which one is most secure?

[mrs_d]

is there any browser that is more secure than others?

[PseFrank]

Hello Mrs D...

 

In my opinion your question has no definative answer. You could ask several people the same question and get a different answer each time. I think that it is more important for all computer users to think about how they use their own computer.

 

Let me use an analogy... There is a certain Swedish car company that has a reputation for building strong and robust vehicles that have passenger safety at the heart of their design. There are also companys that build kit cars made of fibre glass and maybe plastic.

 

If you own the Swedish car and drive around at 150mph all the time, then sooner or later you will crash!!

And if you own a kit car and stick to 40mph or 50mph all the time, along with keeping it well maintained, then you increase your chance of never having a crash.

 

Using a computer is just the same. The Swedish car driver (The best Browser) may visit every dodgy site on the internet...He may also never bother with a resident Antivirus program, or use an on demand Anti Malware program...He may well think that clicking every link in those strange emails is a perfectly safe thing to do.

He will however find that sooner rather than later he will need the services of a PC repair man.

 

The kit car driver (Any old Browser) who keeps his AV program up to date and doesn't use peer to peer (P2P) sites, and is careful which links he clicks on stands a far better chance of not running into problems with his/her computer.

 

Having said all that, my personal choice of Browser is Mozilla Firefox. Other forum members here at Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help will also have their thoughts on this subject...It would be nice to hear from others as to what they think....

[Synapse]

Internet Explorer 8 is reckoned to be the most secure, but I guess it depends who you ask. None are 100% foolproof, which is I think what PseFrank is saying.

 

NSS Labs test browser security, see the Q1 2010 results here

 

http://nsslabs.com/test-reports/NSSLabs_Q12010_BrowserSEM_Summ_FINAL.pdf

[wellies]

Chrome or Chromium uses sandboxing, a layer of security that other browsers don't have. So in that respect you could say a browser based on Chromium is best. On the other hand the PDF Synapse has linked to looks to prove that IE is safer as regards protection from malicious sites. Then again, by default IE uses ActiveX, something that many class as a danger. Firefox must be a top runner. This too has a bad site warning feature and can also have extensions added, many of these being to do with browsing safety. No doubt Opera and Safari users could point out a few points about those browsers too.

 

Personally, I think any of them can be safe if browsing sessions are run sandboxed. I believe that using Chrome/Chromium (that uses sandboxing) inside Sandboxie must keep a system as near as safe as possible from uninvited infections. I say uninvited because if you are tricked into purposely downloading what turns out to be malware, retrieving it from the sandbox and installing it, then running Chrome/Chromium inside a sandbox won't help in the slightest.

 

If worried about that and the tests Synapse has linked to are the case, then a sandboxed IE might be best because you would be more likely to be warned not to download something considered bad or, even if you did either by accident or design, not to retrieve it from the sandbox.

Edited August 27, 2010 by wellies

[ErikAlbert]

Using a safe browser has never been an issue for me. I like Mozilla Firefox because I don't like the others and it doesn't matter to me if it safe or not. That's why I keep Firefox.

Internet browsers are not security softwares, they are tools to surf on the internet, nothing more than that.

 

If you want a safe internet browser do this :

 

1. Protect your browser by not allowing any change in the software of that browser.

This way your browser will always work properly.

 

2. Put your browser in a sandbox by installing a software like Sandboxie.

Any object that is installed by your actions on the internet (clicking, downloads, whatever...) will be stored in a sandbox and will be isolated from the rest of your system.

This way it can't hurt your system.

 

That's all and you can do this with any internet browser, safe or not.

 

If you want absolutely a safe browser, use Opera or any other not popular browser, but that is a bad solution on long term. In the end every browser will become unsafe, it's just a matter of time.

Edited September 14, 2010 by ErikAlbert

[Dalo Harkin]

The safest browser would be the least used....as mentioned above by Erik

 

As browsers much like AV programs get targeted by malware/spyware etc due to a 'user' rate the more popular browsers such as FF and IE are most targeted.

 

Opera was the 'least targeted' due to a smaller user base, a year or so ago.

 

Your best bet would be to opt for a security suite that encompasses a firewall with the AV and spyware/malware protection.

 

If you are looking for a paid one I would use Eset Nod32 and no others

[jimmytazz]

i think Google Chrome is safest browser,, it quickly recognize if any site is infected with malware or trojans and prevent to visit that site..