A Responsible Blurb
I know I’ve pushed people to use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer citing security as a prominent reason, so I am reporting this temporary workaround to an important security issue revealed two days ago. A critical bug exists in Firefox (which permits malicious website operators access to your computer), and Mozilla has yet to release a true fix. In the meantime, you can install this “workaround”, which will disable support for international language domain names (URLs with domain names that include non-English characters) until a true fix is released. (As with all changes made to programs and settings on your computer, research this information and verify it with a trusted source.)
See What Firefox and Mozilla users should know about the IDN buffer overflow security issue for more information. This concludes this public service announcment.
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3 Comments
Commenting options at bottom.I use Mozilla Firefox and have recently installed Opera. What’s your take on Opera?
How’d you get interested in Opera? Before Firefox came out, I only used Opera. It was great because, for one, Opera respected progressive web standards, unlike Internet Explorer which practically forced website developers to use outdated and retarded Microsoft “technologies” specific to Internet Explorer. Boo! (Long story short: standardized technology is usually extremely beneficial to consumers, while proprietary technology is only beneficial to a software compan, for example Microsoft.) Opera’s interface was also really nice looking, and highly customizable, which I liked at the time (although now I prefer a simple interface over a customizabile one). The thing I liked most about Opera was the built-in mail client, which basically treated your email inbox like a mini-database by throwing it all into one big folder, and then letting you specify search-based “virtual folders” on it, rather than constraining the organization of your mail to a hierarchical system. Opera was also well-known for being faster and more secure than I.E. However, when Firefox came out, it quickly became way more popular than Opera, while having all of Opera’s same great features. I switched from Opera to Firefox because I couldn’t use Opera with some sites, like Wells Fargo’s. I knew that those sites would be more likely to support Firefox than Opera simply because Firefox was getting such a huge following.
So yeah, I love Opera, but Firefox is just as good but somehow became more popular and more supported, so now I use that.
By the way, you just missed out on an afternoon of leather couch-moving and tennis with Shaun, Gerald and myself. And as afternoon turned to evening and beyond, tennis became an elegant spaghetti dinner, boy’s night in, complete with after-dinner Madden 2002, at which I dominated our brothers. Now ask yourself, what’s better: making hundreds of dollars a day in another town in the exciting, fast-paced world of television production, or some sweaty tennis in the ghetto with some meatballs afterward?
I must say, I am a bit suprised, this does not sound at all like you, “So yeah, I love Opera, but Firefox is just as good but somehow became more popular and more supported, so now I use that.”
Am I reading this correctly? Do you use Firefox simply because it is “popular”? Please do clarify. What happened to the Mike I used to know? Rise up against the masses child! Stand above the rest! Or perhaps we will have to postpone this until after our Linux revolution…..
Also, I would like to answer for Steve….sweaty tennis in the ghetto with some meatballs afterward is way better.