Microsoft's Edge browser to be replaced with one one based on Chromium?...

Microsoft's Edge web browser has seen little success since its debut on Windows 10 back in 2015. Built from the ground up with a new rendering engine known as EdgeHTML, Microsoft Edge was designed to be fast, lightweight, and secure, but launched with a plethora of issues which resulted in users rejecting it early on. Edge has since struggled to gain any traction, thanks to its continued instability and lack of mindshare, from users and web developers.

Because of this, I'm told that Microsoft is throwing in the towel with EdgeHTML and is instead building a new web browser powered by Chromium, a rendering engine first popularized by Google's Chrome browser. Codenamed Anaheim, this new web browser for Windows 10 will replace Edge as the default browser on the platform, according to my sources who wish to remain anonymous. It's unknown at this time if Anaheim will use the Edge brand or a new brand, or if the user interface between Edge and Anaheim is different. One thing is for sure, however; EdgeHTML in Windows 10's default browser is dead.

www.windowscentral.com

Slashdot poll: what web browser do techies use?

A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for accessing information on the World Wide Web. Each individual web page, image, and video is identified by a distinct Uniform Resource Locator (URL), enabling browsers to retrieve these resources from a web server and display them on a user's device.

As of March 2019, more than 4.3 billion people use a browser, which is about 55% of the world’s population. The most popular browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Edge.

Slashdot is one of the most popular sites for techies. This poll gives some indication of what web browser us techies use. BTW - I use Chrome most of the time, then Edge & Firefox for testing. 

www.slashdot.org

Internet vs Web. What's the difference?

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.

The World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW or the Web) is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet. English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He wrote the first web browser computer program in 1990 while employed at CERN in Switzerland. The Web browser was released outside of CERN in 1991, first to other research institutions starting in January 1991 and to the general public on the Internet in August 1991.

So, in one sentence: The Internet is what you connect to, to access information on the Web, etc...

BTW, please dont say to a techie that the internet is down - coz actually, it isn't. And if it was, we'd have MUCH bigger problems!

What info do you reveal when web browsing?

Everyone that is browsing the web right now has a user agent. It's the software that acts as the bridge between you, the user, and the internet. It's easiest to understand user agents if we backtrack and look at the evolution of the web, so we can understand the benefits of user agents.

When the internet was a text-based system, right back at the beginning of its use, users had to type commands to navigate and send messages. Now, we have browsers to do that for us. We simply point and click, and the browser is acting as our "agent," turning our actions into commands.

When your browser (or similar device) loads a website, it identifies itself as an agent when it retrieves the content you've requested. Along with that user agent identification, the browser sends a host of information about the device and network that it's on. This is a really set of data for web developers, since it allows them to customise the experience depending on the user agent that's loaded the page.

Click HERE to see what information is sent via your Web Browser: www.whoishostingthis.com

Introducing the new Microsoft Edge and Bing

In our mission to empower people with knowledge with Microsoft 365, one critical opportunity is the internet. We know that 60% of the time people spend on the PC is within the web browser, and it has become the primary way we work, learn and play. The internet has become an everyday utility, that we reach for automatically without thinking, yet two decades after its introduction, we are bumping into challenges and obstacles that raise questions for us.

• Is our data safe and our privacy protected as we surf the web?
• At work, why can’t we find our internal company information, like our pay stub or co-worker’s office location, right from within our browser or search engine like we do with web search?
• Why can’t the web work more seamlessly with the productivity tools we know like Office 365 so that we can be more productive with our research and collaborate with others?

At Microsoft, we believe it is time to expect more from your web experience whether you are using it for personal or business use, an IT manager in a company, or a web developer. Today we begin with a focus on people in businesses and introduce the new Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Bing – the browser and search engine for business.

Microsoft today announced that the new Microsoft Edge is expected to be generally available starting January 15, 2020. We are also excited to introduce our new look! To learn more about these announcements, click below:

www.windows.com

Web browser plugins - how do they get there?

Malicious quiz apps were used to harvest thousands of users' profile data, according to Facebook - who are suing their authors.

The firm says anyone who wanted to take the quizzes (by Andrey Gorbachov and Gleb Sluchevsky, of Ukrainian company Web Sun Group) was asked to install browser extensions, which then lifted data ranging from names and profile pictures to private lists of friends.

These were installed about 63,000 times between 2016 and October 2018, it says. In total, defendants compromised approximately 63,000 browsers used by Facebook users...

Rogue Web Browser extensions are frequently used to compromise PCs. Donline has had to rescue many clients from systems infected in this manner. Be careful what websites you visit, what software that you install. If in doubt - contact Donline.

www.bbc.co.uk

The WWW is 30 years old today! What now? A Contract for the Web

The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs, such as https://www.donline.co.uk/), which may be interlinked by hypertext, and are accessible via the Internet. The resources of the WWW may be accessed by users via a software application called a web browser. 

30 years ago today (12th March 1989), Tim Berners-Lee coded the foundational technologies for the World Wide Web.

The web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. Everyone has a role to play to ensure the web serves humanity. By committing to these principles, governments, companies and citizens around the world can help protect the open web as a public good and a basic right for everyone.

Read more, & sign up here to make the Web better for everyone:

www.contractfortheweb.org

Web push notification scams and how to block them

 

Seeing pop ups similar to the above in the bottom right corner -or- filling up the right hand side of your screen? You are almost certainly seeing what is known as a Web Browser Notification Scam.

What is a Browser Notification Scam? A browser notification scam consists of fake messages that look like real notifications from websites. These scams deceive users into clicking on links that could direct them to harmful websites, phishing schemes, or malware downloads. The notifications often imitate real alerts, such as system updates, subscription confirmations, or attractive offers, making them hard to spot initially.

What is a Browser Notification? Browser notifications are messages that websites send to your device, typically showing up as pop-ups or alerts in the corner of your screen. These notifications can offer helpful information, like social media updates, reminders, or news alerts. When you visit a site that requests permission to send notifications, you’ll usually see a prompt asking if you want to allow or block these messages. While legitimate notifications can enhance your online experience, scammers have found ways to exploit this feature for malicious purposes.

Need a hand resolving this? Contact Donline.

www.trendmicro.com

Google Chrome to warn when installed extensions are malware

Google is testing a new feature in the Chrome browser that will warn users when an installed extension has been removed from the Chrome Web Store, usually indicative of it being malware. An unending supply of unwanted browser extensions is published on the Chrome Web Store and promoted through popup and redirect ads.

These extensions are made by scam companies and threat actors who use them to inject advertisements, track your search history, redirect you to affiliate pages, or in more severe cases, steal your Gmail emails and Facebook accounts.

The problem is that these extensions are churned out quickly, with the developers releasing new ones just as Google removes old ones from the Chrome Web Store.

Unfortunately, if you installed one of these extensions, they will still be installed in your browser, even after Google detects them as malware and removes them from the store.

Due to this, Google is now bringing its Safety Check feature to browser extensions, warning Chrome users when an extension has been detected as malware or removed from the store and that they should be uninstalled from the browser. This feature will go live in Chrome 117.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Still using Internet Explorer? It's time to move to a modern Web Browser!

Old habits die hard, but they do eventually have to die. Microsoft knows there are still plenty of businesses and organisations out there using Internet Explorer because the outdated browser supports legacy web apps, but the company is asking people to finally let go of their old ways and to embrace a modern browser.

In a blog post, Microsoft senior cybersecurity architect Chris Jackson said continuing to use Internet Explorer is racking up companies a ton of "technical debt." Essentially, by continuing to use IE, organizations are creating additional costs down the line by selecting the easiest, most convenient solution now rather than the approach that is best for the long term. Jackson laid out a scenario in which a company, choosing the easiest possible route since Internet Explorer 6, goes to make a webpage today and ends up using a 1999 implementation of web standards by default.

www.engadget.com

A cleaner, safer web with Google Chrome

Unwanted software impacts the browsing experience of millions of web users every day. Effects of this harmful software are often quite subtle—search results are modified to redirect users to other pages or additional ads are injected in the pages that users visit. But in some cases, the changes are so severe that they can make the web unusable—people are redirected to unwanted sites full of ads, and it can be next to impossible to navigate away from these pages.

Chrome already has tools to help people avoid unwanted software. For example, Safe Browsing prevents many infections from taking place by warning millions of users. But sometimes harmful software slips through.

Recently, we rolled out three changes to help Chrome for Windows users recover from unwanted software infections: Hijacked settings detection, a simpler Chrome Cleanup, & a more powerful Cleanup engine. 

We’ve begun to roll this out to Chrome for Windows users now. Over the next few days, it will help tens of millions of Chrome users get back to a cleaner, safer web.

 Donline has recommended Chrome for many years: as the go-to web browser for all. It's web standards compliant, fast & secure. Get it & enjoy the web as it's meant to be!

www.blog.google

Microsoft puts PCs in the cloud with Windows 365

Microsoft is putting Windows in the cloud. Windows 365 is a new service that will let businesses access Cloud PCs from anywhere, streaming a version of Windows 10 or Windows 11 in a web browser. While virtualization and remote access to PCs has existed for more than a decade, Microsoft is betting on Windows 365 to offer Cloud PCs to businesses just as they shift toward a mix of office and remote work.

Windows 365 will work on any modern web browser or through Microsoft’s Remote Desktop app, allowing users to access their Cloud PC from a variety of devices. “Windows 365 provides an instant-on boot experience,” according to Wangui McKelvey, a general manager for Microsoft 365. This instant access lets workers stream their Windows session with all of their same apps, tools, data, and settings across Macs, iPads, Linux machines, and Android devices. “You can pick up right where you left off, because the state of your Cloud PC remains the same, even when you switch devices,” explains McKelvey.

www.theverge.com

Which is the most secure Web Browser? Spoiler: it's Chrome!

The Pwn2Own 2017 hacking contest, which celebrated its 10th anniversary, concluded after three days in which security teams hacked away at browsers and operating systems. Microsoft’s Edge seems to have been hit the hardest, while Chrome remained unhackable during the contest.

Microsoft created the Edge browser by rewriting most of it from scratch (some parts were forked from Internet Explorer). The company’s goal was to have a browser that’s much more secure and that can keep up with Chrome and Firefox when it comes to supporting the latest web standards. Edge even implemented sandboxing technologies that were similar to what Chrome was using, which put it ahead of Firefox, which is still trying to play catch-up in this regard.

www.tomshardware.com

The Daily Mail online gets a browser warning: "generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability"

The Daily Mail is calling for a web browser alert that criticises its journalism to be changed.

The NewsGuard plug-in currently brings up a warning that says the newspaper's website "generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability". It has given this advice since August.

But the matter came to prominence last week, after Microsoft updated its Edge browser app for Android and iOS devices and built in NewsGuard.

At present, NewsGuard must be switched on by users of Microsoft's Edge app, but the BBC understands there are plans for it to become the default option in the future.

www.bbc.co.uk

Threats to the security of Google Chrome - propagated by Google's own Web Store!

Efforts to manipulate installation counts in Chrome Web Store extension listings appear to be alive and well, despite a developer's personal crusade to call attention to the problem.

Julio Marin Torres has been highlighting suspiciously popular Chrome extensions since January in posts to the Chromium Extensions forum, trying to get Googler to enforce their store policies.

In an email to The Register, he said Google has taken some action since his initial posts on the subject, but the problem has only gotten worse since then. "Something has to change," he said. "I think this hurts the entire Chrome Store developer and user community."

There are still thousands of extensions in the Chrome Web Store that artificially inflate their user count statistics, to make store visitors more inclined to believe the extensions are widely used and trustworthy.

Google Chrome is a great Web browser, but there are a number of vectors out there that can turn chrome from a great tool, into a misery! Extensions & Notifications are the biggest threats that I have to deal with on behalf of my clients. Have problems with Chrome? Contact Donline.

www.theregister.co.uk

You will soon be able to send texts from your PC with Android Messages

Google has announced that the latest update to its Android Messages app lets you send and receive texts from your computer.

The new feature is being rolled out over the next week(...), and it works in much the same as WhatsApp Web. To get started, go to messages.android.com in your web browser where a QR code will appear. Using the Android Messages app on your phone, tap the three-dot menu and select “Messages for web” before scanning the QR code.

Before signing into the Android Messages website, you’ll also notice an option you can enable to “Remember this computer”, which is handy if you don’t want to have to sign in every time you use it.

At the time of writing, we didn’t have the option in the Android Messages app to select “Messages for Web”, so we haven’t been able to try it out for ourselves yet, but it is expected to roll out more widely over the coming weeks.

www.alphr.com

The all new Microsoft Edge Web Browser is available to download now!

It's time to expect more. The new Microsoft Edge is now available for download on all supported versions of Windows, macOS, Android and iOS in more than ninety languages.

Insiders, thank you for joining our journey to build the new Microsoft Edge. There have been millions of downloads of the prerelease builds by the Microsoft Edge community. We couldn't have done it without you. We will continue to engage with the Insider community to make Microsoft Edge the browser that puts the web to work for you.

So, what's the difference between old & new Edge? On 6th December 2018, Microsoft announced its intent to base Edge on the Chromium source code, using the same rendering engine as Google Chrome but with "enhancements" developed by Microsoft.

www.microsoft.com

Windows Defender Browser Protection browser extension for Google Chrome

Protect yourself against online threats, like phishing and malicious websites, with real-time protection from Microsoft.

The Windows Defender Browser Protection extension helps protect you against online threats, such as links in phishing emails and websites designed to trick you into downloading and installing malicious software that can harm your computer. 

If you click a malicious link in an email or navigate to a site designed to trick you into disclosing financial, personal or other sensitive information, or a website that hosts malware, Windows Defender Browser Protection will check it against a constantly updated list of malicious URLs known to Microsoft. 

If the malicious link matches one on the list, Windows Defender Browser Protection will show a red warning screen letting you know that the web page you are about to visit is known to be harmful, giving you a clear path back to safety with one click.

Continuously updated list of reported harmful sites.

Protects against phishing sites and socially engineered malware sites.

Real-time indicator of harmful sites and website status.

www.browserprotection.microsoft.com

Firefox 89: Can this redesign stem browser's decline?

 

Mozilla has released Firefox 89, proclaiming it a "fresh new Firefox," though it comes amid a relentless decline in market share.

Firefox matters more than most web browsers, because it uses its own browser engine, called Quantum, and its own JavaScript engine, called SpiderMonkey. By contrast, most other browsers, including Chrome and Chromium, Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi use the Google-sponsored Blink engine, while Apple's Safari uses WebKit (from which Blink was forked). The existence of multiple independent implementations is important for web standards, helping to prevent a single vendor from pushing through changes without consensus, and ensuring that the standards are coherent.

A glance at a statistics site like W3Counter is telling. In April 2008, Microsoft enjoyed a 63 per cent market share with Internet Explorer, and with Firefox performing strongly behind it at 29.3 per cent. By April 2010, IE was down to 48.6 per cent, Firefox up to 32.7 per cent, and Google's newer Chrome was starting to make an impact, at 8.3 per cent.

In April 2012, the three were almost on a par, though Chrome (26.8 per cent) had overtaken Firefox (25 per cent). Today, Chrome is at 65.3 per cent, Safari second at 16.7 per cent, IE and Edge has 5.7 per cent, and Firefox has just 4.1 per cent share. 

Despite numerous updates, Mozilla's browser has declined from 6.1 per cent share a year ago. Statcounter tells a similar story, reporting a 3.59 per cent share for Firefox, down from 4.21 per cent a year ago.

www.theregister.com

Ask Toolbar - if you needed to ask, just don't go there!

For years people have been opening their browser and asking, "how the heck did that Ask Toolbar get installed?"

Chances are that if you don't have the Ask.com search toolbar haunting your PC, you may have friends or family who are afflicted.

Normally the Ask toolbar is installed in a slightly underhand fashion. Users install the likes of Java (as though there weren't a mistake in itself!) and have unwanted additional software foisted upon them, as they fail to read the small print and don't spot that they've accidentally agreed to install the Ask.com toolbar.

If you have the Ask Toolbar in your Web Browser - it needs to go! 

Do uninstall it. If you need a hand - contact Donline.

Read more at www.grahamcluley.com