The Security Mentor

There are other web browsers besides Microsoft Internet Explorer and the one I'm using now, Firefox. Some of them are worth looking into if you're security-conscious.

Security guru Bruce Schneier uses a program called Opera for his web surfing. You may already have seen Opera if you have a smart cellphone, but it also comes in a version for desktop computers.

Opera's had a mostly clean security record. Of course with a minority product you have to wonder whether anybody's looking. Their one major security bug was an embarrassing "what were they thinking?!" kind of bug.

Opera comes with some nuances for slowing down phishing. It puts up a better display than most browsers of the technical information that's supposed to identify a site. It also takes precautions against scam sites that use international characters in their names to they can imitate the name of the site they're impersonating.

Opera has tons of features which you can live without but which you could have fun exploring. There's even a built-in BitTorrent client!

Opera is a free download for an ad-supported version, $39 for an ad-free one.