Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 28th Aug 2009 12:42 UTC
Another instalment of Ask OSNews. A reader sent us in a question about browser security and privacy. "Could you please advise me and your readers on what you consider to be the safest web browser? I am considering the term 'safe' from both a privacy and security stand point."
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RE[3]: Non Windows Os, definitely the way to go...
by gustl on Sat 29th Aug 2009 14:19
in reply to "RE[2]: Non Windows Os, definitely the way to go..."
Member since:2006-01-19
I also see Windows non-enforced separation of admin and user as biggest flaw.
They should install a Windows XP in a virtual machine for backwards compatibility, and have strict seperation between admin mode and user mode.
Every time someone wants to install something, a admin password should be asked.
RE[4]: Non Windows Os, definitely the way to go...
by nt_jerkface on Sat 29th Aug 2009 21:08
in reply to "RE[3]: Non Windows Os, definitely the way to go..."
Member since:2009-08-26
I also see Windows non-enforced separation of admin and user as biggest flaw. They should install a Windows XP in a virtual machine for backwards compatibility, and have strict seperation between admin mode and user mode. Every time someone wants to install something, a admin password should be asked.
The admin/user separation in Vista works great when you actually have an admin and a user. Asking a user every time for a password or uac will work for stopping junk that would normally install itself without permission but it doesn't stop people that are wilfully trying to install crap.
It's the dancing pigs problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_pigs
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Member since:
2006-07-16
Which flaws exactly? I think the main problem with security today is that people are allowed to install random crap from the web. IE8 + User mode blocks everything, so I don't see how you can blame windows. I've also cleaned computers and I've noticed that vista at least cuts down a lot of it. The worst machines I have seen were XP and the browser didn't matter because most of the crap came from people trying to download:
Porn
Pirated material
Random codecs
Click me crap
Your computer is infected crap
So I guess my answer is that the safe browser is the one that is updated and running in user mode. IE has a bad rep but it is really more from 6. IE8 is fine, but so are the alternatives. "
I agree completely. Vista seems significantly more resistant to web infections than XP (more than half of the infested machines I mentioned were XP machines.) I agree that IE in user mode is safer, however, most people don't run this way. People seem to want to run as administrators. This is what I eluded to when I spoke of Windows inherent flaws. Once an administrator, always an administrator. Code can run wild. UAC tries to address this, but it doesn't go far enough (and even then, users complained which led to the more lax UAC coming out in Win7.)