what browser's on your Windows XP sp2 puter?

Question

I am done with IE and I refuse to upgrade to that piece of crap 7, so whats the best I can do for my WinXP sp2?

Just as an FYI to you all. There have been a number of bug reports in this version 2.0 Final - Ranging from lost bookmarks and broken tabs to complete instability. Others report no problems at all, what say you ?

um thats the 2.0 Firefox

Answer 1

Three Good Reasons to Stay with Internet Explorer

1. Some web sites won't work properly with Firefox

A number of web sites utilize non-standard, proprietary Microsoft features such as ActiveX in order to provide site navigation and other features. It's probably not a good web design practice but that doesn't stop people doing it.

If you visit one of these non-standard sites using Firefox you will find that some functions won't work or work differently. This could be could be something trivial like the screen colors are wrong or an animation doesn't work or it could be some vitally important function such as a logon box or navigation link.

Luckily there aren't too many such sites and thankfully, their number seems to be reducing. However there are sufficient that you will encounter one sooner or later. If it's an important site such as your internet banking site then you are going to be frustrated.

One site that definitely doesn't work with Firefox is Microsoft Windows Update. Hardly surprising but still an annoyance.

You can of course, simply open IE when you encounter any of these sites. Firefox even has a downloadable extension that allows you to open a page using IE from within Firefox. This significantly reduces the nuisance value but does not of course, solve the basic problem.

If you use Firefox you are going to have to accept that certain sites will be broken and will require you to fire up IE to access them. This is a simple reality.

2. Firefox loads slower than Internet Explorer and takes more memory

Firefox may load web pages faster than IE but the program itself takes longer to load. Much longer, maybe twice as long. Firefox also uses more memory than IE.

IE's better performance here is to some degree an illusion. That's because some of the major components of Internet Explorer are always running on your PC, they are pre-loaded when Windows starts. That means IE has less work to do when it starts so it loads quicker. It also means that IE actually takes up more memory than it appears to.

This Firefox load time inconvenience can be eliminated by always keeping Firefox loaded and simply minimizing it when not in use. In fact it doesn't even need to take up any task bar space as there is a free Firefox extension that allows you to minimize it to the system tray.

Minimizing Firefox also releases some of its memory space so you are killing two birds with the one stone

That said it is a reality that IE loads faster and all potential Firefox users should be aware of this.

3. Firefox has had its own security problems

Firefox may be safer than IE but it has had its own share of security problems. Indeed since V1 was released there have been more than seven new versions containing security enhancements.

This may be so but Mozilla have to be commended how quickly they have released patches for newly discovered flaws, often only a day or two after the flaw was first demonstrated. This is in sharp contrast to Microsoft's tardy response to fixing IE problems.

In fact I have never encountered a hostile website that successfully exploits flaws in the then current version of Firefox. In other words, if you keep your copy of Firefox up to date it is extremely unlikely your browser security will be penetrated. The same cannot be said of Internet Explorer, particularly IE6.

Conclusion

As I said earlier, a decision to move from Internet Explorer to Firefox is a decision involving trading one set of attributes for another. Each individual will need to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision based on their own needs.

If you are not using Windows XP, I think the situation is clear cut. Microsoft has announced that they will not upgrade your Internet Explorer to the latest version 7. Given that, you should move to another browser just on security grounds alone. And if you are going to go to another browser, then THE current browser of choice is Firefox

Windows XP users on the face of it, have a real alternative to Firefox. They can stay with IE by installing XP Service Pack 2 along with IE7.

However experience with IE7 since its release indicates the likelihood of on-going security problems. Yes, Internet Explorer 7 is safer than IE6 but Microsoft's track record for speedily fixing any security problems is poor and bodes ill for the future.

So what do I think?

There is no doubt that Firefox is currently less of a security risk than IE6. In particular it is way less liable to Spyware infection. Every week I get letters from readers who have migrated to Firefox from IE because of recurrent IE6 based spyware infections. Commonly these folks tell me since changing over, they have never had a spyware infection.

This equates with my own experience. Not only have I never had a spyware infection since using Firefox but I have never even seen a circulating spyware exploit for Firefox. By contrast I encounter IE6 based spyware exploits every day.

There is no doubt that IE7 offers better security then IE6 and maybe as good as Firefox 2. However IE7 will remain a target for malware writers simply because of its popularity. That means that there will be more flaws discovered and more exploits released than for Firefox. Combine that with Microsoft's slow response to releasing patches and IE7 security becomes a serious concern.

So to me, security is the bottom line here. Yes, Firefox offers faster browsing. Yes, there are hundreds of free Firefox extensions to customize and optimize your browsing experience. All that is fine and most welcome but the real clincher is that Firefox offers a safer browsing experience and that alone is sufficient warrant to drop IE and make the change right now. got that? ok well now I say: stay where you are right now, IE will improve give things a chance all new things need to have the bugs removed , IE 7 is practivcally still a BETA and for real Firefox is a dog, morons who think they know computers use it you will STILL need to use IE anyway cause Firefox cannot access everything and IE can. NYAH NYAH FIREFOX !!

Answer 2

I don't know how many times this has to be said...get Firefox.

Get a real browser. Get Firefox. Get it here.
http://www.firefox.com

Answer 3

Thats an easy one u have to update ur IE but im not suure how ur gonna get on the website since it closes or freezes so i would say delete ur internet exployer and then go to windows update. it should give the the latest IE.. as well websites contain bugs as well as music dwnloading programs such as lime wire ..etc so i would try to not dwn load music or files online from a website ur not to suure from. i hope this works but not then send a message to me and ill probably find a way.

Answer 4

get Firefox
http://mozilla-free-firefox-v2-download.50webs.com/index.htm
you don't need to uninstall explorer so in the rare eventuality that a site requires it you can use it, for the rest of the itime just use firefox and that is it no more problems.

Answer 5

I would definitely try Mozilla Firefox (www.mozilla.com) or Opera (www.opera.com) - both of very good browsers and you should have no problems with them. Good luck.

Answer 6

Use FireFox. You will love it.