Mozilla Firefox

[yerbamate]

Can anyone tell me if Mozilla Firefox is safe against hacking, and do I need extra safeguards. I am relatively new to computing, so any advice will be welcome.

[WoWo]

Firefox is about as safe as you can get, however what you do need to install on your PC (if it isn't there already) is a firewall and a virus checker.

A PC has things called ports, these are communication channels with the outside word, a firewall monitors communications via these ports and warns you when it thinks something is trying to access them when it shouldn't.

[yerbamate]

Thank you WoWo.

[jake-the-peg]

It is rather misleading to say that "firefox is as safe as you can get"

People write software - (even Firefox) - they make mistakes - mistakes can expose security problems.

The latest version of Firefox (2.0.0.1) fixed 5 critical security bugs in 2.0 that would've allowed an attacker to control your machine.

There will be more found, there always are

Firewalls are good but it is also very important to keep your software up to date with the latest version all the time -

The only thing worse than using a browser with security problems is using one where there are security problems that everyone but you knows about!

[WoWo]

Jake - When you quote people, make sure you quote them correctly. The little word you missed out was "about" which infered correctly that, it's as good as anything else out there.

As you say you need to keep it updated but Firefox does a good job of doing that automatically (or at least telling you when updates are available.

[jake-the-peg]

Whatever,

The point is I think you might inadvertantly have given someone new to computer security the impression that they don't have to worry much about security with Mozilla.

I work for a large computer security company and I see endless streams of vulnerabilities fly by.

One for Firefox only yesterday

Rated "moderately critical"

http://secunia.com/advisories/24175/

[oldbob]

I regard Firefox as being considerably more secure than Internet Explorer however you cannot delete Internet Explorer as it is needed to update Windows. Just make sure Internet Explorer does not access the internet except on the rare occasions you need to update windows. In addition to firefox you need a good firewall. Google ZoneAlarm, it's good and a free version is available for download. You also need a AntiVirus program (google AntiVir and AVG, both are good and free). You also need a good adware/spyware program. Google Spybot S&D, it's also free. Only when you are running all of these programs can you feel safe from hackers, viruses or spyware.

[yerbamate]

Many thanks oldbob.

[oldbob]

An additional thought. Windows XP incorporates it's own firewall. The consensus of opinion is that this firewall is worse than useless as it inspires a false sense of security. I recommend that the windows XP firewall be turned off and the likes of ZoneAlarm installed instead. It is important to note that all firewalls, antivirus programs and adware programs are only as good as their last update. There are about 500 new viruses or malware created every day so it is important that your defenses are updated at least weekly.