Is Mozilla Firefox Really a Secure Browser?

Many people use Internet Explorer everyday as their primary browser because it comes pre-installed with their home PC, but doing so poses a significant threat if you are not a sophisticated computer user.

It's easy to understand why if you know some history about the browser wars. In 1,995 Netscape grew extremely fast and in a very short time gained almost 90% market share waking up the giant Microsoft that started rapid improvements in his own browser making version after version almost every year. Suddenly, once Internet Explorer became the dominant browser, Microsoft stopped new developments.

Although Microsoft Internet Explorer is the dominant browser with more than 85% market share, Firefox is steadily gaining ground because of its many features and greater security. Internet Explorer was designed very fast to take Netscape out of the market, but in the process to add features his security was left behind.

Firefox can help you protect from very serious threats like: viruses, spyware and other malware because it's harder for this malware to get through your browser and get installed in your PC.

Although Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer, all computer users should also have a personal firewall, antivirus software and a spyware cleaner. Also, some knowledge about general security could help minimize your exposure.

By Andres Berger Copyright 2006 – Andres Berger contributes on various topics about the Firefox Browser.

Firefox Provides the best Protection for the Internet Today

Companies spend billions of dollars each year combating spam. Billions more is spent with the loss of productivity, having to purchase additional equipment, software, and man hours filtering through unwanted spam, and fixing problems directly related from spam. Direct effects of spam are the consumption of network and computer resources, data and intellectual property theft, identity theft, infection from virus and malware infection, and more.

When most people think of spam, they are thinking of the unsolicited emails sitting in their inbox that is time consuming to clean up. However, there are many more different types of spam; instant messaging spam, chat spam, newsgroup and forum spam, even cell phone spam, blogs and guestbook spam, video sharing spam, video gaming spam, mail bombing, and non-commercial spam. Email and Internet spam is frustrating and sometimes embarrassing when pornography pops up in front of grandma.

Why would someone want to send out so many annoying messages or pop-ups and what is the benefit for a spammer? A spammer expects total profit and if even only small percentages of people respond or make a purchase from the spam message, the spammer stands to make a bunch of money. Other non-commercial spammers are criminals seeking banking information, committing fraud, and have even lured people to their own kidnappings and murders. Competitors might use spam as a denial of service to your website to flood the viewer of your website with a ton of pop-ups and make it impossible to view the site. This is another malicious way spammers attack.

Having a positive Internet and positive email experience is what everyone wants. Mozilla wants this for everyone too. Mozilla is a non-profit organization who is dedicated to making your online experience incredible. They offer their web browser Firefox free of charge. Firefox is available to all Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, in over 35 different languages. This web browser has integrated protection from spam, pop-ups, and phishing protection that tells you when you have accessed a website that is looking for information.

Mozilla Firefox is the leading web browser because they care about what the user wants. This browser allows you to personalize it the way you want it. Firefox includes a spell checker and search engine suggestions. It also includes a session restore so when you lose your Internet connection and have to sign online again, Firefox will take you back to the exact webpage from where your session terminated. That way, you don’t have to spend hours finding where you were before. Firefox even has accessibility features that integrate with Microsoft’s accessibility features in Windows for people with physical impairments to easily surf the web without having too many keystrokes to get to the site they want.

The best quality of Mozilla’s Firefox is the protection. Unlike Internet Explorer, Firefox has a button to clear private data so the browser doesn’t keep personal information. It also automatically updates itself. This is much better than having to go to Microsoft’s website to install the latest security updates and patches.

Don’t allow unwanted spam, pop-ups, and phishing sites ruin your computing. In today’s online world, Microsoft just isn’t cutting it. Mozilla Firefox provides the total protection needed for the safest online experience.

by KIRK POMERLEAU

Firefox 2 Full Features

There’s a lot to do on the Web, and Firefox 2 is full of helpful features to make your time online more productive.

(originally can be shown on www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features.html)

Improved Tabbed Browsing

Firefox 2 will open new web pages in tabs by default.

Spell Checking

Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email, so you can worry about more important things.

Search Suggestions

Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.)

Session Restore

With Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it comes back you’ll pick up exactly where you left off. The windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all be restored.

Web Feeds (RSS)

Firefox 2 gives you full control over Web feeds, showing you a preview and letting you choose how you want to subscribe.

Live Titles

Keep an eye on that auction or the status of a delivery using the new Live Titles feature in Firefox 2. Compact enough to fit as a bookmark label, Live Titles are regularly updated summaries of the most important information on a Web page.

Integrated Search

The Search bar comes pre-loaded with search engines for Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, and Creative Commons. You can select a new search engine from the Search bar menu at any time, and add search engines from hundreds of your favorite Web sites.

Live Bookmarks

With one glance, quickly review the latest headlines from your favorite sites and click to go directly to the articles that interest you.

Pop-up Blocker

Firefox’s pop-up blocker notifies you when pop-ups are blocked via the information bar or icon on the lower right of the screen.

Streamlined Interface

The user interface in Firefox 2 has been updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity of the browsing experience.

Accessibility

Firefox includes support for DHTML accessibility. Web developers can create pages that reduce the amount of tabbing required to navigate a document to minimize keystrokes for those with mobility disabilities. Firefox also includes support for Microsoft Active Accessibility, Microsoft’s accessibility API standard for Windows. This support allows Firefox to work with screen readers such as GW Micro’s Window-Eyes and Freedom Scientific’s JAWS.

Phishing Protection

When you encounter a Web site that is a suspected forgery (known as a “phishing” site) Firefox will warn you and offer to take you to a search page so you can find the real Web site you were looking for.

Open Source, More Secure

Openness and active community of experts helps to ensure Firefox are more secure and updated quickly, while also enabling us to take advantage of the best third party security scanning and evaluation tools to further bolster overall security.

Automated Update

System always checks to see if you’re running the latest version, and notifies you when a security update is available. These security updates are small (usually 200KB - 700KB), giving you only what you need and making the security update quick to download and install.

Protection from Spyware

You will be notified whenever downloading or installing software, and Firefox will always tell you what’s happening so that you can stay in control of your computer.

Clear Private Data

Firefox offers the ability to clear all your private Web browsing data with just one click with the “Clear Private Data” tool. You can be confident that when you clear your private data in Firefox it’s gone - whether you are using your own computer or one at the library.

An Add-on for Everyone

You can choose from over 1,000 add-ons at the Firefox Add-ons Web site. A Firefox add-on can help you comparison shop, share bookmarks with your friends, see the weather in a corner of your browser, write to your weblog, get news, listen to music - all from inside the browser you already love. You can even change the appearance of your browser - from buttons to colors and fonts - so that it matches your own personal style.

Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes

The new Add-ons Manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, making it even easier for you to customize Firefox 2. Install, uninstall, enable and disable your add-ons in a single place.

Search Engine Manager

You can now quickly add, remove and re-order your search engines in the Search bar. Firefox 2 will also detect when a Web site has a search engine that can be installed, and will install it for you with a single click in the drop-down menu.