OT-Does anybody use Firefox for a web browser?

[Borregos]

If so what are the advantages and disadvantages??
Thanks.

[Grizz]

runs mostly on home space, 127.0.0.1 as a proxy

works on multiple operating systems, so I'm using it on linux right now, but it runs the same way on the winboxes

has better security controls, I think, but I haven't run IE for several years

has good add-ons like NoScript and AdBlock which I rely on to kill the junk I don't want

has cookie control, the only cookies I permit are the couple of forums I post on, and my banking stuff, and the financial stuff only has per session cookies.

has good password controls and good certificate security

and it's free of windows-centric foolishness

however, I have to use my wife's computer to access an old hotmail acct because I don't want dot net junk....

I don't know, it just gives me the illusion that I'm in control of some small part of my existence I suppose

[Doc Hudson]

I'm not computer literate enough to give you any technical details. Besides Griz handled all of that already.

I will just say that after you use Firefox for a while, you will hate to fool with Internet Explorer.

I find navigation much easier and the web pages seem to load faster than with IE.

[dkillough]

I have used Firefox for sometime now and if I have to use a computer with IE I hate it. I like the menus and tab controls much better.

[Andrew]

Grizz put it pretty well. FF works pretty good for me and I recommend it to everyone I can. There are tons of add-on/extensions for FF that do lots of stuff. Just look around HERE and you'll see for yourself.

[Buffboy]

All I have to do is go to my father's place to remind myself why I have FireFox. I'm always cleaning junk out of that system. I still have IE (you can't really remove it from windows, beyond W98) on my system but I seldom use it. I formatted my wife's computer a couple years ago and I updated to the latest version of IE for it. I made sure it had all the security updates before I let her have at it. Had no end of bugs. I set my wife's box up with Firefox and literally hid IE so she didn't use it. I don't have many problems with it now. It's not perfect, but all in all, saves me a lot of grief.

[Bogie35]

My computer had been bombarded and infested with spyware using Internet Explorer. A computer repair guy told me to try Firefox and use the FREE Spybot anti-spyware download.

I've used Firefox and Spybot for a couple years now, and have had no problems with spyware......yet.

bogie

[Borregos]

Thank you all for the information, it all sounds very positive, I am going to give it a go

[Old Shatterhand]

FireFox works really good, and is defenitely better than IE. However, I would suggest Opera, which is as good as Firefox, but faster. www.opera.com

Old Sh.

[JohndeFresno]

I suggest Firefox for the reasons that Griz enumerated.

I had Opera for a while, but it is not always recognized during business transactions, such as some banks - or was not allowed when I used it. There may be one or two sites that won't allow Firefox to work properly; but I have not found any recently.

In other words, the world started out allowing only Internet Explorer or Netscape, due to firewalls and such. Then, Firefox got on the ball and made changes or contacted the various sites or did something so that it was recognized.

I still use an official government site that only allows linking via Internet Explorer, but Firefox allows you to switch to Internet Explorer for those sites that only recognize it via a link on the Firefox browser. You just enter the website(s) that demand IE and Firefox remembers to act like IE anytime you access those sites.

So:
1) Firefox is definitely superior, has more bells and whistles, requires less patches, is attacked much less than IE.
2) Firefox allows you to emulate IE for banking, government sites, other picky websites

Firefox is the only browser that I will use, and I've tried many.

[BigSky56]

I haven't found any disadvantage yet. danny

[Jayhawker]

I not only use Firefox myself, but I've installed it on all the computers I support (over 125 in a university library). Most students will use Firefox in preference to IE.

[Rexster]

I am not sufficiently computer literate to understand all the differences, but I know Firefox works better in my computer than IE or Opera. There definitely seems to be fewer attacks from bugs and such than with IE. Opera never experienced any attacks I could find, but it seemed to not load properly, in several attempts, and runs like a cripple.

FWIW, I use ESET computer security, and together with Firefox, everything is very smooth these days. (Knock on wood!)

[KWK]

I find FF easier to use, overall. I keep a copy of IE up to date just for the annoying sites programmed only for IE. Opera is faster, but I find it a bit clumsy in some ways. Both FF and Opera better conform to industry standards; IE is its own standard.

[Mike D.]

I use FF on my iMac. Very fast loading, especially with the local fiber optic service.

[Rusty]

Besides, right now IE has a glitch in it that opens up a security problem for you if someone wants to hack you.

Oh and it has a built in spell check WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Alan Wood]

Well I make my living programming computers and while it does seem for the moment that firefox is safer I have my doubts about this lasting. Until recently there just weren't that many users using it so the criminals didn't spend much time trying to break it. I suspect that it will be just as vulnerable long term. That having been said it probably is easier for most users than figuring out how to avoid trouble with Internet Explorer. If only version 3 of firefox didn't use windows broken web security model on windows machines.

[Borregos]

Just loaded it up.
I like it
Thanks guys

[jlchucker]

Like many others who have posted on this subject, I use Firefox as my default browser. What everybody's been saying is true. It beats Internet Explorer by light-years, and it's a free download. On that same subject, if you are sick of spam and "CANadiAN Pharmacy" ads that find their way into your email if you use Outlook Express, try switching over to Thunderbird, another Mozilla product. I was having email problems, and after a couple of visits by my local geek, he recommended Thunderbird. I was reluctant to switch. A year or so went by, and by then I had had enough, and installed Thunderbird (another free download from the Mozilla Firefox website). It was a 10 minute or so installation, easily done by me myself. It sucked in all of my saved addresses from Outlook Express as a part of the process. It has its own junkmail blocker, and it looks pretty much like Outlook Express in terms of use and layout. To get it, you just need to Google up Mozilla Firefox and it's there for the free downloading, and you can set it up as your default email. You'll never look at Outlook Express again, any more than you guys who use Firefox ever look at Internet Explorer again.

[JohndeFresno]

+1 jlchucker

I use Thunderbird, and it has a free e-mail backup available for download so that you can archive your e-mails safely onto another drive or USB drive for reference. It is called Mozilla Backup.

Much like another poster here, my main job for the last 10 or so years has been in the field of programming government computers, which includes the responsibility of testing for and reporting vulnerabilities on a user level.

Most government agencies still use IE with their Microsoft systems; but then again they have a full-time staff of technical support people who spend a great deal of time strengthening their firewalls and applying patches and updates to all of the computers in the network.

I found out more than 10 years ago that the Microsoft products are highly interactive ("seamless") but also rife with holes that can be attacked, and that Outlook and its e-mail setup are not the answer to safe and trouble-free computing.

So I switched to the Mozilla products about five years ago after first trying Netscape, then Opera. The Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail application were available in 2005, and I found that these were even better, even if my employer "didn't get it" and insisted upon staying with MS for their browsers and e-mail, as well.

During the last five years, Outlook has had more and more problems as the result of malware and virus attacks. It MAY be that the hackers have rarely successfully attacked these two products because they are not as popular; but given the amount of time that they have had to work on them (5 years and counting), I suspect it is because they are much more impervious to attack. Either way, I have used Mozilla products for years and have not suffered the constant attacks that one faces with Microsoft - or the breakdowns with some of their faulty patches.

[Old Savage]

Definitely seems faster on mine and got the clearance of my local expert - she is usually right.

[roughcreek]

Well, maybe I better try it again. I didn't like it last time I tried it. It took over too much of the computer. But then I don't like IE much better. They keep changing stuff on my computer. Altho I haven't had an intrusions with IE. Soo, maybe I wasn't using FF correctly. Will try it again.

[David]

Gee I thought a better question would have been is anyone still crazy enough to use I.E. (or windows?)

I admit I'm a anything but a windows bigot but even the windows bigots I know aren't crazy enough to use I.E. (or microsoft exchange server

I don't want to start an OS war I'll just point out one simple example (EVEN FOR WINDOWS PEOPLE) of why many people believe that either microsoft does a complete reinvent or goes bankrupt by 2012.

Don't want to pay for Microsoft office? Use this it's for all operating systems, will do everything it does, it's compatible, and it's FREE.... Office is Micro$oft's bread and butter!

http://www.openoffice.org/

It's actually download 4 x times more by people running windows then us unix types.

[Grizz]

Well, maybe I better try it again. I didn't like it last time I tried it. It took over too much of the computer. But then I don't like IE much better. They keep changing stuff on my computer. Altho I haven't had an intrusions with IE. Soo, maybe I wasn't using FF correctly. Will try it again.

don't know what you mean by taking over your computer.

if by changing stuff you're referring to updates, you can turn that feature off, as you can also turn off java, or you can get an add-on called NoScript that handles it on a site by site basis.

I'd guess there are videos on the firefox site, or somewhere, detailing all of the features you can customize.

I always boot up a fresh install with the internet cable DISCONNECTED, then set up the software the way I want it.

[JohndeFresno]

Gee I thought a better question would have been is anyone still crazy enough to use I.E. (or windows?)

I admit I'm a anything but a windows bigot but even the windows bigots I know aren't crazy enough to use I.E. (or microsoft exchange server

I don't want to start an OS war I'll just point out one simple example (EVEN FOR WINDOWS PEOPLE) of why many people believe that either microsoft does a complete reinvent or goes bankrupt by 2012.

Don't want to pay for Microsoft office? Use this it's for all operating systems, will do everything it does, it's compatible, and it's FREE.... Office is Micro$oft's bread and butter!

http://www.openoffice.org/

It's actually download 4 x times more by people running windows then us unix types.

Whoaaa... I hate many things about Micro$oft products; primarily their vulnerability, many (almost daily) patch requirements if you use enough utilities and programs, and steep cost. But let's not oversell Unix and similar products, as good as they are.

Open Office has a lot of pluses, but its database cannot be programmed nearly as quickly (perhaps not at all, in some instances) with interactive functions to the degree that one can do with Visual Basic and the Microsoft Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform. If you just use a database as one step above a spreadsheet, it's okay.

You can't integrate it or a spreadsheet with the word processor program as a seamless application for word lists, boilerplate letters with macros, and the like.

And you can't share development projects with teams of other Microsoft users, which still comprise more than 80% of the users in the world, if I have been keeping up with the statistics.

And I don't know if you can even use the myriad of terrific computation functions that you can with Excel - like statistical stuff, concatenate, and string manipulation.

BUT - if you just want a simple word processor, do basic math stuff on a spreadsheet, and use the database merely as a telephone list, then Open Office is great.

[Grizz]

John is right as rain. If you want to do something serious you have to use MS products. Unix does some things great, and some things better than MS does, like network traffic handling. It's the gold standard. But you still cannot run a realtime stock chart because its internal design for multiuser access defeats its real time operations. The sound mixing industry, sometimes called music business, also hits a wall with unix. It does great at rendering animation.

To get something in a 'nix environment that will compete with MS excel and access you have to hire a team of professional programmers to write and maintain it. That's way more expensive than buying the two programs.

'Nixes are great fun, I use a variety every day for comms, using it right now. But when I need to get something professional done I fire up the 64 bit box and run XP Pro.

[Old Savage]

I have been using it for a few days now and just don't go back to IE.