[X4U] Widgets

[Peter Saint James]

On 15 May2005, at 3:31 PM, Paul Moortgat wrote:

> What is this all about Widgets can harm you.  I don't have Tiger  
> now, but in future I might have to turn off "Open safe files after  
> downloading".
> How dangerous are these widget things?  One speaks about 'Zaptastic'


     It is not harm.  It's potential harm.  In other words, a  
security hole.

     If you download a widget with Safari, it can open that widget  
automatically.  The concern is that someone could come up with a  
widget that does bad things to your system and create a way for you  
to download it without your knowing it.  Zaptastic is a website that  
explains how this works.  Actually it shows you how it works.

     The way to plug the security hole is to set a preference in  
Safari to not open anything automatically that it downloads.  That's  
my setting of choice anyway.


                                                         Peter