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Get a better browser

Understanding your browser options.

 

The good news? Windows comes with a free Web browser built in - Internet Explorer 6 in Windows XP; Internet Explorer 7 in Vista. The bad news? Neither is worth the asking price.

Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) is as insecure as it is outmoded. By using it, you place yourself at serious risk of having your computer infected by spyware or your browser hijacked. Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) is a big improvement over IE 6, but it still suffers from underlying problems that render it a poor choice, especially given the excellent alternatives available to you.

Things are hopping on the browser scene. Microsoft’s competitors have been churning out revamped versions of their products; Opera’s decision to stop charging for its browser has opened up a better option for all of us; and new browsers like Flock are providing different ways of accessing interactive Web content.

While many users - through a combination of inertia, ignorance and Microsoft’s marketing might - still surf the Net using the much-patched and perennially insecure Internet Explorer 6, more and more people have made the transition to a safer browser. Whether that’s by upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or by buying Windows Vista with its integrated, enhanced version of IE 7 or by moving to another browser altogether, doesn’t really matter. The important thing is to give IE 6 the heave ho.

That’s not to say we’re entering a Golden Age of Browsers in which you no longer need worry about security flaws. Such a halcyon era is nowhere on the horizon. But there’s no doubt IE 6 has been a security nightmare and each one of its possible replacements is an improvement.

Of course, security is not the only issue to consider when choosing a browser. The surfing experience itself is equally important, and on that front, too, IE 6 is blown away by the alternatives.

Don’t settle for the browser that comes with your operating system. Take a look at the alternatives and make the best choice for your peace of mind and browsing enjoyment.

A choice of engines

Although there are dozens of browsers to choose from, that choice is somewhat illusory. That’s because most browsers are based on one of two layout engines, Trident (aka MSHTML) and Gecko. Whether you choose Internet Explorer, AM Browser, or Maxthon, for example, you end up with the Trident browsing engine, complete with all its flaws and capabilities. If you opt for Firefox, SeaMonkey or Flock, your browsing engine is Gecko. Any differences between the browsers are the result of dressing up the underlying engine with pretty looks or additional features.

The layout engine, also known as a browsing engine or rendering engine, is the heart of a browser. It’s this piece of software that takes Web content in the form of HTML, image files, XML and so on, combines it with formatting directions such as those found in cascading style sheets (CSS), and displays the result on the screen. Although most commonly found at the core of a browser, a layout engine may also be used for similar content display tasks by other programs, including email clients and media players.

When you consider which browser to use, you should know on which layout engine it’s based. The layout engine determines the ability of your browser to display Web pages correctly, to support Web standards such as CSS and XHTML, and establishes its underlying level of security.

Security

No matter how elegant a browser looks or how nifty its features, if its underlying layout engine has major security vulnerabilities or other flaws, then the browser will inherit those flaws. That’s why choosing an Internet Explorer 6 wraparound, such as Maxthon or Avant Browser, is just as risky as opting for IE 6 itself.

Browsers based on the Gecko engine have their share of bugs and security flaws, too, as do browsers based on less common engines such as Presto (the proprietary engine at the heart of Opera). But pre-IE 7 versions of Trident are notoriously vulnerable and have the added problem of being hooked directly into the operating system. Those operating system hooks make it easier for hackers to worm their way into the innards of your system.

When developing IE 7 for Windows Vista, Microsoft unhitched the browser from the operating system, a move that closes many of the security holes which for years have plagued both browser and operating system. The company also overhauled Trident, fixing at least some of the problems of the older layout engine. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t gone far enough with its Trident revamp and IE 7, on both the Windows XP and Vista platforms, inherits much of the same code and many of the as-yet-unpatched vulnerabilities present in earlier versions. IE 7, does, however, provide additional security features including site-by-site ActiveX permissions, phishing protection and improved handling of security zones.

Additional security features

While the security of the underlying layout engine is important in determining overall browser security, there’s more to it than that.

A browser can be made less secure by including add-ons with their own vulnerabilities. Firefox, for example, has the powerful ability to run third-party extensions to enhance the browser; these extensions may also provide a way to compromise the browser’s security, and they most certainly can affect the browser’s stability.

A browser can be made more secure by the addition of features such as anti-phishing, pop-up blocking, privacy controls, and password management. IE 7 running on Windows Vista gets a big security boost by running in Protected Mode, a mode which essentially isolates the browser from the operating system and other programs. This feature is not available when running IE 7 on other versions of Windows.

Another factor in browser security is popularity. Hackers and criminals are far more likely to target a popular browser than an unpopular one, as the payoff is greater. That’s one reason why IE 6 has spouted so many leaks. Opera, on the other hand, with its miniscule market share, has been subject to far fewer attacks. But the correlation between popularity and the number of discovered vulnerabilities is not clear cut: for example, although the number of flaws uncovered in Firefox underwent an upsurge as the browser’s popularity increased, that upsurge has now petered out even though Firefox’s market share continues to grow.

The bottom line is there is no 100 percent safe browser. Each has its security flaws, each has bugs, and your only real protection is to keep your browser fully up to date with the latest patches and to use safe surfing practices. Still, in terms of security, using IE or a Trident-based browser is probably your worst option, not merely because of the number of flaws but because Microsoft fixes known flaws at a slower rate than its competitors. Because of that, even when you run a fully patched version of Internet Explorer, there are still likely to be publicised, unpatched flaws lurking within, so you’re at greater risk.

Microsoft lags in fixing known vulnerabilities in its browser. (Source: David Hammond)

The browsers

There are dozens of browsers available. Some of them are experimental; some aim at niche markets; many of them are designed for the same audience that uses Internet Explorer. Here's a look at some of the best browsing alternatives.

AM Browser

Layout engine: Trident

AM Browser, formerly and more entertainingly known as Crazy Browser, was one of the first free Internet Explorer wraparounds to offer tabbed browsing. The current version offers a choice of tabbed, tiled or cascaded display for multiple Web sites, plus a neat slideshow option for automatically rotating through sites. You can also save groups of sites for easy reopening at a later time.

Particularly nice for non-US users is the ability to define custom domain completion strings. So, just as in most browsers you can type “microsoft” in the address bar and press Ctrl+Enter to load www.microsoft.com, with AM Browser you can set up your own automatic completions. For example, you can set up Shift+Enter to automatically add .com.au to a site address.
AM Browser includes pop-up blocking, multiple monitor support, limited RSS newsreader support and mouse gestures for navigation.

Avant Browser

Layout engine: Trident

AvantBrowser is another Internet Explorer wraparound with support for tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking. It adds a Flash animation filter to the mix, the ability to minimize to a tray-based icon, a full-screen mode that occupies the entire screen, multiple home page support, and a safe recovery option for restoring all open tabs if your browser crashes.

Avant’s interface is a little fussy and its creators make a couple of claims that fly in the face of the facts. First, it purports to be “the world’s fastest browser”, a statement for which there’s no substantiation. Independent browser speed comparisons (such as Mark Wilton-Jones’ tests at www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html) put it squarely in the middle of the pack for Windows browsers.

Avant’s FAQ also states "AvantBrowser is secure." It follows that up with this: "Since it's based on Internet Explorer, Avant Browser is as secure as Internet Explorer." Enough said.

Firefox

Layout engine: Gecko

Firefox is the darling of the Web surfing cognoscenti for a number of reasons. It has all the standard features most people want in a browser—tabs, RSS support, pop-up blocking, excellent on-page searching, good standards compliance—presented in an uncluttered interface. It’s easy to customize and its support for third-party extensions makes it a snap to add features, rectify omissions and generally mold the browser into a conformable shape.

Firefox integrates extensions and themes management.

Running on the Gecko engine, Firefox has an advantage over Trident-based browsers on the security front, too.

Version 2 includes a lot of behind-the-scenes work that’s mostly of interest to Web developers. On the front end, though, are improvements to tab handling, crash recovery, much improved RSS feed support, and extension and theme management.

Flock

Layout engine: Gecko

You’ll realize Flock’s a different kind of browser the first time you run it. During setup, it invites you to configure it to work with your Flickr or Photobucket account and your blog, an indication of Flock’s goal to act as a nexus between browser and “Web 2.0” social interaction features.

If you have a Flickr or Photobucket account, for example, Flock automatically signs in to your account and places your photos into the Photobar. From the Photobar you can drag and drop photos straight into comments or listings on sites such as MySpace and eBay. It also includes an integrated batch uploader for your photos.

Do more than just browse with Flock. (Click the image to see a full-sized screenshot.)

Blogging tools are hardwired into Flock, too, making it easy to post on the fly.

Flock also has excellent feed reading built into a sidebar; the ability to share Favorites on all your computers or publicly via del.icio.us or Shadows; and support for Firefox extensions.
Note that Flock is still in development and so it may have more than the usual quota of bugs.

Internet Explorer 7

Layout engine: Trident (revised)

After railing against Internet Explorer for so long, it’d be a pleasant change to be able to heap praise upon the new version. Alas, it’s a pleasure we’ll have to forgo.

There certainly is plenty to enjoy in the new version, including a stylish implementation of tabs, good RSS support, excellent page zoom and the best printing controls in any browser. There’s phishing protection and a host of other security improvements and, in the Vista version, parental controls and a Protected Mode to guard your computer against attack.

Still, as mentioned before, the underlying Trident engine has been only partially revamped, leaving plenty of the old, insecure code to cause us problems. The new interface places the menus in an awkward location. And IE continues to lag behind all its main rivals in support for Web standards, including HTML and XHTML tags, CSS 2.1, DOM (the Document Object Model, which allows scripting languages to handle browser input and output and manipulate information on Web pages) and ECMAScript (a new, standards-based replacement for Jscript and JavaScript). From a Web developer’s perspective, this lack of standards support means long hours of coding separately to ensure sites display properly in all browsers; from a surfer’s perspective, it means some Web pages will display in a markedly different way in IE from other browsers.

For the foreseeable future, we’ll all need to keep a copy of Internet Explorer installed simply because many Microsoft sites implement technology that can only be displayed by IE (or, at least, by a browser sitting on top of the Trident engine). But unless your job requires it, you’re still better off using another browser for your day-to-day surfing.

K-Meleon

Layout engine: Gecko

K-Meleon emphasizes speed and clarity and is designed for those who don’t mind a little tinkering in order to tailor the browser to their needs. Behind the clean interface are plenty of options and some advanced features including mouse gestures and comprehensive bookmark management.

The browser has its own macro language you can use to design your own plug-ins, or you can choose from a library of plug-ins created by other users.

Maxthon

Layout engine: Gecko and Trident

Maxthon is stuffed full of features and innovations, making it an interesting alternative to Internet Explorer. Because it’s built around the Trident engine, it can handle all those pesky proprietary Microsoft sites. It also lets you swap layout engines and use Gecko instead. That’d be a killer feature if it worked properly, but in its current implementation it’s too clumsy to use and too buggy to be really worthwhile.

On the feature front, though, there’s nothing to complain about. There is, of course, the usual cast of characters including tabs, tab groups, RSS support, pop-up blocking (a highly advanced implementation), skins and mouse gestures. In addition, Maxthon includes a copy of RoboForm for automated and secure form fill-in (it’s free for limited use); Super Drag-and-Drop for quickly opening links or images in a new tab; a status-bar based Simple Collector, which provides a handy scratchpad for storing text as you surf; URL aliases; and a whole lot more.

Netscape

Layout engine: Gecko and Trident

Netscape is a far cry from the browser which once dominated the market. It’s not a bad browser but it comes with so many superfluous add-ons you really should think twice before installing it. As the download site says, the “installation may include Netscape 8.1 Browser, Netscape ISP, McAfee, Rhapsody, Real Arcade and WeatherBug.” That’s a lot of baggage if all you want is a browser.
Netscape has one big plus: it includes both the Gecko and Trident layout engines, and it implements both well. So you can use it in Gecko mode for added security, and then switch to Trident mode for sites that won’t work with Gecko.

Opera

Layout engine: Presto

The browsing world would probably be a completely different place if Opera Software had chosen to give its browser away for free years ago. Had it done so, there’s no doubt this most innovative of browsers would have garnered many adherents.

So now that Opera is free, and advertising-free, too, maybe its time of glory has arrived. It certainly deserves acclaim.

Opera crams in the features while maintaining uncluttered elegance.

Opera is speedy, highly standards compliant, comparatively secure and bubbling over with features. It was one of the first browsers to implement tabs, mouse gestures and RSS support (an unmatched implementation) and it’s currently the only browser to include a BitTorrent client. It has its own email client built in so you can avoid the insecurities of using Outlook Express. It also has voice control, IRC chat, accessibility aids and Widgets, little mini applications which enhance the browser. Because it uses its own proprietary layout engine, it’s not vulnerable to flaws inherent in the more commonly used engines nor affected by attacks targetted at those engines (although that’s not to say it is flawless or 100 percent secure).

You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t give it a go.

Seamonkey

Layout engine: Gecko

Wondering where the old Mozilla Suite has gone? It’s now SeaMonkey.

This suite features a Gecko-based browser (very similar to Firefox), email client, newsgroup reader, IRC Chat and HTML editor. It’s a good option if you’d like to supplant both Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.

Your choice

When it comes to browsers, you have real freedom of choice. There’s no need to settle for a single browser; instead, you can install and use as many as you like. To increase security, for example, you could use Opera or Firefox and resort to Internet Explorer only when you must (or use Firefox’s IE Tab extension). If you’re into more than mere siteseeing, add Flock to the mix for blogging and photo sharing.

Some other browsing options

 

Browser	Platform	Layout Engine
Epiphany	Gnome	Gecko
Salamander	GNU/Linux	Gecko
Skipstone	GTK+	Gecko
Konqueror	KDE	KHTML or Gecko
iCab	Mac	iCab
Camino	Mac	Gecko
OmniWeb	Mac	WebCore
Safari	Mac	WebCore
Shira	Mac	WebKit
Dr Orca	Windows	Gecko
NetCaptor	Windows	Trident
SlimBrowser	Windows	Trident
Tomcat Prowler	Windows	Trident

 

© 2008  Rose Vines

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