Really Good IE Toolbar

[herme3]

Microsoft has a free toolbar for IE at: http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=f53eeee8-de38-45c8-bc6d-a4749e827cc5

 

I think this toolbar looks very impressive. It adds tabbed browsing to IE, and it has tons of other features.

[mimefan599]

hm, cool

[insane_alien]

meh firefox is better. also has a bit of security by obscurity

[herme3]

I really like the way they have IE's tabbed browsing setup. It's very easy to create a new tab. The Phishing filter is also a good idea. Onfolio looks interesting, but it will take me a while to figure out everything it can do.

 

I always thought that IE had better performance than Firefox when it comes to RAM usage. When you are using a lot of tabs and doing lots of surfing in Firefox, it will just keep using more and more RAM. I've never had RAM problems with IE. The main disadvantage I see with IE is the security. Firefox is good at blocking Trojans that IE wouldn't block. Besides the Phishing filter, I wonder if this new toolbar improves IE's security?

[insane_alien]

i've never had ram problems in firefox. and its only crashed on me once.internet explorer on the other hand, i can't count high enough.

[herme3]

I guess it depends on what you are doing. I run a lot of programs like http://www.autosurfpro.com for web site promotion purposes. When I run these programs in Firefox, I will come back after a few hours and find that Firefox is using about 800 MB of RAM. After a while, Firefox will just crash.

 

When I run the program in IE, it keeps going without any trouble. However, I have a lot of problems with trojans getting into my system when I use IE.

[Nevermore]

When will you learn? IE is terrible! Security holes, ram taxing, large program, less features, closed source, and you're supporting Bill Gates.

[RyanJ]

meh firefox is better. also has a bit of security by obscurity

 

^ Second that. Why have it as a plugin (Probably adds some more holes...) when you can have it as a feature. Plus you know with Firefox you are not hurting the web and can feel more secure

 

Oh and let is not forget the hundreds of extensions that are out there

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones pl

[herme3]

Wow! This toolbar is amazing!

 

I've had 5 different auto surf programs running for the past several hours, and haven't had any problems at all! Normally by this time regular IE would have let several trojans in my computer, and Firefox would have crashed from using too much RAM. None of those have happened yet! It says on Microsoft's web site that this toolbar will make IE faster and more secure. So far, it looks like they were right.

 

Is there a web site that I can visit to test the security on the browser?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Just a note to everybody else that this thread isn't for telling herme3 how much IE sucks, it's for discussing the toolbar.

[doG]

I think this article from Microsoft is pretty good too

[ydoaPs]

I really like the way they have IE's tabbed browsing setup. It's very easy to create a new tab.

i never found ctrl t very hard to do.

[insane_alien]

hmm i just tried that toolbar. and fired up my dusty old IE(first time in over a year.) and guess what? it broke IE. IE freezes after 5mins and takes up 100% processor and spirals out of control on the memory (600MB for one program is never good)

[RyanJ]

Wow! This toolbar is amazing!

 

I've had 5 different auto surf programs running for the past several hours' date=' and haven't had any problems at all! Normally by this time regular IE would have let several trojans in my computer, and Firefox would have crashed from using too much RAM. None of those have happened yet! It says on Microsoft's web site that this toolbar will make IE faster and more secure. So far, it looks like they were right.

 

Is there a web site that I can visit to test the security on the browser?[/quote']

 

1) If I am using Firefox then it used 50Mb RAM sometimes upto 100Mb but thats nothing special considering most of IE's components are loaded into RAM and not counted as part of it. There are lots of memory leaks yes but a lLot of those are fixed / being fixed right now. Actually this latest release has slimmed that use down to about 30Mb which I am very happy with.

 

2) The toolbar will not make it any more secure simply because the holes that can be exploites are still there. Untill they are patched the problem remains. As for Microsoft saying things are more secure, IE 7 was supposed to eb more secure and within hours of its release a flaw was found... great.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[herme3]

Just a note to everybody else that this thread isn't for telling herme3 how much IE sucks, it's for discussing the toolbar.

 

Thank you. I know that the regular IE had a lot of security holes. However, this toolbar seems to have fixed them. How else would you explain the fact that I'm not getting any trojans from the same web sites that used to put tons of trojans on my computer?

 

I still wish there was a way I could run a complete security scan on the browser, just to make sure it is more secure. All I can find is security scans for firewalls, not browsers.

 

I think this article from Microsoft is pretty good too

 

Did you actually read the article before posting it? It is about returning to IE5 or below after installing IE6.

 

If I am using Firefox then it used 50Mb RAM sometimes upto 100Mb but thats nothing special considering most of IE's components are loaded into RAM and not counted as part of it. There are lots of memory leaks yes but a lLot of those are fixed / being fixed right now. Actually this latest release has slimmed that use down to about 30Mb which I am very happy with.

 

I think I am using the most updated version of Firefox. It doesn't use very much RAM when it first starts, but when you have 6 tabs automatically loading another web site every 10 seconds, it won't be long before Firefox crashes. I can do the exact same thing with the new IE toolbar without any problems.

[RyanJ]

Thank you. I know that the regular IE had a lot of security holes. However, this toolbar seems to have fixed them. How else would you explain the fact that I'm not getting any trojans from the same web sites that used to put tons of trojans on my computer?

 

Don't be so shure. Only a hard patch will fix them and a simply overcoat will not do the job... what did you expect Microsoft to say? "This toolbar does nothing great"? And how can it fix holes that are not yet known?

 

I still wish there was a way I could run a complete security scan on the browser' date=' just to make sure it is more secure. All I can find is security scans for firewalls, not browsers.[/quote']

 

Security is a relative concept, it cannot be tested as you speak. Known holes can but the unknown ones are even more dangerous.

 

I think I am using the most updated version of Firefox. It doesn't use very much RAM when it first starts' date=' but when you have 6 tabs automatically loading another web site every 10 seconds, it won't be long before Firefox crashes. I can do the exact same thing with the new IE toolbar without any problems.[/quote']

 

Tried it, I have that many tabs open all the time. Net conversations with the people I work with and all the sites. Like I said about 100Mb is the max for me. Are you using any extensions or the like? Those can create leaks.

 

Memory leaks are still a problem with Firefox but they are being fixed fast, pitty some of them are proving to be pains to kill

 

I don't really have anything against IE, it just needs better standards support and more security - otherwise its great.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[herme3]

Security is a relative concept, it cannot be tested as you speak. Known holes can but the unknown ones are even more dangerous.

 

In that case, how can people say Firefox is more secure than IE? Since Firefox is a newer program, wouldn't it just be possible that hackers haven't found all the security holes yet?

 

Tried it, I have that many tabs open all the time. Net conversations with the people I work with and all the sites. Like I said about 100Mb is the max for me.

 

I don't think it is the number of tabs that matter. When I first open 6 tabs, the RAM usage is low. However, after a few hours of loading a new web site every 10 seconds, the RAM usage is normally over 800MB. It almost seems like Firefox keeps web sites in the RAM even after you go to the next web site. Other than that, I haven't had any other problems with Firefox.

 

Are you using any extensions or the like? Those can create leaks.

 

The only extension I have with Firefox is the DOM Inspector.

[Dave]

In that case, how can people say Firefox is more secure than IE? Since Firefox is a newer program, wouldn't it just be possible that hackers haven't found all the security holes yet?

 

Because Firefox isn't embedded deep into the OS like IE

 

I don't think it is the number of tabs that matter. When I first open 6 tabs, the RAM usage is low. However, after a few hours of loading a new web site every 10 seconds, the RAM usage is normally over 800MB. It almost seems like Firefox keeps web sites in the RAM even after you go to the next web site. Other than that, I haven't had any other problems with Firefox.

 

Firefox will keep a selection of webpages in memory, since most people want to hit the back button a few times, and don't want the page to necessarily have to be parsed again. Pretty much all modern browsers do these days.

 

I can't explain your Firefox woes, but I'm glad the IE toolbar is working out for you Let's just not have this turn into another Firefox vs. IE debate, since we've been down that road many, many times before.

[RyanJ]

In that case, how can people say Firefox is more secure than IE? Since Firefox is a newer program, wouldn't it just be possible that hackers haven't found all the security holes yet?

 

Simple. It has less vunrabilities. Though this does not show how may there are the time frame in which they are found and the numbers found do show the relative security of a product. IE has been arround for many years but then again so has Firefox in its many forms. Don't forget Firefox has had many names and before those it was part of Mozilla.

 

I don't think it is the number of tabs that matter. When I first open 6 tabs' date=' the RAM usage is low. However, after a few hours of loading a new web site every 10 seconds, the RAM usage is normally over 800MB. It almost seems like Firefox keeps web sites in the RAM even after you go to the next web site. Other than that, I haven't had any other problems with Firefox.[/quote']

 

Interesting. Some sites with high graphics have this problem for me. Also animated GIF's nuke Firefox where. Some even make it crash.

 

Yes Firefox does keep some cached for quick go back and forth access you can set this in about:config (Its in Kb).

 

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=354828&start=0

 

Maybe worth a look at. You may also want to try reporting the sites (Help >> Report broken website) if they are repeat offenders

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Firefox will keep a selection of webpages in memory, since most people want to hit the back button a few times, and don't want the page to necessarily have to be parsed again. Pretty much all modern browsers do these days.

Only eight or so pages back, and then it dumps the oldest ones.

[Dave]

Unfortunately this is a relatively new/improved feature in Firefox 1.5, and as such it may be the case that there are memory leaks occurring here. Just thought I'd mention it for the sake of saying it.

[herme3]

Let's just not have this turn into another Firefox vs. IE debate, since we've been down that road many, many[/i'] times before.

 

The reason I debated Firefox so much in the past is because it wouldn't work with many of the web sites I used. Now that web sites are more compliant with the standards, I don't have that problem anymore. Firefox is a great browser, except for the RAM problems I'm having.

 

I just wish people would try this new toolbar before criticizing it. I would agree that Firefox is much more stable than regular IE. However, IE with the new toolbar seems to be more stable than Firefox. I'm not really sure why because as RyanJ said, it really doesn't patch IE itself. Perhaps it is a coincidence and all the web sites I use found all of the trojans and deleted them during the few days that I switched to Firefox. However, I really doubt that because these sites have been having trojan problems for years.

 

Interesting. Some sites with high graphics have this problem for me. Also animated GIF's nuke Firefox where. Some even make it crash.

 

I have images disabled when I'm running the autosurf programs. Otherwise, Firefox will crash even sooner.

 

Unfortunately this is a relatively new/improved feature in Firefox 1.5, and as such it may be the case that there are memory leaks occurring here. Just thought I'd mention it for the sake of saying it.

 

Would it help if I download an older version of Firefox? What type of other problems would this open? Are there any major bugs that exist in versions before 1.5?

 

I don't think I will worry about it unless I start having security issues with IE again.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The reason I debated Firefox so much in the past is because it wouldn't work with many of the web sites I used. Now that web sites are more compliant with the standards, I don't have that problem anymore. Firefox is a great browser, except for the RAM problems I'm having.

1.5.0.2 has fixed a lot, and the 2.0 alpha is even better. They're working hard on memory.

 

I have images disabled when I'm running the autosurf programs. Otherwise, Firefox will crash even sooner.

You may want to report a bug to Mozilla about those crashes.

 

Would it help if I download an older version of Firefox? What type of other problems would this open? Are there any major bugs that exist in versions before 1.5?

They've stopped supporting 1.0.x, so I'd just go with the latest versions.

[Dak]

Is there a web site that I can visit to test the security on the browser?

 

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/index.php

 

http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

 

http://www.webroot.com/services/popuptester1.htm <-- pop-up blocker test

 

As has already been mentioned, testing browsers is a bit complicated, and you also have to bear in mind stuff like how common the exploits are in the wild, how significant a threat the tests pose to you given your compupter set-up and what the exploits actually do etc.

 

Warning: The test does not check for WMF vulnerability. If you use Windows, run Windows Update or get the patch.

 

as far as i'm aware, if FF encounters a WMF it asks if you want to download it, so unless you say yes and then open it, FF is (i think) OK with reguards to the WMF exploit... I believe that IE is still vulnerable (not that it matters if your OS is fully patched)

[RyanJ]

They've stopped supporting 1.0.x' date=' so I'd just go with the latest versions.[/quote']

 

Actually you can still download some of them, 1.0.8 is the latest and last release I believe

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones