Security Gets an Extreme Makeover in Netscape 8.0 Security and Ease of Use at Heart of New Release Jim Wagner
AOL has unwrapped its latest Netscape 8.0 browser with more security and ease-of-use functionality for novice Web surfers.
"It's been a while since anyone's mentioned Netscape's name and we think we've come out with what we think is a really exciting browser product that's got a unique take on the security question, that really differentiates it from any other browser out there," said Jeremy Liew, Netscape general manager.
The Netscape team included many of the features already promised and hyped during its public beta tests that drew about one million downloads — such as tabbed browsing, RSS (define) notifications, and pop-up blocking.
One of the most noticeable changes to come out of the beta tests held in November was the removal of Netscape's signature green coloring. "Kill the green" and turn down the colors and clutter was the message they received from a lot of beta testers, Liew said.
"It was very sad for us; we kind of liked our original stuff but you can't argue with users — the users are always right," he said. The traditional green skin has been replaced with a choice of a sleek gray skin called Fusion or a generic Windows skin called Winscape.
Nowhere is Netscape's commitment to ease-of-use more clear than with its security controls, designed to help novice surfers detect bogus Web sites designed to steal personal information or put spyware on your computer.
To do that, the browser downloads from AOL servers three times a day a list of Web sites known to be trusted or not-to-be-trusted, as verified by the non-profit TRUSTe organization, VeriSign, or ParetoLogic. When a blacklisted site is encountered, Netscape will direct the user to a Web page saying the site isn't to be trusted and require them to hit the "continue anyway" button before going to the Web page.
Also, in every browser tab is a shield icon that tells users whether the site they are visiting is a trusted site or not. A trusted site gets a green shield, while blacklisted sites get a red shield; sites that haven't been verified one way or the other are denoted by a gray shield icon. Clicking on the shield takes users to the Site Control feature, allowing surfers to modify the security rating of the page they're currently visiting as well as enabling Java, cookies, ActiveX controls, and other security features.
AOL has incorporated another security feature into its new browser with a dual rendering engine, one emulating Firefox and the other on Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). IE has been plagued with security problems in recent years, many times through its use of the ActiveX features which have been subject to exploits by malware (define) writers, though most Web sites are designed and developed around viewing in IE.
By default, Liew said, Netscape 8.0 will view trusted sites using the IE rendering engine, but when it gets to a site that hasn't been verified or is blacklisted, Netscape will switch over to the Firefox engine to protect customers.
"It is the core to our safety mechanism," he said.
Also included in Netscape 8.0 is an automatic form filler feature aimed at foiling keystroke loggers that monitor and record a person's keystrokes when filling out online forms or logging into a site.
