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40% of surfers don't bother with browser security updates

arstechnica.com — A new collaborative study between Google, IBM, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology suggests that users are slower to move between product updates than they should be—especially those using Internet Explorer. The researchers believe that browsers could learn from the food industry, of all things.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 2, 2008

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  • dracostimpy, on 07/02/2008, -1/+39No reason to... heck, I'm still using IE5 and I've nev
  • Darren07, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3140% of surfers don't bother looking for sharks either... but once in a while...
  • OmegaWolf, on 07/02/2008, -3/+31With Firefox, it's easy to stay updated since the browser is set by default to update itself.
  • freshyill, on 07/02/2008, -0/+20Hey man, surfers are just a bunch of laid-back dudes! Who has time to install security updates when you're catching mondo waves?

    Oh. WEB surfers. Apparently people still say that. I guess I missed the time machine back to 1996.
  • leerayIG88, on 07/02/2008, -2/+21I like to surf for porn on the internet.
  • newton21989, on 07/02/2008, -0/+18Dugg, but I can't say these findings came as a shock.
  • krystalo, on 07/02/2008, -1/+17The larger majority of old versions of IE are being used by businesses, not by the average person. These companies have internal websites that only function with a specific version of IE (like IE6).
  • GruntboyX, on 07/02/2008, -2/+17Dam straight. I get real tired of updating something every day. One day its Windows, next its office, next its java, then flash, then itunes, then Adobe Acrobat, then another adobe product every other day, and then OMG Google Desktop, and i forgot to mention Virus scan. I am sick of updates. Sick! The way software is updated on windows is broken. I am so tired of opening an application and then being pestered to update first. I dont use my computer at home much, so usually something always needs updated when i sit down. Can you imagine the frustration the average person feels? Its no wonder they dont update. Not to mention they have to wait for their updates to complete while there crappy broad band connection is ground to a halt sucking down updates.

    And to make things worse, some application has to remain in memory just so those updates can be served for each one of those applications.

    At least with linux and some extent Mac there is some effort made to create a centralize place for updates to occur. this way I update once, and catch everything.

    The industry needs to be more sensitive on how much it pushes updates. Its like the boy crying wolf. So many software packages need updates, that it gets real frustrating for the end user.
  • freshyill, on 07/02/2008, -0/+14I'm totally surprised and provoked by the news that lazy people don't give a ***** about updating their browsers.
  • jerryterhorst, on 07/02/2008, -2/+15dude i know what you mean the other day i was surfing an
  • jerryterhorst, on 07/02/2008, -0/+10well at least you're honest.
  • cubicledrone, on 07/02/2008, -2/+11Because all middle managers are douchebags.

    All of them.

    Every last ***** one.
  • mithrasinvictus, on 07/02/2008, -0/+8Actually, yes, with transparency. Took long enough though.
  • terajoule, on 07/02/2008, -1/+10People still using IE 6? This is madness!
  • dracostimpy, on 07/02/2008, -1/+9LO
  • IllBeBack, on 07/02/2008, -0/+8Most surfers just use their computers to find where the next big storm is hitting to find the biggest waves, dude.
  • Hello1024, on 07/02/2008, -0/+7actually, yes.
  • PabloMac, on 07/02/2008, -0/+6Your dropping the period was a little too subtl
  • alloystudios, on 07/02/2008, -0/+5That's because people that STILL use IE aren't very bright.
  • blazes816, on 07/02/2008, -0/+5I'm not gonna lie, and I felt very stupid, but when I first read it I thought 'Maybe because their sporty people, not tech people'. I'm still feeling stupid.
  • freshyill, on 07/02/2008, -2/+6Unless you're at work and your IT staff doesn't let you update it, so you get an error every time you start Firefox saying updates could not be installed.
  • vikblazin, on 07/02/2008, -1/+5thats why there are trojans on my computer.
    THE CONDOMS OF COURSE!!!
    ugh who am i kidding.
  • dracostimpy, on 07/02/2008, -0/+4FAI
  • fishpen0, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3Also schools like mine where they downgraded to IE6 to stop us from using tabs as a method to hide what we were really doing. Portable Firefox solved that though.
  • Thorpe, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3Must be those casual Internet Explorer users. >_>
  • blazes816, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3@cubicledrone, so download IE and see it.
  • antdude, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3And older Windows like 2000 and 9x.
  • webcrumb, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3I see what you did the
  • dunktim, on 07/02/2008, -1/+4When I first read the title of this article, I thought it was talking about real life surfers (as in waves).
  • xptoast, on 07/02/2008, -1/+4Mine updates...yay for firefox
  • seanmx, on 07/02/2008, -0/+31% of surfers are actually FBI agents name John "Johnny" Utah.
  • TurboBeard, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3I completely agree.
  • Darph.Bobo, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3You're sayin' the FBI's gonna pay me to learn to surf?
  • umbrellainabin, on 07/02/2008, -1/+4+1
  • philipz78, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3This is Sparta!
  • jull1234, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2100% of malware writers rejoice!
  • cubicledrone, on 07/02/2008, -1/+3Does IE support PNG yet?

    'nuff said.
  • Fairly, on 07/02/2008, -4/+6Thing is, almost everybody but FOSS put out ***** updates today. And we need Internet drivers licences. Some people are too stupid to be allowed to go to the toilet alone, let alone use a computer and endanger others.
  • Medicamusic, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2haha you beat me to it
  • umbrellainabin, on 07/02/2008, -2/+4people still use internet explorer?
  • mithrasinvictus, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2cubicledrone, you can see it here http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/alpha.html
    i'm no fan of ie but they did finally get that right on version 7
  • mithrasinvictus, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2Then disable the updates. It takes a little getting used to software that lets you change just about every possible preference, but you'll never go back.
  • dusanmal, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2But the typical user doesn't want updates... He wants software that works safely and properly the first time around. Unfortunately both the MS and OpenSource people got used to the insane circle of producing bug laden software and than patching it on the go.
    By the way, for the reason above I disabled Firefox updates and won't install a new version until it is at least half baked.
  • h0ser, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2the problem with people updating internet explorer is that their copy of windows is PIRATED and they can't bypass the genuine validation.
  • caupolixan, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2mmm sandboxie?

    http://www.sandboxie.com/

  • ElBeh, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2This is Microsoft!
  • MadHarvey, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Its not a big deal. If I need to go to a shady website (to feed my whale porn fetish) I update my browser. Otherwise, I don't feel a need to update it every day with the latest subversion snapshot release...

    If you are heavily frequenting sites/reading emails that would require a constantly updated browser, its not going to matter anyway. The bad guys are always ahead of the updates
  • tiuk, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Don't feel stupid, it was a stupid title.
  • antdude, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1That didn't work for driving. :P
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