Microsoft's Windows Live Safety Center

    Microsoft's Windows Live Safety Center

    if you're usin' (genuine) Win2K or WinXP… and, you suspect dat something's wrong with it… {whether it be something you did dat broke it (downloading bad/incompatible software) or some malware (virus, worms, adware, spyware, etc…)} den give dis a go!

    just to remind you, it's in beta…
    read da FAQs first…

    btw: best to turn-off/deactivate any antivirus & antispyware you're usin', before tryin' dis…

    my browsers and review!

    my browsers and review!

    due to limited hard disk drive (HDD) space and avoiding redundant software… I try not to install the same types of software (browsers, office suites, photo-editors, etc…)… HOWEVER, the seemingly endless security problems of Internet Explorer (IE) has made me decide to try the alternative browsers… I now have 4 browsers that are completely independent from each other! they ALL have their own Pros & Cons…

    {please note: I firmly believe that there is NO invulnerable browser…}

    so here's my review for the browsers I use and have installed in my laptop:

    the image is of my customized toolbars for all of my browsers. as you might notice, I like my toolbar icons to be as small as possible and without any text description. I like to maximize my "display/screen real estate" with the toolbars I require. and, I like to keep them all as similar as possible (e.g. toolbars & icons in the same order), to make it easier for me to use…

    I'm still using IE for sites that I trust (e.g. bank sites, webmail, etc…) that require IE and/or ActiveX and/or Java and/or JavaScript {for security reasons, I'm not a fan for ANY of them… I wish ALL sites were designed without needing to use any of them}.
    [[the ONLY Java I have installed in my laptop is Microsoft® Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM). as I mentioned before, I'm no fan of Java. I'd rather not install ANY Java… BUT… since some banks require it, I've decided to use MSJVM 'coz it's more invisible to use than Sun's… apparently, Sun has updated their Java to be more invisible than before… but I still would rather use MSJVM… other's might argue that it isn't as safe as Sun's… but, I ONLY use my IE for sites that I trust… the good thing about MSJVM is that the other 3 browsers will NOT use it! so that's a win-win for me!]]
    as a precaution… I've customized my IE's security settings to be as safe as possible while remaining fully functional and not annoying with alerts/warnings…

    my 1st, and now my favorite, alternative browser is Firefox… I definitely like Firefox more than ANY of my other browsers! the best feature of my Firefox is actually the 1st (and currently only) 3rd party extension I've installed… PlainOldFavorites (if you look closely at my Firefox's customized toolbar, you'll see it right from "Bookmarks" as "Favorites")… I recommend it for everyone who's got tons of stuff in their IE's "Favorites" and don't want to manage more than 1 "Bookmarks"… I wish that all other alternative browsers for Windows will have direct access to IE's "Favorites" just like PlainOldFavorites… my next favorite feature of Firefox is tab browsing! I read 15 tech sites daily; and, tab browsing saves me so much time! however, I believe that Opera's the 1st to have tab browsing. for better security, I have both Java & JavaScript off with my Firefox… as I mentioned before, I don't use ANY antivirus or antispyware, thanks partly to my Firefox! I've managed to discover programs that have crashed my Firefox BUT have helped the web designers iron-out the bugs (bad coding)…

    the best feature of Opera is that it's got a better Feeds/Newsfeeds/RSS scroll-up alert than Firefox's "Live Bookmark" (which usually fails to load or refresh). another neat thing (though I hardly use) is the "Zoom" feature. since Opera seems to have the least amount of security issues (when compared to both IE & Firefox) I use JavaScript with my Opera… good thing, I was able to snag the adware-free version during their 10th Anniversary 1 day promo! honestly, 'coz Firefox's FREE, I don't think that it's worth paying $39 for the adware-free version of Opera… I'll NEVER install the free BUT adware version of Opera. I've also managed to crash my Opera, BUT I'm not yet certain of the causes…
    9-20-5 UPDATE: Opera is now FREE!!! (thanks for the heads-up rover!) now that it's FREE, I recommend EVERYONE who uses Firefox to try Opera 'coz it's definitely way safer to use!

    Off By One (OB1) is THE SAFEST among the 4 browsers I use! BUT… it's also the least functional… the software creator of OB1 thanked me for discovering a bug, on the current version, which fails OB1 to play media files (unlike the previous versions)… since, it appears, that there's only a handful of them working on their browser, it's been a while since any updates… I don't like the fact that I can't customize my OB1's toolbars… the toolbars and icons are "as is"… depending on the next update of of OB1… I might consider allowing JavaScript with my Firefox…