If you’re using Internet Explorer as your browser, do yourself a favour and replace it with Mozilla, Firebird, Netscape or Opera.

As if moving to a monthly patch cycle wasn’t obtuse enough, Microsoft has decided to forego security updates for the month of December. This decision was made on the heels of a late-November disclosure detailing five serious Internet Explorer vulnerabilities.

If you’re sitting and thinking “I have all of my browser security settings cranked up, I’ve disabled scripting, and I’m safe”, click the link at the end of this paragraph. Note that the URL appears to point to Microsoft — further note where you actually end up (without warning). This problem was being bandied about on a security mailing list today along with suggestions for exploitation. According to the status bar, this evil link should send you to Microsoft.

I’ll grant that this problem also affects Firebird, but we can at least assume it will be fixed. Wouldn’t something like that be interesting in combination with a site that, say, took credit card information? For the record, the problem exists in Outlook Express, too.

I’m personally using Firebird on Windows and Linux, and have been extremely impressed with the performance, stability, and features. Built-in support for themes and extensions are tremendously useful.