This article from TheRegister, details security services firm ScanSafe’s report that tells us that Internet Explorer flaws were the biggest security threat to enterprise businesses. And they included Viruses and Trojans when making that pronouncement, noting that many Viruses use browser flaws as a means of infection.

Considering that Microsoft told us that SP2 was going to make a huge difference to security, it makes you wonder why the number of exploits found hasn’t really changed since SP2 was released and there is already a list of exploits that effect IE6 SP2 as much as previous version. No web browser can yet claim to be security perfect, but Internet Explorer currently has the worst security record of all of them, possibly counted together.

In case this is the first time you’ve visited us, I’ll make the same suggestion I make regularly on this site: Get your free copy of Firefox now. Firefox, the best browser on the Internet.

Franki

WebSideStory has released a report stating that the Mozilla foundation’s browsers have taken another bite out of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, that now accounts for just under a 3% drop in only months. It doesn’t sound like much until you consider just how many browser installs it accounts for. (we are speaking of many millions here.)

It is likely to cause Microsoft to rethink it’s policy of no new Internet Explorer versions that don’t come with a new version of Windows. I expect Microsoft initially thought that they could use a new version of Internet Explorer as another way to lure people to buy newer versions of Windows, and I don’t imagine they were expecting browsers as good as Firefox to show up at the crucial stage. After all, why would you pay hundreds of dollars to buy a new version of Windows to get a better browser, when you can get a much better browser right now for free?

I’m going to make a prediction, and that prediction is that Microsoft will pull a John Kerry (a flip-flop) and release Internet Explorer 7 sometime before Longhorn comes out. If they wait until the end of 2006 to update their web browser, they will likely have lost allot more then 3% of market share. After all Internet Explorer 6 is already about 4 years old, and in the software world that’s positively archaic. By the time Longhorn is released, IE6 will be at least 6 years old. The point to remember here, is that they didn’t update it, because they had no real competition for most of that 4 years, so why should they bother? (That is my way of pointing out that competition is a great way of making sure that huge companies like Microsoft offer value for money. They go on a lot about innovation, but unless they get real serious competition, they are apparently quiet happy to stop development and wait until they do. So regardless of what they would have you believe, they are not in this to help the customer, only to take his/her money.)

The WebSideStory story has been covered by TheInquirer and Eweek.

Franki

Two new bugs in Internet Explorer have recently been found, both relate to the status bar showing one address on mouse over of a link but taking you to another address when you follow the link. One flaw is stopped by SP2 for XP, and the other is not.

Eweek has the story.

Regards

Franki

As the US prepares for a national election this week, I wonder how much longer you will have to go to your local precinct to vote. Voting technology is so out of date it isn’t funny. Finally, Nevada electronic voting may move us forward as they are the gaming capital of the world. In some respects, the irony is appropriate as politics involves gamesmanship. I can withdraw money worldwide with my ATM card, but I have to vote at one place in an eight hour time frame. I hope they soon fix that so people who want to can vote conveniently.

I seldom pass on jokes on the internet. There are just to many of them and it isn’t worth the traffic. I did find this one particularly funny however. If you ever watch robot wars … this little bit is a good twist on it.

Today we’ll start with the bad, then the ugly. (sorry, not much good worth mentioning today.)

Two new Viruses are around for Windows users to worry about, Bagle-AT and Zafi-C. The former managed to get though several mail server Virus filters before the patterns were updated to block it, so if you get any mail with subjects claiming to be a joke, be suspicious. If you are not protected, now might be a good time to head over to tips.littlehosting.com and have a read.

Gmail users should note that a flaw in the Google mailing system can be used to gain total control over a users mailbox. Google are apparently looking into it.

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This is a very neat on-line utility for splitting images. It will build the mouseovers even. It will only work with proportional images needing splitting, but if you only do one every once in a while it might work well for you.