Archive for the ‘Browsers’ Category
Four Measly Viruses
Last May I bought a netbook. It was cheap enough — under $300 — that I decided to run an experiment: I’d go without anti-virus software for a year and see if Google Chrome would live up to its reputation as the safest of all the browsers.
So last night I fired up AVG’s free Rescue CD on a bootable flash drive — is that an oxymoron? — and let it crank for about an hour. The results? After 50 weeks of daily use at home, in hotels, and at 2 different colleges by me and 2 other family members, the netbook contained a grand total of 4 viruses. And they were spyware-type stuff. Nothing major, more like barnacles on a boat.
Now I realize that “4 viruses” means that Chrome isn’t perfect. And I confess that maybe I’m a bit less problematic than most users — I don’t visit online porn or gambling sites (although I did download music). But still, can you imagine the carnage if I used IE for a whole year without AV?
Based on my results, I’ve decided not to load AV software on the netbook. I don’t need it to slow me down. It’s not worth giving up the 30 second boot and 15 second shutdown times I get by running free.
Remember When the Future Was Gray, Black and Blue?
The (first real) Web browser turns 17 today.
Falling Like Dominoes [UPDATED]
They’re falling like dominoes at the annual Pwn2own event this year in Vancouver. Some really smart scary guys have managed to hijack Windows 7 PCs via Firefox and IE8 (snort) and a MacBook using Safari. Two of ‘em even hacked an iPhone and downloaded its database of SMS messages. (Yoikes!)
Google Chrome is the last browser standing. It’s not perfect, but has proved once again much harder to exploit. Having said that, I do agree with PC World’s article, Security Lessons Learned from Pwn2Own Contest:
“… the browser is the new Achilles heel of security regardless of the hardware or software platform.”
UPDATE, March 26: Nobody even tried to hack Chrome on day 2 of Pwn2own.
Chrome’s Up To 5%
ZDNet reports that usage of Google’s Chrome browser has topped 5%, for, I believe, the first time. Firefox’s market share is approaching 25%. Jason Voorhees now has about 62% of the market, with 20% of its share coming from — alarmingly — IE6.
