Apple Safari – Please Don't Install it!

Please, just don’t do it – especially if you’re a Windows user.  Ignore that pesky recommendation you get from Apple when upgrading or installing iTunes.

Updated May 10, 2010 - Department of Homeland Security issues threat US-CERT Alert against Apple Safari.

For those who don’t know what Safari is, it’s Apple’s attempt to replace Internet Explorer on your computer.  Not that Apple is a bad company, it’s just that the average computer user will at best be confused and at worst become vulnerable to a whole new set of security vulnerabilities with the introduction of Safari.

To reiterate, you don’t need Safari for anything – including iTunes.

If you’re really itching for something better than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, go try out Firefox.  It is safe and may actually have features that will make it worthwhile to learn something new. 

And if some of you are asking – why am I posting this?  I’ve recently seen it installed on a quite a few family member’s computers.  With really little fault of their own it’s gotten installed as Apple has incorporated it in to the latest update for iTunes.  By the way, unless you have an iPod – I don’t recommend using iTunes.  Use Microsoft’s Windows Media Player – but that’s a different topic.  And you are better off buying music from the likes of Amazon.com and Walmart (they are DRM free – which means if you want to use the songs you bought on something other then an iPod, you can).

Here are a couple of articles on Safari issues as of the last week:

• Safari 3.1 For Windows Vulnerable To Hackers
• PayPal: Steer clear of Apple’s Safari