tuttiope.htm: How to search the web, by fravia+ tuttiope

~ Tutti all'opera! ~

			Fravia's special pages

Version April 2001

[Away from the browsersaurii] [versions & protections]
[Our own essays] [Finally]

Tutti all'opera!

Away from the browsersaurii
Die M$explorer, die!

There are many - very important - differences between the browsers you can use in order to access the web. You may have to choose a different browser depending if you are mining for information or not, if you seek a high level of anonymity or not, if you want to be able to turn images off or not and so on. It is a good idea to experiment on your own. Be, first of all, aware of file sizes when you choose your programs (this applies not only to browsers, of course).
It is not a matter of size per se: the harddisks are getting cheaper and bigger every week. It is a question of what is often called "overbloatedness": this hides three main risks.

a huge program is more prone to crash: bugs abound in all overbloated applications;
a huge program may be more easily attacked: the number of discovered dangerous exploits against Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator has always been proportional to their "codefat";
a huge program can hide obvious security risks: if you have a huge application inside your own PC chances are that you don't have the faintest idea about what is INSIDE it.

When you'll be able to have a look (later, if you care to learn how to reverse) you will discover not only some silly easter eggs, but also various part of the code that have been prepared in order to easily send over the web during a connection - on the background - all or part of your private data.
Here, for instance, the differences in size between THE ZIPPED VERSIONS of some commonly used graphical windoze's browsers... you may easily deduce that the complete versions will be proportionally much bigger.
Note also that there are some widely used non graphic browsers around, like Lynx ([lynxy.zip] : 683992 bytes, ported from unix, works in a dos box and is very quick).

Browser	zipped file	length
Opera 3.0. (32 bit)	O300e32.exe	1.163.000 bytes
Opera 3.20. (32 bit)	O320e32.exe	1.145.000 bytes
Opera 3.60. (32 bit)	O360e32.exe	1.361.000 bytes
Netscape Navigator 3	n32e301p.exe	5.923.328 bytes
Netscape Navigator 4.2	n32e403.exe	8.221.605 bytes
Netscape Communicator 4.5	cc32e45.exe	12.973.000 bytes
Netscape Communicator 4.6	cc32e46.exe	15.455.000 bytes
Microsoft Explorer 4.0	lotta cab files	66.080.044 bytes
Microsoft Explorer 5.0	lotta cab files	76.007.075 bytes

Some readers will believe that a mistake has been made reporting the file lengths above. Alas! There is none: here, for the sceptics, the [complete list] of the zipped files of Microsoft Explorer 4. Following the link above you'll also find an explanation of "*.cab files" extraction and an example of huge parts of the browser that are very seldom used.

Your chances to know what this kind of bloated software will actually do when you are asleep (and when you are awake as well) are very low. Note also how the Opera team was able to keep the file length tiny even developing the browser and adding functionality! Hats off!

Versions & protections

There is a very good reason, apart from size, to use [Opera] instead of either of the big browsersaurii: what makes Opera so different is the combination of small size, speed of loading both Internet and local HTML documents, versatility in loading and displaying webpages, its many customization options and its sheer functionality. The most important thing is that Opera has a very convenient no-images icon that allows you to stop on the fly all images loading from any site you are visiting. Not a minor feat in a Web that, as you will already have realized, is an Ocean of knowledge... about two centimeters deep. Most sites just overload visitors with completely useless graphical frills: having a browser able to stop them "on the fly" is a very useful weapon that you will need again and again. Note also how the development of both browsersaurii: went to great lengths to AVOID you having the possibility to turn off images (and hence advertisements).
This is far from casual of course. In the older versions it was still relatively easy: for instance in netscape's navigator (version 3) you just had to choose "options" and then tick off autoload images. Alas: in the recent overbloated versions turning images off is quite a workload: for instance in M$IE explorer (version 4) is "View" > "Internet Options" > "Advanced" and then finally you can tick off the "show pictures" box inside the "Multimedia" section. Clearly you would not want to perform all these operations just to avoid an advertisement banner, would you?

But there's more: Opera has even a sort of 'anti-popup' function BUILT INSIDE IT: have a look at file ~ preferences ~ windows... see the checkbox for 'allow documents to create windows? Well... uncheck it! What are you waiting for? :-)
You think I have finished with the advantages that Opera offers? Nossir...try this other one: file ~ preferences ~ multimedia... see the checkbox 'enable animation GIF images'? Well... uncheck it! Yep, believe or not: you can selectively kill those useless animated gifs that nobody in his right mind would ever 'prefer' to load! :-)
Of course you can download hic et nunc Opera for LINUX as well...

Nuff said. Try Opera and decide by yourself.
Opera had (before version 5) a very common "Cinderella" protection that would not allow you to use it more than 30 days. Of course any average searcher would be able to find in two minutes a good serial for Opera. Anyway, if you are really interested in this kind of thing, you may have a short [look inside] Opera's protection scheme. I believe that the programmers at Opera should learn [some better tricks] to protect their valuable software. This said Opera is a good tool, and deserves to be paid for.

With its recent version 5 Opera decided to jump onto the "advertisement-oriented" bandwagon. The product is now free (probably because noone in his right mind was paying for it anyway) but this version attempts to compel you to slurp advertisements when surfing. Fortunately the software implementation is ridicolous, thus anyone can get rid of all Opera advertisements in two minutes flat, without being a reversing wizard or understanding assembly, as I explain in the papers prepared for my workshop in Paris (february 2001).

This said there's NO REASON WHATSOEVER to use the most recent version of a software package, and this is true ESPECIALLY for software that access the web. As you'll be able to read in A+heist's essay [The case for NOT using Microsoft's explorer] (The Unbearable Lightness of persistence), chances are that if you use the older versions of Netscape ("Gold" 3) or Opera ("glorious" 3.6) you'll be able to surf the web with software relatively sure because written BEFORE they had and implemented all the great ideas (and possibilities) to snoop and gather all sort of data upon "Jonny the lame surfer"...

As you begin to realize, it is quite useful to know exactly what happens when you start your browser... in fact, it is actually useful to know what happens when you start ANY application. You should proceed and learn to examine the file opening sequence when you start a browser (and learn how to monitor files activities) using filemonitors like Filemon, that you can download here: [filesrc.zip] : 323906 bytes
you'll find Mark Russinovich & Bryce Cogswell, the developers inter alia of filemon, @ [sysinternals]
They truly deserve the "reversing Nobel".

Our own essays

[comiixii.htm]: How to make Opera v4.02 usable "People at Opera should be ashamed!" by iixii, part of the [Tutti all'Opera] and of the [our essays] sections.

Some "improving" thoughts on [Opera 5], an horrible commercial oriented "update" of our preferred browser, by Woods+ock and Beardo

[athei_06]: The case for NOT using Microsoft's explorer (The Unbearable Lightness of persistence), by A+heist

[paris/paris6.htm]: Cleaning the last version (5) of Opera (Identifying the culprit advertisement window), by fravia+

Finally

Finally, since we are on a "Opera" page, a famous svdism (Svd's wisdom):
"hit ctrl-B in opera. Then LEARN it by mind!"
you'll be grateful more than once for this advice...

The advice given above is very useful, here some reasons...

I know: almost nobody reads the help files (a big mistake eo ipso)... but have a go by yourself: type right now (if you'r using Opera 5) opera:history in the URL window or just press the combination CTRL+ALT+H and -if you never did it before- gasp in awe.

Btw: have you ever tried zooming with +, -, CTRL+ and/or CTRL-?

Also useful: CTRL+N is a new 'virgin' window, but CTRL+SHIFT+N is a new 'duplicated' window (like CTRL+N in MSIE)...