is firefox really that good?

[pandammonia]

Hey all. Have noticed in lots of forums, if anyone has mass virus/trojan attack, one of the 1st lines of prevention is to use firefox browser. Well, i have never liked the look of firefox and on't use it for that purpose. I use IE instead. I have NEVER had any kind of virus get through my system, (sure the odd small piece od adware makes it through).
However, my little bro has used firefox for at least a year now and has had nothing but problems, the most recent proving to be near unmendable, and has over 133 trojans/viruses on his system. So my question here is... Is firefox really safe? And what makes it better than IE?

[Lisandro]

My little bro has used firefox for at least a year now and has had nothing but problems, the most recent proving to be near unmendable, and has over 133 trojans/viruses on his system. So my question here is... Is firefox really safe? And what makes it better than IE?

Well, I think you're messing two points: browser security and virus infection. For sure, Firefox cannot be guilty because your brother's infections. If he was browsing with IE at the same sites he would have get the same (or worse) infections. 
Does he use an antivirus and an antispyware?

[pandammonia]

OK! Cheers! I was under the impression that firefox has some kind of built in system to stop trojans running scripts or something. Yeah he does use both, we're in the midst of trying to fix that problem now (virus forum)

[FreewheelinFrank]

Firefox will not protect you from viruses/Trojans/spyware if you open files downloaded from dodgy websites, in MSN/Yahoo! messenger links or in emails.

Surf safely with IE and you will be fine (touch wood- see below); surf recklessly with Firefox and you will get burned.

It's a bit like saying, since BMW's are more secure than Fords, how come my brother's BMW got stolen when he parked it in the roughest area of town at three in the morning and left the doors open and the key in the ignition whilst my Ford's never been stolen from my garage in the suburbs?

There is a relative difference between the two browsers: park both in a dodgy neighbourhood and IE is more likely to get stolen.

IE has had security vulnerabilities which went unpatched for long enough for malicious websites to exploit the vulnerabilities and infect visiting computers without any user interaction (ie they didn't need to download and run a file.)

This is why IE made it to the top of the SANS top-20 security attack targets recently:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=24941.0

[FreewheelinFrank]

You can't get infected by websites running scripts unless an unpatched vulnerability exists in the browser. Firefox (and Opera) are safer in this respect. Although both have had vulnerabilities, they have been patched before websites exploited the vulnerabilities to install Trojans. As the SANS information shows, this was certainly not true of IE6. (IE7 is more secure, and a recommended download.)

[pandammonia]

Well dont i look like a dumbass. Thanks guys. Btw- i am still using IE6 as i recently got my computer and it came with a dodgy copy of windows so i am unable to upgrade to IE7, but have had no problems as yet (touch wood). I will be upgrading once i get genuine windows though.

[DavidR]

Since Firefox and Opera (or browsers that don't use the IE core, clones) don't use activeX or BHO and aren't integrated into the OS, they are a somewhat less vulnerable to certain malware than IE.

Firefox also has a number of security related extensions that you can install that will further enhance its security. Possibly the most useful is NoScript that by its name stops any scripts running when you visit a page unless you allow the script to be run. This is how many infections are started by a script being run when you visit a web page which could download malware to your system and then execute it.

There is also the DrWeb link checker, were you can right click on a link and have DrWeb do a virus scan on the page, if clean you can visit. Another useful one is McAfee SiteAdvisor this can give an indication about the sites rating, spyware, virus, adware, scams, etc.

There are others but these are worth investigating.

[noadware]

Hi,

 Firefox can be safer, if you check some of the extensions they are really useful.

Not suggesting you get more than two extensions or your browser slows down.

I like Flashblock, which blocks Flash.

Karl

[DavidR]

NoScript will also block Flash, so you can save yourself one extension.