I have loaded Firefox at home and I am using it on a trial basis.  I only loaded the basic install.  I did this after the SEB recomended it.  For those of us who may be not so computer literate could someone summarize the additional features re:plugins. (need to convince wife to stop using IE). Also any drawbacks that can be expected. Thanks

Summarizing the plugins could be difficult because they are already so many, but basically you can probably find a plugin to add-in any feature not already present in the browser that you might want.

Some of the drawbacks can include things such as certain websites coded specifically for IE not rendering quite right (if at all) under Firefox. If the website requires a particular ActiveX control (e.g. Windows Update) it won’t work in Firefox at all as there is no support for ActiveX. Beyond that I think the number of drawbacks is limited.

I already downloaded it. I’m just nerving myself up a little before trying it. And I have to make a couple registry backups first

Les, you’re too kind…

Ingolfson, don’t forget to bury a statuette of Saint Silicon in your backyard before you start the install. 

Just kidding - the refreshing thing about Firefox is it doesn’t try to take over your system like so many applications.  You install it and it doesn’t do anything you didn’t tell it to do.  And when you’re using it, same thing.  Takes some getting used to.

The latest version adds a nice feature. During install Extension Manager screens previously loaded extensions. It lets you keep or drop up to date extensions. It can load those that are not current, but shows them as inactive.

Posted on HardOCP

“Mozilla Security Issues:
Security information provider Secunia says that there are two new security bugs in Mozilla, Mozilla Forefox and Camino. The security bugs deal with the popular “tabs�? feature that is allowing malicious websites to compromise your system. Read more below:

1) Inactive tabs can launch dialog boxes so they appear to be displayed by a web site in another tab. This can be exploited by a malicious web site to show a dialog box, which seems to originate from a trusted web site. Successful exploitation would normally require that a user is tricked into opening a link from a malicious web site to a trusted web site in a new tab.

2) Inactive tabs can gain focus from form fields on web sites in another tab. This can potentially be exploited to collect sensitive data entered in form fields on other web sites.”

I tried a few searches for possible fixes but I’ve found nothing yet. Does anyone know anything about these security issues and any possible fixes?

I did find a little better explanation of the problem on ZDNet. Although there were no direct fixes for the tab issues yet they did offer some advice on avoiding problems that may arise due to the security issues.

<blockquote>�? Secunia recommends that Web surfers using the tabbed feature should disable Javascript or simply avoid visiting trusted Web sites when an untrusted Web site is open in one of the browser tabs.�?

Secunia and Microsoft both agree that although this is security issue “using the flaws for attack would not be easy.�?

See the Wednesday, 20 Oct. issue of MozillaZine for discussion of this bug and one other.  A workaround~fix is in the works, but in the meantime a simple solution would be to have only one tab open when handling sensitive information such as e-Commerce. 

The actual risk from this vulnerability is pretty minimal - you’d have to have a crooked site up in an inactive tab at the same time you’re handling sensitive data in another.  Not impossible but easy to prevent.

On Tuesday I am going to be giving a presentation about FF to a bunch of die-hard Microsoft systems administrators.  Should be interesting - I’m planning to emphasize nifty features and not try to “wow” them with advanced knowledge that I do not have.

Whoops - Chazzy666, it looks like you and I were madly typing at the same time!  Kind of fun to imagine everyone in a room, or a kind of space, that is bounded by the commonality of the discussion thread rather than physical contiguity.  We could call it, “cyber-space.”

What a cool term.  Boy, Wired magazine should be calling me up for an interview any day now. 

Thanks anyway DOF, if it wasn’t for you and Les I would probably still be an IE user.

...but in the meantime a simple solution would be to have only one tab open when handling sensitive information such as e-Commerce

Would a new instance of Firefox with only a single tab open be OK?