Articles about web browser

Privacy and security are something that all browser manufacturers like to brag about in relation to their products, with Google and Microsoft being no different to others in this regard. But if you are making use of the Enhanced Spellcheck in Chrome or Microsoft Editor in Edge, some highly sensitive information can be sent to the two software giants.

In addition to passwords, we are talking about personal information entered into online forms such as your social security number, date of birth, username and so on. The worrying discovery was made by security researchers from JavaScript security firm otto-js who warn that this is something that will be of particular concern to enterprise users.

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Many internet users with concerns about online privacy have turned to DuckDuckGo with the impression that the browser will enable them to enjoy the web without having their activity tracked. But a discovery by a security researcher reveals that things are not as private as users would have hoped and expected.

DuckDuckGo was spotted allowing data to be transmitted via Microsoft trackers to LinkedIn and Bing ad domains. What's more, DuckDuckGo admits that an agreement exists between itself and Microsoft that allows trackers from the Windows-maker on third-party sites.

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Towards the end of last year, we learned that 2022 is the year that DuckDuckGo's privacy-focused web browser is coming to the desktop.

Today the company has launched the beta version of DuckDuckGo for Mac -- meaning macOS users will have another alternative to Chrome et al before people running Windows 11. The DuckDuckGo browser is billed as offering a high level of security, fast performance, and privacy by default which is more than just a replacement for Incognito Mode.

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Google has released an emergency patch for the Windows, macOS and Linux versions of Chrome after the discovery of a zero-day vulnerability that the company says is being actively exploited.

The security fix comes as Microsoft releases a patch of its own for the same vulnerability (CVE-2022-1096) in Edge, its Chromium-based browser. While neither company has given much detail about the problem, Google describes it as being of high severity.

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Four of the biggest browser developers have joined forces to participate in the Interop 2022 initiative. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla are working together to improve interoperability between web platforms, make lives easier for developers, and enhance the experience of internet users.  

Interop 2022 is a series of tests, a set of benchmarks that are at heart a way to measure whether individual browsers meet various web standards, working with web developers to discover problems and find solutions. The ultimate aim is to eliminate inconsistencies between browsers, and it gives a reason for companies who are usually competitors to work together on a shared vision.

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Cast your mind back, and you will recall the Millennium Bug, or the Y2K problem. There were fears that planes would fall from the sky, bank machines would fail, and chaos would ensure as computer systems did not know how to properly interpret the two-digit date 00 (did it mean 1900 or 2000?). Now there is a comparable problem on the horizon for web browsers.

Version 100 of the major web browsers are not far from being released, and this presents something of a problem. When Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox hit three-digit version numbers, many websites will not know how to deal with user-agent strings that are made up of trio of numbers.

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DuckDuckGo is a name associated with privacy, and it is best known for its tracking-free search engine. But the company has other strings to its bow, including a privacy-focused web browser for mobile devices.

Now there are plans to bring things to the desktop. With DuckDuckGo for desktop, the company is looking to give users a fast, simple and private alternative to the likes of Chrome. Interestingly, DuckDuckGo says that the desktop browser will not be based on Chromium, but that it will be built "around the OS-provided rendering engines".

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Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu -- that is pretty common knowledge. But did you know there is a different version of the operating system that is instead based on Debian? It's true! Called "Linux Mint Debian Edition," or "LMDE" for short, it is far less popular than the "regular" Mint. Then why does it exist? Believe it or not, it exists (partly) to serve as a contingency plan in case Ubuntu ever stops being developed.

Today is November 1, and the Linux Mint developers have shared some monthly development news that is largely boring. One small tidbit of information is interesting, however; Linux Mint Debian Edition 4 (code-named "Debbie") will ditch the Mozilla Firefox ESR web browser. LMDE 4 will instead move users to the normal "rapid release" variant.

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Vivaldi may not be the most popular web browser when compared to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, for instance, but it is used by millions of people to surf the web every day -- that is still significant. Many of its users are privacy-focused and tech-savvy too. Best of all, the free Vivaldi web browser is available on all major desktop operating system platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Speaking of Linux, today, Vivaldi is making huge news in that community, and the folks over at Mozilla are not going to like it. You see, the developers of the Arch Linux-based Manjaro Cinnamon operating system have decided to ditch Firefox as the default web browser, instead opting for Vivaldi. Wow!

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