computer security

[Lissa]

That all browsers have holes isn't news. The number of holes isn't as important as the depth of the holes. IE has deeper hooks into the OS, so that when the browser is compromised, more of the OS is too.

Just as I can't "prove" that Firefox is more secure by some article, no one can "prove" that IE is more secure either. It is opinion. Stating it as fact, does not make it so. There are too many nuances to ever establish a clear winner. Which is why I called it an opinion. I can understand the irritation that the two of you evidently have with Firefox fanbois. "I use Firefox, I'm invulnerable." Obnoxious, and incorrect. If you quote stats from some research company, don't waste both of our time. Statistics are easy manipulated. I've seen "studies" that put IE as more secure than Firefox due to fewer open bugs in the bug tracking software. If you can't see the flaws in that reasoning, you probably shouldn't be in this discussion. I've read articles that compare the browsers for a number of years, and have plenty of my own experience supporting computers and working in the software industry. Many "researchers" have their own agenda (I've seen this on both sides), and most have flawed methodologies and only focus on one or two particular areas.

Keeping your software up to date is important, no matter what software you choose to use. Nothing is perfectly safe, but one huge disadvantage that IE has compared to the other browsers is market share. If you're looking to exploit a browser, and if you've got a browser that makes up 70+ percent of the users, that's the biggest target with the highest potential payoff. So while we can talk about number and severity of holes, IE gets targeted more due to market share. This makes it more likely to be exploited, even if it isn't less secure. So while the browser might not be more insecure from a software standpoint, your computer is because you're part of the masses, and have a larger bullseye and payoff for exploiting you. It is not purely technical reasons that I believe I'm more likely to be compromised using IE than Firefox.

It is rather easy for me to not use IE, as I can't stand the feature set. A lot of this could stem from the fact that I've use Firefox through 3 name changes. Since version 0.3 or 0.4, I think. I try them all, but always end up back with Firefox.

Again, I think you need to go back and do some research. I have seen just as many exploits in Firefox that can get deeply into the O/S just as much as IE. IE has been the only browser I have seen where the sheer number of critical exploits have lessened with each iteration (Firefox is staying about the same and Safari is getting worse and worse by the interation).