browser

Wed
08
Mar
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Hijacks Chrome Download Page with Banner Ad

Microsoft has experimented with one of its most audacious attempts yet to persuade users to prefer the Edge browser over Google Chrome. It appears the plan, which effectively involved full-size banner "ads" on the Chrome website, will not proceed ... after the tests. Technically speaking, the Microsoft Edge browser is built using "Chromium" code (which is open source), which is the exact same code that Google's Chrome browser uses. The only difference between Edge and Chrome is that Edge has been customized with its own set of unique features and is branded as being Microsoft Edge. That ... (view more)

Thu
12
Jan
John Lister's picture

Contentious Windows 11 Start Menu Change Abandoned

Microsoft has abandoned plans to recommended websites in the Windows 11 Start menu. It hasn't said exactly why but suggests user feedback played a role. An idea to suggest searching on Microsoft Edge when copying text has also been ditched. It was ... the latest attempt to promote the browser to Windows users. The two ideas were both rolled out last November to users of the Dev channel in the Windows Insider test program. That's the first time potential new features are available to anyone outside of Microsoft. People who choose to use the Dev channel are particularly eager to see new ideas, ... (view more)

Thu
05
Jan
John Lister's picture

Millions Will Lose Chrome Updates

Google's Chrome browser will soon be unsafe to use on Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. Google is about to finally ditch support for the systems, meaning no more updates. Version 109 of Chrome, scheduled for a full public release on January 10th, 2022, will be ... the last available for those editions. Starting with version 110, expected in February, new versions will only be available for Windows 10 and later. (Source: google.com ) Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users can still run Chrome 109 (or earlier versions) but the browser will become increasingly outdated with no new features or performance fixes. More ... (view more)

Sat
23
Apr
John Lister's picture

Chrome Gets Urgent Patch for Zero-Day Exploit

Google has issued a third zero-day bug warning for Chrome this year. While the browser will auto-update, it's a reminder not to leave it open indefinitely. In short, a zero-day bug refers to the time developers discovered the problem and were able ... to roll out a fix. Ideally, they'll have a head start and can either get the patch in place before would-be attackers even start working on exploiting it. In this case, however, attackers not only know about the bug but are already taking advantage before developers can roll out a fix. Memory Compromised This particular bug is described as a "type ... (view more)

Fri
01
Apr
John Lister's picture

Windows 11 Makes Browser Switching Easier

Microsoft has gone ahead with plans to make it easier to change the browser in Windows 11. It means an end to a heavily criticized policy that made it more frustrating to use something other than Microsoft's own Edge browser. In recent versions of ... Windows, users could set a rival browser as the default option in Windows relatively easily. Once set, Windows would then use the chosen browser automatically for relevant tasks such as opening a link or a saved web page. In Windows 10, users could set a different browser for every type of file or connection type an app could use, for example .htm ... (view more)

Tue
22
Feb
John Lister's picture

Chrome 100 Could 'Break' Websites

Major browser developers are preparing to mitigate a quirky bug that could make some websites unavailable. It's a low key version of the Y2K/Millennium Bug problems of 1999. By something of a coincidence, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and ... Microsoft's Edge browsers will all be hitting version 100 in the coming months. While it's good to know they've continued to improve the browsers and fix bugs, that milestone brings its own problems. Many websites include code to check the version number of the visitor's browser. They will then block the site from opening on older browsers which won't ... (view more)

Tue
25
Jan
John Lister's picture

Edge 'Update' Is Ransomware Scam

Scammers are tricking Microsoft Edge users with a bogus software update. It's something of a backhanded compliment to the browser finding an audience. Security company Malwarebytes says it worked with the independent research team "nao_sec" to ... identify the scam. At the moment it appears to be specifically targeting users in South Korea with ransomware, though the tactic could easily be adapted. (Source: techradar.com ) According to the researchers, the scam begins with a malicious ad, usually posted on a page with a lot of advertising. That's likely to make it harder to identify the culprit. ... (view more)

Mon
27
Dec
John Lister's picture

DuckDuckGo Launches Desktop Browser

The developers behind a "privacy focused" search engine are working on their own desktop web browser. DuckDuckGo is already available in mobile form with a reported 150 million downloads. The DuckDuckGo search engine is based around user privacy, ... with minimal data collected. It's funded through ads that relate solely to the search term a user looks for, rather than any data about their browsing history. The reduced reliance on personal data does arguably mean the search results aren't as relevant as with other search tools, though the developers claim this is better because users don't get a ... (view more)

Thu
16
Dec
John Lister's picture

Mozilla Beefs Up Browser Security with 'RLBox'

Mozilla has announced a rethink of a key technology used to make web users safer. The latest update to its Firefox browser improves the "sandboxing" approach. One of the biggest security concerns with web browsers is the way a single application ... (the browser) can handle data from multiple sites open in different tabs. It creates the risk that a compromised site could access data from another site; for example, one tab might display or transmit emails, login details or financial information. The way browsers tackle this risk is called sandboxing. That means telling operating systems such as ... (view more)

Mon
22
Nov
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Still Pushing Edge Browser Hard

Microsoft has confirmed it is blocking third party tools designed to overcome several ways it pushes people towards the Edge browser. It affects tools such as EdgeDeflector which works on Windows 10 and 11. The tools take aim at the way Windows and ... some built-in Microsoft applications use links to web pages. Rather than simply linking to a page address, they start with "microsoft-edge://" and open automatically in the Edge browser. This overrides the user's chosen default browser for opening web link. Once Edge opens with the page in question, it also displays a request to set Edge as the ... (view more)

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