Microsoft's last attempt at a "proper" Web Browser was with the Vista native Internet Explorer 7. No doubt it was better but still not up to par with it's competitors: Mozilla's Firefox, and Opera to name the famous few.

With the let downs of IE7 obeying proper Web Standards I wouldn't hold my breath on the new Internet Explorer being any better.

"IE8 has been significantly enhanced, and was designed with great support for current Internet standards. This is evidenced by the fact that even in its first beta, IE8 correctly renders the popular test known as ‘Acid2,’ which was created by the Web community to promote real-world interoperability,” said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect (March 08 Press Release).

Features

• Accelerators - "In the past, you would need to copy the address from the webpage, navigate to another the webpage for a mapping service, and paste in the address. With the "Map with Live Maps" Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8, you can get an in-place view of a map displayed directly on the page."
• Increased Performance
• Enhanced Navigation
• Web Slices - "Using Web Slices, you can keep up with frequently updated sites directly from the Favorites Bar. If a Web Slice is available on a page, a green Web Slices icon will appear in the upper-right hand corner of the browser. You can then easily subscribe and add them to the Favorites Bar or delete Web Slices that are no longer desired."
• Higher Security
• Automatic Crash Recovery
  

For more information and to download the new Internet Explorer 8: Beta visit the Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Official webpage

What is Badware anyways? Well StopBadware.org, a project run by Academic Institutions such as Harvard Law School define it as "Badware is software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice regarding how his or her computer will be used. You may have heard of some types of badware, such as spyware, malware, or deceptive adware".

How can this affect websites though? It does. Using a server security vulnerability and an automated attack toolkit such as "Asprox" (article, hackers can inject malicious code into files throughout the entire server and as well SQL run servers.

These "scripts" can be small pieces of Javascript code inserted into the last or second last line of each document. Commonly found is a script named "fgg.js" which distributes malware to visiting computers. This code is for the most part invisible unless the code is found, most of the time by accident.

How do you remove this code? First what you need is an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver to be able to "Find and Replace" code throughout the entire site. 

In Dreamweaver make sure the site you need to get rid of the code in is open in your File window.

• Select "Edit > Find and Replace"
• The select the drop down beside "Find in".. "Selected Files in Site"
• Insert the whole line including opening and closing Script tags
• Have nothing in the replace window below we aren't replacing the code with anything.
• Let Dreamweaver do the work and upload the entire site

This is only part of solution. The malicious code was inserted somehow and is best to contact your host about possible vulnerabilities.

Every web developer loves Firefox, plain and simple. Mozilla has just launched Firefox 3.0, another step forward into how we browse the internet. However if you have addons that you absolutely need for day to day routine I would check the addon repository before upgrading. Some addons may not have compatibility updates for the new 3.0.

What's new?

The new Firefox is sleek and stylish with a "Platform-Native Look and Feel". New features include faster performance, Smart Location bar, Full Zoom, Tags in Bookmarks, and higher security then ever before.

There really is no downside to the new Firefox, however the "Platform-Native Look and Feel" theme is a little too busy for me.

Check out more of the new features and download 3.0 now here

It's always a neverending battle between the two top application development companies Yahoo! and Google. With a few very similar applications we take the opportunity to talk about them from a developer's point of view and which ones we prefer for integration into existing projects.




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