Daily Bits

Browsers

Facebook Chat: Is It Really Going to Be Better?

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We’ve all experienced it – one minute you’re chatting with a friend via Facebook chat, and the next minute, you’re cut off. Worse, you might be typing in novella detailing the funny experience you had during the day, and then having to refresh your browser because the chat window just froze and wouldn’t respond no matter what you do. Yes, no one is denying it – Facebook Chat is as buggy as stale bread full of weevils. (So why do we continue using it? Darned if I know!)

Anyway, if Rodrigo Schmidt of Facebook is to be believed, we are soon going to enjoy an uninterrupted chat experience. Right on our favorite browsers. He says:

The good news: We’ve already made progress, and we’re taking some more big steps in the coming weeks. For example, in the past couple of weeks, we’ve already made Chat faster and more stable, fixed bugs and improved the technology on which it runs.

We know you want Chat to be hassle-free and uninterrupted. In the coming weeks, we will be making important improvements in the way connections are established and messages are sent, so that Chat will be much more stable for you and your friends.

The biggest improvements come from changes that aren’t supported on older web browsers. After evaluating the alternatives, we’ve decided to make rapid improvements and provide the best Chat experience possible, which means we will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 browsers.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t really seen any improvements in the past couple of weeks. It’s not any worse, but it’s not any better either. Still, if Facebook wants to keep their users happy, they definitely will work on this feature. In the meantime, if any of you are still using IE6 (I highly doubt it), then you have a couple of weeks to switch.

The big question remains: will this move really make Facebook Chat better for all of us (regardless of the browser being used)? You tell me.

Photo credit: Greysquare

Happy 15th Birthday, Internet Explorer!

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You probably haven’t used Internet Explorer in ages – I hardly know anyone who does anymore – but it is still worth noting that this week marks the 15th anniversary of this web browser. If you’ve been going on the Internet for a decade or so, you probably have had your own experiences with Internet Explorer. After all, in the old days, we didn’t have much of a choice. All that changed with the entry of other, more efficient browsers. Still, it’s nice to take a look back and see what the browser has gone through.

A quick rundown on the origins of Internet Explorer…

The first version was released in 1995, August 16. Soon after, in April of 1996, the second version was born. Less than a year – in August of 1996 – IE 3 was released. This was a huge improvement over the first two versions in that it was more integrated with other applications and developers were able to use Cascading Style Style.

IE 4 came in the next year, surrounded by controversy. At this point, Microsoft’s propensity for monopoly was already becoming well known, and their web browser was no exception. Some of you might remember the issue of IE being the sole browser used for Windows, which the courts declared to be unfair. (As an aside: thank God we have other browsers at our disposal now.)

The numbers (IE#) went up with each version and now, in 2010, we are looking at Internet Explorer 9. It is slated to be released on the 15th of September. Supposed to be on the cutting edge of technology, IE 9 is proof of this browser’s tenacity. Despite having a lot of competition in the recent years, it seems that it still has a solid foothold.

Never mind that I haven’t used this browser since forever – Happy Birthday anyway, IE!

Private Browsing Not So Private After All?

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How often do you use the private browsing capabilities of your chosen Internet browser? For one reason or another, I am sure that the average person will find this capability useful. While I am not going to prod as to why you would need to go incognito while browsing, you ought to know that there is supposed to be a flaw in the whole private browsing model.

Researchers from Stanford University and Carnegie-Mellon University have recently studied the private browsing model being used by major Internet browsers, and they say that it is not that foolproof; at least not as foolproof as we would like to believe. They released their findings in a paper titled An Analysis of Private Browsing Modes in Modern Browsers.

Their conclusions?

We analyzed private browsing modes in modern browsers and discussed their success at achieving the desired security goals. Our manual review and automated testing tool pointed out several weaknesses in existing implementations. The most severe violations enable a local attacker to completely defeat the benefits of private mode. In addition, we performed the first measurement study of private browsing usage in different browsers and on different sites. Finally, we examined the difficult issues of keeping browser extensions and plug-ins from undoing the goals of private browsing.

The next time you face the need to go incognito while browsing, make sure you take these things into consideration. Your best bet is to use your private computer and regularly take steps to ensure your security.

A Note of Caution to Safari Users

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Everyone knows that Apple’s computers outperform Windows-based computer practically in all levels. However, don’t just sit back and think that, since you’re using a Mac, you shouldn’t be concerned about security issues.

Recently, a flaw in Apple’s web browser Safari was discovered by a security researcher. The flaw involves Safari’s auto-fill feature. Because of a bug, malicious web sites can harvest information that the user inputs on the browser. This information can be anything from name, e-mail, phone numbers, address, and more.

Jeremiah Grossman is the guy who discovered the flaw. He is the chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, a computer security company. He says that he had contacted Apple prior to publishing his findings in his blog. This was back in June. However, he merely got an auto-reply from the company, and no follow up communication ensued.

If you’re thinking that this might just be part of a smear campaign against Apple, think again. The technology giant has acknowledged that the flaw does exist. They gave a statement saying that they are taking the issue seriously and are working towards fixing it at the soonest possible time. Other than that, however, they did not give any information.

What should you do in the meantime? I suggest switching to another web browser till Apple gets things together. Alternatively, if you feel disloyal doing that (I don’t see why, though), disable the auto-fill feature of your Safari. Seth Weintraub provides more information on this.

Firefox: IBM’s Browser of Choice – Should You Follow?

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Earlier this month, IBM made an announcement that Firefox is now the default browser of the company. The announcement came straight from the horse’s mouth – Bob Sutor, the vice president of open source and Linux at IBM’s Software Group. In his blog, he said:

We’re officially adding a new piece of software to the list of default common applications we expect employees to use, and that’s the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Firefox has been around for years, of course. Today we already have thousands of employees using it on Linux, Mac, and Windows laptops and desktops, but we’re going to be adding thousands more users to the rolls.

This development definitely gives Firefox points in the browser wars. Here’s the thing – if such a group as IBM has publicly announced its browser preference, should we follow suit?

I don’t know what browser you’re using, but I have been switching between Firefox and Chrome in the past year. Before that, Firefox was my main choice. I have been having to pull up Chrome because of speed issues (I know Firefox is supposed to be fast but for some reason I have problems with this), but Internet Explorer has been out of the picture for the longest time.

Why should you even consider following IBM’s example? Sutor gives his reasons for his browser of choice:

• Firefox is stunningly standards compliant, and interoperability via open standards is key to IBM’s strategy.
• Firefox is open source and its development schedule is managed by a development community not beholden to one commercial entity.
• Firefox is secure and an international community of experts continues to develop and maintain it.
• Firefox is extensible and can be customized for particular applications and organizations, like IBM.
• Firefox is innovative and has forced the hand of browsers that came before and after it to add and improve speed and function.

Is that enough for you?

Stay Safe On XP SP 2 After July 13

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If you haven’t already heard, tomorrow is quite an important day for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 users. After tomorrow, Microsoft will no longer be providing automatic security updates for this version of their operating system. More information about this in my post last month.

If you’re really concerned about this issue, the easiest fix is to ditch XP, right? But it is totally understandable if you do not want to do that just yet. More so, there are ways by which you can continue to enjoy a relative degree of security while continuing to use XP SP2. Here are some tips.

Stick to XP, but upgrade to XP SP3. This version will continue to receive automatic updates till August of 2014 – that’s a long way off. You can either download and install SP3 using Windows Update, download a disc image (for use in more than one machine), or buy the installation CD (only $3.99).

If you really want to continue using XP2, here’s a simple fix that can increase your security: stop using Internet Explorer, if you haven’t already. I know very few people who continue to use this Internet browser for so many practical reasons. If I were you, I’d go with Chrome of Firefox (which has a new beta, by the way).

Here’s a no brainer – make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date and reliable. This is assuming that you already have one installed. Even the free ones are pretty good, and they usually prompt you for updates anyway.