Changing the web browser security settings

When opening a web page in Rss Bandit, Rss Bandit uses an internal web browser to display the page. In order to configure the security for this browser, go to the Tools menu and select Options to bring up the Options dialog. Click on the Web Browser tab to bring up the dialog you see in figure 1.

Web Browser Settings Dialog
Figure 1. Web Browser Dialog

The image displays the default settings in Rss Bandit. Please note that changing any of these settings will be active immediately only on new Browser Tabs, or on any Browser tab after restarting the application (section named Security, Restrictions).

Section On Link Clicked and New Window controls the behavior of Rss Bandit, if you clicked a web link or the link target needs to be opened in a new window. Option Open a new Tab is the default and recommended selection. Any other option delegates the security handling to the called programs, either your configured Default Web Browser or the executable to be started!

If you choose to change these settings, do so at your own risk. Following table is a description of each setting in section Security, Restrictions.

Setting Description Risk
Javascript allowed Enables/disables whether Javascript in the page will execute. Allowing Javascript to run also allows those annoying pop-up ads to run. Un-trusted sites have been known to use Javascript to spoof a trusted web site login in an attempt to gain your user name and password.
Low Risk.
ActiveX Controls allowed Enables/disables whether embedded ActiveX controls will be downloaded and execute. Although ActiveX controls can provide a rich user experience, they can also pose a huge security risk when run from an un-trusted site. In the past, security flaws in Internet Explorer have led to exploits via ActiveX controls.
Medium to High Risk.
Java Applets allowed Enables/disables whether Java applets will be downloaded and execute in the browser's Java Virtual Machine. Java runs in a protected "SandBox" and thus ostensibly cannot harm your system. However, in the past, security flaws have been found in various browser JVM's such as Netscape that would allow malicious code to affect a user's system.
Low to Medium Risk.
Video allowed Enables/disables whether embedded video clips (Real video, windows media file, QuickTime, etc...) will be downloaded and played. Enabling this setting allows for embedded videos within a web page to play via "helper" applications registered for the video. Examples of "helper" applications are QuickTime, Real Player, and Windows Media Player. I am not aware of any major security risk in allowing videos, however pages with lots of video clips can take a long time to download.
Low Risk
Background Sounds allowed Enables/disables whether embedded audio clips (Real audio, windows media file, MP3, etc...) will be downloaded and played. Enabling this setting allows for embedded audio clips within a web page to play via "helper" applications registered for the audio content. Examples of "helper" applications are Winamp, Real Player, and Windows Media Player. I am not aware of any major security risk in allowing audio, however pages with lots of audio clips can take a long time to download.
Low Risk
Downloading of images allowed Enables/disables whether images are downloaded and displayed in the browser. If enabled, images within a web page are downloaded by the browser. If disabled, the spot where an image would appear remains blank. There is no security risk to allowing images, but disabling them will allow a page to download and render more quickly.
No Risk.