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A lot of people have switched to firefox. Why I don't know. Some say so they dont get spyware or it's better than IE. Tell me something, as far as web browsing, is there anything that firefox can do that IE can't? Well lets see:

Can I view a standard webpage? yes
Can I play streaming audio and video? yes
Can I install various ActiveX controls? yes
Can I customize my browser? yes
Can I use java and other web platforms? yes

You see there's realy not much difference. All we're doing is installing additional software that we already have. It's like having Norton Anti-Virus and AVG at the same time, and anyone who knows about anti-virus you definitely don't need more than one.

We all hate Microsoft but having more of the same thing isn't going to make you any less vulnerable or make your computer run faster.

I get the impression you've not tried firefox.
The extensions, the themes and the possibility of adding clever scripts (using stuff like greasemonkey) make it a far more flexible option than IE which is dragging its binary feet somewhat.

IE still doesn't seem to have tabbed browsing - a standard in most other browsers. That's a fairly basic requirement for me now. All nice and tidy. All different colours so I can find them quickly. Nice huh?

Pages where I frequently enter code are handled by scripts in firefox so that the code I want to enter is generated for me contextually. Clever huh? I rarely have to edit what it offers me.

Tell me, just what is customized in your installation of IE? You mention ad blocking. Yeah, I use the adblock add-in and, as a result, I don't remember when I last saw an advert. I also use a colour picker which I've embedded in the bottom left hand corner in order to help me edit my photos etc. I have a weather tracker bottom right which shows me current conditions and the forecast a week in advance. I have a gadget that downloads all the images from any a specified website so that I have everything nice and handy here. I have another that converts plain text into functional links (like maybe e-mail addresses or URLs that weren't actually coded as links). Yet another add-in allows me to zoom images as I choose - as a photography fan I find that indispensible. I have a built in ftp client so if I need to make rapid changes to a web site I don't have to go digging for my stand-alone program - sure you can ftp from any browser, tho not so conveniently as you can using a real ftp client.... so my browser has one. Does yours?

And another thing.... Firefox is cross platform open source software. The mozilla foundation offer rewards for people who locate any kind of security loophole or bug so that these things are quickly and efficiently identified and corrected. IE, being proprietary software, is jealously guarded by MS and forced upon all windows users as it is an integral part of the windows OS. The bugs are still searched for, but the folks that find them *use* them, rather than correcting them, for their own ends while MS sit on their sorry bottoms and do little to stop them.

My IE is so well hidden I can't find it just now. I *never* use it. I never need it. I never miss it. Just give me one good reason why I would want to stick with either windows or IE.

Note: This machine is dual boot and runs win xp and mandriva linux. I won't be buying vista. When this machine packs up, I'll run linux, and firefox, on the next one.

my firefox crashes when it has to display flash files ...

but it is faster than IE, so i use both

I'm wanting to go to linux myself, i would use firefox in that case. I don't really care about blows and whistles on something that I'm doing right now. I'm probably going to try gentoo this time around. Ubuntu is crap. Had I known what i knew now I would have never installed it.

No but all I'm saying I'm not worried about security vulnerabilities in IE because for one I rarely ever shop online, and I don't go to porn sites, I guess you then might need firefox for that.

freddie wrote:my firefox crashes when it has to display flash files ...

but it is faster than IE, so i use both

My Firefox doesn't seem to have problems with flash, but when trying to view live video streams it doesn't seem to cope so well.

For live streaming, I always seem to find myself using Internet Explorer. For some reason I was never able to get Sopcast's to stream on Firefox, but in IE it's no problem. Also, IE is quite quick to load etc, even while the stream is up.

wanabe, I see where you are coming from. Strictly from a web browsing perspective, there isn't much difference. But when you factor in the customizations you can make in Firefox, such as theming and add-ons, I think that is the key for most people.

Also Rat, IE7 has tabbed browsing, but it is quite poor. In fact, it looks like an after thought, it really is sub-standard.

Try updating your flash player, or re-installing it.

I forget if flash is in Add/Remove or not....that is if you're using Windows....

battye wrote:Also Rat, IE7 has tabbed browsing

'bout time too. Useless bunch of MS lummoxes.

One of the best (technical) things about Firefox isn't that there are already tons of extensions out there, but that you can easily write your own if you need to. In fact, it's encouraged.

The most important reason to use Firefox is that Microsoft hates you. They prove it by the way that they treat you. Your money they like, but you? Nope.

i think you've misunderstood. I'm not debating whether or not firefox is better or not, but ratherr why have two browsers installed?

Here's the following conditions where I might use Firefox:

I'm using an OS other than Windows
IE crashes or blocks or limites my browsing.


For those who want to totally kill IE do this:

Click on Start, Control Pannel (classic view: settings>Control Panel), click on Add/Remove Programs. On the left pane click on Add/Remove Windows Componets and remove IE that way.

I still keep IE around because there are some sadists that require it for webpages. ActiveX isn't as popular anymor, but it's still around.

Another reason that I keep Firefox installed (even have it as a portable program on my thumbdrive) is tokeep from switching back and forth if I don't have to, depending on the computer that I'm on.

I often explain it to people like this: If it came on your computer, that means it's "stock", just like most cars come with stock stereos. If you care about your stereo, you upgrade it. Firefox is an upgrade.

All I can say is that ever since I stopped using IE and started using FF, my spyware/adware issues have ceased to exist and my browsing habits have not changed.

FF has so many advantages. Just because IE comes installed and has basic functionality doesn't mean I should use it.

i use FF daily and only use IE for certain sites that don't support FF. Also IE is what i use for updates

nesman wrote:I often explain it to people like this: If it came on your computer, that means it's "stock", just like most cars come with stock stereos. If you care about your stereo, you upgrade it. Firefox is an upgrade.

That's a pretty good way of looking at it. Same could be said for Windows Media Player too.

And what of Firefox 3 everyone? I know it's been out for a while now but I personally can't fault it. IE7 does nothing for me in terms of speed, add-ons, etc. With Firefox, myself and my wife have Profiles set-up so we have our own bookmarks, themes, add-ons, etc. Both can be opened at same time too!

The only time I use IE7 is to check web-page layouts of any website I'm working on. Although Firefox even has an add-on for that where I can switch between FF and IE "in" Firefox!!

So is Firefox really needed? From me, a resounding YES!!!

quahappy wrote:And what of Firefox 3 everyone? I know it's been out for a while now but I personally can't fault it. IE7 does nothing for me in terms of speed, add-ons, etc. With Firefox, myself and my wife have Profiles set-up so we have our own bookmarks, themes, add-ons, etc. Both can be opened at same time too!

The only time I use IE7 is to check web-page layouts of any website I'm working on. Although Firefox even has an add-on for that where I can switch between FF and IE "in" Firefox!!

So is Firefox really needed? From me, a resounding YES!!!

This Firefoxette agrees with you!!