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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."

3 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. It just goes to show by Tufriast · · Score: 0, Troll

    Quality is quality, and education is education.
    I can't stress how much this figure impacts people who DO NOT have the money to upgrade their systems. Firefox is a boon to these people.
    While Microsoft is demanding more money for more protection, it is a reassuring thought that at least there is one benevolent group willing to make strides for all computer users.
    As a note, Katrina victims/poorer folks who survive disasters need internet access to get maintain any sort of life period. I've seen it first hand. They do not have the time to hunt, peck, and spend on software that is defective.

    --
    Help me, help you. - Jerry McGuire
  2. two words... by rmallico · · Score: 0, Troll

    no shit

    --
    sig goes here!
  3. Re:Or 100% if its a new installation... by HairyCanary · · Score: 1, Troll
    Mod parent down. The vast, vast majority of Windows XP users are clueless. None of these things suggested come naturally to them. I can't fathom what would happen if I asked my mother to keep a CD of security patches handy, enable the software firewall, don't connect the cable until she's protected, etc... She can install the OS if need be, but that's about it.

    The real solution -- Microsoft should be sending free updates to all registered XP owners with updated CD's that contain pre-patched installations.