Hello Phil. Try <a href="https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/</a>;

Phil, seems like you certainly learned your lesson! :D

Firefox is safe if you download it from mozilla.org. The also do give the hash values under releases.mozilla.org and if you are really paranoid, you should check both MD5 and SHA values. Even though MD5 is old and not so secure algorithm nowadays, it is orders of magnitude harder to get both MD5 and SHA values to match with a modified file than just one of them. Generally just checking the SHA value is quite enough.

You can also use virustotal.com to check if the file you downloaded is ok before running or opening it. The service will calculate the hash in you browser and send it to them for checking against their library of files that they have analyzed with dozens of antivirus software. If they don't have an analysis for your file, the file is uploaded for analysis, which usually takes only minutes.

It's a very good practice to run anything you're not sure about, and any new executable you're about to run, through virustotal.

They do provide you various of checksums and you can find those on top level of directory of a release on mozilla's archive

Phil, yes, it is a good practice to install less software.

And it is a good practice to install more software too - or how else you know what can be useful?:(

Maybe having two computers - and being careful enough to always install it from their official site - would help.

Thanks, guys. Drasvi, I know what you’re talking about. My first browser was Netscape Navigator, and then Opera (which was about 10 times lighter than anything else — amazing). Just a few years ago, I switched from the default IE to Firefox on my PC. I don’t know if I naively downloaded it from a rogue site, or if it was something else I downloaded, but the computer caught a fatal root level virus that my nerd friend couldn’t cure. It was an old computer (and bottom of the line when new), so I worked with just a smartphone until getting around to buying my current computer. Let’s just say no software gets installed unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Chaac: “Add an ad blocker” — lol. Lots of native speakers make that mistake. Except, probably, the Brits, who write “advert” instead of “ad” (or so it would seem).