Who Is Switching to Firefox?...................

[maplesyrup]

Microsoft says Firefox not a threat to IE

I grew up on a Mac Classic which I thoroughly enjoyed but eventually switched over to PC because of the cost factor, but I think it was a mistake. I know things are more complicated now, but I never ever experienced the kind of problems with Apple, as I have with Microsoft.

The next time I purchase a computer I am returning to Apple. In the meantime I have added Firefox to my desktop to try it out. Has anyone here any experience with Firefox and other alternatives to Microsoft?

[Slavik44]

I have found the web browser, opera to be great, although right now I am using I.E, but perhpas it is just me, because after using mac's all my life in tech classes at schools, I can safley say I will never touch another one. The hardware in the mac's is supposed to be great but because Mac's are well Mac's it is slightly harder to find Mac equipment in a PC dominated market. Aswell, not to mention their operating systems always seem to be second rate, But that's just me.

[maplesyrup]

Slavik44.....thanks for the feedback. It is good to hear about other person's experiences.

What about Thunderbird for an e-mail software system? Has anyone experience with it?

[kimmy]

As a former Microsoft technical support agent, I can tell you that at least 3/4 of cases I dealt with were due to security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.

I use Firefox, and I wouldn't even consider using IE as my primary browser. And, if you haven't already, read about spyware here:

Microsoft security info

and obtain Ad-Aware here:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

or Spybot S&D here:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

(both are free.)

And it goes without saying that if you haven't got anti-virus protection on your computer, you should get some, ASAP! An antivirus program which I use on my own computer and have found to be superb is available at:

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/

It's available for free to home users!

The internet can be a dangerous place! Be careful!

-kimmy

[maplesyrup]

Thanks for the advice.

It is good to hear from an expert in the field, which you sound like you are.

[maplesyrup]

Google star of Firefox's new browser

The search company is newly featured, center-stage, on the default home page of Firefox 1.0, a Web browser based on the Mozilla Foundation's open-source development work and which was made available for free download Tuesday morning. In only two days, an estimated 2.5 million people have downloaded the Web browser, according to Mitchell Baker, president of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation.

Google's prominence on the browser underscores the foundation's desire to grow Firefox from its early roots in the Web developer community to an audience of Joe and Jane Surfers, who are likely to use search.

"Our entire start page is new, and that reflects our ongoing goal of appealing to the general consumer market," Baker said.

In addition, Google is hosting the Firefox start page because, according to Baker, the company's technical infrastructure is more capable of supporting high volumes of traffic.

Rumors have circulated for months that Google is developing a Web browser, potentially in partnership with Mozilla. And while both sides have denied it, ties still seem to be cinching between the two outfits. In another symbiosis, Mozilla outlined plans this week to work closer with desktop search providers to develop similar capabilities for upcoming versions of Firefox. That could play nicely into Google's recent push into desktop search.

More imminently, their relationship could greatly benefit Google if the Firefox browser were to take off with consumers like some people expect, given the growing discontent with Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer browser. Google makes the lion's share of its revenue from advertising placements next to search results, and Firefox could help fuel demand for its search engine and advertising.

It is great to have some options.

[Cartman]

As a former Microsoft technical support agent, I can tell you that at least 3/4 of cases I dealt with were due to security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.

I use Firefox, and I wouldn't even consider using IE as my primary browser.

I thought most of the problems were caused by Windows. This surprises me as does the fact that you use Firefox. Any problems with it?

[Pateris]

The only problem I've had with Firefox is a few sites than are "specifically designed for IE" and display funny in Firefox - but sites that meet the W3C standards display perfectly well.

[Guest eureka]

Kimmy:

I downloaded Adaware a few weeks ago and it did a great job of telling me about all sorts of things that should not be on my computer. It told me also that they were "low" or "medium" risk.

What it does not tell me is what on earth to do about them. Somply blithely tells me that I delete or whatever at my own risk.

I have used AVG for a long time and never had anything until a couple of weeks ago. Then it discovered a trojan horse and removed it. I am puzzled as to how it got through.

Does nobody use Netscape?

[caesar]

This is another subject that does not belong in Federal politics. Support and question perhaps. Maple you should know better

[takeanumber]

I've been using Firefox for awhile now.

It's terrific.

[kimmy]

This is another subject that does not belong in Federal politics.  Support and question perhaps.  Maple you should know better

That might be true, caesar, but what harm can it do? For anybody who hasn't heard about these kinds of problems, knowing could do a lot of good.

Eureka: whether it's safe to remove that stuff or not depends on what kind of stuff it is. For most stuff that Ad-Aware will turn up, it should be safe to delete. When Ad-Aware takes you to the page where it lists the things it found, you should see a row of check-boxes. You can click in the boxes to select them (or right-click and choose "Select All".) Almost everything should be safe.

I've only ever encountered a couple of things that created problems during removal... and they were things that crippled the victims' computer so badly it was virtually unusable.

Cartman: I'm not expert in exactly what makes IE susceptible to this kind of crap, but I believe it has to do with the integration of ActiveX. It's supposed to be a feature (for doing stuff like automatically installing plug-ins or performing Windows Updates...) but winds up being a vulnerability. Specifics, I'm not aware of (my job was to calm people down, identify their problem, and walk them through a solution.) As for why I use Firefox instead of IE, well, aside from being safer from those kinds of problems, it's also so much nicer to use. Tabbed browsing, built-in search! Yay!

-kimmy

[maplesyrup]

I've only ever encountered a couple of things that created problems during removal... and they were things that crippled the victims' computer so badly it was virtually unusable.

Now that is a real confidence builder.

I guess it pays to take the time to do a daily backup.

[August1991]

Thanks for the tip about the anti-virus programme, Kimmy. I scan for viruses every so often but I don't run it all the time.

Another useful programme is HijackThis which has solved numerous problems on various computers I've had to fix.

I also use a programme called RegSeeker (for registry clean up), another called Process Explorer (details all the services running) and Mike Lin's start up package (provides better control of the startup). Every so often I run BootVis (speeds up start up). These are all free and can be found through Google.

I have been using both Mozilla Firefox and IE for about a month or so. I agree that ActiveX (and Java) seem to be the problems in IE. You can control how IE handles these through the Internet Options.

By the way, a great site for Windows tweaking is Black Viper.

Does anyone use Linux?

[kimmy]

I've only ever encountered a couple of things that created problems during removal... and they were things that crippled the victims' computer so badly it was virtually unusable.

Now that is a real confidence builder.

I guess it pays to take the time to do a daily backup.

What I meant was that the programs that are dangerous to remove were ones that made the computer impossible to use... in other words, if Eureka had anything like that one his computer, he wouldn't be posting messages here.

Generally, if you have a serious spyware problem on your computer, you're going to know it.

Does anyone use Linux?

I have Mandrake 10.0 installed on one of my other computers, and in a dual-boot setup on this one. I'm still learning some of the intricacies, but for the most part, the new distributions seem to make it pretty smoothly. With the easy setup and all the public licence software available, I think it is becoming a viable alternative to Windows.

And having alternatives is a good thing.

-kimmy

[Hugo]

Microsoft has the most security problems because it's the prevalent platform. Hackers and virus coders will concentrate on it because it's more appealing to attack 90% of desktop computers (I don't know if that's the actual stat) than 10%. There are Linux virii. They will grow more numerous if Linux marketshare grows.

It isn't always the case that Linux is more stable, anyway. Linux is "kludged" in a lot of ways that Windows isn't. For instance, I read an interesting column where a guy basically did a "format c:" on a Linux and a Windows system. Not the exact command, but a different one that overrides the file locks. Windows neatly deleted its files, shutdown cleanly and rebooted (to nothing). Linux started deleting, produced a garbled screen output and then crashed, rebooting to a fundamentally broken but nevertheless still existing OS. For another example, Linux still does not have a filesystem that is as good as NTFS in terms of speed or stability.

If you want security and stability, Linux isn't the best route. I'd go with *BSD. It's a real UNIX, as opposed to a bastardized version of it.

Mac OS X is good, and I'm pleased to see Apple finally releasing an operating system using the technology of the late 80s. Only ten years or so behind Microsoft.

I've only ever encountered a couple of things that created problems during removal... and they were things that crippled the victims' computer so badly it was virtually unusable.

Here's the issue as I see it. A novice user can use Windows, but doesn't know how to protect themselves. This can produce massive problems if they habitually visit virus and trojan nests: P2P software, warez and porn sites, etc. A novice user can't use Linux or *BSD. The first time they want to install a new piece of software the dependencies will blow their mind. "A needs B. B needs C. C needs D and E. D needs F, G and H, E needs I, J, K and L." At which point the novice will say, "And I need Windows back."

Linux isn't going to conquer the desktop until it has a fundamental shift in its philosophy. Currently it's a bunch of geek programmers who are interested in coding cool software on their own and not particularly in other projects. Therefore, Linux is a hodgepodge of different and incompatible standards. MS and Apple do a lot better because they hire a lot of consultants on interfaces and ergonomics, thus ensuring their products remain easy to use while Linux is a pain in the neck, and because they are very careful to ensure uniformity and standardisation.

[caesar]

That might be true, caesar, but what harm can it do? For anybody who hasn't heard about these kinds of problems, knowing could do a lot of good.

Put it where it belongs it Questions and support.

If you can't understand that simple concept no wonder you have problems with your computer programs.

[Greg]

Another brilliant off-topic thread by MS. Perhaps you still haven't read the rules and guidelines for this forum?

What does this thread have to do with Politics?

Nothing - therefore it will be deleted.

If you want to discuss computers and other off-topic things, please do it elsewhere. This forum is for discussing politics only.

Greg

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