Am I Missing Something?

[BobV]

I've installed a new OS (XP Pro SP2) on a new hard drive and have also swiched to using FireFox in place of IE. I do a lot of surfing and something seems to have changed.

I'm no longer being bombbarded by spyware. Well at least SpyBot S&D and MS Antispyware don't seem to be finding anything. I'm seeing none where before I'd see 10 or more after a few hours of surfing. Is this too good to be true?

[Poppa_Meth]

It's because you switched to firefox. FF doesn't have near the vulnerabilites IE does. It doesn't support Active X which is the biggest thing about IE that allows Spyware infections.

[888888]

Isn't that one of the main reasons people switch to Firefox?

If not that, why did you switch? The scroll bugs? The cool orange icon? :P

[mattyboy]

What exactly are you used to finding after 10 hours of surfing? Just tracking cookies? Thats not a big deal.
I tried Firefox once before and uninstalled it after a couple of tries, I found it to be confusing, because it had so much "fluff" to it. Am I missing something? Tons of people rave about it, but I never have any security issues with IE.

[BobV]

"What exactly are you used to finding after 10 hours of surfing? Just tracking cookies? "

Yes they were mostly cookies, and I'm glad they are gone.

[Poppa_Meth]

you should try a program that actively blocks cookies. I believe there is one called spy sweeper that has a cookie shield built into it. Haven't used it in a while. I just use ad-aware once a week to wipe and cookies or tracers.

[mattyboy]

cookies arent the problem, browser hijacks is what i would be worried about

[BobV]

cookies arent the problem, browser hijacks is what i would be worried about

Thats what started the mess a few weeks ago.