Firefox

Huge Regret: I Trusted Firefox

I have been a loyal Firefox user for years. Hugely so.

Well, we reap what we so(w). Hugely. Actually, harvests are always more huge than what we sow, but that’s another (hugely important) subject.

About 23 hours ago I tried something new in my Firefox browser: creating an additional profile in a custom location. (That’s actually two new things.) Then I deleted the profile, having done absolutely nothing with it.

My payback from the world’s best browser? 🙄

Firefox deleted hundreds of non-Firefox files in the custom location, including tax and banking records. And the action can’t be undone.

I. Was. Just. Sick.

Two questions for Firefox:

  1. Why does your Profile Manager do such a stupid thing?
  2. Why doesn’t the dialog box tell us that’s what you’re going to do?

Just to be “fair,” I’ll acknowledge that if I had done even a little research online, I would have learned that Firefox does such a stupid thing.

Deleting a Firefox Thunderbird or SeaMonkey 2 profile

Warning: The folder for the profile you are planning to delete may contain non-Mozilla files, if you created the profile in a custom location see above. If you use the “Delete Files” option to delete that profile, the entire folder and all of the contents will be deleted, including any non-Mozilla files it may contain. This cannot be undone! For this reason, you should choose the “Don’t Delete Files” option when deleting a profile. If you want to delete the profile folder, you can do that manually.

(Emphasis not mine.)

But why should I assume I need to research such a thing when the dialog box doesn’t warn of it? (Emphasis all mine.)

Firefox Profile Manager

Click image to see more of the screen shot

I. Feel. Betrayed. By. My. Trusted. Browser. 😳

Will I now switch to Google Chrome? 🙄

Well, how do I know it won’t pull something just as dastardly?

Besides, it’s Google. 😯

OK. That’s enough moaning for now. I need to see how much I can restore from back-up. And then see how much of that backed up data needs updating.

PS: No, I didn’t have time to put this together. But this is my way of giving back to the Firefox community. Or something. 🙂

Critical Security Update for Internet Explorer

I grateful for the Firefox browser. And I’m thankful not to have to use Internet Explorer (except for Web page testing).

But I know the majority of the world still uses IE. So here’s my PSA for you folks:

This security update resolves nine privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 6 on Windows clients, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 on Windows clients. For Internet Explorer 6 on Windows servers, this update is rated Important. And for Internet Explorer 8 on Windows servers, this update is rated Moderate.

Source: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-018

HT: Small Business Computing

Firefox: the World’s Best Browser

OK, OK — so the article below doesn’t say “best” — it says “most popular” — and I know not to confuse the two.

But Firefox continues to be my browser of choice.

Firefox 3.5: World’s most popular browser

Data released by StatCounter indicates that Firefox 3.5 is the world’s most popular browser, having edged ahead of Internet Explorer 7.

Looking at the data, it’s quite possible that Firefox 3.5 won’t retain the top spot for long as Internet Explorer 8 is catching up fast, and will get a further push from Windows 7 sales. That said, Firefox has a fair bit of momentum, so it could very well increase the lead it has over IE. Time will tell …

No matter what browser you happen to be a fan of, you have to admit that that Mozilla’s dethroning of Microsoft’s iron grip on the browser chart is very impressive and quite an achievement.

So lemme see if I can do some Cool Talk. 😯

Firefox…like…rocks. 😳

HT: Rob Miller (though the tip came via his Facebook Wall)

Perilous IE Flaw

Yahoo! News reports:

Microsoft releasing emergency patch for perilous IE flaw

Microsoft will release an emergency patch on Wednesday to fix a perilous software flaw allowing hackers to hijack Internet Explorer browsers and take over computers.

The US software giant said on Tuesday that in response to “the threat to customers” it immediately mobilized security engineering teams worldwide to deliver a software cure “in the unprecedented time of eight days.”

Read it all

Above all, love God!