Consumer Reports pans Safari's lack of phishing protection [ MacOS ]

Consumer Reports, in its annual internet security survey, recommended that Mac users avoid Safari because of its lack of phishing protection. Instead, they recommend users install Firefox 3 or Opera 9.5 as their default browsers, since both will warn users before displaying the contents of sites known to be source of scams and personal information theft.

Jeff Fox, technology editor at Consumer Reports, noted that "e-mail is the weak vector on the Mac," meaning that most successful phishing attacks on Mac users arrive via email.

"Windows users are used to being paranoid about not clicking [links in phishing emails]," he said. "Mac users aren't, even though they say, 'Antivirus software, who needs it?'"

As we've mentioned before, 1Password does a great job of adding phishing protection to Safari. Also, always be extra-wary of clicking links in emails from people you don't know.

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# Get Opera to open faster
If you've been using Opera for a while, you might start to notice it doesn't launch quite as quickly as it used to. No, that doesn't mean the honeymoon is over and Opera doesn't care about impressing you anymore. Far from it: the likely cause is that Opera has been keeping track of all the sites you've been visiting, so it can be ready with a handy History list should you choose to revisit any of them. Unfortunately, this can add precious (and noticeable) seconds to Opera's otherwise speedy launch time. To cut down on the lag, go to Tools, then Preferences, then Advanced, then History, and change visited addresses to something lower. (You can also just clear your History here for a temporary fix.)

# Tweak your preferences to speed up load times
Opera can be almost embarrassingly helpful at times--that's just the kind of browser it is. But you can streamline your preferences to keep this sort of hand-holding to a minimum, especially when it comes to settings that sometimes take up more time than they save. Go under Preferences, then Network, then Server name completion. If you uncheck Try name completion and Look for local network machine, Opera will stop cycling your CPU, trying to guess what you're typing in the address bar. Otherwise, when you type in a word--such as, say, BoingBoing--your CPU will waste time looking for a bookmark named BoingBoing, a local network named BoingBoing, and any number of prefix- and suffix-added variations. (This lag, of course, is especially noticeable on slower connections.)

# Browse on the big screen
One of Opera's coolest features is Opera Show, which basically lets you turn Opera into a presentation tool--and a lightweight substitute for bloated applications such as PowerPoint. An unintended use of this full-screen viewing mode is viewing big, sprawling Web pages without the clutter of Opera's toolbars and window dressing. Just hit F11 (or go to the View menu and select Full Screen), and voila! All the clutter disappears. You can still move around, too: just use the arrow keys or the mouse wheel to scroll. When you're done with Full Screen, hit F11 again to toggle it off. (Of course, Opera Show is also great for presentations, its intended purpose, for a variety of reasons.)