The most widely and commonly used internet browser in the world - Microsoft Internet Explorer, has some vulnerabilities and security holes. This article contains some tips, that may help you better defend your network and your computer from spyware and malware security threats. As a frequent surfer, you need to well aware about the various security holes and exploits of your Microsoft Internet Explorer, browser. An intelligent hacker or phisher, can easily capitalize on the many flaws, that Microsoft Internet Explorer has, and can easily spy on your internet and other computer activities, using various spyware Trojans and other malware. This article roughly gives some basic outline on how to secure IE, and goes on to demonstrate, how, by plugging some holes and security exploits, can your make your browsing experience, spyware and malware free.
Mostly, the responsibility of securing the web browser falls in the computer users hands, novice and advanced, both, alike. There are a bunch of security holes in Internet Explorer, which, when plugged, can prevent hackers from installing malware and spyware on your computer, and if you have already been exploited, by dealing with these flaws, you can still be able to recover from these attacks. The trick is to achieve an optimum balance between security and functionality. If your, browsers security is too loose, then if is extremely easy for any hacker to break in to your computer, using your Internet Explorer, on the other hand if your web browsers security is too tight, then it tends to get frustrating, since certain web sites may not be displayed at all.
The best way to start, is by tuning your Internet Explorers zones individually; Internet, Trusted Sites, Local Intranet and Restricted Sites. The local intranet zone, has some loose security settings, and only trusted, access driven sites are supposed to be added here. Change and fine tune this zone, by adjusting the permissions, tailoring them to your requirements. This will reduce your browsers' vulnerability surface, if any hackers try to slip in some web sites in to the zone.
The Trusted Sites zone is provided for web sites that you inherently trust and know of. The security settings on this zone should be one of the highest. When you do add sites in to this zone, be confident about your choices. On the other hand, the Restricted Sites zone is meant for the web sites you do not trust., it doesn't stop you from visiting these sites, it just protects you better from such sites, incase they may harbor spyware.
You can use some free tools, like Spyware Blaster, to maintain list of web sites that are considered to be malicious, and interfaces with your Internet Explorer, adding these sites in to the Restricted zone of your browser. The Internet zone, has a security level of Medium. This lets most of the web sites appear correctly, without the web sites being able to do much to your computer. But, the medium security level of the Internet zone, of your browser, is really not enough to protect your PC, against web sites that infect your computer with spyware. It is a good idea to disable Active X controls, since Active X based tools, are a favorite for spyware and malware authors.
The Internet Explorer 7, can be configured, to be secure. You can use the browsers Content Advisor One tool, which helps you alleviate the security threats, found, in each ever nook on the online superhighway. You can also other software like PestPatrol, it really does help plug some holes of Internet Explorer.
