Ever wonder why I strongly recommend Firefox and why it releases newer version so frequently? Is it unsafe or what?

Now let me give you some idea why a software releases a newer version. The following are some of the reasons:-

• Fix security flaw(s).
• Fix software bug(s).
• Come with extra feature(s).
• Come with enhanced feature(s).

One thing for sure, a newer version should preform better than the previous one (otherwise why release? ;) ). No software is perfectly coded, no software has no bug and no software has zero flaw. That’s why we always see a newer version is introduced from time to time.

In other words, Firefox releases newer version so frequently, is basically to avoid the newly discovered security flaw to be exploited. That’s why as soon as they discover any flaw or bug, they patch it almost immediately (Not like IE, they seem patching it only after a serious exploitation has been taken part. :( ). Ok, my purpose here is not to say bad things about IE, I will only tell you how good Firefox is. :)

Read this article, if you have questions regarding Firefox latest release like the following:-

• Explain what is included in Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla 1.7.7 and what prompted these releases?
• Have there been any known exploits of the bugs patched in Firefox 1.0.3?
• How often will you release updates?
• Should everyone download the update, and if so, how?
• With the growth in Firefox market share, are you becoming a bigger target for hackers?
• Traditional software companies take much longer to issue updates, how are you able to turn them around so quickly?

Tell you frankly, Firefox will only become better and better with the help of strong community of developers. :)

Have you heard about phishing? Not fishing, ok!

• If your answer is NO, you might need to read this and this for more information about phishing.

Ok, here I give you some basic knowledge about phishing. Phishing is some sort of scam through email to cheat Internet user for their confidential information like credit card number, bank account number etc. We often receive emails asking us to update our bank account or re-verify our confidential information in some service we subscribed, such as eBay, amazon etc. Some of these emails are legit, some are not. Usually in those fraud phishing emails, you will find some links which might lead you to another similar page of the service you have subscribed. Once you key-in your confidential data in the fake website from the fraud email, identity theft might use it for unlawful activities, like credit card fraud.

• If your answer is YES, then you might want to test yourself to see how much you know about phishing.

The following links are Phishing IQ Tests, provided by MailFrontier.

Test yourself about US phishing.

Test yourself about UK phishing.

By the way, I took the US test and manage to get 8 correct out of 10, 80% for US Test. I should have done it carefully and read the entire email for each question. I was in a rush and did that test in less than 5 minutes.

In real life, we should take it very seriously, instead of just glancing through suspicious emails because phishing scam has become more serious nowadays, we should be aware of it all the time.