Just browsing It’s time to look at the Internet in a whole new way BY JESS KILBY

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been the dominant Web browser for so long that it’s hard to remember the days when Netscape still vied for the crown. But IE’s glory days may be coming to an end, and its old rival is tuned up, renamed, and ready for a comeback.

Here’s the story: Two weeks ago hackers pulled a double-whammy on Microsoft’s public image by exploiting, in tandem, a handful of known security weaknesses in both the company’s Web browser, IE, and its Web server technology, IIS. Essentially, the hackers broke into the Web servers of several major (and undisclosed, natch) companies and uploaded a fragment of code that redirected visitors from the "trusted" site to a site in Russia that then downloaded and executed a keystroke-logging program on the user’s computer. As in: "Please, take my credit card number."

The "flaws" that enabled this hack are more accurately described as "features" (i.e., Microsoft intended them to be there), and MS has been less than accommodating in fixing the problem. Meanwhile the nonprofit, open-source Mozilla Foundation, spun off from the AOL-owned ashes of Netscape (which was built upon source code from the original Mozilla browser of the early 1990s) has been busy fine-tuning a browser that’s significantly more secure than IE. The latest version of that browser, Firefox 0.9.1, was recently released. And with security geeks as high up the chain as the federal Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) recommending that users ditch IE until its vulnerabilities are patched, now’s the perfect time to consider a switch to the Mozilla camp. Especially since IE’s weakest security points — its handling of pop-ups and plugins — are two of Firefox’s strongest points.

The only way to block pop-ups in IE is to download and run third-party software, such as the Google toolbar or a pop-up killer. Firefox blocks pop-ups by default, and also gives users tools to handle the little buggers on a site-by-site basis. And pop-ups are more than just an annoyance: They’re often the source of spyware and other malware that can infect and disable your machine.

Plugins can be just as dangerous — if not more so. IE handles these multimedia files with a standard called ActiveX, which is set by default to allow Web sites to download and install software onto a visitor’s computer, sometimes without the visitor’s knowledge. Software, for example, like a keystroke logger.

Firefox eschews ActiveX for the Netscape Plugin Application Interface (NPAPI), which IE also once supported until Microsoft developed ActiveX. NPAPI settings, by default, ask the user for permission before downloading anything from a Web site.

Need more convincing that Firefox is the way of the future (or at least that IE is the way of the past?)? The Mozilla Foundation recently announced a coalition to standardize NPAPI. Coalition partners include Opera (the largest independent browser company besides Mozilla), Apple (which markets its own browser, Safari), and major plugin producers Macromedia, Adobe, and Sun Microsystems.

Of course, being popular on the Web has its own hazards, and it’s likely that a more popularized Firefox will attract its own share of hackers looking for weaknesses to exploit. But herein lies another beauty of this browser: It’s an open-source project. Which means there are just as many white hats as black out there poking around the code, and you can bet a security fix is going to come a lot faster from the Mozilla community than from top-heavy Microsoft. Already Firefox has a full suite of extensions that users can download to enhance the browser, all written by independent coders.

Last but certainly not least, Firefox has some kick-ass features that IE simply lacks. Foremost among them is tabbed browsing, allowing you to easily have many pages open at once and browsing all of them simultaneously, a function that will make you wonder how you ever lived without it. A few more of Firefox’s greatest hits:

SHORTCUT KEYS

CTRL-T to open a blank, new tab

CTRL-TAB to toggle between tabs

CTRL-click or middle-click (if your mouse has a scroll wheel) to open a link in a new tab

CTRL-K to focus the cursor in the browser’s built-in Google search bar

CTRL-L to focus on the address bar

CTRL-B to open the bookmarks sidebar

CTRL-H to open the history sidebar for history

CTRL-S to save the current page

ADDRESS-BAR FEATURES

Searching: Type a search into the address bar to return a Google "I’m feeling lucky" result.

Keywords: Type in "dict word" (then fill in your own word, obviously) to return a definition. More keywords are currently under development; you can also code your own.

BOOKMARKS

Import/export: Import all your favorites and passwords from IE in one click; export your favorites as an HTML document.

Properties: Renaming a bookmark is a bit clunky; you have to right-click on the link and select "properties." But the Properties menu lets you do more than just rename the link: You can add keywords (oh yeah — bookmarks are searchable), add a description or note (especially helpful for researchers), and request the browser to check the linked site for updates at designated intervals. You can also choose how you want to be notified of updates — through a change in the site’s bookmark icon, an alert noise, automatic loading of the site into a new tab, etc.

But really, the best way to learn about all of Firefox’s cool features is to download the browser from mozilla.org (it’s free) and give it a whirl. Your credit cards will thank you.

Jess Kilby can be reached at jesskilby@yahoo.com