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.

Hey, it works nicely and it's not Microsoft. Gotta give the competition a chance. If IE were the only game out there, we'd be stuck with the same inept browser that doesn't recognize basic CSS for years and year. Oops. Guess that's what we had with IE6. Viva la Firefox!!!

i switched to firefox and loved it prior to ie 7. then i upgraded firefox and my laptop started freezing on different websites. i upgraded to ie 7 and haven't had any problems with ie 7 - i do like the tabs. i don't know if the ie 7 upgrade interfered with firefox but i am happy with ie 7.

I switch to Firefox 2.0. It works great. IE7 just doesn't work right. I've installed it 3 times and it locks up on the "run once.msn" page. I've tired the suggested fixes to no avail. It also keeps downloading some filter.bin file that the computer doesn't seem to know what to do with.

I use Firefox 2.0 and Opera 9.0.

I downloaded IE 7 and my printer/scanner wouldn't work. I uninstalled both and reinstalled both, but still no printer/scanner. I am now back to using IE 6.

My primary browser has been Firefox for past couple of years. I downloaded Firefox 2 and lost all my bookmarks. I uninstalled and reinstalled it again, but still no bookmarks. I am currently using Firefox 2 and starting a new list of bookmarks.

I use it just because it's NOT MS IE.

I use Firefox. Main advantage is that I am weaning myself off Microsoft products and now use an iMac as my main computer. It was a toss-up between Firefox and Safari, but since Firefox provided both a PC and Mac version, I chose Firefox.

IE has always been directly linked to the Operating System internally. It is nearly impossible to remove without severely damaging the system. When you open up My Computer or Network Places, you're using a part of IE. This means that any security vulnerabilities have a direct link to the core of your system. Third party browsers do not have this problem. Vulnerabilities on such browsers are much less likely to affect your core system.

Another good reason for non M$ browsers is the continual track record by M$ to continually make things (like browsers) do thing they shouldn't. It's one part innovation and one part kiss of death, but M$ has a goal of making things interact in extremely easy (to the user) ways. The problem is that this also opens the door to extremely easy evil things. A good example is a simple word document file. Did you know that you can imbed Visual Basic code in it? Good thing? Bad thing? Oh well, you don't really get to decide, it's just that way. I think they now at least warn you that word is about to run some code. I wonder if it's true for Excel. The problem with all this interoperability is a simple thing like a browser that should just display web sites, suddenly has the ability to on-the-fly install software on your computer from the web sites you visit.

An example might be a wireless network enabled blender. M$ would sell it as the latest thing. However most people wouldn't find it very useful. But then a few months later some 13 year old in Tempe, AZ figures out how to access a vulnerability to make them overheat resulting in a 10% chance of burning down the house.

I recommend that people upgrade to IE7 to get rid of many security vulnerabilities form IE6, but there are still many in 7. The thing is even if you're running FF you still have IE running in the background; it still affects your security. I recommend that people actually use a third party browser for every day work. Pick one you like.

Oh, and yes, I checked the spelling for this. I hope I did a good job, but FF2's built in spell check was very helpful for this.

2 or 3 years ago I tried Firefox probably from Tourbus recommendation. I ended up uninstalling it because it didn't work and look "right". This year something corrupted IE Explorer and it wouldn't open. The tech installed the new beta version, but it was forced to open at the malware site instead of my specified homepage. SO I tried Firefox again, and it is now my prefered browser. I like it remembering my signons, and its Netscape features. By the way, I used to like Netscape, but now it seems to have a mind of its own, and I can't control its actions. Eventually, the malware instusion on IE Explorer disappeared, but now I find I prefer the look and performance of Firefox. Still there are many sites, that will only permit the use of IE Explorer for "security" reasons.

I have used Firefox for a good while and have had no problems. I recently tried IE 7 and while the interfaces are similar, I prefer Firefox's layout. Also, while I am typing in this box or other online text, my text is checked by their spell check! I love it!

I am not a 'geek' on computers but I use them extensively, expecially for research and writing. A local computer guy put me on Firefox. It did not work well with Hotmail and garbled the addresses. In addition I had many skips and crashes in writing. I switched back to IE and am very happy.