how to have both IE6 & FF..or Opera

I am an old(er) dog..:p that doesn't like to learn new tricks when the old trick ( IE6) has been working just fine. But now I'm starting to get the update reminder from MS to upgrade to IE7...So, I need to know how I can try Firefox...or even Opera...and be able to switch between IE6 & FF...maybe even Opera..and see which one that I prefer.

I have most of the "layered defense" stuff...firewall, anti-virus...Adaware..Spybot S&D...SpywareBlaster..SpywareGuard..and I can thankfully say that I have never been hit with any of the nasties...so I am not convinced that Internet Explorer is such a dangerous thing that many make it out to be.

I would, however, like to try FF but only if it is not a big deal to be able to switch between the two.

You can have Firefox and Opera as well as IE6 installed and running at the same time, there is no problem with that.

I have FF(2.0.0.1) and IE7 installed, and although i don't really use the latter, they don't clash, you can set one as the default browser, and have one as the default on the start menu, but apart from that they get on well, i have a hotkey for FF, and if i need to try a site out in IE i usually go to Start|Run|iexplore.exe, because i can never find the thing.


Liam

Good..now how do I need to download FF...does it install just like any other program?

Yep: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/


Liam

Thanks...I didn't know if I had to put them on another partition or something like that...cool....I'm gonna learn some new tricks!!

Well, that was easy enough...I'm now running FF....different..but nice..:).

Now I'll have to check out the different ways to customize stuff...the add ons...tabbed browsing...etc.

Hey..learning new tricks is actually kinda fun..(but I really already knew that..;)).

Do ya'll have any neat suggestions that I might want to check out?

You can go to Help|For Internet Explorer Users to get some tips if you're used to IE.

Extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/extensions/

Themes: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/themes/

Plugins: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/plugins/


Liam

Don't forget about Opera. Opera is a very nice browser. It's a good thing to have more than one browser installed. One thing I would like to suggest. If you do Microsoft's auto update thingy you'll need to leave IE as your default browser, just open the others from your desktop shortcut icons.

Opera: http://www.opera.com/

What about e-mail? Do I need to get Thunderbird in order to get mail thru FF...is Thunderbird a good e-mail program? Or can I import my current e-mail account?

jmtjet...this is fun...I might just have to try Opera. How will it be different from FF & IE6?

Opera is small in size compared to IE or FF. It's very fast and configurable. It,also, has tabs like FF.
One feature I like is you can create a folder with your favorite links in it and open them all at once from the bookmarks button. They will open in tabs so you can navigate from one to another with ease. Say you like to visit two or three of your favorite news sites, just put them in one folder. Now from your bookmarks list you can open them all with one click and have them standing by on tabs.
Another neat feature is mouse jestures. You can go forward or backward with a simple flick of your mouse. Takes a while to get the hang of it, but easy once you do. Have fun. :)

jmtjet...sounds interesting...after I get the hang of FF I will give Opera a try.

I still need to know about FF and my e-mail...will I need to use Thunderbird or can I somehow access my e-mail some way?

Is your email webbased or are you using OE. You don't need Thunderbird if your email comes naturally to OE. If you have webbased email, you can still use FF to access that through the web.

Also, I'm using Opera, and IE6. I've checked the option to not have Microsoft insist I use IE7.

Photolady...I actually have two e-mail accounts. My main one is thru MSN,which is web based, correct? And the other one is thru my local cable co... a .net address. I don't use OE...I did at one time...just drifted away from it. I wouldn't mind using Thunderbird if I can get some feedback as to whether or not it's a good mail server. I'm getting to like FireFox more & more so having my normal e-mail acessible from within FF would make it easy.