browser

There are so many myths about Java. This month, I'll look at some of the more persistent ones, and try to dispel any doubt.

Fiction :
Applets can read your hard-drive, and delete files

Fact :
Any attempt by an applet to access local files will throw a SecurityException. If uncaught, the applet will crash, but no file access will occur.

The only exception to this rule is for digitally signed applets, which may be granted additional privileges. Your browser will display a dialog box, asking you if you want to accept the identity of the applet author. Choose no if unsure, and you'll always be safe.

Blake Ross,a self taught coder, did internship at the age of 14 at Netscape, when Netscape had almost lost out to IE in the browser war. He then thought of a lean browser Firefox which has now been downloaded by 200 million people and roughly around 7 million people download it each month to discard the unsafe Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.

After founding Firefox one of the biggest open source success stories, he recently unveiled his new venture Parakey, which aims to be the WebOS for masses. Parakey is a small application that you download which converts your computer into a local server, thus allowing you to manage your content easily be it documents, images, videos. This content can then be easily searched or shared on a remote server whenever you are online.

Here's a close-up look at how Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9 and Safari 2 handle key browsing features and functions.

Toolbars and Customization

Internet Explorer 7 features a brand-new stripped-back interface with missing menus and toolbar buttons in unexpected places -- and for the most part, you can't customize it. Firefox and Safari take the middle ground, letting you rearrange items in your toolbars or save multiple bookmarks and folders to the bookmarks bar. (Of course, Firefox' interface can be further tweaked with its vast library of third-party add-ons.) At the far end of the customization scale, Opera builds in half a dozen optional toolbars and endless configuration options.

On the Wild Wild Web, where scams, fraud, and identity theft are commonplace, which browser protects you more effectively? Is it Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla's Firefox 2.0?

According to a new report from software testing firm SmartWare -- a report commissioned by Mozilla -- the answer is Firefox, at least when it comes to protection against phishing scams.

Phishing is the practice of directing Web surfers to fake Web sites that prompt them to reveal personal data, such as social security numbers. The fraudulent sites almost always steal the designs and logos of well-known, trusted companies, such as eBay and CitiGroup, to dupe users into divulging their data.

Phighting Phishing.

Both IE7 and Firefox have built-in antiphishing features designed to alert you when you've hit a fraudulent site. With Microsoft's browser, antiphishing is turned on by default. Each Web site you visit is checked against a database maintained by Microsoft, and known frauds are blocked.

Firefox has two antiphishing options. With the first, the sites you visit are checked against a local database on your computer. With the second, the sites you visit are checked against a live database maintained by Google.

In the SmartWare test, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 blocked 690 known phishing sites, or 66.35 percent of the total. In contrast, Firefox blocked 78.85 percent when using a local antiphishing database and 81.54 percent when using the online database.

Experts Weigh In.

Advantage Firefox? Perhaps. "Historically, Firefox has had superior security," said Patrick Peterson of security firm IronPort. "However, Microsoft has been working very hard on IE7, which shows great promise in closing this gap."

Peterson added that Microsoft's new work could be "a great leap forward," but that it's still too soon to tell which browser will claim the title of being the safest. "It is true that we see Firefox users infected less frequently," he said, "but that is primarily because they are the more technically educated users."

Andrew Braunberg, a security expert with research firm Current Analysis, said there's another reason that Microsoft's users are more frequently attacked than Mozilla's: Microsoft's size puts a target on its back.

"Microsoft will say, 'It's not that our software is less secure inherently, it's just that we're a bigger target,'" said Braunberg. People go hunting for Microsoft because "that's where the action is."

And, like Peterson, Braunberg said that Microsoft is taking large strides in security, above all with the impending release of Windows Vista. "In a lot of ways, Vista is morphing into a security platform, as opposed to just being an OS."

Microsoft, said Braunberg, has been active in "beefing up the security with Vista."

User Beware.

But no matter how safe your browser -- or even which browser you choose -- your own behavior might be the worst threat against you.

According to IronPort's Peterson, his firm's internal research shows that a vast majority of the world's virus attacks and malicious software infects users' machines with their complete permission.

"End-users are regularly infected by purposefully clicking on links," he said, noting that even a perfect level of browser security would cause a reduction in malicious software infections by 20 percent at the most.

"Better browser security is needed," said Peterson. "But no one should confuse this with a solution to what ails us."