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Whether you like Microsoft's browser or not, it must be acknowledged that a significant proportion of Web surfers are exposing themselves to huge risks -- because they've never upgraded to later versions that patch a myriad of vulnerabilities.

Many millions of regular folks are still using the original copy of IE that came with their computer and the vast majority of those people are oblivious to how this may put the security of their systems and data in jeopardy.

Now that there's a greater awareness of the dangers associated with opening unsolicited email attachments, the evil sods out there appear to be changing tack and using browser vulnerabilities to install their malware.

Unless someone's using a current version of IE, all an evil sod has to do is create a website containing the most powerful browser exploits, then send out spam that entices unsuspecting and vulnerable users to visit that site.

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On this page, an alert Net user has gone to the trouble of documenting just one of these spams and the website to which it lured websurfers.

The Melbourne Age also warns about similar scheme that appears to rely on a booby-trapped website to install trojan software on a user's PC.

Of course it's easy to say that any user who gets caught in such a web of deceit only has themselves to blame -- after all, patched versions of IE are freely available for downloading.

That however, is a cop-out.

If we look at the frequency with which vulnerabilities are announced and patches are provided it becomes obvious that those who have a good old dial-up connection, and who tend to use the Net for little more than the occasional email, would end up spending an inordinate amount of their online time simply fixing the broken bits of software on their system.

Now that I've got myself a stable version of Mozilla FireFox (formerly known as FireBird), I have to say that the best thing you can do to protect your friends and family from the threats posed by booby-trapped websites is to have them ditch IE altogether.

Unfortunately, Microsoft haven't really done much to keep IE up to date in recent times and it's really starting to show its age so switching to another browser may also constitute a feature-upgrade.

IE has no built in pop-up blocker, it doesn't support tabbed browsing (which is the best thing since sliced bread), it is still struggling to handle advanced HTML concepts such as CSS with any degree of accuracy, and it's only a matter of time before the next big hole is discovered and exploited.

Sure, if everyone were to switch to FireFox overnight then the odds are that evil hackers would start working hard to find the holes in it -- but in the meantime, it makes sense not to staple a "hack me" sign to your computer by using IE.

Mother's day isn't too far away so why not get in early and install an alternative browser on her computer. It might be the best present she ever got.

Oh, and on the subject of pop-ups and IE, I notice that Microsoft has decided to can pop-up ads on its websites because they now realise that web-surfers find them to be an irritation. Gosh, nothing gets past those guys in Redmond eh?

New Forums!
Yes folks, good news. The grotty ezboard forums have been replaced with a new phpBBS-based system that won't assault you with a myriad of pop-ups and other flotsam.

A big thanks to Managed Internet Solutions for offering to provide this service.

You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

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