http://www.secureie.com
What's It Do?
It claims to act as a first line of defense for Web browsing,
much like anti-virus software does for email. It protects against
inadvertent malicious downloads such as keystroke logging and spyware from
Websites.
Does It Do What It Promises?
Reviewer 1. Yes. I do, however, take
serious exception to many of the claims on the Winferno Website,
especially in regard to its "Browser Comparison." Many of the comparisons
made to other browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox are at best misleading
and irrelevant, and at worst unfair. Many of the other browsers compared
do not need the "advantages" of Secure IE 2004 because they do not have
the disadvantages and security problems unique to Internet Explorer. I
would also argue that to make a statement that "Secure IE is the only
browser currently available with security and privacy in mind," is simply
not a true or accurate statement and a vast overgeneralization.
Furthermore, Secure IE 2004 is not, in fact, truly a browser such as
Mozilla, Opera, et al, but a browser shell for Internet Explorer.
Reviewer 2. Yes.
Reviewer 3. Yes, in general I found it
to function quite well. When you run Secure IE, it is as if you are
running a new Web browser. However, it can be better understood as
Internet Explorer with a number of enhanced features that make your time
on the Web more secure and easier. Once you have configured it (very
easily done when you first use it), you have a number of security tools
that are added on to IE. These tools block unauthorized popup ads, scan
incoming information for viruses, give the user control over cookies, and
add features like sticky notes, a highlighter and browser tabs, and tune
up your Internet connection settings so that you can work more quickly on
the Web.
Reviewer 4. As I have tested it over time, it appears to grow
with you. It allows you to choose different security settings based upon
trusted zones and allows one to change these zone settings quickly. If you
had to rely upon Internet Explorer as it is today, you would have to dig
deep just to find some of the options that are available to you in Secure
IE. The application also claims that it can accelerate Web browsing by
tuning your browser using 10 simultaneous sockets instead of the default
two. One way speeds are increased is by blocking popups and Flash
animations and we know these heavily use bandwidth.
Reviewer 5. Yes. It worked very well for me once I got used to
the slightly different look of the interface. It performs a number of
tasks that can be performed by other programs, but all in one program, and
with a lot more ease. It is easy to configure and works well at what it
claims to do.
Was It Easy To Install?
Reviewer 1. Yes; a standard Windows
install using the Installation Wizard, although it does require that you
are using Internet Explorer 6.
Reviewer 2. Yes.
Reviewer 3. Yes, the installation went
smoothly.
Reviewer 4. It was extremely to
install. During the installation period, it prompts you to select
automatic security configuration or manual configuration. If you select
the automatic setting, it is easy to modify on the fly at any time.
Reviewer 5. Yes, it installed easily with no problems.
Good points?
Reviewer 1. Secure IE 2004 essentially
automates configuration of Internet Explorer's security settings and then
provides consolidated access to those settings. Nearly all of these
settings already exist in IE but are not activated by default. For those
users who are unable to figure out how to change these settings themselves
for free, Secure IE will do it for you (for a price) and further provide
easier access to the security settings for future reference. The software
can preserve bandwidth by enabling the user to disable Flash Animations,
and it claims to be able to speed up Web browsing by using ten sockets
rather than the standard two. There are additional features such as tabbed
browsing for those advocates of tabbed browsing who find switching between
open browser windows by alt-tabbing tedious (although this seems superior
to me). And, it has a good approach to many of the "blocking" features.
Much like IE in many ways, you can use the list of trusted sites to
override inconvenient security settings for sites you trust. Incidentally,
Winferno says Secure IE 2004 will work well in an SP2 environment.
Reviewer 2. For the most part, Secure
IE has an easy to understand interface. I like the tabbed browsing and the
ability to have more than one browser window open within a tab. It also
has a Google toolbar search and an easy way to turn on and off popups.
Reviewer 3. n order to get the user up
and running quickly, most of the initial configuration is done
automatically - although, you are asked to make the choice to run the
"Automatic Security Settings". This way, your trusted sites will run as
they would under Internet Explorer, and you can set the settings for new
sites as you surf. On the left hand side is a toolbar (which can be opened
and closed with the F6 key - I really like programs that let you use the
keyboard instead of forcing you to mouse after the item you want to
activate). All your Internet Explorer Favorites are already there under
one button - no need to import them as you do if you are switching from IE
to another browser like Netscape or Opera. Another button is History,
again from IE. There are some new ones too. At the top is "Open and Save".
This allows you to save Web pages individually, or as part of a group of
pages in a "Workspace." Once saved, they can be opened directly from the
folder where you have stored them, by double-clicking on them; or you can
open them from Secure IE itself. You also have a highlighter and sticky
notes, so you can leave yourself comments or thoughts that will come back
with those pages, if you have saved them. There is also a built-in file
download manager. Across the top, there are a number of toolbars. One set
contains the expected top-of-page: the menus, and the icons for forward,
back, home, address bar etc. But there is a new address bar, where you can
put in a set of search parameters, then choose from among several search
engines. There is also a set of tabs that grow in number as you surf. By
clicking on the appropriate tab, that particular page leaps up instantly.
This is much more satisfactory than clicking numerous times on the Back
and Forward buttons. Secure IE includes other useful features. One
particularly good one is Zone Based Popup Blocking. Some sites are
essential for my work. These "Trusted Zones" use popups as an integral
part of the service that I need from them. Secure IE automatically exempts
Trusted Sites from popup blocking, whereas most other popup-blocking
software blocks "all or none". Another one that I like is the automatic
update feature. I can be forgetful about things like that, so once I have
specified how often I want to download security updates, this process is
done by the program itself.
Reviewer 4. It is easy to
install and configure and to set three levels of Internet security Zones.
I like the way you can import your existing Favorites. It has tabs along
the top so it is easy to switch from page to page. Another nice feature is
its ability to block Flash animation sites, popups and ActiveX controls.
Reviewer 5. Initial
configuration was simple and quick, and you can specify trusted sites at
setup and on the fly as you find new sites. Tabbed browsing is a nice
feature, and one often mentioned as missing in the standard IE format. It
makes switching from one page to another very easy. IE Favorites are
available automatically without the need to import, which was very nice.
The toolbar on the side is a handy feature, giving easy and quick access
to frequently used options like history and favorites. It has an
integrated download manager that allows you to pause downloads, a built-in
search box similar to the Google toolbar, popup control, and it
automatically updates and filters out prohibited ActiveX controls to keep
them from affecting your computer, to name a few impressive features. It
is supposed to speed up Internet surfing, but I have a pretty fast cable
connection and could not verify this. One very cool feature is the ability
to save entire Web pages to be viewed later. The popup manager works well,
and allows trusted zone access, which means pages you use frequently that
have useful or necessary popups can be allowed.
Weak points?
Reviewer 1. Reviewer 1: I will reserve my overall reservations
about Secure IE 2004 to the "Comments" section following. The only actual
weak points I found in the software itself is that as it does replace the
IE browser shell (not the browser itself; you are still using Internet
Explorer). IE enhancements you may want, such as the Google Toolbar or
other added toolbars such as Dogpile, Yahoo, Copernic, etc., don't work in
Secure IE. I installed it, and (as I expected) it modified the regular IE
on the system, even though I made Secure IE the default browser.
Reviewer 2. I had a few video
problems that included menu bars and address bars staying in one spot on
the screen and the sticky notes getting "stuck" in one spot on the screen.
The address bar had some problems when I opened more than one browser in a
child window.
Reviewer 3. I was surprised to
find popups and popunders on a couple of the pages I visited with Secure
IE in places that I had not specified as "Trusted". Like many "ordinary"
surfers, I am not sure how they are generated, and was not able to figure
out how to block them. Usually, I use Mozilla Firefox, and have been free
of these extremely annoying intrusions into my space for some time. They
were on a site that I have not visited before, so I went there again with
Firefox and there they were again; so, Secure IE was not better or worse
than Firefox at this particular site. I also found that the "Save
Workspace" did not function as easily as I would have liked. I ran through
this feature a number of times, expecting it to save all the Web pages I
had open when I saved it. But when I came back to one or another of them
at a later date, I had only a few of the pages saved; others were not
there.
Reviewer 4. About the only weak
point I have seen thus far is my cursor is a bit slow when I pull down my
Favorites. It hesitates, but once the site is selected, everything is
quite fast.
Reviewer 5. I have few
complaints about Secure IE 2004. I had a few unauthorized popups, but I
was intentionally using it in areas I knew to be particularly bad about
this, and to be fair I have yet to see any product block all of the popups
in these areas. It performed on par with the best popup blockers I've
used.
Other Comments?
Reviewer 1. The bottom line about Secure IE 2004 is
that most of what it does could be done for free in standard Internet
Explorer just by clicking the correct buttons in Tools|Internet Options on
the Security Tab. Similarly blocking Messenger pop ups is as simple as
turning off the service in your Windows services applet. It irks me that
someone should sell this as a separate product. Furthermore, even with
this software, you still have the slow, bloated and poorly featured IE
there when there are such better and safer alternatives as the new Firefox
1.0 browser which is being nearly unanimously recommended over Internet
Explorer, and which is free (and which is not in need of constant patching
by Microsoft nor the need of software products such as Secure IE). I do
understand, however, that some end users don't understand this stuff and
need to have their hands held. If you would rather spend $29.95 for Secure
IE instead of taking a few minutes to learn something about your
computer's browser and OS, then perhaps it is money well spent.
Reviewer 2. Much of the security that
this adds to IE has already been added with XP SP2. It also was taking up
over 80mb of memory to run and the Rapid IE (part of the Suite) took up
another 10mb (from several different programs running).
Reviewer 3. I am very leery of
programs that integrate themselves with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I
have found that IE is so much a part of the Windows Operating System that
to fiddle around with it is to invite trouble in the overall stability of
Windows itself. To date, I have not found this to be the case with Secure
IE. But if I find that I am having unexpected problems running other
applications, or if I find Windows behaving oddly, Secure IE will
immediately be dumped.
Reviewer 4. I like the idea of
blocking Flash animations, ActiveX controls and of course popups. It has a
nice feature of updating itself from the Winferno Web site on a
user-specified schedule. Secure IE will allow you to save Web pages for
offline viewing in their full format as a single page. This is something
not many applications can boast of. As well, you can add sticky notes and
highlights to the web page and send it out for review, if this is
something you need. In a nut shell, Secure IE uses trusted and non-trusted
sites which can have individual security zones set. If you have blocked
ActiveX globally, you can open the site list and turn on ActiveX for just
a particular site.
Reviewer 5. This product takes
the place of a number other programs that can do the same tasks, but this
is all in one package, which is nice. Some functions can be done by
Internet Explorer if you dig around enough, but this eliminates the need,
and recognizes that some people just do not have the patience or technical
savvy to root through the myriad of fine settings of IE. Overall, it is a
good product that simplifies the process of making IE more secure, safer,
quicker, and easier to use. Secure IE 2004 is what Internet Explorer
should be.
Will You Continue To Use It?
Reviewer 1. No. I have not used
Internet Explorer for some time and have no desire to return to it.
Reviewer 2. No, not that it
doesn't work; but, I don't need the functions it performs.
Reviewer 3. Sometimes. But I
will not make it my default browser
Reviewer 4. Yes, I will definitely continue to use this
as it enhances security while surfing the Web.
Reviewer 5. Yes, but perhaps not
as my primary browser.
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