Comodo Dragon Browser Offers a Secure Browsing Experience
Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey in News, Reviews
Comodo, a mid-sized security company based in the United States, has decided to release it’s own version of Chrome browser that puts a particular focus on security aspects. It’s Comodo Dragon Internet Browser, and the purpose, according to the company, is to offer a safer and more protected web browsing experience. Their website notes that there are millions of potential malware and privacy threats that are out there, and that this browser is built to protect from these vulnerabilities.
I went ahead and downloaded Comodo, and while you can tell that the Chrome UI has largely stayed the same, they have added their own skin to Comodo that make it their own. Like Chrome, when you install the browser, it allows you to import your things from whatever browser you have been using, which is helpful.
One of the first things I realized about this browser is that I was unable to install extensions. This would lead me to believe that Comodo Internet Browser is based on an earlier version of Chromium browser that did not support extensions, but I’m not entirely sure of that after reading their technical documents and forum. You are able to install your own theme – but for some reason you’re not be able to install extensions. That could be an issue for some people, especially since you aren’t even able to use Google’s own approved extensions from their official site.
It appears that the main benefit of using Comodo right now is to restrict Google themselves from accessing the information that is normally sent back to them while you surf. Features that are inherent to Chrome browser have been stripped out. This include things such as reporting back to Google’s servers of the version number of the browser, the GoogleUpdate auto-updater, usage statistics and RLZ-tracking, which sends to Google information about where you downloaded Chrome from.
Comodo claims to offer a faster experience than other browsers, but in a test between Chrome 5, Firefox 3.6 and Dragon using Sunspider Javascript benchmarking, they came in second after Chrome 5. Hopefully they can continue to develop their own flavor of Chrome, but I would be hard pressed to expect that they will be able to surpass the most recent Chromium browser source in terms of rendering speeds.
I surfed around with Comodo Dragon, and the experience wasn’t any different from using the latest Chrome version, which is 5 Beta right now. Although Comodo’s website says there are added security features, I could not find any located within the options menu. In fact Chrome 5 has more content setting options than Comodo Dragon, so my guess is that they plan on adding more features with a security focus soon.
You can download Comodo Dragon Internet Explorer right here. Unfortunately, it only runs on Windows for now – from XP and up.
4 Responses to “Comodo Dragon Browser Offers a Secure Browsing Experience”
Leave a Reply
Yandex Creates its Own Chrome Browser | thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources
05. Apr, 2010
[...] Related posts:Comodo Dragon Browser Offers a Secure Browsing Experience [...]
RDRush
12. Apr, 2010
Extensions aren’t considered within the context of the Comodo versioning of Chrome due to the potential of privacy invasion. Extensions (some not all) talk back to servers and could provide potentially private information defeating the purpose behind Comodo Dragon’s privacy focus.
Themes are color palettes that the browser reads like text or XML documents with inert data. The theme engine reads the color information from the document and processes the information in a sandbox fashion that ignores executable instructions.
The slower rendering speed of web content is merely a response to web page validation. As we all know, some web pages like to request validation for Java, Javascript, and browser identity. Comodo will spend a bit more with the server trying to keep your identity yours and address server request in the most secure fashion that it knows as possible.
To still come in behind a totally un-modified Chrome browser, even with all of the anti-trust operations, is still note worthy. Improved security with minimal loss of speed at this level surely states that Comodo is on their game and doing well.
For the record: Chrome, for the last two years running, was voted the most secure and fastest browser collectively by third party hacker fests while they trashed every other big name browser out there.
For Comodo to add even more to the security side of this event and with little loss in efficiency is phenomenal. Chrome sand-boxes everything out of the box and virtualizes itself so one session crash or blackout does not crash or compromise any other.
Blackout would be Chrome saying “NO-NO” to someone or something trying to trick you into playing ball with its ill will toward you. The sandbox and virtualization of each browser session are your browsing tabs and they are absolutely not allowed to talk across the board like cross site scripts.
The virtual sand-box management & security workflow of Chrome makes it as close to bullet-proof and invincible as it gets with current technology. This is also the reason why you open Windows’ Task Manager when you’re running Chrome and see about four to eight Chrome processes running simultaneously. All that security and processing and it stills blisters at rendering time is outrageous.
Use Google Chrome for trusted content and when you feel the need to go private incognito go Comodo Dragon for your browsing peace of mind.
Simple, secure, satisfying. These are my die hard requirements just like everyone else with half an I.Q. point to call upon.
What Does Your Browser Say About You? Find Out With BrowserSpy | thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources
13. Apr, 2010
[...] Related posts:Comodo Dragon Browser Offers a Secure Browsing Experience [...]
Flock Brings Organized Social Networking to the Browser | thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources
02. Sep, 2010
[...] Chromium team used for other browsers such as Flock that have very specific purposes in mind. The Comodo Dragon browser, for example, uses Chromium in an attempt to create the most secure browser experience [...]