Internet Explorer v FireFox - I need some answers - please

Back to Giveaway of the Day

Giveaway of the Day Forums » Software Talks

Internet Explorer v FireFox - I need some answers - please

(38 posts) (22 voices)

Started 16 years ago by Whiterabbit-uk
Latest reply from Anonymous

12 Next »

Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

I tried FireFox a few years ago and wasn't impressed (apart from the logo), so reverted back to Internet Explorer. There seems to be a big fuss about the latest version of FireFox, so I'd like someone to explain why they think I should dump IE7. I just get the feeling that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. It seems to me that human nature dicates that when something becomes hugely successful, there are those that will try to tear it down. I don't get the reasons why loads of people flame IE7 and wonder whether it's just to be part of the in crowd, or whether there is a genuine reason for changing over to Firefox? Personally I've never had any perceived problems with Internet Explorer, so I'm of the opinion that what works leave well alone; though if I were to be told categorically that the latest Firefox browser is superior to Internet Explorer I'd be happy to change over.

Thanks in advance for anyone taking the trouble to compare the two browsers. It can't be an easy thing to do because both are so complex.

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

that is an very interesting question, whiterabbit!
i am looking forward to see the replies!
I am no help, because i dont use FF either.
i use to try it when it was FF1, but i was not very impressed, and didnt tried it again.

Posted 16 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Wabbit, if this doesn't get censored...
Check out this BUGGY bit o' FIREFOX NEWS

Firefox 3 Vulnerability Found

Five hours after Mozilla officially released Firefox 3.0, researchers found a vulnerability in the new browser.

Tipping Point has verified the bug and reported it to Mozilla, Tipping Point said on Wednesday.

Since Mozilla is still working on a fix, the researchers won't share details about the problem. Tipping Point ranked the severity of the vulnerability as high, but said that users would have to click on a link in an e-mail or visit a malicious Web page before being affected. The issue affects users of Firefox 3.0 as well as Firefox 2.0.

Once the problem is fixed, Tipping Point will publish an advisory on its Web site, it said.

Tipping Point found out about the vulnerability through its Zero Day Initiative, which lets researchers earn cash by submitting new vulnerabilities to the company. Once Tipping Point validates the issue, it pays the researcher for the information and notifies the relevant software vendor of the technical details.

Mozilla did not respond to a request for comment.

Mozilla launched its newest browser on Tuesday along with a marketing stunt that went a bit wrong. The company announced that it wanted to set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in a 24-hour period. However, the volume of downloads crippled Mozilla's site, and so customers in the U.S. couldn't begin downloading the software until two hours later than expected. Still, Mozilla said it logged more than 8 million downloads within 24 hours. There is currently no record for number of software downloads in a day, but Mozilla must now wait for review of the stunt by Guinness officials.

Posted 16 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

I could give you a lot of reasons why I think FF is better - but the best advice I have read and given over and over again - is just try it.

There is no law saying you can only have one browser installed (I have both, but 99.9% of the time FF is my choice)

So install both and actually make the effort to read about the features. Spend some time investigating the thousands of extensions - which configure the browser to have the features that YOU think are important.

Make the browser your own. Everyone has FF configured the way they like it (Extensions actually 'extend' the browser in a direction of your choosing).

Once you can identify exactly what you are looking for - then you can decide if Firefox meets you needs.

Oh and the Mozilla/Firefox community is very helpful - lots to learn in the forums

Asking which is better, without resorting to simply listing flaws in the other product, probably isn't too helpful (All software has flaws - what matters is how quickly the errors are fixed).

Anything you can do with IE is usually simple to do with FF.
Anything you can do with FF is usually impossible to do with IE.

But at the end of the day, the choice is yours to make.

Posted 16 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

I've got plenty of complaints about IE, but having based my livelihood and several computers around IE (and its idiosyncrasies and sloppy security) over 15+ years, my current attitude is "Better the devil you know than the one you don't." I tried Netscape some years ago on one PC, and also an earlier version of FF. BOTH were, IMHO, pains in the butt. They don't store cookies in the familiar TEMP Internet files location, they used an idiotic random file name generator for all the temp files (which made finding d/l graphics impossible), they weren't compatible with all my software.

The biggest hassle? I have literally thousands of URLs scattered across 4 hard drives and 20 partitions, not bunched together in a couple of Bookmarks or Favorites files, but conveniently stored with related docs or progs. I also have a hundred or so shortcuts on each desktop. Unless I set my PC to default to Firefox, every URL I have launches an IE browser window. To save a few URLs for use with FF requires multiple steps rather than simple drag/drop. (If there's another way, I don't know of it.) Every new URL I save is saved to IE. It's one or the other, and I can't be bothered saving/importing/exporting/syncing TWO sets of shortcuts.

On a lark, I d/l'd FF3 to see what the big hullabaloo was all about. Right out of the box, it announced that several progs (AVG and Evernote, I believe) weren't compatible. To rely on FF, I'd have to customize an entirely new hosts/ad blocking system. I wasted 5 minutes just tracking down an answer for directions to change the bloody home page from an unwanted Google search page, and that answer was incomplete... failed to show how to open a blank window. (FYI- by trial and error, I found that you can change it using About_Blank) I don't have the time or patience to customize a new browser, tweak it to be assured of security and relief from intrusive cookies/ads, or bother playing around with a hundred plug-ins, much less a "THOUSAND EXTENSIONS"! Forums are all well and good if you need an answer to one question, but if I have to stop what I'm doing every 5 minutes to post a question and wait for an answer, frustration ensures I'll be putting my fist through this poor monitor in short order.

Then, the above BUG was announced. Granted, compared to IE, one bug ain't bad... but I don't need the hassle. Let the younger gen and those so inclined master FF. I'm sticking with the buckboard and buggywhip for now.

Posted 16 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

True - as I said it depends on what you need from a browser. By the sound of it (url's everywhere) - to a "standard user" your setup would appear a "mess". Changing browsers when you have clearly worked your environment around IE then you are probably stuck with IE (at least until you standardize on your setup a little).

There are simple ways to quickly change your default browser between IE and Firefox (and anything else you might have installed) - called "Set Program Access and Defaults" in the XP Start Menu.

In terms of adblocking - I just continued to use AdMuncher which works the same across all browsers and programs - no changes required - going between IE6, IE7, FF2, FF3 etc one product covers all platforms. (And no manual customisation needed either - just install and go). Last night I spoke to the developers on IRC (via the Admuncher program) and reported a rollover flash ad in facebook - today the ad is gone. Of course there are free alternatives (that are limited to just FireFox), such as AdBlockPlus - not in the same league as AdMuncher, but hey, it's free.

Of course the basics of setting a new home page or opening a new tab/window will involve looking through a few pulldown menus (File->New Window, New Tab, or Manage Search Engines -from the search box - or to set a home page = Tools->Options->Main.. same as internet explorer).

Nobody goes from zero to experienced user in 30 minutes with Internet explorer. Like any new piece of software, people must acknowledge that there may be a small learning curve. Thankfully FF is well designed and easy to discover how to use these new features. With extensive online help and even a section for users who have never ventured beyond Internet Explorer - Help for Internet Explorer Users - and links to the Firefox Support Knowledge Base, claiming you can't find answers really isn't through any lack of trying on the part of other Firefox developers and users.

In terms of a viewer for Temporary Internet Files - the extension I was using Cacheviewer is brilliant - It is still only marked as compatible to 3.0pre - but ignoring the version check is simply a mouseclick - and you a full file viewer & search interface for FF3. (Of course there are many other cache extensions depending on what you want to do - but this one fits my needs just great).

Just as a quick disclaimer - I have spent a little more than 5 minutes or even 5 hours to learn about and find these things. Don't expect to get to your same level of familiarity in FF as you have in IE over a few minutes and a cup of coffee. But spending the time with it - it gets a lot easier, and then leaves IE behind in the dust.

Posted 16 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

Sagely answered, BuBBy ;)
RuneSage your experiences with former versions are outdated. Give the new FF a try.
You like puzzle games, so why not puzzle around wit FF3 and some extensions? It's worth the time you invest.
I'm puzzling with the new version too. Still missing some extensions I became fond of, but I'm sure there is a solution just around the next corner.
firelox

Posted 16 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Bubby, one person's dusty old library may indeed be a frightful "mess" to anyone else; but as with many seemingly cluttered offices, I can usually find things or intuit workarounds quickly. Having worked with computers and software as a programmer, beta tester and quasi power-user since '70, I hardly need to be told about learning curves. You can play up ease-of-use all you want, but if it means constantly stopping whatever I'm doing to reinvent a perfectly good wheel because something isn't intuitive (to me, i.e., the path isn't already imprinted on my neural net), then it proves to be a MAJOR inconvenience. Doesn't matter how lush the new unexplored jungle of knowledge bases and forums might be if it means hacking my way through that jungle one drop down menu, link or forum question at a time trying to read the map's 1000 all-green puzzle pieces.

I typically need to invest nearly a year exploring and familiarizing myself with a major new OS before I feel real comfortable. I've done that with WinXP (and IE7) and now I'm comfy. Heck, I got so comfy with the obsolete Win95 I was able to coax my old PC many years past it's predicted life, hopping over Win98, Win2000, WinMe, WinYou, WinThem et al until WinXP. My cumulative investment in time and frustration with the Win's and IE's pretty much ensures I'm not a candidate for an Apple, regardless how funny and accurate the commercials may be, nor probably for FF, regardless how great it may seem to you, Lox and anyone else with the time and patience. Right now, I'd rather invest my time learning new software that helps me earn a living.

FireTempFjordlox, Bubby's condescending lecture notwithstanding, I appreciate his Cacheviewer link and will look into it. He is clearly enamored with FF and apparently has the luxury of both time and energy to spend 500 or 5000 or 50000 minutes finding solutions to 100's of questions. Right now, I don't.

Posted 16 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

Rune, you know my English is a wee bit deficient, so I had to read this thread more than one time, especially the dispute between two of my best friends. I had to ask my dictionary what "condescending lecture" means, I found the translation, but I did not find the "corpus delicti" in BuBBy's post.
Is it possible that this misunderstanding results in the fact that you had a bad time, because the lox temporarily visited faraway fjords without the mythical Sage? Come on, be happy again, the lox is back.
homeagainlox

-----------------EDIT----------------------
just found your seeds :)

Posted 16 years ago #
Messenger
Member

Rune and White Rabbit
I use to run IE for a long time myself up till about 3-4 years ago. When I tried FF for the first time I was over whelmed with so many extras to throw in. Took me almost 4 hours just to decide what theme I wanted before I decided to go with the Harley Davidson theme. There are so many features to add that IE didn't have, like pop-up blockers and more security features, Flash downloading, and the best part I liked at the time was being able to open more tabs when clicking on a link unlike IE at the time you had to open more windows making for a messy desk top browser. If you notice in the newer IE7, M.S. is now adapting some of these features FF has had in their browser years ago. Maybe it was me but when I use to be on dial-up it seemed FF was just a bit faster loading a page, and anything helps when using dial-up. LOL

Rune like you I hated to change over to XP. I was running my win 98 till 2 years ago when I got the rig I'm using now. I hated the XP theme so much the first day using this computer I had switched everything to classic windows theme. A couple of weeks later I went to Alienware.com and downloaded a nice dark alien theme you wouldn't even think I was even running a windows os. To top it off my FF Harley theme is a dark black theme and matches nicely with the dark black Alien theme.

But like BuBBy posted you can keep both FF and IE together. I only keep IE only for the reason that one time some websites would not support FF, but that is getting to be very rare now. I also got tired of my IE getting hijacked like going to an unknown site then all of a sudden ten IE windows would open with malware or my homepage being changed. Though I have to admit my SpyBot search and Destroy now locks my home page from any changes.

Check out some of the links at FF to the themes and add ons at the link here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/firefox/central.html

Posted 16 years ago #
copmom
Member

I too resisted going to XP, but was so glad I did, I felt like I had a brand new computer.. no more blue screens for one thing. And I'm running FF.. it's a lot safer than IE. I do have the option of right clicking on a page to view in IE if necessary, like when I go to Microsoft's web site for upgrades/downloads, etc. For McAfee I also need IE.
What I don't like, right now, is I just did that FF upgrade, and now when I click on the url bar, it brings up a dropdown menu that I don't care for! I was doing a LOT of online searching this morning for a specific reason, and now I've got all of the urls there.. how do I get rid of them, or clear it??

Posted 16 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

Hi BuBBy, I did try Fire Fox for some time, but reverted back to IE. Maybe because of familiarity, maybe not, I know at the time I had more problems with Fire fox than IE and I also seem to remember reinstalling everything after a reformat, was a pain (that is the plug ins) I know you can run both browser side by side, in fact I do have them both on one of my main computers, but only because Fire Fox was installed without my knowledge when I installed some other program.. Personally I can't see any point in having two browsers installed.

As for your advice, it's sound, but to be truthful I posted today’s thread because of the FF3 thread and what you said in your PM to me following the removal of several posts including mine and RuneSage’s. I do not want to stir a hornet’s nest though, just to get some good discussion going on the pros and cons of both browsers. This isn’t about ‘hey I think such and such a browser is better than yours - nuh nuh nuhhh neuh nueh (lol, I tried to type the age old call of one-upmanship but failed miserably), it’s meant to be about informed opinions which so far a couple of you have been very generous in giving.

Thank you.

I thought it would be interesting to see some debate over the two browsers. I'm still firmly ensconced with IE at the moment, but am still always willing to give a ‘reject’ a second chance, especially now that it's in it's second incarnation since I last used it. Though it would probably be installed on one of my secondary computers to see how I liked it.

Posted 16 years ago #
mikerb
Member

copmom, that's what mozilla calls the "awesomebar". to revert back to the FF2 look you need oldbar :: Firefox Add-ons .there doesnt seem to be a way to disable it so oldbar is the way to go

Posted 16 years ago #
LeKanaw
Member

Hi CopMom

Give me a bit of time, I'll find it for you.
I read last week about a new add-on that does what you want, ie disables the AwesomeBar's from adding URLs.
I didn't pay attention, bc I've had a ~kind of AwesomeBar since November last year, when I added the MyURL addon.
I love it, no need to remember the *exact address* of a site, just type a word and a selection from BMs & History comes up to choose from.
The new bar does much more than this, of course.

Anyway, I'll post it here as soon as I find that article.
Mangoette

°°°°°°°°°°° EDIT °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Was writing when Mike posted :D
It could very well be that one. If it isn't I'll post it.

Posted 16 years ago #
LeKanaw
Member

Salut
Haven't found the one from last week yet, but found 4 others that help tweak & manage it.
Maybe one of these does what you want.
Hope it helps :D

Enter Selects 2: [still Experimental]
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7423

Hide Unvisited 3:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7429

OldBar:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6227
==> It only changes the *Appearence* of the Bar, not the function

Edit Middle 2:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7400

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Tweaks
There's also several about:config tweaks you can do. But I only know this one for now.
The others I've come across are not really clear what they do exactly, so I'm not taking chances.

browser.urlbar.maxRichResults
===> Set to 0 - If you want *NO* suggestions at all.
Otherwise, enter the number of suggestions you prefer it shows

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Delete
To take out a URL permanently from the shown selection, select the URL & press Delete(Windows)
I know, seems simple enough, still took me a while to find how to make disappear all those mistyped addresses :(

Posted 16 years ago #
copmom
Member

mikerb: thank you very, very, very much.. now it's back to 'normal'!

Posted 16 years ago #
copmom
Member

and LeKanaw, thank YOU very, very much!

Posted 16 years ago #
suzzyqz
Member

WR: One of the things I have found that I think is awesome about FF is the ability to go in and change things from the source. As in, you can change the boolean to have FF let go of the memory it hogs. Quote from FF site "Firefox sometimes uses more memory than it should. It is a very complicated issue caused my many things, including memory leaks, faulty third party applications, and a change in the habits of web users". Now I don't have hang ups on the cpu usage when switching between different games. I used IE for years and always wondered when someone was going to come out with a browser that could be customized to this level.

Posted 16 years ago #
copmom
Member

LeKenaw.. just noticed what you said about hitting delete in windows.. to remove URL.. SO simple! Thanks again!

Posted 16 years ago #
Gwai
Member

For those who want something a bit more familiar than firefox, but still very good, I recommend Maxthon. (maxthon.com, used to be IE2). It is similarly expandable, but until/unless you adjust it, feels a lot like IE. Also, I love the feature that lets me drag a link to make it open in a new tab.

Posted 16 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

Hello Gwai !
You said : Also, I love the feature that lets me drag a link to make it open in a new tab.
You can do that with FF3 too. You can also drag every link to another window; no more copy 'n paste of links, just drag.

loveFF3lox

Posted 16 years ago #
guest32
Member

I don't see a difference between the two of them. Same speed got a virus from both (not by download). I used to use FF but i didn't like it. Then those ff fanboys can be a real pain. So I quit using it for good. And saying FF is faster than IE is a myth. Mine goes faster and has less mem usage than FireFox only a few hundered k. SO I recommend that you just use your own browser and keep out of bad sites and leave on your popup, spam, and ad blocker. And don't download too many add-ons.

Posted 16 years ago #
Quantum Dragon
Member

Hello all,

The best way to test a new browser like Firefox 3 is using the portable edition if you have a USB stick.

You can find it here : http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

It helps to have your anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware updated too before trying anything new !

The launcher can be found here : http://portableapps.com/

And other apps for it here : http://portableapps.com/apps

For browsers based on the IE shell (Trident Engine) other than the one given by Gwai, here are a few links :

http://www.avantbrowser.com/

http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/

There are lots more based on that engine like greenbrowser and you can look them up on the net.

Just to be complete, firefox uses the Gecko layout engine.

There is also Opera (now at version 9.5) using the Presto Engine : http://www.opera.com/?home

For those who likes technical articles, here are a few links:

For the firefox Engine, check here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko_%28layout_engine%29

For other browsers based on IE shell (called Trident Engine), check this article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_shell

For the opera engine : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presto_%28layout_engine%29

A few comparisons :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines

And the history of the web browser : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

You are probably all asleep at the end of this article LOL

Hope it helped some of you relax LOL or being more informed.

QD

P.S. : I have used each of them at some point and still use a few.

Posted 16 years ago #
GSM
Member

Like many, I'm also always trying out browsers In hopes of finding the 'Ultimate Solution'. The truth is, they have all for the most part, improved substantially over the last 3 years.

It really comes down to personal preference and setting them up properly now.

IE 7, Firefox 3, Opera are probably the most mainstream and user friendly for the untechie crowd. But as Quantum has pointed out, there are numerous choices to try.

For the best protection when surfing or d/loading & trying out programs etc... Using a sandbox program like http://www.sandboxie.com/ It will slow down the browsing some, but if you catch a bug you can usually snuff it by ditching the sandboxed session.

The sandbox is also good for testing new browsers or security settings on some of those 'ehem' sites.

The best piece of advice I could give though. Do not use IE6 or earlier anymore! Pick IE7 or Firefox, or whatever else.

Also. I really wanted to like Safari for windows...But it is just bad. Even my friends that use Mac's run FF instead of Safari...go figure :)

Posted 16 years ago #
my_name_is_brad
Member

One reason I like Firefox is the download manager is much better imo than IE. I tried IE7, and have no real complaints with it so far, but really they just took a bunch of features from Firefox/Safari/Opera. IE7 was a complete rebuild, so a lot of the problems of earlier versions are gone now.

Another thing I really like in Firefox is that you can set the bookmarks up with keywords and make searches easy. for example, to search this forum from the address bar all you have to do is create a bookmark, then under the properties give it a keyword (I chose gotd for this example), then enter this link for the address http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/search.php?q=%s

The %s is a token that reads what you enter....so now in the address bar i just type "gotd kristanix" and it will immediately search all the stuff here for posts about kristanix. It really comes in handy for common searches, and more complex google searches such as finding mp3s or tech articles on a given site.

I also use the web developer extension that allows me to alter colors on pages, disabling scripts, testing items, and viewing CSS or other code.

With FF3, the malicious site filter is much stronger than most other browsers I have seen.

There's many other reasons I like it, but those are the most common features that I use.

The recently closed tabs item is great for when you accidentally close something, and the bookmarks toolbar is fantastic.

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

Quantum Dragon: thank you for all the links, I found your answer very useful, always have been wondering, what engine Opera uses.

I knew that IE, Avant, Maxthon and other were using the Trident engine, and that Firefox was using Gecko engine, but never knew about Opera :D

great links!

Posted 16 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

my_name_is_brad, thank you for your post. the search-trick is great. Have found some more bits in my current favourite puzzle-game: FF3
learninglox

Posted 16 years ago #
NolafromNZ
Member

Hi Stephen, I use Firefox because it happened to be the one on cd when IE fell over and I couldn't get it to work again. I was trying to look at what was on a disk that accompanied the Australian PC User magazine back in 2005 which was accessed through a browser, and IE started up but then came up with the message that it needed to close. It had been doing that a lot, but it finally bit the dust completely, so when I couldn't use it, I had a look through the disk and the first browser I came across was Firefox and I have never looked back. It just seemed far easier than IE and it never crashed. When the next upgrade to IE came out (IE 6 I think?), I installed it and only used it with Big Fish Games because their toolbar only works on IE,and Microsoft if I had to access their site. Otherwise, I totally use Firefox. Although, I will not be upgrading to Firefox 3 until their Evernote addon is available, because I am always adding stuff (like your reviews) to Evernote, and I couldn't possibly do without that feature now.

Posted 16 years ago #
GrouchE
Member

Of course, Mr. gates insist we use IE for our Windows Updates . . .. which isn't too evil. Yes, I know of the FF plug-in for IE, it screws my PC up.
Anyway, I just went over to see if I'd forgotten to do my MS Update Tuesday, and I had.
Oh look, a IE security patch . . . as big or bigger than FF3 in it's entirety. I'm sure folks with hi-speed don't mind, but my dialin' up self HATES it!
What a bad joke Internet Explorer is. Resource hoggin' security leakin' POS.

Posted 16 years ago #
my_name_is_brad
Member

ff has updates that are manageable because they have thousands of people banging on the code. IE has a department that says "We'll get that in the next update"

who do you trust?

Posted 16 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

12 Next »

Reply »

You must log in to post.