Apple Safari version 4 web browser is reported by the company to have been downloaded by 11 million times during the first three days from it’s release. According to the report, the browser was downloaded by 6 million times. Ok, my team downloaded this browser at least 5 times not because we want to use this browser, but because the client wants us to test the SharePoint site we are building for them on this browser.

Anyways, the browser first came out in public beta last February and Apple has been marketing this browser as the fastest browser in the world compared to Firefox and IE8.

Apple says that the browser is at least three times faster when loading HTML web pages against IE8 and Firefox. The company is touting their Nitro JavaScript engine that is around 8 times faster than IE 8 and 4 times faster than Firefox.

Testing our SharePoint sites across various browsers is already a pain, and another browser named Safari doesn’t put a smile on my face.

Download Safari.

Image from CNET.

After downloading and installing Internet Explorer 8 onto the computers of various members of my family, I’ve now downloaded and installed it on my own machine. There’s not a whole lot that you’ll notice that’s different initially. I believe I have noticed that pages do seem to be loading a bit faster in IE8 than previously in IE7.

I’ve had to use the compatibility feature on a couple of sites, ones that I’ve developed for clients, so there’s so more work for me to take care of and make sure those are up to par.

I’m still using Firefox as my browser of choice. I still say that the main reason I stay with Firefox is because of all of the plugins and extensions that are available on this platform. Hopefully IE8 will get more activity from developers and Microsoft will keep improving this browser. Competition is good for everyone. Let’s hope both of these browsers keep pushing each other.

The ability to minimize programs to the system tray has been made possible for a reason. There are always programs which we don’t intend to exit but do not use as frequently.

During work, e.g., we open a web browser – because we are so used to it – but more importanly have several other programs opened simultaneously. While navigating from Microsoft Outlook to Eclipse to the work folders using Alt + Tab, it is irritating to find Mozilla Firefox in between. Also, the task bar has only this much place.

Still, most of the web browsers like the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox continue to ignore our need for a “Minimize to system tray” option (Opera provides the option). And we don’t always know the registry hack to minimize Microsoft Outlook. Trayconizer comes to our rescue.

The “Mozilla Firefox” icon sitting in my system tray is not a photoshop gimmick. I used a miniscule utility called Trayconizer.exe to minimze Firefox to the system tray. It is only 10.5 KB in size and, hmm, doesn’t need installation.

All you have to do is invoke the target program, Mozilla Firefox in this example, through the utility. The easiest way to do this is to set the target of a shortcut you use like this:

Replace “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”
with C:\Downloads\Trayconizer.exe “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”

It may not be possible to Trayconize all programs and I am not sure if it works on Windows Vista, but it seems to work well enough on Windows XP. You can download it here. The page shows that the utility hasn’t had a newer version in over 5 years.

Image Source: Screenshots taken on my laptop running Windows XP.

McAfee provides a nice add-on for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer called Site Advisor. I used to run McAfee Site Advisor v2.8 until recently. It identifies whether a site or a search result is safe to its knowledge or not and is one of the best add-ons to use in a cyber café.

Do not make the mistake of installing it or upgrading it now.

Firefox’s “Find Updates” in Tools –> Add-ons could not find the latest version 2.9 just like the Mozilla Add-ons website couldn’t recommend it because Site Advisor is not your normal .XPI add-on. One has to download and install a .EXE through the Site Advisor download page.

The latest version is about 3.0MB large, takes a lot of time to install, asks for a reboot, and even then creates annoying problems post-installation until you disable it. The problem is that every time you open Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, a popup asking you about post-installation settings appears again, asking you to Accept or Decline their EULA. The annoyance stops only after declining.

I tried this (by mistake) on a friend’s and my laptop and the problem was persistent. On one of the two, the pop-ups stopped but McAfee Site Advisor no longer had its search bar and it wasn’t showing whether a site is safe or not. That is because one has to “Decline” to get there in the first place.

I couldn’t find any fixes online yet. Let me know if you have any.

Image Source: McAfee Site Advisor Screenshots taken on my laptop.

We have all heard about that deadly Internet Explorer security threat by now. Aaron of TechWebOnline feels that it is better to avoid using the Internet Explorer, especially for sensitive transactions, and stick to Chrome/Firefox/Opera/Safari even though Microsoft released a patch to fix the threat. It can hardly be called a hack, but I agree it works. :)

Meanwhile, Michael Howard, a principal security program manager at Microsoft, made a clean post about what they have learnt from the latest bug and why they couldn’t detect it in the first place. It is a very interesting read, especially if you can put aside your demands for infallibility of security engineers and appreciate the honesty.

Whenever a security threat becomes known, Microsoft gets a lot of attention that it would prefer not to. This is leading to the exodus of the Internet Explorer users to other browser options. Gregg Keizer of ComputerWorld covers a story that says that IE’s European share fell under 60% for the first time. A more interesting part of the story is that Firefox’s user share has stalled too, after the release of Google Chrome.

Brad Linder on Download Squad discovered a tool to backup the Internet Explorer Settings. Also in the post are links to tools that can backup Firefox profiles and Opera data.

After finding Symantec Ghost distasteful in imaging Windows Vista, Brian of Reich Consulting finally tried the Windows Deployment Service and wrote about his first impressions on it.

Image Source: Internet Explorer Logo from the Microsoft Website.

Microsoft released a huge security update, its biggest in five years, containing 28 packages of which 23 are marked “critical”. You better run the Windows Updates immediately; I am right now.

There is a Firefox trojan that is trolling around stealing passwords. Read the Larry Seltzer’s post for the story and a suggestion.

Friend Brian got numerous cases with a variant of Win32/FakeSecScan virus in the last couple of weeks and so compiled a helpful one-page PDF called “Beware of Fake Antivirus Programs” (PDF link warning). I have one more thing to add. When you see that popup message, open the taskmanager and kill the browser. Some of the uglier ones of this kind don’t have a better solution.

Computer World has a very alarming story. McColo Corp., a webhosting firm, was taken down a month ago resulting in a 42% drop of spam volume. Slowly, actually quickly, the spam levels are catching up again.

McAfee released its Virtual Criminology report recently. It accuses the governments of turning a blind eye to cybercrime, according to PCWorld. I agree that there is a damn lot to be done, but McAfee’s bombastic style takes away a little credibility, not of the report itself but of the accusation. If say the US government were turning a blind eye, there wouldn’t even be talking about a Center for Cybersecurity Operations, would they?

Blizzard has introduced two-factor authentication in World of Warcraft. On top of the usual password, there will be a six-digit authentication code generated by the %6.50 worth keyfob on-demand for each login.

There have been posts circulating the blogosphere about a couple of add-ons recently: Pirates of the Amazon and IMDB Pirated Version. I believe they are a bad thing to have come during particularly bad times.

Pirates of Amazon is a Firefox add-on. Whenever a user visits a media page in Amazon (movies, TV shows, games, music), the add-on gives alternate torrent links from where the same product can be illegally downloaded for free.

IMDB Pirate Version is another general script that crossreferences titles on IMDB allowing users to search directly from the imdb page for subtitles, torrents and http (rapidshare,megaupload, and other hosts) movie releases, and view the movie trailer directly. I don’t mind the subtitles and movie trailer really; they are useful functionalities.

A few years ago music industry lost billions to piracy and has recently limped back to apparent normalcy. There are many who don’t give a damn one way or the other about piracy and those who justify it do so by claiming that the stars get paid way too much for their work. As a writer who reads more publishing news than any other kind of news, I have been reading about thousands of people losing their jobs in the publishing industry. Behind the highly-paid stars are legions of faceless people whose livelihood is at stake in any industry. No part of the economy is immune to the current slowdown and this is a worse time for irresponsible cheating of one another than any other. Please show restraint.

Ways to run web services through desktop apps are constantly explored especially for oft-used ones. Desktop apps are preferred to web services because they tend to use less resources. Today, Gmail can be run as a desktop application through two means: Google Gadgets and Mozilla Prism.

Gmail With Google Gadgets: To run the official Gmail Google Gadget, you will need Google Desktop 5 or above installed on your computer. The gadget is tiny (79KB) and offers all the basic features of Gmail including reading, sending, searching and starring messages; keyboard shortcuts; and contact auto-complete. But it doesn’t yet have the sound notification for new messages received. The gadget has been released only yesterday and is bound to have bugs though I hope they are fewer than in iGoogle.

Gmail With Mozilla Prism: Mozilla has been working on a project called Prism (add-on) which can be used to convert any website into a stand-alone desktop application outside the browser. Prism is available as a Firefox add-on, and is easy to use. You can read my opinion on Prism in greater detail here and let me know if you need any help with creating your own desktop app of your favorite website. I’ve tried this five months ago, so there is a good chance that the technology has gotten better.

In India, I visited many a cyber café which were in a sorry state both in terms of hardware and software, even those part of larger well-known cyber café chains. People visit these places usually for the Internet, and so it doesn’t matter whether the hardware and software are state-of-the-art or not as long as the web browser is functional.

Everybody, even those owning a PC may have to visit a cyber café some time or the other. Unlike a place like Starbucks with free wifi where you can plug in your PC into the network, a large number of cyber cafés require you to use their own systems. If you find yourself in such a place, keep the precautions suggested here in your mind. Most consumers overestimate PC safety. If you’re one of these most consumers, pay more attention.

Unplug any media devices like floppies, CDs, DVDs, and pen drives if they are not yours or if you are not going to use them. Floppies and pen drives are especially prone for communicating infections.

Clear all private data from the web browser before and after using the Internet. This itself could save you a lot of embarrassment and security with the usage of Internet, remove any weak malicious scripts originally running in the background, and delete any passwords it may have saved without notifying you. For Internet Explorer, Tools -> Internet Options -> Browsing History -> Delete, checking everything (except the option of preserving favorite website data). For Mozilla Firefox, Tools -> Clear Private Data, checking everything.

Use a proxy site for whichever site it may be possible for greater anonymity, especially from the future visitors of the cyber café.

Don’t be surprised if the system is infested with viruses, adwares and spywares. Viruses usually harm the computer, not you, so ignore them. Adwares annoy you, but usually nothing more, so again ignore them. Spywares can track your usage patterns, even collect sensitive data from you (including passwords), so be extra careful about signing into any of your accounts and think four times before opening your online bank accounts. Most online banking websites these days offer a virtual keyboard, so make use of them for extra security.

Before leaving, double-check everything and make sure to permanently delete any files you may have saved on the computer. All said and done, it is always a better idea to trust thy neighbour than that cyber café. At least you can nail down the usual suspects.

Jason tells us that Firefox turned 4 yesterday. Mozilla Firefox as an alternative web browser to Microsoft Internet Explorer has been a blessing. A web browser is perhaps the most used PC tool. Consider this: Would you be willing to use a PC which is incapable of connecting to the web?

While Internet Explorer still has over 70% market share, and while there is no straight answer to which web browser is the best, there are several reasons why users are preferring Firefox: open source, security, speed, and add-ons. In fact, the last factor is the most weighing factor for a majority of the users.

Following are a few Firefox add-ons that I depend quite a lot on:

Streaming videos from hundreds of youtube-like websites is easier thanks to DownloadHelper.

FireGestures enables mouse gestures. Customizable mouse gestures.

Flash ads are some of the most annoying critters on the Planet Web. Flashblock blocks all Flash content by default, replacing it with a simple ‘f’ icon. It costs an extra click when you want them running though.

Security is increasingly a concern when online. McAfee SiteAdvisor warns you immediately if a site is a dangerous destination. It gets its data from McAfee’s large dynamic library of websites and their statuses.

URL Fixer trusts our capability of typing erroneously and automatically fixes them for us, making us get used to the typos.

There are add-ons alternative to almost all these, and more. You can get them from the addons home page on Mozilla. If you’re new to Firefox, and are lost about finding and installing add-ons, let me be of service.

Which Firefox add-ons do you use?