Blocking third-party cookies and setting the browser to notify you whenever a cookie wants to be saved on your PC.įor more information, check out the advice posted on CERT, SOPHOS, and Malwarebytes.

This may impact the performance of media-rich sites, but you can usually mark trusted sites as safe.

Making ActiveX, JavaScript, Java, and Adobe/PDF files ask for permission before running.

It may or may not work, but it’s worth a try. These add-ins (or something like them) come with most Internet security programs, and they check web pages and search results to keep you from unknowingly navigating somewhere you shouldn’t.

Setting up an Internet/browser security program, like Avast’s Online Security or Webroot’s Filtering Extension.

Turning off all unnecessary plugins (basically, mini-apps that run inside your browser).

Why? Because the step-by-step directions vary depending on what browser you’re using.Īt its basic level, you can increase your browser security by doing these relatively easy things: Hardening or securing your browser by yourself is-let’s face it-inconvenient and, as craft tutorials say, at a medium level of difficulty. Staying Secure in Your Browser-The Hard, DIY-Way If the IQ is the theory of how things SHOULD operate and the OQ is the practice of how things DO operate, then the PQ defines how CONSISTENTLY the machine operates. does everything work as intended The PQ or Process Qualification is the third part of the passivation test. No fun there.In that case, you have to take the law into your own hands-at least in a cyber-frontier kind of way. Do the components do what they are designed to do etc. What if you don't want to limit yourself to just one browser? It’d be like having a house with only one window. If you're like me, though, you have 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) browsers installed on your PC. Comodo, a respected cybersecurity company, offers two to try: Dragon web browser for Google Chrome fans and Ice Dragon for Firefox devotees. Nothing extra-safe included in your anti-malware package? You can play it super-safe and purchase a secure browser separately. Some Internet security programs include them in the package if yours does, you'll probably be offered a hardened browser when you visit banking and shopping sites. Our first option is by far the easiest: Go get yourself a hardened (secure) browser. But they're not hardened-made more secure than usual, in normal English. To be fair, browsers are somewhat more secure than they used to be. Staying Secure in Your Browser-The Easy Way And where do we pick up most of our malware these days? From the Internet. Unfortunately, from a security standpoint, a browser is more like a wide-open screen door than a locked window. We use them to check the weather, keep up on the news, bank, shop, and do all kinds of things. Our Internet browsers are our windows to the world. Why worry about someone looking over your shoulder when you can worry about someone stealing information from your browser?

What does avast hardened mode do