Firefox Internet Browser -- Worth The Bother ?

[sensei]

You can't get the top toolbar to reduce as much as IE. BAD

Firefox icons are bigger -- take up more space. BAD

Firefox cannot save web pages as single .mht archive files -- this is the clincher. BAD

You can get all Firefox files saved automatically to desktop instead of stupid locations like My Documents with IE. GOOD

The Bookmark feature works a bit better with Firefox in the ability to move them around. GOOD

As for extensions and plug-ins ... what do these have to do with the browser? I have to download Skype just the same if I want to use it, and there will be an icon on the lower-right desktop taskbar to start it up. Overall, not much to choose between. For a simpleton like myself IE6 looks and works marginally better, but thanks to all for your comments.

Firefox is highly customizable.

The size of the icons can be reduced by simply ticking a small box as shown in the picture.

You can also tell Firefox where to save your downloads: Tools => Options => Main tab => Downloads.

Skype in Firefox? Yeah, heard about it. But seriously, how many people would really want to place call from a web browser?

There are sooooooo many god things about Firefox. It's safe and secure. My favorite is that Firefox looks gooooooood.

IE looks whiter than my grandfather's dentures.

[ignis]

Myself Firefox is soooooooo much better.

I have configured it how I like it and correctly, + customized to my taste, and I think Firefox is the superior browser both in speed and ease of use.

If you like I.E. you can download the XP or the new Vista skin......

[Firefoxx]

Like I said before, Firefox's big feature (simplicity) is also it's biggest fault (no features). A lot of the "BAD" that Trevor mentions can be rectified with add-ins and extensions. It's just that a lot of people, like him, don't want/care/bother to search for and install those extensions. If it's not already there, then it's never going to be there since these people don't install these add-ons.

For me, just finding the stupid sessionsaver extension and installing it was already troublesome, and I'm fairly computer-savvy (an understatement).

As said before, once a mind's made up, it's made up.

[kayo]

but Antivir is also free and has been outperforming even most of the paid AVs lately.

Just when you convinced me to go with Avast, now I've got to change again.

555555555555! Yup.. ditto!

As to the O.P, my answer is the same as many others, but I am a convert and have converted many around me to using firefox. Within a day or two, everybody I know has been converted, and starts to spread the word themselves.

*same with avast btw cdnvic, cheers for that*

Re> firefox memory hog.

Allai na, khrap? I don't know what the problem with your PC is, but it ain't firefox/thunderbird that's running your cpu at 100 %.

[A_Traveller]

The only negative about Firefox is that it is a memory hog. I can leave it up for a few hours and it jumps from 125mb to well over 300mb in memory and 100 % cpu.

there must be something wrong. never experienced that problem.

Then I would really like to know what that "something" is. I have had the same problem with Firefox - 100% CPU usage and total lockup of computer when more than a couple of tabs open. .. <snip>

The CPU issue was a known one which turned out to be a combination of factors, relating to website specifics {i.e. IE specific code [active X only pages &tc.] within a page} and FF config. Ultimately the position was that it was 'solved' in the FF2 branch, now at 2.0.0.3. I used to be able to provoke it by opening a number of tabs to very IE specific sites and there is still a noticeable hit even now, though it is much improved.

Regards

[kayo]

You can't get the top toolbar to reduce as much as IE. BAD

Firefox icons are bigger -- take up more space. BAD

Firefox cannot save web pages as single .mht archive files -- this is the clincher. BAD

You can get all Firefox files saved automatically to desktop instead of stupid locations like My Documents with IE. GOOD

The Bookmark feature works a bit better with Firefox in the ability to move them around. GOOD

As for extensions and plug-ins ... what do these have to do with the browser? I have to download Skype just the same if I want to use it, and there will be an icon on the lower-right desktop taskbar to start it up. Overall, not much to choose between. For a simpleton like myself IE6 looks and works marginally better, but thanks to all for your comments.

Firefox is highly customizable.

The size of the icons can be reduced by simply ticking a small box as shown in the picture.

You can also tell Firefox where to save your downloads: Tools => Options => Main tab => Downloads.

Skype in Firefox? Yeah, heard about it. But seriously, how many people would really want to place call from a web browser?

There are sooooooo many god things about Firefox. It's safe and secure. My favorite is that Firefox looks gooooooood.

IE looks whiter than my grandfather's dentures.

Or blacker than a ethiopian angel... Nice Theme there dude...

i particularly love the foxytunes plug in. Play your jukebox right from your browser! Brilliant.

Also, theres the De.li.cious plug in, which keeps all your bookmarks so even if I have to use somebody elses PC, I can log in to their online site and retrieve (most) of my bookmarks. For some of them, I use the option to NOT save it to their program, for er... reasons...

edit> added>

PS> I didn't know that! You can indeed right click anywhere on the tool bar and customize it even more!... just done so with mine

Edited March 23, 2007 by kayo

[sensei]

You can't get the top toolbar to reduce as much as IE. BAD

Firefox icons are bigger -- take up more space. BAD

Firefox cannot save web pages as single .mht archive files -- this is the clincher. BAD

You can get all Firefox files saved automatically to desktop instead of stupid locations like My Documents with IE. GOOD

The Bookmark feature works a bit better with Firefox in the ability to move them around. GOOD

As for extensions and plug-ins ... what do these have to do with the browser? I have to download Skype just the same if I want to use it, and there will be an icon on the lower-right desktop taskbar to start it up. Overall, not much to choose between. For a simpleton like myself IE6 looks and works marginally better, but thanks to all for your comments.

Firefox is highly customizable.

The size of the icons can be reduced by simply ticking a small box as shown in the picture.

You can also tell Firefox where to save your downloads: Tools => Options => Main tab => Downloads.

Skype in Firefox? Yeah, heard about it. But seriously, how many people would really want to place call from a web browser?

There are sooooooo many god things about Firefox. It's safe and secure. My favorite is that Firefox looks gooooooood.

IE looks whiter than my grandfather's dentures.

Or blacker than a ethiopian angel... Nice Theme there dude...

i particularly love the foxytunes plug in. Play your jukebox right from your browser! Brilliant.

Also, theres the De.li.cious plug in, which keeps all your bookmarks so even if I have to use somebody elses PC, I can log in to their online site and retrieve (most) of my bookmarks. For some of them, I use the option to NOT save it to their program, for er... reasons...

edit> added>

PS> I didn't know that! You can indeed right click anywhere on the tool bar and customize it even more!... just done so with mine

kayo seems to have found the magic wand!

Yeah, right click on any empty space on the tool bar, right.

[Gary A]

Since I am retired I DO have a lot of time. During the past three weeks I have used Firefox, Opera and the IE 7 Add ons Maxthon and Avant as well as the basic IE 7. I had finally settled on Firefox but was disappointed with the speed. I downloaded the speed (tune) up program and it DID speed things up a lot. Unfortunately without using the IE Tab add on, some sites opened up all scrambled. One in particular was Hotmail. Now I have deleted Firefox and am using the add on IE 7 browser Avant. I'm quite happy with Avant and have given up finding anything better. I hear all this security crap and must say that I have NEVER had a problem with IE 6 or IE 7. I use BitDefender and ZoneAlarm Pro and if I ever do have a problem I will look for a new firewall and/or a new anti-virus.

[sniffdog]

See these page in both IE and Firefox:

http://www.sagemthailand.com/index-en.php

and draw your conclusions.

A good bet is Netscape who has an option to render in either mozilla or MS ...

[Gary A]

It opens fine with IE 7/Avant. I am also able to see my Ipstar signal strength.

[A_Traveller]

A key element in this is that IE6 and earlier were made an integral part of the OS. This is why problems within it can be so serious. This was a marketing led decision to ensure that web browsing was available under Windows without any additional software {Netscape}. This formed a key part of the monopoly charges.

However IE7 is "just" an application, like FF and so doesn't have a privileged access to the OS. It is a wise upgrade and has a noticeable take up.

One issue underlying this is the unwillingness of companies and industry groups to work together. MS keeps creating 'standards to meet user demand' and to a large degree manipulates the situation to commercial gain. It should be remembered that MS is a marketing company first and formost, which happens to deal in technology.

However, FF is not all sweetness and light, for example to provide speed, it {and Safari} treats onload {code which pre-loads small programs within a website when a page is opened} statements in a different manner than other browsers, especially on refresh {this can also cause performance issues} which, for example can cripple drop down selection lists unless they are specifically written to catch this difference.

The other point here is that by and large, the exposure to 'damage' is directly related to the use of the system, in other words visiting 'Miss Spatula, now that what I call flexible' sites will dramatically increase ones 'exposure {pun intended}.

Regards

[cdnvic]

Since I am retired I DO have a lot of time. During the past three weeks I have used Firefox, Opera and the IE 7 Add ons Maxthon and Avant as well as the basic IE 7. I had finally settled on Firefox but was disappointed with the speed. I downloaded the speed (tune) up program and it DID speed things up a lot. Unfortunately without using the IE Tab add on, some sites opened up all scrambled. One in particular was Hotmail. Now I have deleted Firefox and am using the add on IE 7 browser Avant. I'm quite happy with Avant and have given up finding anything better. I hear all this security crap and must say that I have NEVER had a problem with IE 6 or IE 7. I use BitDefender and ZoneAlarm Pro and if I ever do have a problem I will look for a new firewall and/or a new anti-virus.

Microsoft loves to play that silly game to force people to use IE, and it looks like they won this one.

Any site that purposely denies you the ability to read it properly because of what browser you use, should be shunned IMO.

[gharknes]

well I'm a die hard IE user, never had a problem with it, currently using ver 7, I honestly prefer to keep my third party programs to a minimum.

only comment I have about the new interface is what they did to the favourites menu system, definetly a step in the wrong direction, it takes me longer to navigate to save a link than in the old interface, hate it.

recently removed Norton antivirus as my subscription was up for renewal, decided to try something free, no problems yet, also removing norton cured some problems i had before, system wouldn't go into standby, some fan utilities and clock utilities wouldn't work properly, game speeds increased.