Is Firefox For Everyone? - Comments Page 1

I not only switched to FireFox, I switched to Linux. I have been using Fedora for about a year and a half and have not looked back! To top that off I don't use any type of virus protection or anti-spy utilitys. (I'm an admited geek though.)

I used FireFox and liked the simplicity and proliferation of useful add-ons but I had a lot of problems with crashes especially in the middle of on line purchases. Having being triple charged for a purchase finally completed after dual crashes I went back to IE and have been fine ever since. In my 10 year computer career I have never had a virus, trojan, been hacked or had any evil done to me. I use what works well for me and I use it intelligently.

I am a Firefox fan and have been using it, in preference to IE6, for the last 18 months. Very few problems so far. Also, most hackers target IE because majority of PC owners use it. Firefox's footprint is very small compared to the bloated IE. It loads instantly, even faster than Opera which is my second choice browser. I ditched Outlook email program years ago. Instead I access directly my online email programs.

I was actually able to conserve space on the Firefox toolbar by combining them. The trick is to right click any toolbar and click "customize". Then drag the icons from the icon bar to the menu bar. Then uncheck the check mark next to icon bar. That's it!

Been using Firefox for the last 6 months. Love it! The extensions, especially, are awesome, and like you said, I don't want Micro$oft owning me. And as for security: Two weeks ago my husband hooked his computer up to my broadband after our dial-up provider quit on us. He uses IE and guess what? His virus checker found that he got a back-door Trojan. When I virus-checked my own computer, it came up squeaky clean.

I'd be happy to re-try Explorer but I am in Windows2000 and IE7 is for XP only. Good ole Microsoft...I remain a very pleased Firefox user.

I tried to upgrade to IE7 last week and something went terribly wrong. IE6 was erased and IE7 wouldn't connect. I switched to Firefox and made it the default browser. I finally restored IE6 and use both browsers now. I can't tell any difference except that IE seems to load sites much faster than Firefox on my pc.

Sure IE 7 has tabs but they work DIFFERENTLY than Firefox 1.5.x. Consider this use model and you'll see why Firefox 1.5.x tabs are MORE USABLE than IE7 tabs! Assume you're doing research; you find a scores of potential hits on google; your CTRL + LMB click on them to open in the background a score of tabs.

You with me? Note that you always load those links in the background as you're fishing here so you don't want to wait for each one to open. You never actually left the first tab which was the google results page. Now it's time to visit the other tabs. One by one, you visit the score of tabbed landing pages, reading each one in turn. Notice how DIFFERENTLY Firefox 1.5.x closes the now-read tabs than IE7?

Do you notice with Firefox you simply place your cursor on the x at the right side of the window to close each and every tab. Easy huh? That's how browsers are SUPPOSED to be. Easy and intuitive.

Now try the same thing in IE7. Notice what a pain in the backside it is to close each tab (assume you have more than just a handful open). You have to constantly move your eyes and hands to close each tab as the close box MOVES! It skitters all over the screen in a different place each time (again, I note you need more than just a few tabs as it actually works nicely in IE7 when you only have a few tabs open, say 4 or so).

Now, do that all day, every day (as I do). You'll hate IE7 for this non-feature alone. IE7 does NOT have tabs. They have something that looks like tabs, but, with my use model, the tabs are unusable (compared to the use model with Firefox 1.5.x).

It ain't Microsoft! No more reason is needed.

The security issues may seem a red herring but the number of IE security fixes has been larger and they often take longer to get fixed. Fundamentally, IE has some serious design flaws (like ActiveX) that are not present in Firefox. And yes, its true they both have minor rendering issues. But Firefox does a better job in my books.

I've been using Firefox off and on for awhile and finally made the changeover. IE7 has not attracted me back. I love the add-ons and they've filled the gap on the few small differences between them. This form, for example, is being spell checked as I type. (yeah!)

Amusingly, Firefox is actually more similar to IE6 interface than IE7 is, so I know a few who changed then.