Is IE Browser Safe to Use Yet/Now?

[jakeny]

I know a while back there was that Heartbleed bug thing and people were saying how Internet Explorer is not a safe browser.

I think folks recommended Chrome and other browsers instead. Anyhow, I'm wondering if it's safe to use IE now? I happen to have a job application I need to submit for this winter break that requires that I use IE for some reason. I tried Chrome and it won't work. I don't absolutely have to submit this app., but I'd really like the temp job if I can get it. I'm just wondering if it's safe to submit on IE?

If not, then I'd just forgo it (and not apply at all). I don't want people stealing all my information (SS#, address, DOB, etc.).

Also, what other browsers do you guys recommend in general. I currently use Chrome.

 

[root]

the use of IE had nothing to do with heart bleed, which was a server side vulnerability, specifically affecting openSSL.

Yes IE is "safe" to use again.
do you know why you were told it was unsafe to start with?

 

[jakeny]

the use of IE had nothing to do with heart bleed, which was a server side vulnerability, specifically affecting openSSL.

Yes IE is "safe" to use again.
do you know why you were told it was unsafe to start with?

Interesting.

I'm not sure. I think some people said that other browser like Chrome and Firefox, etc. were better and safer overall.

 

[BK_123]

the use of IE had nothing to do with heart bleed, which was a server side vulnerability, specifically affecting openSSL.

Yes IE is "safe" to use again.
do you know why you were told it was unsafe to start with?

The reason why people say Internet Explorer/IE is unsafe/not recommended to use is for many reasons. Ole Internet Explorer has copped a lot of criticism in its time such as being filled with viruses, being slow and that Microsoft deliberately made it like it is. IE also lacks a lot of features that Chrome & Firefox has such as extensions that allows the use of adblockers and other extensions. I recommend using Chrome and have most of my family using it.

A lot of sites are now using https to keep them safe from attacks. This site here https://filippo.io/Heartbleed/ allows you to type to the url of any website to check if it has been affected.

 

[jakeny]

The reason why people say Internet Explorer/IE is unsafe/not recommended to use is for many reasons. Ole Internet Explorer has copped a lot of criticism in its time such as being filled with viruses, being slow and that Microsoft deliberately made it like it is. IE also lacks a lot of features that Chrome & Firefox has such as extensions that allows the use of adblockers and other extensions. I recommend using Chrome and have most of my family using it.

A lot of sites are now using https to keep them safe from attacks. This site here https://filippo.io/Heartbleed/ allows you to type to the url of any website to check if it has been affected.

Yikes! Good insights.

What about browsers like Firefox and others? I think the job app. might work on those. It just says that Chrome isn't supported and that's the one I use.

 

[root]

well that's kind of the point...

IE WAS bug ridden and insecure at version 6, about a decade ago. and firefox WAS really light weight and fast.

Now firefox is bloated, and frankly a memory hog.
it's gotten to the state where you MUST run plugins to disable flash if you want to do anything. -because the flash pluggin is so horrendously bloated - I do some little projects in my spare time making stuff, and usually have a bunch of tabs open as I research what I'm going to do next, if I don't have flash block installed I use up nearly a couple of GB memory just playing crap adverts. even with flash block, and having opened and closed a bunch of tabs, it's not unknown for FF to be consuming over 1.5GB of ram. (open ten windows with ten tabs each, you can see memory consumed, close all but one tab in each window and you can see memory retained.
close 9 windows and you can still see large amounts of memory retained. (clearly an issue, and one that is raised on the Mozilla support forums and is ignored.
if you have all those windows open, you can close your first window of ten tabs by clicking on the cross, (warns do you want to close 10 tabs). but leaves the other 90 open. if you click file -exit it'll close all 100 tabs without warning... worse if your home page set to anything other than the mozilla start page (e.g google) you lost all those tabs, unless you want to go through your history trying to find them. (if you have mozilla page as your start page you can press restore previous session.) (this bug was raised three at least three versions ago on the support forums.)

on top of which fire fox does have it's bugs, and so do various pluggins, - which are not vetted by anyone, if you install a FF pluggin, that's on your head you chose to run untested unvetted code.

Basically as an firefox has gotten as bloated, and as buggy if not worse than IE. the developers are complacent and don't listed to user feedback, they are determined to follow the view of their project leaders rather than feedback of their customers. all in all firefox (having become the most dominant browser) has done exactly the same as IE did after killing netscape. -got into this mindset that they are the best, can do no wrong and everyone will use them...

(this is why loads of people are switching to chrome.)

however, long story short, if an application or site does not support chrome then you have to use another browser.

I use firefox (hence why I'm so acutely aware of how crappy it is).

 

[root]

A lot of sites are now using https to keep them safe from attacks. This site here https://filippo.io/Heartbleed/ allows you to type to the url of any website to check if it has been affected.

what attacks?

 

[BK_123]

what attacks?

I didn't explain that very well. Like a server being DDOS etc..

 

[Celegorm]

I didn't explain that very well. Like a server being DDOS etc..

HTTPS does not prevent DDOS in any way, nor does it have anything to do with a the web browser you are using. All HTTPS does is help keep your data private while browsing. To steal right from wikipedia:

The main motivation for HTTPS is to prevent wiretapping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

As root mentioned, IE USED to be terrible. However now that it's grown and evolved I have yet to see one major security flaw in IE that wasn't also a risk with Chrome, FireFox or Safari. At this point the only reason I don't use IE is because I like the look and feel of Chrome more. I don't use any plug ins and there is no noticeable speed difference to me.

In terms of what's "better", in the end it's all opinion. There is no "best" browser and I would venture to say there really isn't a "worst" either at this point. So long as you don't install every free tool bar that you get prompted for when installing software you'll be fine no matter what you use.

 

[BK_123]

As root mentioned, IE USED to be terrible. However now that it's grown and evolved I have yet to see one major security flaw in IE that wasn't also a risk with Chrome, FireFox or Safari. At this point the only reason I don't use IE is because I like the look and feel of Chrome more. I don't use any plug ins and there is no noticeable speed difference to me.
.

Well those are my reason aswell but I also prefer Chrome as I can sign-in to all the devices I use and have everything synced across all my devices wherever I go and you don't need to worry about updating Chrome as it does the work for you.