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SEPTEMBER 19, 2005 (TECHWORLD.COM) - Mac users are "operating under a false sense of security," according to Symantec Corp., and Firefox users will have to recognize that the popular open-source Web browser is currently a greater security risk than Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report, published today, found evidence that attackers are beginning to organize for attacks on the Mac operating system. Researchers also found that over the past six months, nearly twice as many vulnerabilities surfaced in Mozilla browsers as in Explorer. "It is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for...

Mac users are “operating under a false sense of security”, according to Symantec, and Firefox users will have to recognize that the open-source browser is currently a greater security risk than Internet Explorer. Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, published Monday, found evidence that attackers are beginning to organize for attacks on the Mac operating system. Researchers also found that over the past six months, nearly twice as many vulnerabilities surfaced in Mozilla browsers as in Explorer. “It is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity, contrary to popular belief that the...

What Firefox and Mozilla users should know about the IDN buffer overflow security issue On September 6 a security vulnerability affecting all versions of Mozilla Firefox and the Mozilla Suite was reported to Mozilla by Tom Ferris and on September 8th was publicly disclosed. On September 9, the Mozilla team released a configuration change which, as a temporary measure to work around this problem, disables IDN in the browser. IDN functionality will be restored in a future product update. The fix is either a manual configuration change or a small download which will make this configuration change for the user....

# Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Firefox may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved. # Faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance. # Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs. # Improvements to popup blocking. # Clear Private Data feature provides an easy way to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut. # Answers.com is added to the search engine list. # Improvements to product usability including descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, RSS discovery,...

The Mozilla Organization has released Firefox 1.5 beta 1, which they describe as “the first Beta release of our next generation Firefox browser.” Firefox is the Web browser that’s made a splash across Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating system platforms for its speed, privacy and security capabilities, support for tabbed browsing, customizability and other features. It’s free to download and use. Known as “Deer Park” in its early development, the new version of Firefox features automated update capabilities, faster browser navigation, drag and drop reordering of tabs, improvements to popup blocking, a “Clear Private Data” feature, the addition...

Unpatched Firefox flaw may expose users By Joris Evers, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: September 9, 2005, 3:53 AM PT A new, unpatched flaw in that affects all versions of Firefox could let attackers surreptitiously run malicious code on users' PCs, a security researcher has warned. The problem lies in the way Firefox handles Web links that are overly long and contain dashes, security researcher Tom Ferris said in an interview via instant messaging late Thursday. He posted an advisory and a proof of concept to the Full Disclosure security mailing list and to his Security Protocols Web site....

The advent of Firefox and other Web browser alternatives to Internet Explorer means cybercops have to learn new tricks for their investigations. Internet Explorer hides nothing from cops and other investigators who examine PCs to discover which sites the user has visited. They know the location of the IE browser cache, cookie files and history and know how to read those files. Also, popular forensics tools can help out. But that story changes when it comes to alternative browsers such as Firefox and Opera. These programs use different structures, files and naming conventions for the data investigators are after and...

Hi Friendly FReepers! I used to have this problem with Firefox, and haven't seen it for awhile until today. Firefox crashed (which it's been doing a lot lately) and now when I try to restart it, it asks me which profile I want to use, and it won't let me choose the default one. (Says it's already in use.) I know there's a simple fix to this, but I don't remember what it is. Help a Freeper out?

Oslo, Norway-based Opera Software ASA on Tuesday announced that it’s giving away complimentary registration codes for its Opera Web browser for 24 hours on Tuesday, August 30, 2005. The giveaway is to celebrate Opera’s 10th anniversary. Opera costs nothing to download and use, but unless a registration code is entered, the software displays advertisements. By filling out your e-mail address on the 10-Year Online Anniversary Web site, you get registration codes for each of the desktop operating systems opera supports, including Mac OS X, Windows, FreeBSD, Solaris, and three flavors of Linux. Opera features pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searching...

Firefox's 'retreat' ensures Microsoft excels Open source web browser Firefox has lost the momentum it has steadily gained since it was unleashed last year, according to Web analysts at Net Applications. The online portal’s unique Hit List service reveals a slump in the Mozilla browser’s market share, falling from 8.7% to 8.1 % in July. Coinciding with its demise, was the advance of Microsoft's IE that has gained some of the ground surrendered in June, climbing back from 86.6 % to 87.2% last month. The revival for the dominant browser comes on the back of average monthly losses of between...

Welcome the next generation of Internet browsing. AOL has built upon Microsoft® Internet Explorer technology-the world's most widely used-and raised it to the next level. AOL Explorer has enhanced security and more time-saving features than any other browser. Built-in pop-up controls help protect you against annoying pop-ups and Spyware Quick Scan makes your surfing safer. A host of new tools, like Tabbed Browsing help make you more efficient. New AOL Explorer is the leap forward in browsing you've been waiting for.

IBM will donate 50,000 lines of code to the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web browser to make it friendly for people with visual and motor disabilities, Big Blue said Monday. The contribution would allow the addition of dynamic hypertext markup language accessibility technology to version 1.5 of Firefox, the company said. With this technology, Web pages can be magnified, automatically narrated or navigated from a keyboard instead of from a mouse, IBM said. For instance, the amount of tabbing required to navigate a spreadsheet can be minimized for people with mobility disabilities. In addition, developers can work on "rich Internet applications"...

SAN FRANCISCO--IBM has updated its Workplace desktop software product with support for the Firefox Web browser, the company said on Tuesday. IBM's Workplace software provides functions such as word processing, document storage and calendars. The processing actually takes place on a central server that people access with a Web browser. Previously, IBM supported only Mozilla and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Firefox is the default Web browser in Red Hat and Suse Linux, though it's also widely used on Windows, and has been gaining market share. special coverage LinuxWorld SF Open-source hopefuls join Linux stalwarts to talk shop and hawk wares at...

Google Inc. plans to enhance its Google News article search service on Tuesday by adding content syndication, according to executives from the Mountain View, California, company. The new feature will allow Google News users to set up RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom content syndication feeds for specific Google News sections, such as entertainment, business or world news, and for specific terms users search for on Google News, such as “George Bush,” “diabetes” or “space shuttle.” Users will also be able to set up RSS or Atom feeds for customized sections they create on Google News. “This is another way...

Mozilla is a web browser that is essentially what used to be Netscape. There are many reasons to dislike Mozilla. The fact that it is slow, hogs up resources and is unusable is probably enough of a reason not to use it. You can also add promotion of mass murder to the list. At the Mozilla Party website you get a good look at their logo. I suspect the only way to make the developers of Mozilla realize there is nothing cool about communism is by sending them to North Korea to die. Not to many people actually use Mozilla,...

As it marked the 75 millionth download of its Firefox Web browser, the Mozilla Foundation said it was expanding in several directions. The foundation's open-source e-mail reader, Thunderbird, is approaching its 10 millionth download. Mozilla's browser for small devices, Minimo, reached a milestone, as a prerelease version appeared with tabs, a bookmark manager and RSS feeds. The Mozilla staff itself has quadrupled during the past six months, to 40 employees. "We're beefing up the management on the project," said Chris Hofmann, whose title at Mozilla is in flux since the foundation hired another director of engineering. "The project is still...

Uhm. I feel like a complete idiot. How do I set up a new home page in Firefox? I can't seem to find it, and the help topics are not helping. Thanks for putting up with me.

Mozilla has rolled out a security update for its eponymous Internet software suite. Details of the changes in Mozilla 1.7.10 have yet to be given in the release notes, although it is worth noting that this release is the successor to 1.7.9 and not to be confused with 1.7.1. The updated version can be downloaded from www.mozilla.org/mozilla1.x/. The update follows the pattern for the full Mozilla suite, of maintenance and security updates but no further application development. Instead the Mozilla Organisation is concentrating resources on standalone Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client as well as several other projects. Firefox 1.1...

The fine folks at Mozilla have released an update today for both the Firefox web browser, and the Thunderbird email clients. Links here. This is a bugfix/security update. All users are advised to upgrade to the latest versions. For a list of vulerabilities addressed in this release, click Here.

The open-source Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client will be updated for the second time in a week because of code changes that have unintentionally stopped some third-party extensions from functioning correctly. The updates will take Firefox and Thunderbird to version 1.0.6, while the Mozilla Suite will be updated to version 1.7.10, wrote representatives from the Mozilla Foundation on the group's developer news blog. Mozilla oversees the software's development. It appears security fixes in last week's 1.0.5 update caused the problems. "There is a very real chance that some of the general security improvements in last week's 1.0.5 update may...