Firefox Ready to be the #1 Browser

Are you a Firefox user? Apparently, if you are you’re not alone. Sometime this year when I wasn’t paying attention Firefox rocketed to a new high. For over three years I watched as Firefox hovered between a 30–34% browser share. This month I was surprised to see that Firefox consistently exceeds 40% and is preparing to take over IE as the most popular browser.

Bits From Bill – August 2, 2009

A lot has changed in the past three years.

In June 2008 the release of Firefox 3.0 was a huge event. Mozilla set the Guinness world record for the most downloads in a single day. Over 8 million users downloaded Firefox 3 on Junes 17th, 2008. While it increased the credibility of Firefox the browser world was still dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

The release of Firefox 3.5 didn’t break records but it was successful in attracting new users. Most folks are happy with the increased performance of Firefox but the availability of Firefox add-ons has really helped push this open source browser over the top. When I asked my friends on Twitter for their reason for the switch to Firefox, add-ons was a consistent reply.

The stats above only reflect recent users to Bits From Bill. Some site will still show higher IE stats. Currently, WinPatrol.com shows IE users as 48% and Firefox as 35%. According to Harry McCracken, Firefox is also popular on sites which have a large number of Mac users.

“52 percent of Technologizer's visitors use Firefox. It's still growing in popularity all over the Web, but its usage is particularly high at sites with more experienced, sophisticated visitors. And it's especially likely to be popular at sites that cater to both Windows and Mac users, since Mac fans almost by definition are using a browser other than IE.”

Steve Bass: Ten More Super-Duper Firefox Add-Ons

Zero Day Vulnarability for Internet Explorer

Over the years most of you have been inundated with buzz words like virus, spyware, worm, trojan, rootkit and over the last year Zero Day has been popular. The zero-day term refers to an attack or virus which is previously unknown so no patch or virus defination is available to catch it on day zero.  It won’t be caught by your antivirus scanner because they don’t know about it yet. 

A Zero Day “Vulnerability” is the worst. This attack uses a flaw in a program such as the browser that allows code to execute with no warning to a user. You don’t have to be tricked into downloading anything. All you need to do is to visit a web site or in some cases just be connected to the internet. The only protection will be programs like WinPatrol that monitor for changes to your system.

This week Microsoft has released an advisory to protect users until a patch is available.  Click “Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution”. Microsoft advises some pretty serious work arounds including.

Set Internet and Local intranet security zone settings to "High" to prompt before running ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting in these zones


Configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and Local intranet security zone


Disable XML Island functionality


Restrict Internet Explorer from using OLEDB32.dll with an Integrity Level ACL


Disable Row Position functionality of OLEDB32.dll


Unregister OLEDB32.DLL


Use ACL to disable OLEDB32.DLL


Enable DEP for Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista and on Windows Server 2008


Disable Data Binding support in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

These are pretty drastic actions but this threat should be taken seriously. Most experts are recommending folks stop using Internet Explorer completely until Microsoft has a patch available. I’m among those experts who also recommends finding a new browser for a while. Personally, I’ve become a fan of Google Chrome which is now out of beta and has an official version 1.

Alternate Browsers in order of my preference:

Download FireFox

Download Google Chrome

Download Opera 

Download Apple Safari (You may have already be tricked into installing this along with iTunes)

Update: Microsoft has released an emergency patch to fix this serious vulnerability.  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-078.mspx

Click here to update