Posted by Angela | 6 Comments

Browsing Through Browser Advice

There are two sides to every problem. And just like any other line of work, Keystone employees are often asked which Browser they “endorse.” Preferred Browser differs person to person; it’s just opinion. It’s like asking your doctor which brand of cough medicine is best. One might treat the coughing better; another might treat the ache in your throat better. Different Browsers are better at different aspects of the Internet and your computer. But what do the experts at Keystone think?

Before we get into specifics, it is important to know that Keystone is made up of two distinct branches – the Computer Networking side and the Web Design side. Our networking guys will always take a more technical approach that will be the best solution for a hardware problem. The design team likes innovation, speed, and creativity. In general, the design side prefers Mozilla Firefox and the networking side prefers Internet Explorer.

One of our Network and Systems Administrators, Adam Arnold, names Internet Explorer as his Browser of choice. He claims IE is the best because it “properly integrates with all Microsoft products and allows you to utilize all Microsoft resources within our network.” When I talked to the networking team they each said something similar. Internet Explorer is also preferred because of its speedy search results and long list of accelerators. The accelerators can be used when you highlight some text and click on the small arrow that appears. IE provides a long list of fast links to other web pages where you might use that text, like highlighting the phrase “Hendersonville, TN” and then getting a map of the area. These are only a few of the advantages named with Internet Explorer. Another favorite of our networking team is Internet Explorer’s ability to support ActiveX.

In my mind, Microsoft has to be a leading provider of PC accessories and software… Windows, Windows Live, Microsoft Office, PC hardware, and so on, and so on. Not to mention all their other fun projects like the Xbox, Zune, Bing, and the Windows Phone.

When I talked to the Web design half of the office, I discovered they mostly favored Mozilla Firefox, with the exception of one loyal Google Chrome advocate. Keystone’s Interactive Designer, Jamie Holland, believes Firefox is best because, “It displays webpages more accurately than others, it has 3^rd party extensions that help me do my job better, it also gives me the false feeling that it’s a safer way to browse.” Like Jamie, most of our web guys prefer Firefox because of its speed and third-party extensions. The third-party extensions, or add-ons, provide all sorts of advantages such as blocking advertisements, helping download videos, and speeding up flash downloads. One of our favorites is Rank Checker, a very helpful SEO tool. Another smaller, but still helpful, feature (that one Keystone employee pointed out) is Firefox’s spell check available anywhere within the Browser. If you’re a Mac user you’ll be used to this, but for others who have never experienced spell check outside Word, it will blow your mind.

Keystone’s overall opinions are pretty close to the market share hierarchy worldwide: IE is first with 60% market share, then Firefox with about 25%, and Chrome comes in third with 7%. Some other Browsers that you might know well in the top ten include Safari, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla, and Opera. Check them all out here.

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Posted by Angela | 2 Comments

Microsoft Security Updates: July 28, 2009

Microsoft will be releasing two out-of-band security updates today for potential threats. Because Microsoft is releasing these two bulletins outside their monthly patch cycle, we can assume that the security issues at hand are quite severe.

The notification that Microsoft posted on Friday says the two bulletins released today will give solutions for issues within Microsoft Visual Studio product line and Internet Explorer. The bulletin for the Microsoft Visual Studio product line will address an issue that has negatively affected some kinds of applications. The Internet Explorer update will address issues deep in Internet Explorer that are independent of the Visual Studio issues. Internet Explorer’s issues have been classified as ”Critical,” and solutions will provide extra protection against the security problems found in Visual Studio. Microsoft is being very limited on details until the announcement is made later today. When you keep your system up to date (in the area of security) you will avoid attacks related to these threats.

The bulletins are set to be released on the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary today at 12:00 noon, Central Time [Update below]. There will also be two sessions for questioning Microsoft by users later today at 3:00 P.M., CT, and 6:00 P.M., CT. Both are available online if you register.

Update [July 28, 2009, 12:30 P.M., CT]: The Microsoft security bulletins MS09-034 and MS09-035 have been released to address problems within Internet Explorer and Visual Studio Active Template Library (ATL).

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 1 Comment

Major Internet Explorer Vulnerability Remains Unpa...

Internet security experts are warning computer users of a vulnerability with Internet Explorer that is still not fixed. The hole allows malware on infected sites to infiltrate your machine–and the websites containing the infected code might not even know they have it. This bug affects all versions of Internet Explorer, meaning that it affects over 70% of Internet users worldwide.

Obviously Microsoft is surely working overtime to try and patch this hole, and it appears there will be a Windows update soon.  Until then, we thought you’d want to know.

An easy solution is to temporarily switch to a different browser until a fix is ready. But not all users have more than one browser installed.

Thankfully, most of the infected sites, for now, are Chinese sites.

Also, there is a fix out there… and by editing your registry data you can block access to the one local file that the malware targets.  Now, we don’t for a second suggest you go editing your registry data–well meaning people can cause serious and irreparable harm to their computer by tinkering around in there.  (Keystone Networking Specialists, however, might be able to help you).

You can also use a firewall, or a web filter such as Websense, which will warn you before you visit a site that has malicious code on it.

Also… it’s a good time to remind everyone to keep their Windows Update turned on–regularly checking for Microsoft updates is one of the best ways a user can help keep their system as safe as possible.

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 6 Comments

Google Chrome Browser: Hands-On First Impressions

I have been awaiting the release of Google’s first web browser, called Chrome, since news of its pending release exploded everywhere yesterday.  Seems they accidentally sent the announcement of Chrome a bit early, and some bloggers ran with the story.

Since then, I’ve been checking the supposed download page regularly, and until a few moments ago, it was a dead link.

Now, however, the Beta download of Google Chrome is available–in fact, I’m writing this post via Chrome.  For some of the uninitiated… a “beta test” is an early version that is likely to be buggy and unstable–we’re not recommending you download it just yet.  Here, in random order, are my initial thoughts and first impressions:

• Upon install, Chrome tries to import settings from your current default browser (Firefox for me), and I experienced an error with that which crashed Chrome.  Oops.  When I restarted it, however, the settings had been imported just fine.  This is nice because all my browser-stored passwords were already remembered.  Sweet.
• Google is claiming that Chrome is faster and more secure.  At this point, however, it’s not visibly any faster than Firefox.  In fact, it seems to take a fraction of a second longer to load a page than Firefox 3 (which is pretty darn fast to begin with).
• I love the trimmed down nature of Chrome.  It’s really no-frills in terms of UI, and the lack of bloat, combined with the tabs being on top of the window instead of below the address bar means you see more of the page than ever before.  I’m a big Netvibes user, and have several feeds on several tabs… and Chrome allows me to see and scan even more of my favorite content than Firefox or IE.  Right off the bat, this is a great feature and will probably keep me using Chrome a lot more.
• My coworker also downloaded Chrome, and he got a strange, glitchy look to his windows… with a mirrored sliver of the on-page content showing up in duplicate on the right next to the scroll bar.  It also wouldn’t let him scroll.  Hey… it’s a Beta release.  I’m sure they’ll find and promptly fix stuff like this… and I’m not sure what my friend might have running on his machine that may have contributed to it.
• I like the idea of the “incognito” window.  There’s plenty of concern online these days with privacy, especially where Google is concerned.  And while it may seem odd to simply trust Google when they say that “incognito” browsing never stores anything anywhere… the project is open-source.  That will allow for some checks and balances regarding how well the shielded browsing function works.
• I also love the feature where a crash only closes the current tab instead of the whole browser.  I was able to browse to a site I know crashes browsers (a site we’re currently developing) and the crash did, indeed, close only the open tab and not the entire browser.  That is a fantastic addition that cannot be overstated if you’re a power-browser.

All in all, the first few minutes of testing it out have been a postiive experience for me.  I am unashamed of the fact that I use and love tons of Google products beyond search (docs, gears, calendars, gmail, and more), so maybe you can label me a homer.  But better competition in the browser market is nothing but good for the consumer.

For Firefox, however, it’s probably a very bad day.  Google has long been a top financial supporter of Firefox (through an arrangement with the Google Toolbar).  I don’t think Firefox is destined to die or anything–they have a rabid fan base.  But they’re definitely going to need to seek dollars from new sources if Chrome gains any foothold on the market.

And this is a clear step from Google to infringe on Microsoft’s territory.  Should be interesting to see how it impacts that rivalry as well.

Stay tuned.  I’ll be playing with it more in the coming days and will be sure to update you on my findings.

UPDATE: So upon further testing… there are a lot of reports that the Chrome browser is a memory hog, slowing down your machine’s performance.  It browses the web fast enough… but I personally have seen it clog up my PC resources and slow down all programs.  I’m sure this is not the same for everyone, and I’m guessing it’ll be fixed as testing continues.  But for now, it’s reason enough to keep me from using it regularly.

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 0 Comments

Firefox 3 Is Out & It’s The Best Firefo...

There’s a growing number of web users who turn to Mozilla’s Firefox browser for their surfing needs.  Each year, Firefox gains little bits of market share on Internet Explorer (Microsoft’s King of Browsers).

There are four of us here in the Keystone office that are total Firefox disciples (and three more who, sadly, insist on sticking with IE).  Firefox has built its niche on being a faster, more secure browsing experience–oh, and they invented the whole “tabbed browsing” thing that IE and Safari and everyone else has since copied.

Well, last week saw the release of Firefox 3, the newest release, and I’m pretty pleased to tell you that it’s the best Firefox yet.  There are, according to Mozilla, over 15,000 improvements in this new version.  Many of the things you’ll notice are aesthetic:  the back button is a bit bigger, the tabs scroll and animate during browsing in a very slick manner, etc.  There’s also a new address bar that Firefox calls the Awesome Bar.  It’s supposedly better at predicting what you’re trying to type so you can get to your preferred destination even more quickly.  And, as usual, there have been some security updates that make Firefox’s already safe experience even safer.

But here’s the real reason you should go download and install Firefox 3:  It is fast!  Lightning fast.  Noticeably faster than Firefox 2, and light years faster than IE.  For me… that alone was reason to upgrade.

So if you’re a Firefox user, but you either hadn’t heard there was a new version, or you were holding out until it was verified as a quality version… wait no more.  Head over to Mozilla’s site and grab a copy of Firefox 3 for yourself today. You won’t regret it.

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