Anybody Else Using Firefox?

[Maeve]

So, I just downloaded Firefox to give it a trial. I have considered it before but finally got around to actually trying it. Is it really that much safer than Internet Explorer? Security issues were the main reason I switched and the fact that I consider Microsoft the evil empire and wanted to make my little dent in it... (ok, I have some issues )

I have only been playing around with it for a bit, but it seems fairly intuitive. I have noticed the pages load a bit slower than IE and the graphics seem a little less crisp, although that could be my imagination. I have read that you are less likely to get spyware and particularly keyloggers. Now that I have been playing WoW again, this is what led me to finally make the switch. I was the victim of a keylogger that hacked my WoW account and stole all my loot and gold from all my toons back at the beginning of the year. That was with antivirus and spyware programs running. They both picked up the threat and reported them as quarantined/cleaned but I still managed to get the account hacked right after.

[Zeli]

I only use Firefox. I love it.

I don't know about security stuff, but I've heard that.

[Kaarenyth]

Firefox releases a lot of patches (one a month on average) that auto load if you have it configured.

It has some security features that are really nice and I use.

The big thing I love is the Addon's.

Some Pages at my office don't rened correctly in Firefox - but if you get IE Tab Add-on and you can switch rendering engines.

Also if your web savey - you can customize load options with Faster Fox add-on

I also use Quick Proxy add-on on my laptop that I use from home and at the office with a proxy server.

I also like to use Download Status Bar to remove the download manager popups and keep my interface clean.

[Ghlore "MacInnes"]

news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Recommends-Firefox-2-0-Microsoft-Recommends-Firefox-2-0-Too-Over-IE7-60864.shtml


That should tell yah somthing

[GrilledCheese28 (aka Aruth)]

I use both, but probably spend 80%+ of my time in Firefox.

Firefox isn't perfect, it certainly has some failings, but like Kaar I like it because of its customizeability.

I don't know enough about web programming to know why some forms and scripts work right with one browser, but not with the other.
THat being said, I can't think of any page that I have visited, that IE will not display properly. However, I've had dozens of examples of sites that Firefox puked on and I had to use IE. That's probably why I only use it 80% of the time and not 100%

(Oh and all of the above is using Firefox 2 & IE 6.....I still have not installed IE7 on any of my computers...but not for any reason other than lazyness)

[Molley]

I use both. I do love Firefox, but I have also come across some pages that either a) load slowly or b) don't load at all with it, so I switch back and forth. I'm with Aruth on 80% Firefox to 20% IE.

[Winin]

IE tab handles most sites that need IE.

[Macaubre]

Firefox all the way. The big security risk with IE was, and still is, its default support of ActiveX.

Firefox doesn't support (natively) ActiveX, so it cuts you off of about 99.9% of the security issues on the Internet.

Also, the other kind of "vector" of infestions are issues with pictures. There was a security hole a while ago with some graphical file format that even Firefox could get "owned" by. Most, if not all of those pictures/images comes from banner ads that some malicious person buy off an ad syndicate (ie. Doubleclick, etc...) that contains exploits and install software on your machine.

What I do is, install Ad Block Plus. Which blocks most, if not all, banner ads and eliminate that vector.

[Maeve]

Thanks for the feedback. I am enjoying it so far. Installed some of the add-ons and playing with the themes. I installed the IE tabs. But I can't figure out how to use it...it is listed under my add-ons and is enabled. Is it an automatic thing or will I have to do something when I come to a page that won't work with the Firefox?

[Kaarenyth]

other kind of "vector" of infestions are issues with pictures. There was a security hole a while ago with some graphical file format that even Firefox could get "owned" by. Most, if not all of those pictures/images comes from banner ads that some malicious person buy off an ad syndicate (ie. Doubleclick, etc...) that contains exploits and install software on your machine.

There is a little firefox icon in your status bar at the bottom of the browser, left click will render in IE, right click will bring up a window to tell it 'always render these pages in IE' and other settings.

You can also click on the tab and change to render in ie (assumes you have multiple tabs open). Think the text is something about switching the rendering engine.

[Maeve]

Ah, found it! That makes it easy. Thanks, Kaar!