Webware

Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, Google Chrome 4, Apple's Safari 4, and Opera 10 include features that block sites known to host malware and malicious downloads. All but Opera also let you browse without leaving any tracks. But just as important as these protections is ensuring that whichever browser you use is thoroughly patched.

Filtering out bad sites
Firefox's built-in antiphishing tool claims to update its bad-site database 48 times a day, according to Mozilla's Firefox security page. Firefox 3 uses Google's Safe Browsing service to automatically block sites that are known to host malware. The Google Code site describes how Safe Browsing works in Firefox.

To verify that attack-site blocking is enabled in Firefox, click Tools > Options > Security and make sure "Block reported attack sites" is checked.

Firefox will prevent known-bad sites from opening when "Block reported attack sites" is checked.

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

The same feature is built into Google's own Chrome browser. You can ensure that malware-site filtering is on in Chrome by clicking the wrench icon in the top-right corner, choosing Options, and selecting Under the Hood. "Enable phishing and malware filtering" should be checked. The Google Chrome Help site describes the feature. (Hint: This page looks very similar to the description on the Google Code site.)

Google's Chrome browser blocks known-bad sites when "Enable phishing and malware protection" is checked.

(Credit: Google)

The SmartScreen technology in version 8 of Internet Explorer blocks known-malicious downloads as well as bad URLs. Other new security features in IE 8 include automatic blocking of click-jacking and cross-site scripting attacks, automatic crash recovery, and highlighting of the actual domain name in the address bar. The Microsoft Security site describes the SmartScreen Filter and includes links to a SmartScreen FAQ and information for site managers.

Apple's Safari browser added phishing and malware blocking in version 3.2, which was released in late 2008; read about this and other security features in Safari 4 on the Apple Safari site. Likewise, Opera's Fraud Protection predates the phishing and malware filters in IE and Firefox and is enhanced in the latest version 10. But attack-site blocking is only one of Opera's many security features, which you can read about on the Opera site.

Browsing in private
To activate private browsing in Firefox 3, click Tools > Start Private Browsing, or simply press Ctrl-Shift-P. You can set Firefox to start in private-browsing mode by clicking Tools > Options > Privacy and check "Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session." The Mozilla support site provides more information about this feature. Likewise, put IE 8 in private-browsing mode by clicking Safety > InPrivate Browsing, or by pressing Ctrl-Shift-P. You can also open a new tab and click either Browse with InPrivate or Open an InPrivate Window.

IE 8 also lets you control the information about your browsing habits that's shared with Web tracking services. To activate this feature, click Tools > InPrivate Filtering Settings and choose "Let me choose which providers receive my information." This opens the InPrivate Filtering settings dialog, where you can turn filtering off, choose which services to block from tracking you, or automatically block all trackers.

Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Filtering lets you block some or all Web tracking services.

(Credit: Microsoft)

You can open an incognito window in Google Chrome by clicking the wrench icon in the top-right corner and choosing "New incognito window," or simply press Ctrl-Shift-N. The incognito icon (a shadow figure in a fedora and glasses) appears in the top-left corner of the browser window. The Chrome support site offers a more detailed description of this feature.

Opera lacks an equivalent private-browsing capability but does offer private searching and other identity-blocking features, as described on the Opera site. To activate private browsing in Safari, simply click Safari Settings Menu > Private Browsing.

Automatic and not-so-automatic browser updates
Patching is a way of life with nearly all software, but especially with browsers and the media players associated with them: Adobe Reader, the Flash Player, Apple's QuickTime, and Sun's Java, among others. All of a browser's security features can be rendered useless by a piece of malware that takes advantage of an unpatched hole in the program.

Firefox 3 alerts users to the presence of an update and now also notifies you when your Flash Player is out-of-date. Internet Explorer 8 updates via the Windows Update/Microsoft Update services. Google Chrome made a splash by being the first browser to update itself in the background without requiring any prompting from users. Safari updates automatically via Apple's update service, which also serves up patches automatically for QuickTime, iTunes, and other Apple software. Opera also notifies you automatically when a new version is available.

But updating is too important to leave to others. Back in April, I described Secunia's Online Software Inspector and downloadable Personal Software Inspector, which identify out-of-date programs on your PC. The programs mentioned in that post have all been updated since, but Secunia's services should point you to the most recent versions.

(Note that Secunia sometimes reports a program as being out-of-date when in fact you have the latest version. On my PC, it continually reports my up-to-date Flash Player as being in need of an update, for example. But the free service Secunia provides is worth putting up with this and similar minor annoyances.)

Netbooks running Google's Chrome OS might be a little different from the standard Netbook, based on Google's specification requirements.

(Credit: Google)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--There's still an awful lot about Google's Chrome OS project that remains up in the air, but Thursday's demonstration did reveal a bit about how Google thinks the Netbook should evolve.

At an event here Thursday, Google showed off the browser-based operating system for the first time since announcing it in July. Chrome OS won't be available for consumers to purchase for about a year, although developers can get started playing around with the source code as of today, thanks to the open-source release of the code.

Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, took about 50 members of the press through a basic tour of Chrome OS that didn't reveal a whole lot more about what was already known about Google's plans for the operating system. The basic look-and-feel of the software greatly resembles the Chrome browser, as expected, and it's designed to provide a fast lightweight computing experience for Netbook users.

Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google, explains Google's vision for Chrome OS Netbooks Thursday.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

But Google did provide some glimpses of what it thinks a Netbook should resemble. For one thing, it plans to develop a detailed specification of hardware components that Chrome OS Netbook makers must adhere to in order to use the operating system.

"We really want software to understand the underlying hardware," Pichai said. Whether he intended to or not, with that statement he revealed that for Google, reinventing the personal computing experience is about more than the software.

How so? Google seems to agree with a fair amount of Netbook users--not to mention Apple COO Tim Cook--that current Netbooks with cramped keyboards and small touch pads aren't going to cut it in the long run. Pichai did not provide specific details, but hinted that users could expect Chrome OS Netbooks to have slightly larger keyboards and screens than some of the current models for sale.

Chrome OS will run on either x86 or ARM processors, giving hardware manufacturers some choices as to how they want to build their systems. But they will have to use solid-state drives based off of flash memory, presumably for performance and reliability reasons, although they won't have to use a lot of memory because Chrome OS is designed to start most data in the cloud with very little local storage.

These Netbooks will be designed with 802.11n Wi-Fi chips in mind, Pichai said. However, a device such as this--designed almost exclusively for online use--may not be as compelling if users are stuck bouncing from Wi-Fi hotspot to Wi-Fi hotspot.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google has released the source code for its Chrome OS project, as it prepares to show off the lightweight operating system for the first time.

Sundar Pichai, Google's VP of product management

(Credit: Google)

Google has invited much of the technology press to an event here at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters Thursday morning to demonstrate Chrome OS, which it is developing for Netbooks as a new type of operating system. However, those of you who speak code can get started poking around with the operating system at the Chromium project blog, as spotted by the Google Operating System blog.

Several Google engineers are expected to speak at the event Thursday morning, as Google shows off Chrome OS after first announcing it in July. We'll have regular updates as events warrant.

Updated 10:10 a.m. PST: Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google, kicked off the presentation by setting expectations: Google is about a year away from releasing Chrome OS. There will be no beta today, and no products to announce, but the main news is that the "code is fully open," he said, allowing Google developers to work on the project hand-in-hand with the community.

Updated 10:22 a.m. PST: Pichai ran through a lot of things we already know building up to the big reveal: Netbook shipments are growing, people are doing more and more in their browser as opposed to running desktop applications, and laptops and smartphones are converging into new types of devices like tablets and e-readers.

Every application on Chrome OS will be a Web application, Pichai said. This will help improve speed and especially security, since users won't be installing applications to their systems, he said.

Google is actually running the presentation on a Chrome laptop, although Pichai warns that because Chrome OS is a year away from release, the actual UI could change between now and then. If you've used Chrome, you've seen the basic Chrome OS UI.

Updated 10:36 a.m. PST: Matt Papakipos, engineering director for Chrome OS, took over for Pichai to explain how Google is making Chrome OS work under the hood. Google's whole idea is to make Chrome-based laptops more like televisions: flip a switch, and it's on. They are eliminating the boot loader and optimizing the kernel so that all the services that normally load with an OS at start-up don't load until they are needed.

They are using a verified boot process that uses multiple signature keys to verify whether or not Web applications are legitimate. Papakipos demonstrates what happens when Chrome OS tries to download malware: it detects the malware and reboots the system back to a clean image, which is much easier than doing such a thing on a regular PC or Mac because it's Web-oriented and the data is backed up in the cloud.

Updated 10:46 a.m. PST: Pichai retakes the stage to talk about how Chrome OS Netbooks will make it on store shelves. They're not ready to talk about these plans in detail since we're about a year away, but there's a few plans that are relatively solid.

Google will specify components for Chrome OS Netbook partners: you won't be able to download Chrome OS on an existing Netbook, you'll have to buy a Chrome OS-optimized Netbook. For example, Google won't support hard drives: Chrome OS Netbooks will have to use solid-state drives. "We really want the software to understand the underlying hardware," Pichai said.

The hope is that these Netbooks will be ready by next year's holiday season, Pichai said. There's no word on price yet, but Google hinted that it's going to require Netbook makers to deliver slightly larger Netbooks than are currently en vogue, with full-size keyboards and bigger touch pads.

Updated 10:55 a.m. PST: Even though Google is specifying hardware components, Pichai was not ready to talk about pricing for Chrome OS-Netbooks during a question and answer session. It's hard to predict a year ahead of time what components will cost, he claimed, and said that Google is not setting a specific price point for Chrome OS Netbooks. He did say that Chrome OS Netbooks will likely slot into the prices that people are used to paying for Netbooks today.

Updated 11:11 a.m. PST: Pichai said Google is working on ways to make Chrome OS useful in offline situations, taking advantage of technologies like Google Gears. But this is an operating system designed primarily for online use, he said, later dodging a question about whether or not wireless WAN chips for cellular networks would be part of the Chrome OS Netbook specifications.

Chrome OS Netbooks will run on both x86 and ARM chips, Pichai said. All applications created for the Netbooks will be Web applications, he said: Google does not appear to have plans to allow native applications to run directly on the processor.

Google is hosting a press event at 10 a.m. PST at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters to update the world on its plans for world domination via the release of its second operating system (after Android), the Google Chrome OS (FAQ). Google VP Sundar Pichai and Engineering Director Matthew Papakipos will reveal technical details and launch plans, and will have demos. Google will be streaming the announcement.

I'll be in the audience when the event kicks off and will be live-blogging my thoughts on the talk as it happens. Josh Lowensohn will be handling reader feedback during the live blog, so if you want to share your observations on what's happening or have questions, please contribute in the live blog window below once the event goes live. Stephen Shankland will also be at the site to grab photos, and Tom Krazit will have the full news rundown and analysis after the event closes.

The developer preview version of Chrome now promotes an as-yet unworking link to an extensions gallery.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google is on the verge of launching a Web site to showcase its extensions to customize what its browser can do.

The company's latest developer preview edition, Chrome 4.0.249.0, promotes the feature on its opening screen and its new-tab page. "New! Google Chrome now has extensions and bookmark sync," the page reads, offering a link to a site that's not public yet, https://chrome.google.com/extensions. (Bookmark sync is already available.)

Extensions and support for Mac OS X and Linux are the headline features of Chrome 4.0. It's available as a beta for Windows, with Mac OS X and Linux beta availability expected in early December. According to the Chromium development calendar, the beta is planned for December 8 release and the stable release of Chrome 4.0 is due January 12.

A number of third-party galleries for Chrome extensions already are available, but programmers for the project have said on mailing lists that a Google site is planned. Earlier this year, Google shipped a version of Chrome that pointed to a collection of visual themes before the Chrome themes gallery was actually live to the public.

Extensions are a key asset of one Chrome competitor, Mozilla's Firefox; extensions permit people to customize the browser and add new features without burdening the overall project. Firefox is getting a new extensions framework, Jetpack, starting with version 3.7 due in the first half of 2010, and Mozilla has just launched its own Jetpack gallery.

Google appears ready to show off its progress in developing Chrome OS, with plans to host an event Thursday at its headquarters.

Chrome OS, which is expected to launch next year, is Google's project to develop an operating system for Netbooks based on a lightweight browser-like experience. It announced the project to great fanfare in July, but has not had much to say about it since.

Expect that to change Thursday. Google will "show a few demos," according to an invitation distributed to members of the press Tuesday, as well as deliver a presentation from Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Google Chrome OS. We'll be there, so be sure to come back on Thursday if you're interested in learning more about Chrome OS.

Google has updated the stable build of its Chrome browser with two fixes. Google Chrome 3.0.195.33 plugs a security hole that could have allowed a malicious Web site to set custom HTTP headers on cross-origin options requests. A second bug fixed in version 3.0.195.33 removes a dependency on a Windows library file that was not actually required by Chrome. Earlier versions of Chrome would fail silently if that DLL file was missing or rights-restricted.

The Google Chrome developer's channel also updated Friday. Kiosk mode has been activated on all platforms, although the status bar-hiding feature that also sets the full-screen mode as the default doesn't work yet for Macs. However, numerous other fixes were implemented for the Mac version. These include a "bookmark all tabs" feature, keyboard hot key fixes, and a fix that stops PDF files from being opened by QuickTime.

The developer's build of Google Chrome is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The changelog for the stable build is available here, and the changelog for the developer's build is here.

As part of its continual push to speed up the Web, Google is taking a look at one of the most basic connections: the conversation between Web servers and browsers.

Google is working on an experimental Web protocol that could make Chrome much faster.

(Credit: Google)

For almost forever, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) has been the standard that allows Web servers and computer browsers to understand each other, transforming the bits and bytes served up from a Web publisher into a Web page in your browser. But Google announced Thursday that it's working on project called SPDY (pronounced, of course, "speedy") that it feels could make everything faster than HTTP currently allows.

"We want to continue building on the Web's tradition of experimentation and optimization to further support the evolution of websites and browsers. So over the last few months, a few of us here at Google have been experimenting with new ways for Web browsers and servers to speak to each other, resulting in a prototype Web server and Google Chrome client with SPDY support," wrote Mike Belshe and Roberto Peon, software engineers at Google, in a blog post.

In lab conditions unlikely to be duplicated in the real world, Google said SPDY allowed Web pages to load up to 55 percent faster on some of the Internet's biggest sites. "There is still a lot of work we need to do to evaluate the performance of SPDY in real-world conditions. However, we believe that we have reached the stage where our small team could benefit from the active participation, feedback and assistance of the Web community," Belshe and Peon wrote in their blog post.

Techcrunch clarified with Google that it is not planning to advocate one day flipping a switch and moving from HTTP to SPDY, but rather has a more gradual plan in mind where SPDY plays a role in addition to HTTP. One interesting development to watch will be whether Google plans to keep this as a Chrome-only enhancement, or whether it plans to advocate it as a Web standard within the browser community.

Google plans to release a Mac beta of Chrome in early December, judging by some chatter on a mailing list for the browser.

Chrome 4.0 is available today as a beta version for Windows but only as a rougher developer-preview version on Linux and Mac OS X. The standout feature of the new version is customization through extensions, a technology that long has been a core asset of another open-source browser, Firefox.

Google has been moving to a new extensions presentation technology called Browser Actions that let people interact with extensions through a small button toward the upper right of the browser window. "We've noticed that many of you have updated your extensions to take advantage of the new UI. We'd like to encourage the rest of you to do so as well," said Nick Baum, a Google Chrome product manager, in a mailing list posting.

But here's the hitch: Browser Actions only work on Windows and Linux right now. That means those building extensions will leave Mac Chrome users behind for a time. But in telling those developers they won't have long to wait, Baum mentioned the deadline for the beta version.

"The earlier you switch, the more time you will have to polish your experience for our Beta launch in early December," he said.

And Google is on the case for adding Browser Actions to the Mac version of Chrome.

"We realize this means dropping Mac support for a couple of weeks, but we already have people working on that," Baum said. "If you prioritize the Windows and Linux versions, we'll bring you cross-platform parity as soon as we can!"