The Security Mentor

That's the question people were asking after the latest embarrassing Firefox security bug. Check your Firefox version (Help menu, "About Firefox" item). You should be at version 1.04. Earlier versions have some known security problems.

The flip answer is that nothing is secure. There's a deeper answer, though.

Security doesn't come from using the right product any more than health comes from using the right pill. No matter what software you use, if it takes input from the Internet you'd better be checking regularly for security updates. It's a boring and annoying job, but then so is flossing your teeth.

Here are some places where you can safely test your web browser for known security problems. http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/ and (for Internet Explorer only) http://browsercheck.qualys.com/index.php offer safe checks for recently reported problems.

Firefox really is more secure than Internet Explorer today other things being equal. Other things are never equal. Let's be careful out there.