Opinions on web browsers?

simple girl

simple girl

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I currently have IE 8, operating system is Vista. For the last several months, I keep getting the message that explorer is no longer working, and then it wants to close all pages. I've only ever used IE, but I am at the point of frustration where I am willing to switch to another browser.

What browser do you recommend? Pro's/con's? Can I transfer my favorites easily from IE to it?

thanks all,

SG
 
simple girl said:
What browser do you recommend? Pro's/con's? Can I transfer my favorites easily from IE to it?
Click to expand...
I install Firefox on every system I maintain. I have been with one client about 15 years, and have seen it all. Eventually IE will stop working, may start again, etc. It is required for some sites, so it is best to keep IE working.

On one system, IE was broke for a year. Could not uninstall, update, and so on. The client did not want to reinstall Windows, update, and so on. One day, an update downloaded, and it magically started working again. We need more of that good magic, don't you think?

On my personal systems (Windows 7, XP), I install Firefox, and sometimes Apple Safari. I rarely have problems with Firefox. So I recommend you go with that.

When you install Firefox, or Safari, or just about any browser, it will probably ask if you want to import your bookmarks (MS calls them favorites).
 
I use Firefox, too. It is stable, secure and stops pop-ups. I only use IE for sites that won't work with it. I find those a fewer all the time. Unfortunately, some of them are banking sites which you would think would be more concerned with security.
 
You can't go wrong with Firefox, and no you won't have any problems adjusting to it.

Chrome is solid too, supposedly offers slightly better performance but I don't think most would notice. I've read the next version of Firefox addressed some of the memory bloat and speed issues.

You could also try Opera, some people swear by it.
 
Another vote for Firefox with ad blocker. It has been rock solid for me. Safari is also very good if it runs on your computer.
 
Anytime you have to rely on a site that is IE only, I'd suggest you voice your complaint to the company. It wouldn't hurt to quote some stats on Firefox, Safari, Chrome and other browser share of the web usage.

These companies do not have to "support" these other browsers, they just need to stick to standards. If they do that, the other browsers will likely work as they are very standard compliant. It is IE that has non-standard tricks, web developers wrote non-standard stuff that 'works' with those tricks, but it becomes IE specific. This apparently was Microsoft's attempt to give IE an edge, as Microsoft also supplied web developer tools that created web sites with these IE specific tricks.

Dump IE, I haven't opened it in years. FF is my main browser, and I have used Safari a time or two on sites that had problems with FF, but those are few and far between and seem to be fading over time.

-ERD50
 
I don't get that either ERD50. I'm a professional software developer who works mainly web apps and I couldn't imagine deploying a public facing web site today that wasn't thoroughly tested on both Firefox and IE. One could make a case for Chrome since it's just popped over 5% share and will only grow, maybe Safari but at the very least IE & Firefox.

If you've got a backoffice web app fine have your people work with whatever browser it's designed for, but sheesh I'm still in awe when I run across a web site for a major airline where the reservations button doesn't appear in Firefox.
 
Rich_in_Tampa said:
Another vote for Firefox with ad blocker. It has been rock solid for me. Safari is also very good if it runs on your computer.
Click to expand...


Ok, so based on the recommendations, I'm going to try Firefox. I found it on the Mozilla site. Do I have to do something special to get the ad blocker?
 
I switched to Firefox several years ago, and love it! I think in all that time, it's 'crashed' maybe 3 or 4 times at most...and most of those were, shall we say, 'user induced'....ooops! I imported all of my 'favorites' from IE to Firefox's 'bookmarks'...no problemo! I also have the 'Ad Block Plus' and 'Cool Previews' add-ons......love 'em both!!! Plus, Firefox is cross-platform, so I have it on my Windows computers, as well as on my Asus Eee that is running Linux.
:)
I absolutely, positively, beyond all doubt, DO NOT miss IE and it's inherent crashing in the very least!!!
 
Yippee, I did it! So far I am really happy with it. Quite fast to get from page to page. It also imported all of my bookmarks and homepages. So far, pretty easy to figure out. Oh, and I had to add on the ad blocker, but that was easy to find on Mozilla's site.

Thanks everyone!
 
simple girl said:
Ok, so based on the recommendations, I'm going to try Firefox. I found it on the Mozilla site. Do I have to do something special to get the ad blocker?
Click to expand...

Tools->Add-Ons

Then click "Get Add-ons" at the top.

Then find and install Adblock Plus, Flashblock, and Better Privacy. Also Adblock Filterset Updater.

Flashblock turns off the flash movies until you click them. This may make some sites hard to navigate.

Better Privacy manages the flash cookies stored on your computer.

Finally, if you're a real minimalist, you can install the javascript add-on, Noscript. It turns off all javascript until you allow it (temporarily or permanently for each site).
 
I've been using Firefox for a long time now. It's my main browser. However I've been having trouble with it crashing or being really slow, lately. I'm starting to use chrome that I downloaded when it first came out. No problems with it. And it is fast. Not as many pop-ups. I use the slow version of verizon dsl and REALLY like Chrome.
 
Firefox was my favorite for years but now Chrome is better for me. FF is just to slow and i get crashes & hangs all the time. chrome is considerably faster even with the ads. mozilla is falling behind. thunderbird doesnt work with win7, v3 is an unstable mess (had to uninstall it) FF is now bloated & slow. i miss the extensions but waiting forever just got to be too much.i tried opera & safari & didnt like either much.
 
Well, if I start having problems I'll convert to Chrome instead of putting up with issues for way too long. So far, so good with Firefox, though.
 
5 years ago, I tried Firefox, and had a fair amount of trouble opening and using a variety of websites. I went back to IE.

Last year, I re-installed Firefox, and those problems are all gone. Combined with two wonderful plug-ins (Adblocker, and the plug in that enlarges text size easily), Firefox is superior to IE for me now.

It does take a while to adjust to the interface, get all your bookmarks the way you want them, and fiddle with plug-ins, but it was definitely worth it.

I still have IE on the computer, but I haven't opened it in months.

Steve
 
mountaintosea said:
I've been using Firefox for a long time now. It's my main browser. However I've been having trouble with it crashing or being really slow, lately. I'm starting to use chrome that I downloaded when it first came out. No problems with it. And it is fast. Not as many pop-ups. I use the slow version of verizon dsl and REALLY like Chrome.
Click to expand...


Good to know... I still use Firefox... but my wife has been complaining that it has been freezing up or crashing on her a lot lately (on her laptop, not my computer)... so I will download Chrome and see what happens...
 
Another vote for Firefox, been using it for years w/o problems.

I still use IE for the Microsoft site but that's the only one I use it for.
 
Just installed ADBlock Plus. Wish I had known about it long time ago, it's great. Pages load much faster without all the other crap. Thanks guys (and gals)!!

I've been a Firefox fan for years and highly recommend it. Hate IE as it does things sometimes that I don't want done....big brother Microsoft thinks it knows better that the user what the use wants to do. General complaint I have with Windows but just put up with it. I've one computer with Vista and much prefer XP.
 
Son has a new Dell 7 and Firefox started not working for him. Switched to Safari and seems fine so far.
I'm still using Firefox, but if I have problems may check out Chrome. If it goes faster, I'm switching.
 
If *any* web browser just "stops working", try clearing the cache, clearing histories... Might just be some corrupt file hosing things up.


-ERD50
 
Good luck...you will most likely appreciate many aspects of Firefox. It is used on all our systems and IE is kept around only for the quirky needs that sometimes seem to come up with selected sites. Again, IE just seems to never get better whereas Firefox seems to improve over time with newer versions and updates.
 
Simple Girl,

Not a techie, but even I was able to download Firefox...and it's a zillion times better than IE! Love not having those annoying ads.
 
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