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Firefox Users Surf Safer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the loose-browsers-sink-ships dept.

SenseOfHumor writes "According to two University of Washington Professors, Firefox users have a safer browsing experience than users of IE. These researchers sent their crawlers to 45,000 websites and studied the impact on Firefox and IE." From the article: "Levy and Gribble, along with graduate students Alexander Moshchuk and Tanya Bragin, set up IE in two configurations -- one where it behaved as if the user had given permission for all downloads, the other as if the user refused all download permission -- to track the number of successful spyware installations. During Levy's and Gribble's most recent crawl of October 2005, 1.6 percent of the domains infected the first IE configuration, the one mimicking a nave user blithely clicking 'Yes;' about a third as many domains (0.6 percent) did drive-by downloads by planting spyware even when the user rejected the installations."

10 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. DUMBASS ZONK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    WTF IS AN EXPERICE?

  2. Why do users want this to happen? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Owning a computer now is a bit like having a pet rabbit. It never just is. You have to feed it the right stuff or it gets sick. If you leave the hutch door open it might run away then you have to search the street for the bloody thing.

    People could choose to have computers which just do their job from year to year but they seem to want to believe that the thing is alive, just like the pet. They want it to have issues and risks, to get "infected" and require "cleaning".

    They won't be happy with something which just browses the web and shows them pictures. It won't be as entertaining and involving that way.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Why do users want this to happen? by VENONA · · Score: 2, Funny

      There never was a day when a PC 'just was'. Before LAN or Internet connections met the PC, there were virusus on floppies. Win systems then were single-user. Nothing was off-limits to malware. The *concept* of off-limits hadn't been implemented in Win systems.

      And users often had to futz around with memory segmentation (remember Quarterdeck's QEMM386? What a problem solver!), IRQs, etc. Adding hardware or just installing a game could cause you far more problems than you'll typically see now.

      Putting away the rose-tinted glasses, I think we've just exchanged one set of problems for another.

      Re: "They won't be happy with something which just browses the web and shows them pictures." That's where the problems truly begin! Win and Linux have had fairly recent problems with graphic rendering libraries, for example. And it's the network connection that's the primary driver for multiuser PC operating systems. That connection is what gives you that immediate and very broad attack surface.

      What you just said was actually something like, "They won't be happy with something which just increases the risk to their system a hundredfold." The problem is that few people know the risks.

      _I_ see people who are frustrated, have had identities stolen, etc. If _you_ see people who feel as if they're petting their friggin' bunny, please urge them to seek professional care.

      --
      What you do with a computer does not constitute the whole of computing.
  3. Does it count if Spyware... by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 2, Funny

    installed Firefox for me? Probably scanned my machine and then installed it out of pity.

    Seriously though, since I installed Firefox last Summer it's made Ad Aware and HijackThis obsolete.

  4. Think of the debates! by IAAP · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...on Fox News, CNN, ...,

    I just had this image of guys in suits yelling at each other about the merits of Firefox and IE; saying things like "Firefox is a liberal plot to undermine American values!", etc...

    1. Re:Think of the debates! by jorenko · · Score: 2, Funny

      I just know that Bill O'Rielly is a ferverent IE supporter.

  5. Re:I can't take it any more! by olego · · Score: 2, Funny

    But you don't have any problems with "nave users"?

    n : the central area of a church

  6. Re:a quiet sense of dread... by digitaldc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Please dear God, let there be no "Hang 10" jokes in this thread...

    Well you asked for it....

    The reason why Firefox is safer is that you don't have to 'hang 10' seconds while the domain infects the first Internet Explorer configuration.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  7. Re:Or 100% if its a new installation... by caffeination · · Score: 1, Funny

    What a clown you are! Everyone knows you aren't meant to connect Windows XP to the internet! It's like putting your figure in a power socket!
    EndElitismSection

  8. Why isn't lynx ever in these comparisons? by ehaggis · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lynx is a very safe browser. Flash ads are rendered impotant. Animated GIFs are defeated on load. Active X; no way! Lynx is the browser of the future! Now let me get back to my 3270 terminal.

    --
    One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.