# Browser Users



## star.torturer (Jul 3, 2006)

are you a firefox fanatic, or a IE expoiter. a opera singer, or a mozila mole.

please compare notes here


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## mosaix (Jul 3, 2006)

Firefox and Thunderbird for me!


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## star.torturer (Jul 3, 2006)

please vote on the poll and give any sugestions to any other browsers on the list


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## Adasunshine (Jul 3, 2006)

I use Internet Explorer because that's what the PC came with - I know nothing about computers except from a secretarial point of view which isn't much besides Office!

xx


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## star.torturer (Jul 3, 2006)

i suspect mr gates is very happy with you using his browser and is glad that you use his product over the free one

by the way thankyou for voting


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## Adasunshine (Jul 3, 2006)

If you're talking OpenOffice - Bleh, what a load of rubbish that is! Very similar but has it's little tweaks and sometimes pernickety problems. Office is easy, I know it inside out and who says I paid for it?????   

(Of course, I am joking but I do know of people that haven't done so! tut tut indeed!!!)

xx


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## star.torturer (Jul 3, 2006)

this is not ofice pacages it is net browsers


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## Adasunshine (Jul 3, 2006)

star.torturer said:
			
		

> this is not ofice pacages it is net browsers


 
Yes it is but it's just an opinion, this is a forum and it's not as if I voted twice! We often go off on a tangent here!

Sorry if I annoyed you!

xx


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## star.torturer (Jul 3, 2006)

you dont need to appologise, it makes me seem as though a am a rulers when i am not, i am going off on a tangent right now

any way you can vote for your fav office pacage now anywey


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## Asmer20 (Jul 4, 2006)

I like firefox for printing I use IE for everything else I just like that better


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## Rane Longfox (Jul 4, 2006)

I just want to know when they stopped teaching people how to spell in Lancashire...

Incidentally, I always use Opera when I can - its got all the good of Firefow and IE mixed together, without much of the bad - and you can get some really cool skins for it, especially since they took the annoying adverts off the free version


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## steve12553 (Jul 4, 2006)

I generally use IE because I'm old and conservative and by the way why does everybody go off on a tangent when it would be much easier to go off on a cosine.


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## Carolyn Hill (Jul 4, 2006)

I mostly use Safari, and when that doesn't work in certain environments, I use Firefox.


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## murphy (Jul 4, 2006)

steve12553 said:
			
		

> I generally use IE because I'm old and conservative and by the way why does everybody go off on a tangent when it would be much easier to go off on a cosine.


 
Ditto, except I'm older, maybe not more conservative, but am a technotard.


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## Nesacat (Jul 4, 2006)

Firefox and Thunderbird for me ... and it has an awful lot to do with the sound of those two words since I am not at all tech savvy.


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## Morpheus42 (Jul 4, 2006)

Am using all kinds all the time. But I do prefere NOT to use IE. So oI end up using:
 - opera
 - firefox
 - links
 - lynx
 - IE (only if i have to  )


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## Aes (Jul 4, 2006)

For everyone who voted IE, go download Firefox right now.   I hate to seem preachy, but surfing with Internet Explorer is like 1-night standing without protection.  IE has so many security holes, you can get infected with trojans and virii just by clicking on the wrong link.  Plus, you can surf multiple websites with only one window open, and that's probably the best feature. 

So go get it!  You'll get used to it in no time, I promise.

</solicitation>


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## Morpheus42 (Jul 4, 2006)

That is an intresing way of looking at IE. But I have to admit you're making it very clear. 
Errmm ... about the clicking the wrong link part: sometimes clicking is not needed.


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## Aes (Jul 4, 2006)

True.  In fact, let me use a real life example to illustrate how much better Firefox is than IE, security-wise.

In an online game I used to play, I had a forum set up for my guild using an old freeware version of IPB which, as you can imagine, has a few security flaws of its own.  Anyway, some random ass from russia found it and used an exploit to stick something that basically infects you with a really nasty trojan/virus/something.

Several of my guildmates were like "What's wrong with the guild site?  I get spyware crap every time I go there!"  So, I went there to check, saw nothing, and was like "you should check your machine for spyware.  It's probably something you have."  After awhile, I found soemthing was indeed on there, and tried with internet explorer.  My AV program went berserk, and caugh the icky stuff before it could do any harm.

Bottom line:  People who used IE got infected just by visiting the guild site.  People who used Firefox were safe, and didn't even know anything bad was there.


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## scalem X (Jul 4, 2006)

I'm using safari on mac, for some features I need firefox though.


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## Snowdog (Jul 4, 2006)

Yes Firefox all the way.

_Die Micro$soft, die!!_


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## Stuart Jaffe (Jul 4, 2006)

There's no choice here.  Firefox is king.  

Unfortuately, part of what makes Firefox so immune is that, until recently, not a lot of people used Firefox, thus, it wasn't worth the hackers trouble to figure out how to break in.  As Firefox grows in popularity, I suspect more Firefox "friendly" viruses will pop up.  Hopefully the folks at Mozilla will be on their toes and keep ahead of the game.  If they can, I'll stick with Firefox.


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## Jack (Jul 4, 2006)

IE, it came with the computer


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## Aes (Jul 4, 2006)

Stuart Jaffe said:
			
		

> There's no choice here.  Firefox is king.
> 
> Unfortuately, part of what makes Firefox so immune is that, until recently, not a lot of people used Firefox, thus, it wasn't worth the hackers trouble to figure out how to break in.  As Firefox grows in popularity, I suspect more Firefox "friendly" viruses will pop up.  Hopefully the folks at Mozilla will be on their toes and keep ahead of the game.  If they can, I'll stick with Firefox.


Yes, and no.  Being "underground" is only a fraction of what makes it a more secure product than IE.

IE's major flaws are that it comes set up just like your average computer does:  Open to everything so that the system is easy to use and plug programs into for the average consumer.  Yes, that's right, computers are designed deliberately to be open to all manner of things, for better or worse.  They could easily be  designed with rock-solid protection, but this also means that legitimate programs will run into problems also.  Since the average consumer is pretty dumb in terms of computers, what's the first thing they're going to do if something goes wrong?  That's right, they're going to call up the tech support lines and have someone walk them through fixing their problem.  They don't want that, so they make them open and vulnerable.  On the other hand, if your computer is infected, you will consider buying an antivirus (or similar) product--the 'security burden' has now been shifted onto you.  In this case, they don't lose, because you're not bothering their support lines.  What's more, if the AV program was purchased from a company they're affiliated with, then in a sense, they win.

Anyway, here are several critical flaws in IE that Firefox doesn't share:

 - IE makes use of ActiveX, Firefox doesn't.  ActiveX is a scripting component that *is* a security hole--it follows the example of making things easy to access, use, and modify--security be damned!  VBscript and BHOs are convenient as well, but may also pose similar problems.  "Make them easy to set up and use, we don't want people calling our support lines unless they have to."

 - IE is very close to the core of the operating system.  Compromising IE would basically be like your neighbor's house going up in flames in a tightly-spaced housing development.  To contrast, if another browser on your system were compromised, it'd be like some house further down the block catching on ire--your house wouldn't really be in too much danger.

 - Microsoft is slow to fix their problems, and tends to want to shift the blame onto the user to make themselves look somewhat better.  Firefox's developers, on the other hand, are very quick to patch up mistakes as they are discovered.

 - If you use an OS prior to XP, don't expect much of anything in the way of security improvements for IE because they're not really all that interested in making patches for products they no longer sell.  After all, when people upgrade, Microsoft gets money.


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## Stuart Jaffe (Jul 5, 2006)

Thanks for the info.  I never knew thsoe specifics.


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## Ahdkaw (Jul 8, 2006)

Gotta be firefox. Even on Linux I install it.

Much more secure and many more addons than IE could ever hope for. Opera is okay, but it's not great. Conquerer is just dull, and Safari is on a Mac (which pretty much counts it out).

I think web browsers though, in general, are a pretty good idea.

(In addition to Aes's post, if you login to a restricted account instead of an administrator account, your security would be improved no matter the software (ActiveX is a bad thing tho)).


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## angrybuddhist (Jul 9, 2006)

I use Opera and Maxthon (an enhanced version of IE).  I would use Firefox, but it doesn't work on my computer with Windows ME.  It constantly locks up.  When I get a new computer with Windows XP or Vista, I'm sure I'll go back to Firefox.  I miss the extensions.


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## Adasunshine (Jul 29, 2008)

OK, so I'm kind of renewing an old old thread here but I thought I'd bring it back from the dead to see what people think of Safari on Windows?

I've heard it's all the rage and once you have Safari, you don't use anything else and I was wondering if anyone used it here, if so, is it all it's cracked up to be?

Thanks

xx


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## Commonmind (Jul 29, 2008)

Firefox while using Vista/XP and Linux, Safari while using the Mac.


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## The Ace (Jul 29, 2008)

I use IE for updates but Firefox for everything else.  It's a world-class browser.  Maxthon doesn't really make sense.


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## Lenny (Jul 29, 2008)

You're just not using it right then, Ace.  

---

As for Safari on Windows, Ada... it's slow. Very slow. Yeah, it works, but it'd be quicker to go next door, ask to use their computer, start it up, go to the webpage and then do what you want. At the same time, Safari _might_ have started to load said page.

Oh, and it doesn't have the faintest idea what a "font" is. Everything seems to be Arial.


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## Highlander II (Jul 29, 2008)

I use Firefox and SeaMonkey at home; w/ some Opera and Flock on the side.  I only use IE if a site doesn't work in anything else.  I have Netscape, but I can't recall the last time I used it.  I have K-Meleon too, which is a 'stripped' version of Fx - very very light, no frills, just there.  I do have Maxthon and Netcaptor, but don't use either much anymore since I found the Mozilla suites.  

Fx has some of the best add-ons, there's nothing like ad-blocker!

IE now has tabs, but it's still slow as hell and a pain to work with.


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## Marcus15 (Jul 29, 2008)

I actually like Opera cause it has the ability to read text to you.


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## The Ace (Jul 29, 2008)

Lenny, what I meant was, why build a clone of IE in the first place ?


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## Highlander II (Jul 29, 2008)

The Ace said:


> Lenny, what I meant was, why build a clone of IE in the first place ?



Originally, it was a clone of IE w/ the tabbed browsing feature of Fx.  

IE *just* added tabbed browsing w/ IE7.  Maxthon's had tabs for a few years.

There may be other 'features' of Maxthon that IE doesn't have, but that was one of the major ones initially.  And - it's still leaps and bounds over IE as it is.


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## Marcus15 (Jul 29, 2008)

Plus IE is a security concern


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## Commonmind (Jul 29, 2008)

I missed Ada's comment before posting my own, and I definitely agree with what Lenny said in reply. The great thing about using Safari congruently with an Apple OS is that it's streamlined and optimized for that platform, and thus much more stable and efficient. It's had time to mature on its home world, so it's inherently slower -- and more problematic -- on a Windows machine.


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## Parson (Jul 29, 2008)

I am not much of a techie, but I do use Firefox. I find it faster and safer than IE. Also on my computer (I'm not sure how this works) I have an automatic spell check when I use Firefox and none when I use IE. 

Lenny et al --- can you enlighten me a little bit here? The spell check is not linked to Word, nor to my Word Perfect dictionary. Is it an actual part of Firefox?

[Comparing Word to Word Perfect is a lot like comparing IE to Firefox -- One is plainly better and more useful.]


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## The Ace (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes Parson, It's an add-on.  I use the UK English version myself.


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## Ursa major (Jul 29, 2008)

You _can_ have a spell checker in IE. (At least I think you can: just today, after randomly pressing keys - my typing was that bad this afternoon - IE offered to download its spellchecker. I didn't bother, though.)


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## Rosemary (Jul 29, 2008)

I started out with IE but had so much trouble with it.  I believe we had a thread running back then and Firefox was the one most suggest that I use.

Fingers crossed, touch wood - Firefox is a great browser.


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## Highlander II (Jul 29, 2008)

You can actually configure Fx to render based on IE (IIRC) - but the Fx platform is just better.

Though, I've heard people talk of 'security concerns' in Fx - I'm not sure what those concerns are, since IE doesn't have things like ad-blocker, so all the ads - malicious and not - will load on IE, plus the pop-ups and everything else.


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## Erin99 (Jul 29, 2008)

Opera all the way!


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## Lenny (Jul 29, 2008)

Highlander II said:


> I'm not sure what those concerns are, since IE doesn't have things like ad-blocker, so all the ads - malicious and not - will load on IE, plus the pop-ups and everything else.


 
Actually, IE _does_ have a pop-up blocker... but it's as much use as a stone parachute, and just as safe.


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## Highlander II (Jul 30, 2008)

Lenny said:


> Actually, IE _does_ have a pop-up blocker... but it's as much use as a stone parachute, and just as safe.



So, kind of like not having one at all then, huh? =)

From my POV, IE is mostly useless except for those few sites who haven't managed to figure out how to function correctly in non-IE browsers.

One website I saw quoted 10-15% of sites don't work in Fx - uh, really, if that's the case, how much am I *not* concerned?  that's a ridiculously small # given the umpteen-billion websites that exist.  I know of so very FEW sites that I actually use that don't work in Fx or other non-IE browsers.

IE - to quote an old annoying gameshow - 'You are the weakest link - goodbye!'


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## Hilarious Joke (Jul 30, 2008)

I use IE, because I'm loyal to Microsoft.

*hides*


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## Talysia (Jul 30, 2008)

I use Firefox, but I use IE quite a bit, too.


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## ktabic (Jul 30, 2008)

Living up to your name there HJ


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## Majimaune (Jul 30, 2008)

Safari is awesome but I prefer Opera. Love it.


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## Hilarious Joke (Jul 30, 2008)

I prefer Rock Concerts personally.


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## Adasunshine (Feb 6, 2009)

OK, so I'm reviving this thread yet again...

I've recently downloaded and started using Google Chrome and wondered if anyone else out there was using it and if they are, what they think of it.

I started using it because IE is just so incredibly slow and Firefox really irritates me for reasons I can't quite fathom...

The downside to Chrome is that it's so ridiculously new and still in it's BETA stage so some applications aren't supporting it, the most irritating of which is JAVA update 11 so I can't play the games I so enjoy playing.  The other irritating thing is that even though it's Google, I can't have my trusted and loved Google Toolbar for reasons unknown.

These two things aside, I am really enjoying it as a browser, it's nice and simple on the eye, it's incredibly quick and so easy to use.  I'm a big fan of anything Google anyway and I think with a few tweaks this could be the browser to beat...

xx


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