INTERNET BROWSERS The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Peter C. Cronas & John CampbellMay

Internet Browsers What is a browser? A Browser is an integrated series of computer programs that allow a user to interact with the vast array of materials available on the World Wide Web, i.e. the Internet. Is there anyone in the room who has not used an internet browser before to “surf” the net? 2

Internet Browsers Factoids: The proliferation of personal computers and the use of the internet has increased at a truly remarkable pace. Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company, projects that over one billion personal computers will be in service during

Internet Browsers Factoids (continued)  Consequently, the use of the web and internet browsers has increased proportionately.  That’s good and bad at the same time. ◦ It’s good because your browser provides you with easy access to the incredible array of resources on the net. ◦ It’s bad because your browser can provide the bad guys with easy access to your computer. The damage they can do to you and your PC is only limited by their imagination. ◦ Other presentations have/will address security issues 4

Internet Browsers Questions: 1.Can I use a browser that did not come preloaded on my computer? 2.Are there browser choices available to me that would improve my “surfing” experience & make it safer? In other words, is one browser better than another? 5

Internet Browsers Answers: 1. Yes you can. There are more than a dozen internet browser products on the market today but just three have achieved significant levels of market penetration in the Microsoft Windows world. – Internet Explorer:75.47%(Microsoft) – FireFox:17.83%(Mozilla) – Safari: 5.82%(Apple) – Opera 0.62% (Opera) 6

Internet Browsers 2. The best browser in my opinion is FireFox  Ease of use  Excellent security features  Tabbed browsing  Auto page adjust for printed output  Version updates that download automatically but ask the user for the ok to restart  Facilitates synchronization of bookmarks between desktop & laptop computers  Compatibility with almost all web sites on the net  Quality Tool Bar add-on products like “Netcraft”  Commitment by Mozilla to quickly release new & improved versions  FireFox is fully XP & Vista compatible  It’s not a Microsoft product 7

Internet Browsers Demo of I.E., FireFox and Safari Links : FireFox: or Safari: 8

Internet Browsers What’s wrong with Microsoft’s I.E. 7?  It’s huge market share makes it a favorite target for the bad guys.  It lacks many of the features found in competing products  Microsoft did not pay much attention to its browser product until the competition heated up with the introduction of Firefox 1.0 late in 2004  Even the latest production version of I.E. 7 has been full of flaws and security problems. 9

Internet Browsers Solution: Give FireFox a try – it’s free, easy to install and easy to uninstall You need to keep I.E. in order to download Microsoft operating system and MS Office product security fixes and updates. It’s ok to experiment with a new product like FireFox and to make mistakes FireFox Version 3 is in beta test now and so is I.E. Version 8 10