Why you should dump IE

Lockergnome is probably familiar to many of you. If you don't subscribe to their Internet newsletter, you haven't seen this; another vote for replacing IE:

http://channels.lockergnome.com/news...explorer.phtml

Hi jerryctx,, Are 'you' using Firefox? If so,if I were to install it and decided to uninstall it, how would that go? Also,what kind of learning curve would I be looking at?

Been curious for awhile and would like to give it a shot.
Thanks...

Thanks Jerry for your post. I'm using Mozilla's Firefox from now on after spending the last 2 days getting the garbarge out of my computer that VX2.BetterInternet installed. I was under a false sense of security thinking that running Spyguard and Spybot's Resident was going to protect me-NOT! I will keep I.E. for only the MS updates.

Ridgerunr: Go here

This is Mozilla's Firefox ftp site. If you download the .zip version, it can run in a standalone folder without the need to load it into Windows. Now it won't have a complete set of plug-ins, so some pages that need things like Java Runtime might not render perfectly. (To be honest, I've not even tried to study up on installing any plug-ins into the zipped version.) But it will work well enough to give you a very good taste of Firefox. Should you decide to not keep it, you just delete the folder and it goes away... (I do think that Mozilla.org (the makers of Firefox) prefer that we use the build that includes the installer. But until we reach 1.0, I'm running the zipped version. Easier to remove and move up to the next version with.)

I create a folder on my C drive named Mozilla Firefox and un-zip the Firefox-win32-0.9.zip file into it. You want to extract everything and tell your unzip program to retain the paths or folders that are pre-built into the Firefox archive. I then make a shortcut to my desktop from the firefox.exe file. Then you should be ready to go.

Take some time to go through the options. Lots of them to look at. Be sure to set up and use the tabbed browsing section. Once you've used tabs, you don't want to go back!!!

I've been using Firefox for about 6 months. I haven't tried uninstalling it but its in Add/Remove Programs (under "Mozilla Firefox") and the uninstall instructions simply say to click "uninstall."

There's not much to the learning curve. It looks much like IE. Click Tools > Options. Then select each catagory (General, Privacy, Downloads, etc) and configure to your preferences.

In Tools > Options > Extensions, click Get New Extensions and scan the list of plug-ins you can add (there are 192 currently), everything from games to security.

You must keep IE available for Windows Updates and you can use both IE and Firefox alternately or simultaneously with no problems.

Ridge, I have been trying Firefox 0.8 for several weeks not. Well, off and on and I 'think' I like it. Try it and you may just love it's quickness and the many features; features that I have yet to explore.

I've been using Mozilla Firebird for about a year or so. I know Firefox is the lastest and greatest, but I'm very satisfied with Firebird. I also have; Mozilla, Opera, Netscape and MyIE2 installed. When using Linux I use the Konqueror web browser-very good.

I would like to know what size these programs are and what kind of resource hogs they are. I know IE 5.5 sp2 is a 70mb file. That's as big as Windows 95. I know IE 5.5 sp0 which I'm using uses almost 15% of my system resources.

I'm just curious.

After boot-up, I'm at 82% on my Win 98SE machine. This includes my antivirus and firewall.

To get on the web, I add Firefox (the .zip version as I mentioned above), the Proxomitron and of course, the Windows Rnaapp dialup executable. Resources go down from 82% to 74%. (I believe Rnaapp is about 5% and so the remaing 3% belongs to Firefox and the Proxomitron.)

Thanks very much for all the info folks. Sounds like it's time for me to look at another browser. Frankly, i've had pretty good luck with I.E. as long as I keep the thumbscrews tightened regarding ActiveX and scripting. But may be time to move on and at least give it a thorough try...

Ridge

Have used Firebird 0.7 and Firefox 0.8 and 0.9 for over a year now and thoroughly recommend it. As others have said, you can install it without embedding it in Registry so it's easily removed if you decide you don't want it. Footprint is much smaller than IE and (for me at least) it loads MUCH faster. I like the increased configurability through plug-ins, and excellent security ... can't remember the last time I saw a popup (mind you, this is also helped by Outpost firewall). I only revert to IE when it is necessary to get the latest security patch for IE from the Windows Update site .... :rolleyes:

Learning curve is very gentle and shouldn't present any problem for an old hand like you ... ;)

I have been using Mozilla for a long time now and have just updated to the newest stable release 1.7. this is a great program and runs in about 95% of the sites I go to. I still keep IE for updates to Windows and for those few sites that do not work well with Mozilla.

I had tried thunderbird for a short while and think that it will be a great product once it reaches 1.0. I had a lot of problems when I upgraded to 0.7 as I could no longer download my mail and lost all of the entries I put into the Calendar plug in.

Doc

How about online game like on sites such as Uproar and Games.com? Are these browsers compatible with that?

Ridgerunner, I've only been using Firefox 0.8 for about a couple of months now, which means I'll be no Mozilla expert, but perhaps you'll be able to relate to that. ;)

There's been some questions about version 0.9, which was just released two days ago. I'm gonna wait for the complaints to roll in and the bugs to be worked out, so my recommendations will be solely from 0.8

Here's the Mozilla forum. You don't have to be a member to post in the first section:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/index.php

If you like themes/skins, here's where to find most of them offered(you'll see links here and there to other sites at the Mozilla forum, especially in the Themes section):

http://www.texturizer.net/firefox/themes/

Firefox isn't as bloated as IE because it isn't so bloated with code for features you may or may not want. But there are extensions for it. I personally recommend, if nothing else, the "IE View" extension, where you can right click on a page, say one that didn't render correctly, and be able to choose to open that page in IE. There's also one named "External Application Buttons", which I used to put an ugly and misplaced looking, though functional, OE button on the browser. Now I don't need those IE and OE icons anywhere on the screen.

http://texturizer.net/firefox/extensions/

This is a backup program for Firefox or the e-mail program or Mozilla 1.6, which looks almost exactly like the old Netscape 6. (You may know that Netscape gave it's code to the open source community a while back). It will back up cookies, bookmarks, and the general user profile, even how you tweak the toolbars.

http://backup.jasnapaka.com/

Concerning plugins, I have tried, and cannot recommend, Java for Mozilla. I tried it, since NOAA radar sites demand it :rolleyes: and it was a crash prone mess from the get-go. So, IE isn't completely useless.

I can't remember the last pop-up I've seen since using Firefox. I bet it hasn't been three in total. And it's all the more telling when you open IE and start getting them. It makes Gates and crew look really bad. And there's a Firefox extension for an ad blocker. You can train it to block certain on-site ads, and some Flash. (I think there's a Flash blocker extension available too). I have mixed emotions about using it, because I understand why ads are there. But increasingly it seems that site builders/owners don't realize there are untold millions of us still on a dial-up.

EDIT: 0.8 is of course available, but I'm having trouble finding the link. Maybe someone else knows? Cnet and ZDnet likely has it still.

EDIT 06-25-04 - here's the link for 0.8:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/fire...eases/0.8.html

Another edit: though it's in the works, Firefox can't as yet save .mht files, the "web archive, single file". Another reason to get the "open in IE" extension.

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How about online game like on sites such as Uproar and Games.com? Are these browsers compatible with that?

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I have no idea... I never play on-line games.

Anybody else???