5 Ways To Button Up Internet Explorer

After all, the technigentsia have long proclaimed that mentioning "IE" and "security" in the same breath is akin to oxymorons like "jumbo shrimp," "friendly fire," and "priceless junk."

But nearly 80 percent of the world's surfers use IE. They can't all be dim.

They're not, and neither is Microsoft, which after five years of resting on the laurels, so to speak, of IE 6, is updating the browser to version 7, both for Windows XP as well as for the upcoming Windows Vista. IE 7, promises Microsoft is more secure, and safer to use than the problem plagued earlier editions.

As in last week's "5 Ways to Bulletproof Firefox," we sniffed out five tools for Internet Explorer that lock down the browser and help make online time safe time (or at least safer).

We're still convinced that Firefox is more secure, especially when armed with extensions like the ones we detailed, but IE is a fact of life. And with these tools and tips, the "genuine imitation" jokes may sting a little less.

GreenBorder Pro: Border Patrol

When Windows Vista shows up this year and next, its IE 7+ will run in what Microsoft calls "Protected Mode," a scheme that prevents malicious code from silently installing. It's an added protection against spyware, adware, and drive-by downloads that won't come naturally -- or natively -- to IE on Windows XP, even with version 7.

Instead, you have to equip IE with a third-party add-on that mimics Vista's Protected Code. And while there are several strategies for doing that -- from using the "Run As" command in Windows to dropping user privileges to running a utility called 1-Defender -- the best solution is GreenBorder Pro, software that walls off IE from the rest of the system in a "sandbox" environment. While you're running IE within GreenBorder Pro, any changes made during the session, including malware or spyware installations, are rendered moot as soon as you quit the browser. It's like an automatic reset switch.

The biggest problem -- other than getting used to disabling GreenBorder whenever you want to install legit ActiveX controls and/software -- is the $49.95/year price tag. Fortunately, the company's extended its free year-long offer for all downloads done before July 28. Go for it.

Head here to get GreenBorder Pro. SiteAdvisor: IE Spy

If you read last week's "5 Ways To Bulletproof Firefox," you know about SiteAdvisor, a proactive add-on that clues you in to a site's personality -- sweet or sour, nice or so nasty you want to reach through the line to grab the owner by the throat -- before you click on a search link.

SiteAdvisor works with Internet Explorer, too.

The SiteAdvisor add-on ( here) for IE sticks a green, yellow, or red safety logo next to search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN; puts a color-coded button in the IE toolbar; and with a fast mouse-over, displays details about why the site's good, bad, or just plain ugly.

SiteAdvisor scores sites on excessive use of pop-ups, how spammy the site is if you give it your e-mail address, and most importantly, how much, if any, malicious downloads, spyware and adware in particular, are spread by the site or the sites it links to.

SiteAdvisor works with IE 5.5, 6.0, and Beta 2 and Beta 3 of IE 7; if you're using IE 7, however, you'll need to follow these instructions before the add-on displays the green/yellow/red indicators. Delete Browsing History: Erasing Evidence

Like Firefox, Internet Explorer has its own cleanup option that deletes evidence of where you've been on the Web and erases passwords used to access sites.

Even if you don't share the PC with others -- in which case an Web shredder is mandatory -- it's a good idea to get rid of evidence on the chance that someone gets onto, or a hold of, your machine. What, you want your kids to write themselves checks with Quicken?

Pre-version 7 editions scattered deletes over a swath of the browser's options, but IE 7 finally grouped them under one command: Tools|Delete Browsing History. Unfortunately, there's no key combo assigned to the command -- as in Firefox, which uses Ctrl-Shift-Del -- nor can you add a delete icon to the IE 7 toolbar. (But the Tools item in IE 7's Command Bar does include the command.)

When you call up the command, you can select which info category to erase, or click the Delete All button at the bottom.

Although CCleaner isn't an IE add-on -- it's a stand-alone freeware application -- it does purge the browser's history log, cookies, form fill-ins, and temp files. IE 6 users will find it easier to use for evidence erasing than the browser's built-in options. Download it here. Phishing Filter: Fry A Phisher

IE 7 includes built-in anti-phishing tools that spot spoofed sites by first checking an on-disk white list, then communicating with Microsoft to match against a database of reported phishing URLs. (Microsoft uses data culled from both inside and outside sources; the latter includes RSA Cyota and MarkMonitor.)

IE 6, though, needs some outside help. Last fall, Microsoft's MSN division released an IE 6 version of the filter, and bundled it into the MSN Search Toolbar, but if you're Microsoft-wary -- or not running Windows XP SP2, the only OS MSN's toolbar run on -- download Netcraft's free phish-fighting toolbar.

This community-supported toolbar runs on Windows 2000 and XP (XP 2 not required), and blocks suspicious URLs based on the U.K.-based security company's own research as well as sites fingered by other users.

RoboForm: Password Posse

Where Firefox has a built-in password manager, Internet Explorer, even IE 7, has nothing. That's a big omission in days when some passwords -- those for online bank accounts, for instance -- are exactly what attackers are after.

To fill the gap, you have to go outside IE, and while RoboForm isn't perfect, it's the best tool we've found.

First of all, RoboForm is free (though a Pro version with more features is sold for $29.95); second, it works with all versions of IE, including IE 7; and third, it adds commands and tools to IE's main and right-click menus so they're easily to get to.

Among its multitude of features -- one of our reservations about RoboForm is that it does too much -- are ones which memorize your passwords; generate long, more secure passwords; and encrypt passwords. The interface within IE is simple enough: you fill out a Web access form as usual with, say, username and password, then click the Save button in the RoboForm toolbar. Later, when you want to get into the site again, just right-click on the form, and pick Fill Form.

You can also put RoboForm and your passwords on a USB drive to take them with you to another PC, or as an added safeguard (since they're not on the hard drive, they can't be stolen by an attacker coming in through the Internet).