One major source of these problems is Internet Explorer, the default Windows web browser, which has recently suffered a rash of security vulnerabilities. To give an idea of the scale of the problem, CERT (US Computer Emergency Readiness Team) issued around 20 advisories (the most critical type of report) relating to Internet Explorer during August and September 2004. Even with standard protective measures like firewalls and virus scanners in place, some of these vulnerabilities could still be used to attack your system (for example, see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-058.mspx). The situation is now so bad that CERT recommends using any browser except Internet Explorer (see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/28/cert_ditch_explorer/).

So what can you use instead of Internet Explorer?

Firefox is one of the most popular alternative web browsers for Windows.

Firefox has far better security and privacy features than Internet Explorer, letting you manage your exposure to the web more thoroughly and intelligently.

Some of these features are described below.

• Pop-up window blocking
  Pop-up windows are one way in which a site could cause you to run an executable without you realising. One technique is to try to force a download via the browser, along with several pop-up windows. The attacker is banking on confusing the user, so that while closing the pop-ups, they click the "Open" button in the download window for an executable by accident. Once a user does this, they are basically giving the executable free reign to do what it likes to their system, and allowing it to install viruses, trojans or spyware.
  Firefox lets you put a blanket ban on all website pop-ups. If there are sites where you need pop-ups to be available (for example, some web applications make use of them), you can specify those sites individually, giving them permission to activate pop-ups. As well as increasing security, this feature also reduces the annoyance caused by endless pop-up advertisements.
  [A similar feature is also available in Internet Explorer with Windows Service Pack 2.]
• Javascript control
  Sites often use Javascript to play games with your browser, like changing the status bar text so you can't see the address of a link, or preventing you from leaving the site via the "Back" button.
  Firefox gives you the ability to prevent Javascript from controlling the browser against your will. It gives you fine-grained control over what client-side scripts are allowed to do, such as whether Javascript can:
  • Move, resize, raise or lower windows
  • Replace or disable context menus
  • Hide the status bar
• Spyware control
  If you see an advertising image on a web page, it is likely that you have also been sent a cookie by the company supplying the advertisement. These companies employ cookies as a form of spyware, using them to track which websites you visit and when and exploiting that personal information to target their advertising more effectively (see http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq/).
  Firefox gives you control over which websites are allowed to set cookies on your browser, helping you retain your privacy. While Internet Explorer provides some of this functionality (via its security options), Firefox gives you far more control. For example, you can configure Firefox to:
  • Reject cookies not originating on the website you are visiting: this would block any cookies set by advertising images, for example
  • Accept cookies for the current session only, or prompt you whenever a site tries to set a cookie
  • Block or accept all cookies for specified websites
• Image blocking
  If you are using a slow internet connection, there is nothing so annoying as spending half your time online waiting for images to download, particularly if they are advertisements. Firefox lets you control which images are downloaded, making it possible to block images from domains associated with advertisers, for example. This is done simply by right-clicking on the image and selecting the "Block images from " option. This makes web browsing far speedier, as well as preventing advertising sites from setting cookies (see the previous bullet point).
• BugMeNot
  If you have ever been irritated by websites which insist on taking your name and email address before you can use them, this tool is for you. It can help you resist supplying personal information to sites which don't really need it.
  BugMeNot provides access to a shared repository of usernames and passwords, set up by other Firefox users, which contain no personal information and can be used by anyone to login to a website. When confronted with a web form requesting your personal information, you can simply select "BugMeNot" from the right-click context menu to fill the form with a generic username and password (if one exists for the site). If no account exists, you can create an account and contribute it to the central account store, for other BugMeNot users to make use of.
  While BugMeNot is not part of the core Firefox browser, it can be installed as an "extension". There are many other extensions for Firefox, adding useful functionality which is not part of the core product; they are easily installed from the Tools > Extensions menu option.

Aside from the privacy and security issues, tabbed browsing is a hugely useful feature of Firefox which, on its own, should convince you to switch. You can use it to open multiple web pages inside a single browser window and switch between them. It is also possible to open links in new tabs, so you can put a new web page "in the background" while continuing to read the current one. This is much neater than the "one window per page" model in Internet Explorer, where you quickly end up with a clutter of windows and lose track of which one you're reading.

I encourage you to try Firefox, and know you will be pleasantly surprised if you do.

(If you do decide to switch to Firefox, you can make it your default web browser in Windows by using the "Set Program Access and Defaults" option in the Start menu. Choose a "Custom" configuration, then under the "Choose a default web browser" option, select "Firefox".)