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The world wide web can be a dangerous place, especially if you often venture out to blogs or websites serving pirated videos or songs, game cheats, free stuff and adult content.
In fact, after the pen drives, web pages, which have been infected with viruses either intentionally or unwittingly, are the biggest source of computer viruses and malware. Once a user visits an infected website, the virus jumps into his or her computer if the machine doesnt have adequate security.
But there is one easy tool -- at least easy to install -- that can guard your desktop or laptop from webpages or websites booby-trapped with viruses and malwares. And this tool is called NoScript .
Lets take a better look at NoScript.
What is NoScript
NoScript is a plug-in for Firefox browser. This means, you dont have to install it in your computer or anything. All you have to do is visit the Firefox plug-in store, install it and restart your browser. It is free to use.
How does it guard against viruses and other malwares?
Viruses and malwares are executable bits of code. This means, they are actually tiny programs or scripts that can run themselves, infect computers and jump from computer to computer. Almost all modern websites use different technologies like JavaScript, Flash-based code and Ajax etc to offer consumers a lot of functionality. For example, if on some webpage you hover the mouse cursor over menu, a small window will automatically drop down and offer you various option. That happens because the website is running some script that powers this functionality.
Unfortunately, cyber criminals can use the same scripts to serve viruses and malware to web users.
NoScript, as the name suggests, blocks all scripts on a webpage.
With NoScript installed, if you visit a website, the NoScript icon will show a crossed sign in red on the top left corner of your browser. If you move your mouse pointer to this icon, it will show a list of webpages and scripts that have been blocked.
With all the scripts blocked, even the most malicious web page is benign.
NoScript sounds awesome. Why dont more people use it?
Just like other technologies that make our computers safer, NoScript also leads to some inconvenience. For example, with all the script blocked, websites dont work very well. This means you have to manually tell the NoScript to allow scripts on websites where you want more functionality. There is a whitelist that NoScript has and popular websites like Google are part of it, but your banks website may not be in the list. So when you visit your banks website, you will have to manually allow it to run scripts.
Fortunately, there are two sorts of permission -- temporary and permanent. If you trust some website completely, allow permanent permission and that site will be added to the whitelist.
So, should I use it or not?
We strongly advise you to use NoScript and more so if you often visit websites that are not well known and are high risk. For frequently visited websites, you can always create your own whitelist. But on unfamiliar websites, NoScript could be the only thing that would stand between your computer and a virus trying to find a way into it.
What about Chrome users?
If you like using Chrome, we suggest you use it on familiar and respectable websites. When you are venturing into not so well-known parts of the web, switch to Firefox+NoScript combo.
The other option for you is to use something like ScriptBlock . It is similar to NoScript but not as well designed and not as easier to use.