Firefox 2.0 finally has the Safe Browsing feature enabled and is implemented just in time for the Alpha 3 release on May 26. Safe Browsing prevents phishing attacks on a user (phishing is stealing personal information such as PIN numbers, Credit Card numbers and more by spoofing a web site or email). This has already been implemented into IE7 and in my opinion is one of the most important features that Firefox 2.0 could have. Maybe Firefox 2 will be able to draw some of the less tech-savvy computer users because it will be able to protect its users so well.
The code has been locked down for Firefox in preparation for Alpha 3. It looks like there are still some check-ins that need to be completed but we probably won’t see the new user interface until Beta 1.
I have put together a portable version of the latest nightly build so that you can see what the Safe Browsing is like (I also took a screenshot above of a fake PayPal site). Only SOME of the phishing sites are actually caught by Firefox unless you enable the Safe Browsing to perform remote lookups on the sites:
- Open Firefox.
- Type “about:config” into the address bar and press “Enter”.
- Find the property that says “browser.safebrowsing.remoteLookups” and change it to “True”.
- Restart Firefox.
By enabling the feature above I have had it catch every phishing site I have tried (the Portable Firefox below already has the feature enabled for you). Here are two sites that you can test, but don’t put your information into the PayPal site: Google Phishing Site and FAKE PayPal site.
A bug report has been submitted to try and get Mozilla to turn on the Remote Lookups by default (hopefully they will to maximize security). The next Portable Firefox version that I post here will be Alpha 3 when it gets released in the next few days, so check back soon!
How to use the Portable Firefox:
All you have to do is download the Portable Firefox 2.0 file below. Then you unzip the file and browse for the file PortableFirefox.exe. Just execute that file and you will be running Firefox 2.0 with Safe Browsing activated! The profile is kept with the PortableFirefox folder so you don’t have to worry about messing up your other profile and the uninstallation process is simple…just delete the folder!
Download Portable Firefox 2.0 Nightly Build With Safe Browsing
Wow, having used this I can not only say that FireFox 2 is quite nice, but that Portable Apps are the way forward! It was so insanely easy to use, just download a zip and the program is there, all nice and self contained. I’ve since downloaded FireFox 1.5, Gaim and FileZilla in the same portable format. My USB drive broke a while ago, but I’m not intending to bring these around with me – just use them on my home PC without Windows sticking files here there and everywhere in my ‘Documents and Settings’ folder. SUrely all programs should have this option – on a single user PC, where’s the logic in having the information stored by a program kept anywhere else but the program file itself. All I need now is a handy tool to zip up the Apps again and I’ve got a perfect backup tool as well. Thanks for pointing all this out.
I love having portable versions of applications because it is a piece of cake to upgrade to new versions. It also helps keep my PC more organized and manageable.
-Ryan