What Browser do you use most frequently?

[kram 2.0]

Hey,

I've lately seen many threads out there that point out the vulnerabilities in MSIE, or disrecommend the usage of IE. I haven't seen an actualy poll though, so here it is. What Browser do you use most often? I put up MSIE, Netscape, Opera, and Firefox. I know a lot of you use Firefox, but isn't there a problem with reading the source code sometimes - like you often see in "Page best viewed by MSIE"? I'm considering changing my sister's laptop from MSIE to Firefox, simply because her computer is so vulnerable to attackers and hijackers alike.


Thanks,
kram

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

I use Supermonkey,(try http://update.mozilla.org/extensions...=firefox&id=31 extension for firefox, its a great laugh) it's great, none of the problems of IE. I have only ever had one problem with a page not working propely in it, and that was hotmail. But put any M$ website into a html website and see how many errors it gets

[bigandy]

Firefox for me.

[glc]

Opera.

[ajf815]

Fire fox,
They are getting a upgrade so u don't have to use differct ablications to see stuff. Apple/adobe/quicktime and 2 others are joining up so u don't have to download it, so it will be vieweable with out useing IE. I got this information from g4tv(techtv) screensavers.

[kram 2.0]

Kind forgot to mention this - I use MSIE 6 SP1 on all my desktops and laptops.

kram

[Mac Medic]

Safari on my macs, firefox on wintel

[RJ]

IE 6

RJ

[aym]

Firefox all the way.

[Hi Ho]

MyIE2. The best browser I have ever used.

[ComputerNut]

One vote for firefox

Personal experience has guided me far away from IE these past few weeks, so I heard about Firefox and installed it. Defintely one of my best decisions!

[TennBikeBerk]

Hi Ho, I used MyIE2 for a while, but changed to Firefox. Isn't MyIE2 just an expansion pack for IE?

Well I am currently using Firefox, and love it. I would recommend that anybody who is still using IE, try Opera or Firefox for a few days. In the beginning it will be a little hard, transfering everything and setting things up, but once you have things all set up, it's wonderful.

[Hi Ho]

I did the opposite TeenBikeBerk. I used Opera for a while then Firefox and got tired of them. I loved them at first but I just ended up not liking them. MyIE2 is based somewhat on IE but it doesn't seem to have the same security holes. I tested it by going to a site that I knew would leave something that Spybot would pick up. I went to that site in IE and sure enough Spybot found something. I went to that site in MIE2 and Spybot found nothing.

[lil Jimmie]

Firefox 98% of the time
Opera 1% of the time
IE 6 1% of the time (strickly for windows updates)
MIE2 0% of the time (POS crashs more than it works)

[Hi Ho]

MIE2 0% of the time (POS crashs more than it works)

It has never, ever crashed on me.

[mikeL]

I use Mozilla 1.7 when I'm in windows, and firefox in linux.

[jlu52]

I use Opera 98% of the time, and use IE to browse Mr. Gate's site and to grab all of the updates. Need to keep those cards and letters coming, especially these days, when every other headline I'm reading is telling me about a major security scam being perpetrated upon us by someone, who, if they used their knowledge for good, might be able tp build the next great tech company. What a waste of "gifts"?.... Anyway, Opera suits me just fine.....

[kram 2.0]

And just out of curiosity, what exactly is it that scared you all away from MSIE fron what seems to be an overwhelming Mozilla crowd?

Thanks,
kram

[Carl Price]

Originally posted by kram8806 And just out of curiosity, what exactly is it that scared you all away from MSIE fron what seems to be an overwhelming Mozilla crowd? Thanks, kram

It treats HTML like a program and it has Active x. There can never be two greater security holes. Firefox does neither. Microsoft will never fix either of these holes because it doesn't fit their Corporate policy to do so. Personally I'm glad IE is there because some of the operating system doesn't work without it. (taken from my post in another thread. I did not use the whole post)

[Panama Red]

IE6 on 4 desktops and 2 laptops in this house. Never have had a problem. Tried Firefox recently after all the news/noise about IE vulnerability but FF wouldn't pick up my favorites or transfer any other data from IE. Didn't seem that slick to me so I uninstalled it. If IE6 ever does give me a problem then I'll deal with it or change.

The underlying sentiment of most folks using alternative browsers seems to be a continued dislike of MS or Bill Gates. Being resentful of someone's success has never improved anything that I've seen. Interesting to me is the list of companies actively participating in the open source browser development from Mozilla. This quote from the Mozilla Foundation page:

"In response to demand by users, plugin vendors and web developers for web browser support for an open and scriptable plugin model, the Mozilla Foundation, in collaboration with Adobe, Apple, Macromedia, Opera, and Sun Microsystems are working to extend the Netscape Plugin Application Program Interface (NPAPI) in a manner that allows greater interactivity with plugins such as Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime and Java, resulting in a richer, more interactive web."

Looks quite similar to a list of MS's biggest competitors don't you think?

[kram 2.0]

Those are almost all of MS's competitors...seems like the underdogs are clumping together to attack the favorite . I never found trouble with using MSIE, except for the persistent cookies that I find. It's generally good after I patch it up with the MS Windows Automatic Update, though.

Thanks,
kram

[Statica]

There is no attack of the favorite or dislike of Gates. My general mantra has been the refusal to install programs more than what is necessary. I've used IE on Windows machines since the days of Windows 2000, because it simply was the best browser out there for the minimum amount of data I can inject into my registry and my hard drive. Even if there was a generally agreed upon browser I've flat out refrained from using it, because every program does have its own additional clamor for resources. Since IE and OE and WMP etc seemed to come with the system, I deemed it fine to use it.
Now the situation has changed on 2 fronts that one should take into account in the interests of security.
1) There are vulnerabilities out there that Microsoft has really delayed on patching, every security site out there has their writers churning out articles about switching to browsers like FireFox; mind you these also come from core Windows reviewers and writers alike. The Mozilla project has been out there for a WHILE now, it is not out there to make a statement against Microsoft or Gates. The time might finally have come to switch to a safer browser even if it means retraining yourself to use a new browser, or even if it means inconveniencing yourself to first export your favorites from IE into a single file and then import it into an alternative browser. Forget the extra features and the tabbed browsing and the claims of faster browsing, they mean nothing when considering a core issue. (yes I know that all of us have the world's best antivirus and pattern updates streaming in faster than CNN's ticker .. being equipped with air bags doesnt mean that you stop relying on brakes to stop your car).
2) This of course may not be of any consequence to most people but IE's acceptance of HTML standards hasnt scaled higher; believe it or not, HTML standards and specifications are constantly being revised and updated. IE hasnt kept pace with it.

PanamaRed: The companies you mentioned are not extended their support for plugins because they want to compete with MS or somehow want to crush browsers. They rely heavily on Microsoft for their own survival; and by extended support to alternative formats, they ensure that people are still using MS' operating systems for their browsers. Believe me, a Linux user has no need to run adobe programs for PDF creation ... with the increasing stress on ActiveX's flaws, companies are scrambling to revive the old plugin format (in case you don't remember, IE was not the first grafical browser out there, it was popularized by Netscape, and all of these companies had plugins).

The interesting thing is that I heard similar objections about IE when it tried breaking out in a market dominated by Netscape - about faulty imports and "don't need it cos what I have works fine".

Well these are my opinions, from one who recently converted ALL browsing to Firefox.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by Panama Red The underlying sentiment of most folks using alternative browsers seems to be a continued dislike of MS or Bill Gates. Being resentful of someone's success has never improved anything that I've seen.

I'm using an alternative browser (Firefox) because it has features that I appreciate, and it does not have the security problems of IE. I am simply choosing what I believe is the superior product.

I encourage people to switch because using Firefox does eliminate many problems. I can't tell you how many times I have seen coworkers' computers completely wrecked because they use IE and their systems are overtaken with spyware. And no, this isn't the result of visiting "questionable" websites. Just doing normal browsing is enough to get hijakced if you are using IE. With Firefox, I simply don't have any problems. If I could get everybody I work with to switch, it would solve a whole lot of problems, and a lot of time that is now wasted cleaning up spyware could be put to better use.

Also, Panama Red, it is quite easy to transfer IE favorites to Firefox, but IE makes you go through a separate step.

[Panama Red]

Statica and DrG, both well stated postitions from two of the most experienced members here. Guess I need to give Firefox another look. Thanx for the input. Sometimes us old dogs need a good swift kick to get our eyes open.

[aym]

That plugin thing is an open standard, MS can join in development, or just use it in its operating systems and web browsers, so it's not a move against MS or anything.

[Statica]

Originally posted by Panama Red Statica and DrG, both well stated postitions from two of the most experienced members here. Guess I need to give Firefox another look. Thanx for the input. Sometimes us old dogs need a good swift kick to get our eyes open.

Thanx for the opportunity to state a position on an issue.

Hopefully, you will get the import/export issues sorted out. A program need not be "unslick" if it cannot do an import from another program. Keep in mind that the browser favorites, address books etc. that are used by your operating system's components are designed to be proprietary.
Take the bookmarks for example, it's a very interesting microcosm of the "closed source world" and its standards; what is it with the creation of .URL file? I mean, don't we have enough file extensions floating around already that we need more to express the same issue? So now your registry needs to have a few more lines so that we have .URL extension that does the same things as a .HTML/.HTM; and then have them all bunched together in a directory, which we shall now represent by a few dozen more lines of code and a few more registry entries to give it that STAR when you look at your favorites "folder". Why do we have it? If a .URL was that prominent then dont you think we'd be typing out www.address.com/webpage.url at least somewhere? And we have now grown to accept it and have entire howto's and incantations to teach people how to migrate an entire folder from one computer to another, just for bookmarks. The system that was before (with Netscape) is still there with Mozilla because they realize that a bookmark file is nothing more than a webpage that has a list of all your favorite sites. If the browser can understand HTML, then surely it could also write a website as an HTML link in a file. The advantage, it's just an html file, it will go with you anywhere you want, it's not a proprietary file type; again .. remember the days when ISP's started offering web space to their members? Pretty much EVERYONE had a webpage (subsequently, their pets had a webpage as well, because ISP's started offering multiple email accounts ); and their webpages had an upload of their favorite sites..

There is a point to this, if a format change doesnt work, always try to break it down to the lowest denominator. In this case, export your .URL files into an HTM file using IE and then import it into mozilla. If your windows address book doesnt move well to another program, then export it as a CSV (a simple text file that has comma separated values) and then import it using other programs; there is a reason why in spite of the sophistication of having .URL files and .WAB address books, they still allow imports and exports in the basic formats.

[doctorgonzo]

A lot of it does come down to personal preference. I still use IE when I come across websites that only work in IE. Since IE is far more lax when it comes to standards, sloppy HTML will work in IE when it won't work in other browsers. I just came across a website like that today.

Another issue is the sophistication of the user. Panama Red, I'm sure that you know what you are doing when it comes to intelligent and safe browsing, which is part of the reason why you haven't had any problems. But if you have a less savvy computer user, who doesn't know about spyware or ActiveX or anything like that, Firefox is inherently safer than IE. In some circumstances, it doesn't matter. In others, when you are trying to support dozens of users who are constantly calling and saying "My computer is really slow and I have all these toolbars in my Internet and my homepage keeps changing" it can make a big difference. Just a thought.

[Panama Red]

Well, I'm back running on Firefox. Did a little research and found the wizard in XP for import/export of favorites and imported them to Firefox and all is well. Also discovered that tabbed browsing is an option. Google seach at the top is convenient, no need to open another window and I can shut down PopUp Stopper from my StartUp menu cuz FF has pop up blocking built in. Thanx guys, guess I just needed a little boot!

[TheJackal]

IE 6

[Cricket]

I'm trying FireFox right now and notice I'm not having as many hijack attempt as I did with IE 5 or 6. FireFox seems a little slower than IE though, but I do like the tabbed browsing.

Cricket