Need Advice on Foxfire Browser

Question

Am very tired of fighting Adware on my computer and have just learned of foxfire.  Is it worth while or is it just a huge headache?  I have ME as my software and the claim is if we have anything less than XP on our computers we need Foxfire, is this true? Thanks in advance for anyone's imput.

ky331 · Answer

firefox is not a cure-all to adware/spyware problems.... it will not protect you against "bad" surfing-habits: if you go to a "bad" website, and/or download & install a "bad" program, you can still place adware/spyware on your PC, even thru firefox.

the place where firefox MIGHT help is that (I believe) it is more protective against those spware products that "sneak-in" thru Active-X controls in Internet Explorer. also, at present, Firefox has not been hit by as many hacker-attacks as Internet Explorer.... but that's not a guarantee of what the future may hold.

you may find the following 2 links interesting/relevant:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_virus&message.id=39037

(and, to a lesser extent)

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_virus&message.id=38751

Message Edited by ky331 on 04-10-2005 12:10 PM

beneteau · Answer

As Ky stated, Firefox may not be a cure-all; however, I, for one, can honestly state that my infections with adware and spyware came to a complete halt when I switched to Firefox. I still use IE, in some cases; however, Firefox is and will remain my default browser.

Firefox is easy to use, will transfer all your favorites/links, etc. from IE and has one great feature that most Firefox users like and that is "tabbed browsing". If you are at one website, you can open a new tab (quickly) go to another website on that tab and so on. You can close those tabs and return (immediately) back to your original website. IE---you must minimize---open IE again and so on.

You can go here and read about the insecurity of ActiveX controls used by IE.

Dimension 8400
1 GB SDRAM
3.4GHz
160GB
Samsung CD-R/RW
Philips DVD+RW
Iomega HDD 80GB USB 2.0
Radeon X300
WinXP w/Service Pack 2
Firefox browser

Dan0001 · Answer

I am using >FIREFOX< (not foxfire :P poor fox) it readuces about 98% of spyware from ME. If you wana be really good get microsoft antispyware and all the latest windows updates. They are a massive pain but they do work (even if they are REALLY anooying)

ky331 · Answer

Two points:   1) I am not saying a person shouldn't try (and if they are happy with it, keep/use) firefox.  It does has its pluses... its security enhancements.... all i was trying to say is that, even with firefox, you still have to be careful... if you practice 'unsafe computing', you can still 'catch' something bad, even thru firefox.   Personally, i'm still regularly using Internet Explorer on both a win ME system (as well as a win 98 SE system).   I try to be careful/knowledgeable about visiting 'strange' web sites; about what programs I download; about what e-mail attachments I open.   I know this isn't always easy, and isn't guaranteed 100% effective either.  maybe i've just been lucky, but i seem to be managing so far.   2) microsoft anti-spyware beta does NOT run on Win Me (nor win 98), so it would not be an option for Saevyn at present (unless/until he/she upgrades operating systems).   but yes, installing all available CRITICAL windows updates should indeed be done. Message Edited by ky331 on 04-11-2005 07:14 AM

Virus & Spyware

Need Advice on Foxfire Browser

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