With Microsoft on the verge of releasing Internet Explorer 8, and the fact that we still see support tickets from people using Internet Explorer 6, I thought it might be a good time to talk about browsers and why you should ensure you’re using the most current version of yours.
Using older browsers can be dangerous to the security of your computer. Vulnerabilities are constantly found in older browsing platforms that could allow malicious websites to run programs on your machine. Also, newer browsers better support Web Standards, which means that most websites you visit will work properly, and look better, because it can read code written for the web as a whole, instead of requiring code to be written specifically for it’s idiosyncrasies and bugs.
You’ll have a much happier internet experience with the latest version of your favorite browser. You can find the newest version of your favorite here:
- Firefox is my browser of choice for both Mac and PC platforms.
- Safari is an excellent browser, and is also compatible with both Mac and PC platforms.
- Internet Explorer 7 is for Windows only. It’s the most secure version of Internet Explorer to date. (Note: If you haven’t recently, you’ll want to run Automatic Update to be sure you have not only the latest version of IE7, but proper security and utility patches for Windows as well.)
- Opera is a multi-platform product for a wide range of operating systems and embedded Internet products.
To read more about standards and why they’re a good thing, check out The Web Standards Project.