I’m relatively savvy when it comes to gadgets. I like PDAs. I used to have a Palm Pilot m105, a Compaq iPAQ, and now I have a Treo Smartphone. Wireless technology is too cool for words.
When it comes to my desktop, however, I’ve less savvy and adventurous. I’m the type who’s always afraid if I hit the wrong button, I’ll break the whole system. That’s why it took me so long to try Mozilla Firefox. The hidden security dangers of Internet Explorer (IE) were just that: hidden. As long as I didn’t see worms or other nefarious programs invading my system, I was OK.
The thought of downloading a new browser seemed daunting and drastic. (Am I dramatic?) After all, was it so bad to have to download a new Microsoft security patch every week?
Yes, it was. I finally got tired of reading (daily) about some new threat to IE, so I took the plunge. I went to the Firefox web site, read the instructions and downloaded the browser. As I waited, I wondered about my IE favorites and the chore of rebuilding all those bookmarks. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Firefox imported all my favorites. In the same order. Cool. But I was still skeptical.
For a while I used IE most of the time, but I’d open Firefox every now. Web pages looked better and the toolbar was less cluttered. As I browsed with it more often, I got used to the “feel” of it. In comparison, IE is clunky.
I like the way my blog looks in Firefox, too. It looks awkward in IE, and the page has too much white space. I assume most of you still use IE. This blog looks so much better in Firefox. That’s reason enough to switch. 
The only extension I use is Adblock, which allows you to delete ads on a web page. Bugmenot isn’t compatible with Firefox 1.0 yet.
That’s my Firefox endorsement. (Can I have my money now?). Here are a couple of stories about Firefox v. IE:
Washington Post: Firefox Leaves No Reason to Endure Internet Explorer
Boston Globe: Firefox helping to make Web better for all
Informal survey: Which browser do you use? If you haven’t made the switch from IE to Firefox, what are you waiting for?
Update: This is new — Spread Firefox.
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While I revert to IE on very rare occasions when websites don’t show up correctly (or when I’m at work), I use Opera most of the time.
Also, in the informal question: “from Firefox TO IE”? Is that backward?
I have just one word for ya. ‘Tabbed Browsing’. Ok, thats two words, but thats the MAIN reason I like Firefox (and to a smaller extent, Netscape 7.
Been using Firefox for at least 6 months or so, give or take.
Thanks, Robin!
You say that so well, Drama Queen. Keep plugging on.
YESSSSS!
On your recommendation I just installed Firefox and it *does* look good. More real estate for the content and less for the browser.
I like it.
Thanks Dear.
Dan
I’ve been using Firefox for almost a year now. I love it.
Dan – You downloaded it and tried it that quickly, based on my recommendation? Excellent. Doesn’t the blog look better in Firefox?
Ive used Fire Fox since its release. I still use IE for some sites, and at work (we have some web apps for payroll etc that don’t like Mozilla).
But some day. I am also holding out for a “gauntlet” computer/phone to wear on my wrist/forearm, or a wearable distributed network 
I’ve had a slew of PDAs, but currently have a Dell Axim that I adore.
I couldn’t justify a smartphone. None of the models my carrier offers is beefy enough on the PDA side to meet my needs, or small enough to justify the step down in features/power.
LaShawn-
My son is the network administrator at a large law firm and he had previously recommended Firefox to me. Like you, I didn’t want to go through the hassel of moving all my favorites, etc. However, now, based on BOTH recommendations, I will install it at home. Still must use IE at work, though.
I left IE behind when I left PCs behind two years ago – although I’ve had to use the thing every now and again since for some stuff. But I’ve just started using Firefox in preference to Safari (a fine browser, to be sure) because the compatibility with Blogger is much better. And you know what? I can’t say that I regret the change much!
Of course, importing all my old bookmarks from Safari is going to be a long and boring job, but we can’t have it all now can we…
I use Safari in Mac OS X.
Regarding Favorites (and Bookmarks for you Anti-Bill-Gates types), try My.Yahoo.com
I know Yahoo isn’t the friendliest but it isn’t the NYT yet.
My.Yahoo.com lets you create a login, etc and make a homepage that is accessible anywhere, home, work, friends house, Kinkos, school…
This is good because you can select news, weather, stocks, and tons more, includind RSS feeds for LSB and all your favorite blogs.
But the best reason to fire this up (in Mozilla for sure, almost a year now…) is the Favorites….
It has a quick set of instructions to export and import your IE (and other but not sure which) favorites so you never have to lose the link when you get to work. If you have a connection, you have you Favorites.
(On one occasion I did not have access to My.Yahoo.com but it lasted only a handful of hours. The main http://www.yahoo.com was up but not the My.Yahoo side. Never found out why but it is a risk if Yahoo goes bankrupt and your favorites are locked in a Trestees vault somewhere….)
My husband is rather computer savvy, and we’ve had Mozilla, and now Firefox, almost since they were first available. Firefox is fantastic.
I love being able to have a set of homepages.
I love being able as I’m reading through a web page to open interesting links in tabs, so that I can continue reading without interuption (IE makes you open in a new window, which automatically becomes the dominant window)… this is also a really good feature when you’re searching for something on ebay.
I love being able to open an entire folder’s worth of bookmarks in tabs.
I do still use IE for a few limited things. There are a few pages here and there that aren’t compatible with Firefox, and I like to have the dictionary open in a seperate window… having that in IE makes it easy to identify from the buttons at the bottom of my screen.
But yes, Firefox is a fantastic browser, and it’s leaving IE behind in the dust as far as features and security go. After Microsoft recommended switching to Firefox because of the security holes in their own browser, I’m surprised so many people are still using the old dinosaur.
Good to see another coming over to the side of Good. *grin*
LaShawn,
You have the trust of many. I just “guinea pigged” my computer at work. Seems to be ok. Will give more feedback after the holiday. Will be able to come in and blog the ENTIRE
day!
Wait till you start playing with and installing extensions. Wowzah!
Safari on a jaguar platform. I’m thinking of moving to firefox – it’s the I’m not sure because I have SO many bookmarks!
LB – I’m always happy to read about a new Firefox conversion.
cooper – Safari bookmarks can be transferred to Firefox. There is a 3rd party program that can do it for you. Try searching on versiontracker.com.
The best part is the Tabbed browsing. I load Michelle Malkin, Lashawn, LGF, Powerline, No Left Turns and Spoons all at once.
LaShawn,
Went to Firefox in July and have not looked back since. Been evangelizing it to all my friends. Break the Windows hegemony!
Anyway, there are several very helpful extensions that I always run:
Dictionary Search — To look up the meaning of any highlighted word.
FoxyTunes — To control iTunes (or another MP3 player) from within Firefox.
Super DragAndGo — You can drag a link to auto-open in a tab or window (and select the behavior of how those work.) I use this one constantly.
WeatherFox — A true five-star extension. Loads weather info into a preferred toolbar. Highly customizable and essential. Looks nice, too.
Mozilla Archive Format — Allows you to save a web page and all its components in one file.
Quicknote — A nice place to store info you copy from other pages.
WebMailCompose — Loads up your preferred e-mail app when clicking Mailto:. Also can be set to auto-check mail.
Tab Clicking Options — Another essential extension. Allows you to change how tabs behave. I’ve set mine to close tabs on a double-click, for instance.
Tweak Network — Can help some people load their web pages faster. Can also mess some people up. YMMV.
SuperBible Toolbar — If you are always looking for references, this accesses GospelCom’s online Bibles. Can even do parallel displays. A Christian essential.
SpellBound — A spellchecker that checks anything you enter into a textbox. Again, absolutely essential. Never post anything misspelled again!
To get any of these, just select the Tools menu and then Extensions. Click on the link in the bottom right of the Extensions window that says “Get More Extensions.” Look these up and install them.
Blessings!
Tabbed browsing is great. I have the option of Netscape 7.0 and IE at work. As for your blog, for some reason it really doesn’t display well in Netscape and I have no idea why. The text gets all squished to the side. Haven’t tried firefox yet, I’m using standard Mozilla at home.
Chris – cool! I’ll check it out. Thanks, cooper
I’m still using Mozilla on my Linux boxes at home and work; I’ve tried to get Firefox running at home, but it won’t work and I haven’t been able to figure out exactly why yet. But, since regular Mozilla is working OK, it’s not a high-priority item.
My wife has switched to Firefox on her WinXP notebook, and loves it. She now uses IE only for things where it’s absolutely necessary, such as downloading Windows updates.
Oh, and tabbed browsing has long been an essential part of my Web browsing experience. Try it, you’ll like it, or double your money back.
And can we convince you to further break the Windows hegemony by trying Linux?
If you’re interested in an RSS news aggregator that integrates directly with FireFox, check out Sage at the Mozilla extension website. It’s not as full-featured as a standalone aggregator, but it’s pretty dang slick for what it does, and it’s a great non-threatening way to dip your toe into the wacky world of RSS newsfeeds.
I’ve got your blog in my Sage sidebar, for example!
We tried Firefox, but went back to Safari. On my web page stats, the number of users (I average 500 unique users a month) who use IE has been going down over the last few months and the numbers for Safari and Firefox have been going up.
I have another tip for you all–www.singingfish.com. I also found it through my web page stats. I didn’t even know they existed, I don’t know how they found me! (Maybe God getting out the message.) It’s a search engine for audio and video files. If you’re looking for a song or a movie, it’s the best place to search in my opinion. (Of course, I also like them because my web page comes up high on their list! My site is so far down in Google it’s pitiful.)
One of us! One of us!
Tabbed browsing is the coolest, but you also need mouse gestures or you are wasting your time.
Mozilla is awesome, too!
I hope you like it for more than its supposed “lack” of flaws. To find out how ALL SOFTWARE has bugs and not just the reigning king, read on here.
Went to Firefox in July and have not looked back since. Been evangelizing it to all my friends. Break the Windows hegemony!
What’s wrong with a lawfully won “hegemony”? As Christians, we ought to thank God for, and support, success.
I love Mozilla, I haven’t used IE since I discovered it and reluctantly downloaded it, which was very easy much to my surprise. I especially love the tabs, great for blog readers like myself, I open 15 sites everytime I sit down to surf. I’ve noticed a few occasional glitches with Mozilla, for instance sometimes it has errors, but for the most part, I find it much better then IE.
What’s wrong with a lawfully won “hegemony”? As Christians, we ought to thank God for, and support, success.
If we as Christians are called to support the best, the most innovative, and the things that make it easiest for people to do their work as efficiently as possible, then let’s sell our hopelessy compromised, virus and spyware-laden Windows-based PCs and buy Macs.
As for the “lawfully won” bit, I guess you didn’t follow the Justice department case against Microsoft too closely. I bet Gates is loving the fact the Bush administration has a different view of unlawfully monopolistic business practices.
Sorry, LB, but he asked for it.
Hey, that first sentence in my last post is suspposed to be an italicized quote. Don’t know why it didn’t take the HTML tags.
LB?
Erbo:
What distro are you having troubles with w/r/t Firefox? Maybe I can be of help…
My son has been bugging me for months to try FireFox and I finally said yes last night. So far I LOVE it! He told me about extensions last night but I didn’t quite get it. Amazingly, today I find this post about FireFox and everyone talking about extensions and WOWZA!!! I think I am hooked!
Thanks to everyone for suggestions on great extensions!
As for the “lawfully won” bit, I guess you didn’t follow the Justice department case against Microsoft too closely. I bet Gates is loving the fact the Bush administration has a different view of unlawfully monopolistic business practices.
You mean the politically motivated witch hunt called the Justice Dept case against Microsoft which Dr. Thomas Sowell totally debunks in his book, Basic Economics?? The same Justice Dept. under Janet Reno?? Mmmm k.
As far as virus laden…I see a ton of software patches coming out for Linux and other platforms that for some reason, don’t get airplay like MS. (Like the FireFox vulnerability I posted above on my initial comment.) People by nature love to hate the winning team. The fact is, ALL modern software has bugs, given the complexity of programming tasks today. It’s a physically impossible task to deliver 100% bug free software. The real test of software developers these days is their SUPPORT for their products.
As far as viruses, if you are a malicious code proprietor trying to go for the biggest bang for the buck, who ELSE do you go after but the big guy that is on over 90% of the desktops in the world? Why fish in the kiddy pool in your backyard when you can go for the Great Lakes?
As a Christian, I’m concerned sometimes that we are unwittingly ingesting the Liberal (and unbiblical) contempt for success and the often accompanying class envy that it can inspire. Is Microsoft perfect? By no means! Are the products perfect? Again, by no means! Do people differ on what they prefer? Of course! I’m just concerned that sometimes it seems like a “pile on” to punish the guy that is currently winning the game.
Ok! Putting on my flame-retardant suit now! Doh!
Ooops! My link earlier didn’t show up for some reason. The link to the article on the security flaw in FireFox (and other browsers) is here:
http://www.watchguard.com/RSS/showarticle.aspx?pack=RSS.Browser.flaws
Sorry bout that.
Doug: It’s Debian-unstable. (I kinda expected problems as a result…even though Debian’s idea of “unstable” is often more stable than other distros’ “stable” releases.) As I said, it’s not that big a deal to me at the moment, since regular Moz (1.7.3) works fine.
OK OK I am somewhat lost on the extensions conversation. What are extensions and how do I make it show up on my browser? TIA
I’ve been messing with the Fox (0.9 version) since August. Then when version 1.0 was released, I got it and have started to use FF almost all the time now.
I’ve been a loyal FireFox convert for almost 2 years now. I adore how customizable it is and as a web designer, I appreciate that it renders code properly (probably why your site looks better in FF!!!!). Since installing FF, I’ve not had one instance of spyware/adware on my computer – not one. The ‘eye-candy’ aspects are nice as well (a.k.a. themes). But my favorite feature by far is tabbed browsing. On rare occasions I need to open IE and am so thoroughly annoyed that everything has to be opened in a new window!!!! blech!
I agree with you on a lot of points, but I also understand wanting to go where the innovation is. Nothing’s perfect, so in a lot of cases, it’s going to be a preference thing.
I tried Netscape a few months ago, and while I liked some things, other things I really hated. I went back to IE. I may try Mozilla sometime, but who knows?
Oops…last comment (first paragraph) was directed to Stephen.
As a full time hater of all things Microsoft, I take great joy in seeing people switch to FireFox.
So, I feel the need to inform about a couple more free/open source answers to Microsoft products.
Those who have switched to FireFox needn’t stop there btw.
FireFox is an Open Source product which was created by an open source OS, namely Linux.
Linux is free and superior to Windows (though there is a learning curve). There is NO Blue Screen of Death in Linux btw. All Linux distributions come with a ton of free software.
Google Mandrake or SUSE to download.
Another open source product (being open source it also is free) is a product called Open Office which is the open source alternative to Microsoft office.
OK OK I am somewhat lost on the extensions conversation. What are extensions and how do I make it show up on my browser? TIA
Dominic, extensions are bits of software that, um, extend the capabilities of the browser. They are like add-ons or plugins that perform special functions that aren’t otherwise built into the browser.
In Firefox, select the Tools menu item, then select Extensions. This will open a window that shows what extensions you currently have installed (you probably won’t have any at this point). More importantly, there’s a link that says “Get more extensions” which will take you to the Mozilla.org website where extensions are documented and may be downloaded for installation.
Hope this helps!
LB,
I have never seen you website on IE. I use Opera, Safari, and my personal favorite, Firefox.
Welcome to the 21.1st century ;>
I’ve been using Firefox since it’s “prerelease” 0.8 version many many months ago.
I love it. I’m glad you started using it. I try to get everyone using it.
But good news: I’ve only seen your blog in Firefox. Never in IE.
It’s always looked good.
FireFox rules! And it’s free (the one advantage I see to it compared to Opera if I remember correctly.) The extensions are fun – I’m so happy to have my grimy hands on Tetris (Blockfall in FireFox speak) again.
In addition to DLE & Eric’s recommendations for extensions, a few more can’t do withouts (been using since 9.0):
–Download Them All (dta) On any page, it will scan all the links to images, files etc, present you with a list that you can check off for downloading, browse to where you want them stored, then click OK and forget about it. It will download everything and let you know when done. Imminently Cool!
–Linkify: looks at all probable links, ie the hyperlinks that aren’t allowed here
makes an educated guess and creates an onscreen link for you to click on. No need to copy and paste into the address bar. Hint, given the wordiness of blogs, you may want to add an extra ‘0′ in the option to linkify pages with less than ‘X’ characters. Not a problem if you have a relatively fast computer
–WebDeveloper{ A must have for bloggers and web page writers, it helps you debug your pages by identifying any number of css, html or other scripts that might be acting on an element.
As for Themes or ’skins’ my favorite is Walnut. It gives a ‘wooden’ look to the browser and I must say the color matches perfectly with La Shawn’s earthtones. One caveat. I had problems with that Theme since the release of 1.0 — previous version, including 1.0PR worked fine. So, I’ll keep checking until a new update is released before turning my woodie look back on.
FF rocks!!!
Seeing as how it is happily living in my Firefox browser, I can say that Bug-Me-Not is indeed available for Firefox 1.0
FYI
Didn’t see my original post show up:
BugMeNot is indeed available for Firefox 1.0, I have it installed at this moment===just used it for the WaPo article you linked to as a matter of fact.
What I can’t understand is why Microsoft hasn’t come out with tabbed browsing in explorer. Explorer has been is now a dinosaur===it just doesn’t make sense.
I’ve been using Avant browser for a couple of years and love it. Tabbed browsing and RoboForm for filling online forms. Doesn’t get any better than this! I downloaded Firefox, but just can’t seem to connect (hehe) with it.
Eric,
Thank you for your assistance. I must admit, I went home last night and added Firefox to my home computer after loading it on my computer at work. I had an opportunity to play with it at home and figured
out the extensions.
So far I have been very pleased with Firefox.
Firefox rocks. I switched about a month ago, and now kick myself for not switching sooner.
Another cool thing about FF is that not only can it import your passwords to various websites. You can also with several clicks, drill down to see what the actual password is, as in instead of “****”, “aB3d”.
It’s also relatively (compared to next to impossible with IE) easy to transfer settings from one machine. To synchronize, my PC and Laptop with all the same settings, every once in a while, I copy over certain sub-folders for the bookmarks, passwords, history etc.
Better yet, someone needs to create an extension to synchronize settings with just one click to create some kind of file that can be carried around.
I talked to my sister-in-law the day I read this blog entry, and she happened to mention that they had just installed Firefox on their computer, and they like it. I may just have to get around to giving it a try.
OOPS!! Above entry was actually from Kiki B.
Anyone have an answer for this one? It was something I didn’t like about Netscape, either, leading to my dropping it. In one online community I’m part of, there are tags you can use to change the text or whatever. In Netscape and in FF, if you highlight the text, the tags just automatically go to the end of the entry. In IE, the tags go around the highlighted text. This is a major Grrrrr! Is there an extension or something to fix this, or will I just need to stick with IE?
LawWife, LOL. If that’s your only problem, then maybe you need to change your writing approach.
I don’t know about the extension, but you could check the mozilla forum — http://forums.mozillazine.org/ — to see what others have said about it or post your question there.
Anyhoo, back to possible work arounds.
1) chose your tag as you type, IOW just step inside the tags and type your text and go on using your left/right arrows.
2) if your selection is still hightlighted, just drag it into the tag.
Yeah, I know, either way still requires additional actions beyond IE
But then again, if that’s what you’re already doing and it still aggravates you, what can I say? FF Rocks, any way!!!
I hated Netscape since 4.5 and those notorious crashes. I prefer to think of FF as what IE 6 should have been. Oh well.
FYI Doug: Got it straightened out. It was an invalid extension…to fix, I ran Firefox as root, let it fix the extensions database, closed it, changed the ownership of some files, and now it came right up.
Andy, honestly, it’s where I spend the majority of my online time. I’m in a political buddy group, and we share a lot of articles. It’s really a huge headache to put all my tags in, paste, and move my text around. It’s definitely easier to use in IE. I guess that’s where I’ll stay unless I can find a way around it in FF.
I also use Avant Browser. I keep trying Firefox, but the tabbed browsing isn’t nearly as easy or intuitive (at least without doing something special) as Avant. When I enter a URL into the address box and hit return…BINGO! A new tab. When I click on a Favorite bookmark….a new tab. About the only time there isn’t a new tab is “Home” and “Groups.” With Firefox, entering a url in the address box opened the page in the same window…no new tab…no joy! I had the various extensions installed but couldn’t figure out how to simply get urls to automatically open in new tabs.
Oh, well…that’s the wonderful thing about freeware and competition!
PurpleMD
…lone, conservative, Christian Black female physician in the San Francisco Bay Area
I use Opera and Mozilla and I.E.
I use I.E. for financial web sites just because they seem to write to I.E.
People use IE 6?
I’ve been using Netscape (7 now. Tabbed browsing DOES rock) for ages.
Never gotten any spyware off of it.
Never had the crashing problem people complain about.
I have to open IE for:
BECU’s banking
Washington Post articles
Google mail
On Extensions for Firefox
They let you “extend” the capacity of the Browser, sometimes in Important and Useful Ways. Like the extension I found (I do not recall where) which now has the current Department of Homeland Security Threat Level indicated in teh corner. With a mere glance, I can tell that it is still “Elevated”.
I’m sure there are some frivolous ones which report the time, weather, toays date according tot eh French Revolutionary calendar… what ever. Bugmenot is one such goodie.
After seeing your item about Firefox and all the
enthusiastic comments, I downloaded Firefox and started
trying it. In addition to enjoying the tabbed browsing
feature, it made a certain problem I was having go away.
Certain websites I frequently visit had mysteriously started
giving me javascript error messages when I tried to perform
certain routine operations using IE (only on my home PC, not
on the PC at work). When I try those same operations using
Firefox, they work, no javascript error.
I may never understand the cause of the errors using IE,
and maybe they’d have gone away if I re-installed IE, but
anyway, I guess I’ll be using Firefox from on.
Thanks for the tip.
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