Posts Tagged ‘internet explorer’
Microsoft to Windows XP Users: Don’t Press The F1 Key While on Internet Explorer
Microsoft is warning Windows XP users to avoid pressing the F1 key while browsing the Internet using Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8, as you computer might become infected with malware, believe it or not. Microsoft has discovered that a vulnerability in the Visual Basic Script [VBScript] can be exploited to allow malicious files into a computer when the F1 key is pressed. The issue appears to affect Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
On the bright side, unless you push the F1 key, your computer is not at risk. Microsoft is already aware of the problem and is currently working on a patch, which will either be released on their monthly “Security Update Tuesday” or in an out-of-cycle update. The next monthly Update Tuesday is schedule for March 9. Hopefully, the fix is ready by then.
[ via Engadget ]
Google Chrome Gains Market Share in February, While Other Browsers Lose
According to web metrics firm NetMarketShare, Google Chrome was the only browser that gained additional market share in the month of February. The data suggests that the Google Chrome usage went up from 5.20% in the month of January to 5.61% in February, that means a 0.41% growth in just one month. All the other browsers saw a decline in market share in the same month.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer lost 0.6% of its share, from 62.18% in January to 61.58% last month. Firefox, on the other hand, saw a 0.18% decrease from 24.41% to 24.23%. Safari shrunk 0.06% last month, from 4.51% to 4.45%. Lastly, Opera went down 0.03%, from 2.38% in January to 2.35% in February.
It appears like Google efforts to improve Chrome are really paying off, while most of the most popular browsers have lost a good percentage of their share.
Let us know if you have switched browsers lately.
Tags: February, firefox, google chrome, ie, internet explorer, market share, opera, safari, web browser
YouTube Cutting Internet Explorer 6 Support March 13th
In January, we published an article making note of the fact that Google would officially begin phasing out support for the popular-but-flawed Internet Explorer version 6 browser that shipped stock with the most widely used variation of Windows — XP. As we draw near the end, Ars Technica has managed to snap a screenshot depicting a warning from YouTube.
“On March 13, we are dropping support for your browser. You’ll still be able to watch videos after that date, but new features may no work properly.
There must be 50 ways to leave your browser — here are 5:”
The warning goes on to list Internet Explorer 8, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, and of course Firefox as alternate browsers. More »
Safari and Google Chrome Gain Web Browser Market Share
The figures are in! According to NetMarketShare, it would appear as if both Apple and Google have had a good past month or so with their own web browsers — Safari and Chrome.
Up from 4.60%, Google’s Chrome browser has managed to crawl to 5.20% market share, whereas Apple’s Safari posted 4.51% market share from a paltry 4.46% the month before. Of course, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox easily take the cake as the most popular browsers around, though they both lost some ground this past month.
Internet Explorer slightly dipped from 62.69% to 62.18%, and Firefox from 24.62% to 24.41% market share. Surely, not a significant drop in both cases — but we certainly know where those users are migrating in terms of browser usage. More »
New Vulnerability Found on Internet Explorer
Bad news, everyone. It appears that Boston-based research firm Core Security Technologies has found a new set of small un-patched vulnerabilities on the Internet Explorer web browser that when/if used together could be exploited to remotely access victims’ computers. The news comes just 3 days after Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band update to fix a security hole on Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 used to cyber-attack Google in the middle of this past December.
While each of said security holes alone are not dangerous enough, it’s a totally different story if a hacker exploit thems all at once. Core Security Technologies consultant Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina said that “[t]here are three or four ways to conduct this type of attack.” Medina added that even though his company is working with Microsoft to find a solution, he believes new vulnerabilities will just keep appearing in the future. Microsoft has yet to comment on the matter. More »
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 To Get Improved Tab Management
Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer 9 web browser could see improved tab management, at least according to a patent filed on September 22, 2009.
Expanding upon the already-existent Quick Tabs feature within Internet Explorer 8 in which users were able to display thumbnails of open tabs with options to close each tab, Internet Explorer 9 is slated to allow users to drag and drop tabs within said Quick Tabs interface, display enlarged thumbnail when cursor hovers over the tab, and according to Neowin’s Tom Warren, “In case your tab row was over flowing with tabs and in Quick Tabs you were to hover the mouse on a tab not currently visible on the tab bar, the overflow icons would change appearance.”
A technical preview of an Internet Explorer 9 build is expected to be demonstrated at MIX 2010 in March.
[ via Neowin ]
Microsoft Releases Emergency Update to Fix Internet Explorer Vulnerability
Just as promised, Microsoft has quickly cooked up and released an out-of-band emergency update to patch the vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. The security hole was exploited in December to cyber-attack Google and 30 other companies. The attacks put many nation’s governments into panic mode, forcing them to advise their citizens to stop using the popular browser by Microsoft until a patch was released. It also obliged Google to reconsider its approach to China by stop censoring its results. More »
Microsoft “Going Out of Band” to Release Emergency Update
The controversy generated by a security hole found on Internet Explorer, which was exploited to cyber-attack Google and other companies last month, has led many hardcore IE fans to switch browsers and even the French and German governments to advise its citizens to avoid Internet Explorer for the time being. For these reasons, Microsoft recently announced today that it’s “going out of band” to release an emergency update to fix the aforementioned vulnerability.
As many of you may know, Microsoft usually releases updates in bundles every second Tuesday of each month, which is now known as “Patch Tuesday.” But considering that Microsoft keeps observing a “limited number of attacks” against Internet Explorer, the Redmond-based company has decided to release a patch as soon as possible. More »
Tags: attacks, emergency, ie, internet explorer, microsoft, patch, security hole, update, vulnerability
Microsoft Responds To Internet Explorer Scare
If you’ve been reading our posts over the last few days, you would have known that by now, both the German and French governments have advised their citizens to quit using Internet Explorer, due to a particular exploit on version 6 of Microsoft’s native browser.
Up until now, Microsoft has been fairly quiet on the matter — until yesterday. In order to restore the people’s faith in the web browser, the Redmond-based company is, like you might have imagined, advising users to stay with the browser, citing that moving to Firefox et al poses more security risks than they could ever want.
“The net effect of switching [from Internet Explorer] is that you will end up on less secure browser,” said Cliff Evans, Microsoft UK Security Chief, in an interview with TechRadar. More »