That said, let's get back to the web browser issue. Should you use Firefox, or Internet Explorer?
I leave that up to you, but let me tell you some things I tried before I do. I opened anywhere from 4 to 20 tabs on my machine with Internet Explorer 8. And Internet Explorer would crash, then crash on recovering the tabs.
YES Internet Explorer works! And it works with more than one tab. But barely.... I have had 1,611 tabs open in Firefox & the only thing that stopped me from opening more, was running low on memory.
That isn't to say that Firefox NEVER crashes, for it has, once in a while. But you can open far more websites in Firefox before you do have a crash, than IE. Also, FF remains much more responsive with more tabs open, & is just a faster seeming browser. Period.
If you corrupt your IE installation, you have no recourse but to attempt a repair installation. And it malware has sufficiently hosed your IE program, you may not even be able to do that properly.
FF can be completely installed & reinstalled. No problems. FF also does not suffer from active-X, which is a component that IE uses that allows drive by downloading & installing (a major cause of malware on machines).
I have noted carefully that a ton of patches for Windows, is fixing some vulnerability that exists because of IE, or is patching a component that IE uses.
I have had far fewer malware infections on machines that deploy FF than IE.
Sure, all software has bugs, but IE just seems to be a bug.
Use whatever you want, but the idea of using a web browser that crashes with less than 20 tabs, & also a browser that automatically installs malware because of active-x controls doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
January 6, 2012 10:52 AM
Leo,
You make it sound as though using Internet Explorer solves all compatibility problems. Or most of them. It does not.
I have been to many websites that do NOT work in any iteration of Internet Explorer. Even facebook sometimes displays incorrectly in Internet Explorer 9 under Windows 7.
Do you know what works? Firefox!
And for those 0.000001% of websites that do not work with any browser but IE because Microsoft paid them to only "support" IE & block all other internet browsers from connecting, well there is IETab that works great!
You can use Firefox & still surf IE based sites. Isn't this great?
Amen!
May 4, 2012 5:42 PM
FireFox or IE? I went to FF early on because of the IE problems. IE problems are their own, Refusing to follow Web standards for one. Example: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Found here: http://www.w3.org/standards/
Firefox has so many addons/extensions that provide free tools to make Web browsing/use comfortable to me. Free Dictionary, Lazarus (saves forms input like this one) Yada yada....
Currently battling my Credit Card Company as suddenly my access via FF was going astray. No access, Bad password error messages. Finally made voice contact with CC company tech support. They insisted I 'TRY' IE. Careful to NOT say it was needed. I have 3 desktops and 3 laptops. Two of the desktops and one laptop are WIN7 home premium and all three dual boot to different flavors of Ubuntu. NONE get access with FF! Even in Private Browsing mode. Yet when I loaded up one with IE. (It lays dormant/not used on all) I was eventually able to gain access to change my Credit Card password! Shutting down and later trying to access with FF. Denied. Even with IE! Multiple times. They, Tech support, would not even issue a trouble report??? How does a company track problems, issues, employee handling processes etc. if not keeping records? An Internet search |CC Company Firefox problems| offers a history of issues with Firefox. But no resolutions. Hmmmmm Looks like it is time to 'fire' my CC company.
It seems large Corporations are intimidating Firefox users to swing to IE. Not good.
June 9, 2012 10:58 PM
My $0.02. As of 6/12/2012
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Speed -> FF13 is nearly 2X faster than GC19, Opera 12, IE9, & Safari 5.1 on HTML5 + Hardware acceleration on IE HTML5 fishbowl test
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Security -> Malware calls dropped 99% on most PC's switched to FF over IE. Most residual malware gets installed manually now (toolbars/trial programs, etc.) instead of automatically via active-X.
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Stability -> Opened 1,611 tabs in FF with no crash before. IE8 crashed on fewer than 20 tabs, then crashed on recovery. IE9 is much more stable, but doubt it could handle 1,611 tabs.
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Customizability -> FF is far ahead of other browsers.
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Firefox has many other benefits, such as it can be 100% removed & re-installed. IE cannot. GC/Opera/other browsers can. And if you have a malware/rootkit infection that ruins certain system files, it may be nearly impossible to "repair" IE back to a working state. Without things such as a re-install of Windows.
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It's mid 2012, & FF13 is nearly 2X faster than all other major browsers.
Combine that with AdBlock+ & your surfing is even faster.
U can use 2X slower browsers if u want, but I'm using FF!
August 27, 2012 7:23 PM
Nate, I hate to tell you, but surfing the web with IE is like auto-play flash drive infections were for Windows XP.
NOT GOOD for the web.
Auto infection? YES! If your using IE. And McAfee researchers identified ways to hijack IE browsing protections put in place to get around active-x kill bits to cause it to LOAD OLD CONTROLS and run it anyway on specially crafted XML pages.
NOT GOOD!
Besides, if IE crashes hard enough, it is a pain to fix or repair it.
Firefox is at LEAST 2x faster than IE, & you can easily backup ALL of your settings for Firefox including your saved bookmarks & passwords if you need to, & import them later.
Can IE do this? It cannot.
I am not trying to badmouth IE, but active-x is never a good idea, even disabled. It should have never been invented in the first place, for malware to re-enable.