What is the deal with Firefox....I mean besides the fact it is less vunerable to viruses than IE. Is this the only thing that is so appealing about it.

...None of my friends have it so I just don't know. I am tempted to install it but after spending weeks setting my computer just right, I afraid to download it and have it screw up my settings.


...I have also heard that Firefox won't open some sites and you have to change to IE. That sounds like a big hassle to me. I have Norton AntiVirus, SpyBot, AdaWare, and Microsoft AntiSpyWare, and a am running a Linksys Router. .... Isn't this enough to keep SpyWare, Virus', Trogan's, etc out as well as Firefox or anything else? :confused:

There's more to it than just avoiding viruses and spyware.

1) It's not integrated into the OS like IE is, so if the browser crashes it doesn't bring down the entire OS with it.

2) It's open source making it possible for 3rd party developers to make an abundance of extensions and themes. With a little know-how you can also make your own tweaks to it.

3) It's available on all platforms.

4) Oh, back to the extensions and themes. AdBlocker, that pretty much says it all. Right-click an ad, chose block and use wild cards (*) to block all ads served by that site. Not just pop-ups, I'm talking banner ads too. They completely disappear like they aren't even there.

The Noia theme is real purdy too. ;)

5) Tabbed browsing. Once you go tabbed you never go back. I never thought I'd use this feature much, but now I find surfing without it extremely tedious and annoying.

6) It's not Microsoft. ;)

7) Multiple profiles. If you have more than one user on the computer, but only setup one user account, you can still have multiple profiles in Firefox. This lets each user set up their own preferences and have their own bookmarks.

As for websites that don't display properly on it, they aren't coded right to begin with. But I rarely run into one.

Installing it won't screw up any of your settings. If you don't like it you can easily uninstall it. But even if you leave it installed it's just another program and doesn't take over your computer or the settings you have made. You can, if you want to, set it as your default browser, or you can keep IE as the default. It's a very friendly piece of software.

And while you're at it, I highly recommend using Thunderbird for email instead of Outlook.

My parents had mozilla and they had problems with it...they went to Incredimail...the newer "spam free" version if there is such a thing.

they went to Incredimail
*shudder* Incredimail is so full of what I call "froo-froo" I can't stand it. *shudder* Plus, I can't really vouch for how secure it is and whether or not it will run malicious code.

*shudder* Incredimail is so full of what I call "froo-froo" I can't stand it. *shudder* Plus, I can't really vouch for how secure it is and whether or not it will run malicious code.

I hear you about that....it use to spam people in your address book. I do not think it does that anymore. I am not tech expert by any means though :)

3) It's available on all platforms.
To be pedantic, it's not available on all platforms.. For example, I use an OS called "RISC OS" a lot, but there's (as yet) no firefox for it, which is quite a pain in the rear end since all the browsers on the platform are commercial and cost pennies to get (except one that is being developed as open source, but still isn't going to get up to Firefox's level for a long time yet..).. hmm.. who let me start ranting there..

4) Oh, back to the extensions and themes. AdBlocker, that pretty much says it all. Right-click an ad, chose block and use wild cards (*) to block all ads served by that site. Not just pop-ups, I'm talking banner ads too. They completely disappear like they aren't even there.

The Noia theme is real purdy too. ;)

Yay, extensions are cool. Very cool. I rarely see any ads on the web any more thanks to a nice l33t set of Adblocker rules..

As for themes, I prefer Phoenity (http://phoenity.org) which has some cool things you can do, like rounded items :D

5) Tabbed browsing. Once you go tabbed you never go back. I never thought I'd use this feature much, but now I find surfing without it extremely tedious and annoying.

Indeed, I often find myself (when using other people's computers) trying to open a new tab in IE :crying:

6) It's not Microsoft. ;)

That makes it worth it from the start :D

As for websites that don't display properly on it, they aren't coded right to begin with. But I rarely run into one.

Any site that doesn't work in firefox isn't worth viewing IMHO :)

Anyone who designs a site that works only in IE has some serious problems...

Installing it won't screw up any of your settings. If you don't like it you can easily uninstall it. But even if you leave it installed it's just another program and doesn't take over your computer or the settings you have made. You can, if you want to, set it as your default browser, or you can keep IE as the default. It's a very friendly piece of software.

Indeed, when you install FireFox, it can automagically (I love that word!) import all of your IE bookmarks etc :)

And, if you've got more than one machine running FireFox, you can get the "Bookmarks Synchroniser" extension to keep the bookmarks the same on all your installations (for example, I sync my bookmarks on my home desktop machine, work desktop machine and my laptop.. it does this by storing your bookmarks on a website for it to download and check when you start the application :).. all this, of course, happens automagically behind the scenes :))

acp. Getting down off soapbox now.

Oh, back to the extensions and themes. AdBlocker, that pretty much says it all. Right-click an ad, chose block and use wild cards (*) to block all ads served by that site. Not just pop-ups, I'm talking banner ads too. They completely disappear like they aren't even there.
If you import the filter set found here (read the instructions first) (http://www.geocities.com/pierceive/adblock/) you will never see anything. I saw that fly banner ad for the first time this weekend using my MIL's laptop. If AdBlock hadn't kept me from that until then I might have murdered my computer.

The Noia theme is real purdy too. ;)
Noia suxxxors!!!11!! Qute (https://addons.update.mozilla.org/themes/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&os=Windows&id=7) roxxors11!!!1

Tabbed browsing. Once you go tabbed you never go back. I never thought I'd use this feature much, but now I find surfing without it extremely tedious and annoying.
Ditto.

As for websites that don't display properly on it, they aren't coded right to begin with. But I rarely run into one.
And you can just install the ieview (http://ieview.mozdev.org/) extension and right click to open the page in IE.

Alright you Noia h8t0rs, I looked at Phoenity and Qute but they just don't do it for me. ;)

you can get the "Bookmarks Synchroniser" extension to keep the bookmarks the same on all your installations
There's another cool feature that I did not know. Thanks.

There's another cool feature that I did not know. Thanks.

not a problem :)

Here (https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&os=Windows&category=Bookmarks&numpg=10&id=14) is the link to the Bookmarks Synchroniser :)

I have it set so that it checks/uploads at load/quit so I always have the newest versions to hand when I load firefox, and wherever I load it :)

It also means that I get the same RSS feeds in the Sage RSS reader plugin, which is also very cool :D

Also, if you find extensions on the Mozilla site that don't work in the latest builds, there's always http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/ which has lots more, and updates to ones on update.mozilla.org to make them work on newer builds of FF :) (Note that some of them are unnofficial mods/hacks to make them work, so your mileage may vary..)

acp. </geek>

Thanks alot for all info Bill. You've given me alot to absorb in my little computer-savy mind. ...Hopefully I will get up the courage to actually download it.

Boy, you guys are sure angry with Microsoft, or is it just IE?

Boy, you guys are sure angry with Microsoft, or is it just IE?

Erm, well I don't know about the other guys here, I just don't like windows (despite using it on two of my machines). It's just so.. wrong. I mean, whoever thought of pressing "start" to turn off (and hence stop) using your computer?

It's not just the niggly things though, I like the way RISC OS lets you manage things properly and has lots of nice touches in it :)

I tried MacOS X once, which was really nice, and would still be using it today if the iBook hardware was at least half up to the job, so I use a WinXP TabletPC instead now...

Anyway, I'm ranting again now so I'll go get some more coffee in me...

acp. :)

Boy, you guys are sure angry with Microsoft, or is it just IE?
I'm not so much angry as I am fed up. Due to market dominance Microsoft seems to have the attitude that they can make a crappy product and it really doesn't matter. They keep making crappy products and people keep using them as if it's the only available choice. It's a vicious cycle of "we have to use it because everyone else uses it" even if it sucks and there are better options. (I write this having just installed WinXP on my home computer because I need Windows for a lot of the software I use, and the games my kids like to play.)

Once in a while they make something good though, so I don't totally hate them.

Now, as for having to "get up the courage to actually download" Firefox...that's another byproduct of Microsoft crapware. Once upon a time a browser was just a browser. It didn't take over your system and work its way into every nook and cranny of your OS. You made your choice of browsers based on platform and/or features. Then came IE, the "one size fits all" browser, preloaded into the OS and virtually locked into the system. It is one with the OS, unable to really uninstall, always there, lurking in the background, taking over your computer. It's really the only browser that does this, but because of this people fear all browsers do this. They don't and they shouldn't.

There's no harm in trying out other browsers and seeing what you like or don't like. All other browsers won't confuse your computer or mess with your settings. They are usually very clean installs and easy to uninstall. Firefox is one of the cleanest in fact.

Now, as for having to "get up the courage to actually download" Firefox

There's no harm in trying out other browsers and seeing what you like or don't like. All other browsers won't confuse your computer or mess with your settings. They are usually very clean installs and easy to uninstall. Firefox is one of the cleanest in fact.



Okay Bill, You make a good arguement. I think I will try Firefox and see what it does........after I back up all my files!