Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Personally I've never had any real problems with Explorer. Or maybe I have but I just don't notice them because I've got nothing to compare with. Anyway, should I go and download Firefox?

[Zieg Rauros]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Yes.

[[SKYELAN]]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

I personally like Explorer, and everything is already pretty much made for it... so why switch?

[Riotsword]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Yes. I started using FF a few months ago and now I really dislike IE.

FF's also good for looking at porn.

...Not that.. I'd, know that, or anything...

[thetruecoolness]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Well I guess that depends on how much you value you your privacy, and how much work you're willing to put up with to keep it. IE has this special feature that when you click the delete history button, or empty temporary internet files it doesn't actually do anything. Even if you manually delete the files they just come back next time you reboot or refresh the folder. So to delete your history and previous cache permanently you have to enter dos mode and delete those folders along with the infamous index.dat (keep a history of every website you've ever been to since you installed Windows) files in them.

As for the other benefits, Firefox is arguably safer as they can fix security flaws much faster than IE. Firefox has pop-up blocking out of the box, no need to add stupid toolbars. Also Firefox includes extensions which add tons of features from an RSS browser, to being able to zoom in on any image at any time, to even defeating the disable right-click on sites and allowing you to right click on them. If you're into skins you can do that on Firefox too.

In terms of speed honestly both are pretty close, don't know if you'll notice a difference, though Firefox has an extension to optimize it, so your milage may vary. The only annoying thing is some sites are IE only, and certain embeded WMP files don't play. But if you want to browser safer, and arguably better Firefox is the clear choice. And if your into programming you can make your own extensions, as it is open-source. Plus tabbed browsing is a god-send in my opinion, so much better than cluttering your desktop with tons of windows, and you can still easily cycle through them using ctrl-tab.

So yeah, I like Firefox much better than IE, you can even play 3Dish games written in html with firefox thanks to the mozilla exclusive <canvas> tag (http://www.abrahamjoffe.com.au/ben/canvascape/ this is being ported to IE by google though). Of course I doubt many people will use it as Flash and Java already provide good ways to do those sorts of things. But seriously Firefox helps cut down on the SpyWare, no more worries about ActiveX controls or VBScripts (though JavaScripts can still mess things up), tabbed browsing, extensions that are easy to uninstall and not tied to your registry, and true privacy and deletion of records. Plus updates come a lot more often so bugs, security flaws, and such are fixed quickly. And since Firefox is not part of your OS (IE is heavily tied into Windows Explorer so problems with IE can lead to system instability), if something does happen to Firefox you can reinstall it a lot easier, and with a higher probability of deleting whatever was causing it to mess up.

All I know is I hardly ever get viruii or spyware using Firefox, no matter how shady the site may be. I can't tell you how many people have gotten tons of spyware and viruii on their computer using IE, not to mention all those toolbars that automatically install themselved in IE and are a real pain to get rid off. So while it's not impossible to get these using Firefox is it a lot less likely.

[Chad]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

I use Firefox but I must say one thing. IE 7 has tabbed browsing.

[Riotsword]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Doesn't Firefox as well?

[Chad]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Yeah, but just pointing it out.

[SkylureX]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

I <3 Firefox. Haven't used IE in forever.

[thetruecoolness]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

Too bad IE7 is going to be optimized for Vista, which won't be optimized for anything except the newest computers. So it will work with XP but I'm sure they'll leave out some good features to give people a reason to switch to Vista now. Anyway Firefox has good tabbed browsing and has since it started, same with Opera which some people prefer to Firefox even with the ad window. From what I saw IE7 isn't going to add a whole lot besides tabs and probably the AeroGlass (omg it's exactly like Mac) interface. So basically it looks like IE7 will be ... Firefox, but with those tab group things, which I personally don't like, but that's because I have a big screen. I love how the Microsoft website is like hey guys now you can surf multiple website in different tabs in a single IE window using Tabbed Browsing. I mean no one would have thought that would be a good idea. I guess better late than never. And it's finally supporting CSS2, maybe it will actually support transparent PNGs (speak of the devil it does, too bad Firefox and any other real browser already did). So it looks like IE may finally be up with the times.

Well here is an important feature only in Vista

"Protected Mode
Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system. Exploits and malicious software are restricted from writing to any location beyond Temporary Internet Files without explicit user consent."

And they also claim that they actually delete your history now, but I'm sure thats what they said with IE 6 too.

Sorry I just really loathe IE, Microsoft just probably doesn't know how to work with it as it wasn't theirs to begin with (they bought the company that made it). Really as it stands now it's really far behind other browsers, and a red carpet for spyware and such.

[josh]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

if God intended you to use Firefox, Windows would come with it.

[Rodak]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

I Hate Internet Explorer.

It is directly responsible for all my troubles securing my friend's website and keeping me too busy for gaming!!

Grrr.

Moo.

Grunt.

Belch.

Excuse me.

Woof!

Roar.

Fart.

Pardon.

Ribbitt.

Quack.

Internet Explorer?

I say thee,

Neigh.

Moo.

[Valkysas]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

I despise firefox. I've tried it several times, and I just can't get used to it. IE for me.

[Patryn]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

IE has way too many security holes for me. Firefox all the way.

[Rodak]

Re: Is Firefox really better than Explorer?

The only drawback to firefox I've noticed it the way it reads some code.

Sites can look drastically different on it.

"Filter" and "Table" commands are tempermental there compared to IE.

Before Firefox I was a big Netscape fan.

Never much liked anything Microsoft though.

I STILL hate windows! Have since I first saw it in the 1980's.

What I want to know is why I can't get Opera to even work on my system!

Every page comes up as an "illegal address" and I have no idea why.

But Internet Explorer is so unsecrue...

Things like this can happen:



OK, maybe not. I just felt like posting the image!

C'Mon! Hand-Drawn animation is going away thanks to 'puters!!

Oh Yeah...

The New IE 7 Beta thing no longer supports "Drag and Drop" ftp!

That was the only reason I kept it around! That is a very efficient way to use "file transfer protocol".

Without that feature, I have no use for IE7 at all!!

Oh well.

Back to the world of dreams...

Peace.