Opera

[Skybird]

Due to actual major security breaches in Explorer, I have started to test Opera today. I checked the obvious setting-options, and hope I have tightend them up.

Anything vital I should know about Opera and security? Not comfort and handling - security. I like my browsers being tightened up, closed-doors, no cookies, no Java, no histories, no caches, no auto-complete etc. etc. I am irritated that I find no options for example to manipulate Active-X and the like (the settings you find in Explorer, there are so many that you can enjoy to shut down...).

I also am not sure if I have correctly managed to get Opera run in Sandboxie - since Sandboxie did not allow any options regarding it (it'S the free version I am using, I have just started to test it). I have the index-frame around Opera so Sandboxie seems to work. Will it delete Opera'S data artifacts when shutting down? It did so with Explorer for sure.

CCleaner also has not added but replaced deletion options for Explorer with those for Opera. In the settings of the first tab, I find Opera entries to select now, no Explorer settings. But Explorer is still installed and I occasionally will use it, maybe even return to it once the current crisis is over.

Please, no Firefox or Chrome comments here. I do not use them and I do not like them. That's all to say about it. My questions for info do not get answered by refering me to another browser. Thanks.

[Herr-Berbunch]

I don't think Opera natively runs ActiveX, you need - if you wanted it - to install a third party plug-in. But you dont', so don't.

Apart from that, I know little about Opera on the desktop - I tried but didn't get on with it, but it's my staple browser on my phone.

Have you considered using . . .

[Penguin]

Welcome to the world of men!

In case you have not disabled javascript, you might want to check the "plug-ins only on demand" checkbox. This way you have to manually allow scripts by clicking on a symbol - though this can be a bit "lästig" if you want to watch many streaming stuff.
Furthermore I have the add-ons NotScripts, NoAds and Ghostery running. Never had a bad experience regarding security issues. Even the "naked" browser by itself is pretty good, what I always loved about it, was the ability to block content. See a banner or an ad that ticks you off: rightclick -> block this crap.
I miss this function in real life.

[Skybird]

Thanks, it seems I still have some work before me. I think I can get used to Opera, by this afternoon's first experience, but the interaction with the sandbox is not really like I want it. All changes I make to the browser currently do not get saved, I must launch Opera outside the sandbox to make permanent changes. Downloading content also does not work as flawless with Sandboxie, like it was with Explorer and Sandboxie. But that seems to be more a problem of me not correctly understanding the handling of Sandboxie, than a problem of Opera.

Did not notice that I could or need to use addons to upgrade the browser, thanks for the heads-up on that.

Javascript - is not Java. Is Javascript also considered to be a risk?

[the_tyrant]

Browser jumping my friend?

Its a good choice to have 2 browsers, switch between them when you read about a vulnerability on one I guess.

Remove Java, flash, and active x, block ads(usually, if you just go on reputable sites, its often the ads that includes malware)

Finally, for the truely paranoid, install and run emet
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458544

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

Finally, for the truely paranoid, install and run emet
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458544

Ah, I read about that today, it got recommended by the erman office for IT security as a first tackle against the major vulnerabilities of Explorer that have been revealed and now reported. Microsoft says they cannot close these so fat. However, emet does not offer full protection agains these vulnerabilities, too, says MS and the office.

The risk with emet is that there may arise software incompatabilities, cause it may prevent right those processes the software is depending on. It seems to me that it also needs quite a good ammount of individual tailoring it to the software running under it.

[longam]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Ah, I read about that today, it got recommended by the erman office for IT security as a first tackle against the major vulnerabilities of Explorer that have been revealed and now reported. Microsoft says they cannot close these so fat. However, emet does not offer full protection agains these vulnerabilities, too, says MS and the office.

The risk with emet is that there may arise software incompatabilities, cause it may prevent right those processes the software is depending on. It seems to me that it also needs quite a good ammount of individual tailoring it to the software running under it.

You want safe, get an IPad and run safari, of course your going to be very limited on what you can do, but its safe.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by longam

You want safe, get an IPad and run safari, of course your going to be very limited on what you can do, but its safe.

Safari and MacIntoshs, in the past two years have come increasingly under fire, security-wise. Now that more hackers focus attention on Macs as well it gets reported again and again that their hardware architecture seems to be even more vulnerable than PCs.

A good strategy is to evade the most used software, and use alternatives which are have small market shares only, but are nevertheless supported in a solid way, security wise. These have the smallest chance to attract hackers' attention. I replaced Adobe Reader with Foxit therefore, as an example. Well, Foxit maybe is not really that unknown anymore, but you get the idea.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Safari and MacIntoshs, in the past two years have come increasingly under fire, security-wise. Now that more hackers focus attention on Macs as well it gets reported again and again that their hardware architecture seems to be even more vulnerable than PCs.

Exactly. The whole 'Macs don't get viruses' thing stems from the fact that no one was using Macs. As the user base grows, people are now targeting the Mac OS.

[Skybird]

I've come around to really like Opera, now that I got used to it. And all you guys on this forum benefit from it as well.

Have you noticed it?

Much fewer typos.

I type very fast and thus run into many typos, because I never really learned how to type professionally. And I am always too lazy to read my posts a second time and correct them by hand. I even am too lazy to start a spell-checker. But Opera has that included, and switched on - setting marks that catch my attention the moment I make a typo.

I hate it. It has turned me into an anankastic corrector.

For my relief, I still have the chance of running into wrong use of grammar. I enjoy it very much. It gives me back a sense of freedom.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I've come around to really like Opera, now that I got used to it. And all you guys on this forum benefit from it as well.

Have you noticed it?

Much fewer typos.

I always assumed that your typos were based on the fact that english is not your native language. And since your english is better than my german, I don't say anything about them.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

I always assumed that your typos were based on the fact that english is not your native language. And since your english is better than my german, I don't say anything about them.

No, I make the same amount of typos when typing German that fast. I just cannot slow down, I type very fast - as fast as spoken language, almost. And bad habits from never having learned it from the starting line on, are difficult to get corrected. In English, my problem is not so much that I do not know the spelling, but that I do not know a whole word, and then work around, or pick a wrong one.

In the end, I could easily avoid messy texts by proof-reading it, or using a spell-checker. So in the end the truth is: I'm lazy. Forum posts to me are just not the same like writing a letter, a text to be printed, or something. It more is spoken communication to me than written one.

Laziness, and highspeed-typing. That's the root of all evil.

P.S. Considering the length of some of my postings, I can understand my antipathy to re-read it all a second time.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Considering the length of some of my postings, I can understand my antipathy to re-read it all a second time.

At last, some sympathy for the rest of us.