|
Smallworlds
Trippin' fool -Merry Prankster
Registered: 03/12/05
Posts: 4,207
Last seen: 18 years, 5 months
|
Why use Firefox?
#4147810 - 05/07/05 05:39 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
I've heard a lot of people say to use firefox instead of explorer, but no-one said why.
Is it really better? Like does it protect your privacy or security better, or do those people just hate Microsoft, or are they on crack or what?
What's the deal with the whole Firefox vs. Internet Explorer thingy?
-------------------- Through the excercise of patience, one may learn humility.. Smoke plenty of green, and eat fungus!!!! Trip Report
|
Retired
Registered: 03/01/05
Posts: 635
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
|
|
firefox better
|
ShroomOmatic
Ethno Apprentice
Registered: 10/14/04
Posts: 2,373
Loc: Sailing the Seas of Chees...
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Retired]
#4147881 - 05/07/05 06:20 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
I heard foxfire is less targeted by hackers. I'm not sure of this though. I use E-explorer anyway.
--------------------
|
newuser1492
Registered: 06/12/03
Posts: 3,104
|
|
It has a bad ass icon of a fox claiming the globe?
Quote:
Why Use Firefox?
?Beware of spyware. If you can, use the Firefox browser.? - USA Today
?Better than Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds.? - FORBES
Popup Blocking Stop annoying popup ads in their tracks with Firefox's built in popup blocker. Tabbed Browsing View more than one web page in a single window with this time saving feature. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them. Find out more... Privacy and Security Built with your security in mind, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business. Smarter Search Google Search is built right into the toolbar, and there is a plethora of other search tools including Smart Keywords (type "dict <word>" in the Location bar), and the new Find bar (which finds text as you type without covering up anything). Live Bookmarks RSS integration lets you read the latest news headlines and read updates to your favorite sites that are syndicated. Find out more... Hassle-Free Downloading Files you download are automatically saved to your Desktop so they're easy to find. Fewer prompts mean files download quicker. Fits Like a Glove Simple and intuitive, yet fully featured, Firefox has all the functions you're used to - Bookmarks, History, Full Screen, Text Zooming to make pages with small text easier to read, etc. S, M, L or XL?It's Your Choice Firefox is the most customizable browser on the planet. Customize your toolbars to add additional buttons, install new Extensions that add new features, add new Themes to browse with style, and use the adaptive search system to allow you to search an infinite number of engines. Firefox is as big or small as you want. Setup's a Snap At only 4.7MB (Windows), Firefox takes just a few minutes to download over a slow connection and seconds over a fast connection. The installer gets you set up quickly, and the new Easy Transition system imports all of your settings - Favorites, passwords and other data from Internet Explorer and other browsers - so you can start surfing right away. A Developer's Best Friend Firefox comes with a standard set of developer tools including a powerful JavaScript and CSS error/warning console, and an optional Document Inspector that gives detailed insight about your pages. Read Mail?Not Spam Thunderbird is the perfect complement to Firefox.
|
MovingTarget
Registered: 10/04/04
Posts: 4,825
Loc: temporary
|
|
firefox has this feature called 'tabs'. It kicks the shit out of IE for this reason alone.
--------------------
|
Smallworlds
Trippin' fool -Merry Prankster
Registered: 03/12/05
Posts: 4,207
Last seen: 18 years, 5 months
|
|
thanks for all the replies. what's "tabs" do for you?
-------------------- Through the excercise of patience, one may learn humility.. Smoke plenty of green, and eat fungus!!!! Trip Report
|
newuser1492
Registered: 06/12/03
Posts: 3,104
|
|
When you ctrl-n or open a new browser instance in ie it does exactly that, it opens a new window for ie. In Mozilla/Firefox you can ctrl-t opening a new tab within the same window.
At first it took me a little bit to get used to it as I had been using ctrl-n for years with ie but now I love the feature.
|
Catalysis
EtherealEngineer
Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 8 months
|
|
I use it because I don't have to use a firewall or anti-virus software with it. The stripped down version of Firefox is virtually impenetrable to the spyware/adware and viruses that can find their way onto a IE computer simply by browsing the web.
|
AKtoker
Shibby
Registered: 03/08/05
Posts: 200
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Catalysis]
#4148134 - 05/07/05 07:57 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
i picked up a shitload of nasty spyware i couldnt figure out how to remove, so i switched over to firefox and i like it much better, give it a try.
|
Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
|
|
In addition, a website can't access any Active-X controls through Firefox, unlike IE. Malicious websites can use these controls to gain access to your HD, so it's a huge security hole....
|
Redstorm
Prince of Bugs
Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 5 months, 8 days
|
|
Personally, it seems like it both loads and surfs much quicker than IE as well. Plus firefox is much prettier.
|
browndustin
dustybuddy
Registered: 10/03/03
Posts: 2,957
Last seen: 9 years, 10 months
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Redstorm]
#4148864 - 05/07/05 11:50 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
It's not tied to the operating system which is definitely nicer for security purposes. It's overall more stable, less targeted, a free alternative to ie, has tabbed browsing, and one of the best-selling features is that the ie to firefox migration is seemless.
I'm a total nut when it comes to customizing everything, even browsers. And although it took me years to try firefox, I never had an issue with it after 5 minutes of using it. And that's fucking suprising to me, even to this day. To be honest, I never tried it because I just plain did not like the name.
I'd say try it out at least. The installer's a couple of megabytes, and I don't even think you have to restart your computer after installing the program. It goes in, and uninstalls very clean so you have nothing to lose.
-------------------- When the stress burns my brain it's like acid raindrops maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop
|
OneMoreRobot3021
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,026
Loc: the sky
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Redstorm]
#4149949 - 05/08/05 11:11 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Redstorm said: Personally, it seems like it both loads and surfs much quicker than IE as well. Plus firefox is much prettier.
And tabbed browsing just rocks my world.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
|
firefox supports extensions.
|
Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
|
|
Quote:
OneMoreRobot3021 said:
Quote:
Redstorm said: Personally, it seems like it both loads and surfs much quicker than IE as well. Plus firefox is much prettier.
And tabbed browsing just rocks my world.
1nd33d.
--------------------
|
Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 7 months, 21 days
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Silversoul]
#4151578 - 05/08/05 09:38 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
IE freezes randomly on certain web-pages often. Especially w/ ESPN's web site. Never have these problems with firefox. Or safari, for tha tmatter...
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
|
RuNE
bomberman
Registered: 09/23/00
Posts: 2,331
Loc: tartarus
Last seen: 8 years, 1 month
|
|
I actualy heard of firefox a long long time ago but was just used to IE n all that. After the coolwebsearch infection of mine, i decided to switch. (fuck this active x shit.)
I find that on my dinosaur PC, it loads at least twice as fast as IE. I dont use tabs simply because i like the lil windows at the bottom of my screen, but its a neat feature i use once in a while. One of the most surprising and cool lil features is the 'find' feature. I used to use ctrl+F a lot to find jump to certain words in IE. In firefox, this is 10x better. When you hit ctrl+f a small bar at the bottom of the window pops up and as u type the word in, it matches it to words as u go along. If u get to a part of a word that doesnt exist on the page, the background of the space you're typing in turns red.
It a very clean install/uninstall, give it a try. You can import favourites from IE easily.
-------------------- ~Happy sailing~
|
tak
geo's henchman
Registered: 11/20/00
Posts: 3,776
Loc: nowhereland
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: RuNE]
#4152657 - 05/09/05 07:46 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
the hardest part is using IE to download it. then its alllll gooood
-------------------- The DJ's took pills to stay awake and play for seven days.
|
PowerTrip
Polypharmaceutical Shaman
Registered: 03/07/05
Posts: 1,148
Loc: The void
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
|
|
IE is actually much more secure if you have winXP and service pack 2 installed. It will block all popups and active X controls unless you allow them to be installed. I don't see what the difference is between having tabs within my browser, or having different windows on my task bar. I'm considering downloading firefox just to give it a try though.
-------------------- I spit reality, instead of what you usually learn and I refuse to be concerned with condescending advice cause I'm the only motherfucker that can change my life
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: PowerTrip]
#4159694 - 05/10/05 09:54 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
browsing is much more quicker and efficient with tabs (esp. using tabbrowser preferences extension) than with multiple windows open - at least in my opinion, but im sure most everyone here would agree.
|
gema
Freedom from the Known
Registered: 10/24/04
Posts: 1,767
Loc: t(here)
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Vvellum]
#4160161 - 05/10/05 11:39 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: gema]
#4161435 - 05/11/05 10:24 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
yeah, those bugs are discovered every so often. Unlike IE, the mozilla developers will fix this within days - dont fret.
|
lackobreath
Cannabis Man
Registered: 01/27/05
Posts: 517
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Vvellum]
#4165146 - 05/12/05 01:56 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
A very handy thing with firefox is that while using tabbed browsing you can click on a link with your middle mouse button and it will open the link in another tab without losing focus from the tab you're on so that you're not distracted from what you're doing at that instant.
I've noticed firefox had some trouble on an 1100mhz pc in the house....very slow initial load times, plus firefox is also a major resource hog despite what you guys are saying... open 10-15 tabs and suddenly firefox is eating over 100MB RAM and sometimes up to almost 300MB virtual memory, which will not clear unless you restart the app entirely. right now with 8 tabs it's using 82MB RAM and 101MB VM.
|
canid
irregular meat sprocket
Registered: 02/26/02
Posts: 11,912
Loc: looking for zeebras, n. c...
Last seen: 2 months, 18 days
|
|
i just tested, and with 15 instances of IE open [http://www.yahoo.com] explorer's mem usage increased to 119MB.
i would imagine if they where actualy doing anything it would have been higher.
-------------------- Attn PWN hunters: If you should come across a bluing Psilocybe matching P. pellicolusa please smell it. If you detect a scent reminiscent of Anethole (anise) please preserve a specimen or two for study and please PM me.
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
|
|
Phluck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/10/99
Posts: 11,394
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 5 months, 4 days
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: gema]
#4166172 - 05/12/05 11:56 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
Uh, yeah, what doesn't have some security flaws? Making a big deal out of a few security holes in some software is like flipping out when finding out you have to refill the gas tank on your car. Just upgrade when necessary and live on.
-------------------- "I have no valid complaint against hustlers. No rational bitch. But the act of selling is repulsive to me. I harbor a secret urge to whack a salesman in the face, crack his teeth and put red bumps around his eyes." -Hunter S Thompson http://phluck.is-after.us
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Phluck]
#4169992 - 05/13/05 08:34 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
BBC: Firefox's flaws fixed in upgrade
Quote:
The Mozilla Foundation, maker of the open source web browser Firefox, has released a security patch to plug two critical security flaws in the browser.
The flaws were found last week by net security experts. Danish firm, Secunia, called them "extremely critical".
Mozilla has now recommended people upgrade to the latest version, Firefox 1.0.4, which is a security update.
Firefox is Microsoft Internet Explorer's (IE) main rival. IE has dominated the browser market.
But many have switched to Firefox because, so far, it has had fewer security flaws than IE and is more customisable.
Although the vulnerabilities, reported on Saturday, had been identified no cases had been reported of them being exploited.
Secunia said they were "extremely critical" because they could have let cookie and history information be used to get access to personal information or access previously visited sites.
The first flaw reported fooled the browser into thinking software was being installed by a legitimate, or safe, website.
The second happened was related to the software installation trigger which was not able to properly check icon web addresses which contain JavaScript code.
Potentially, a hacker could have taken advantage of the security flaws to secretly launch malicious code or programs.
Chipping away
Firefox has had more than 50 million downloads since its formal launch in November 2004.
Since then, it has chipped away at IE's dominance, but there are signs that its take-up is slowing down, according to recent figures.
IE fell a percentage in its share of the browser market, net monitoring company WebSideStory said on Tuesday.
Microsoft's browser now has a 88.9% share, while Firefox's share has risen just over a point to 6.8%. Previously, IE dominated more than 95% of the browser market.
But Microsoft is set to release another, more secure, version of IE in the summer.
The Mozilla Foundation was set up by former browser maker Netscape in 1998. Netscape dominated the browser market in the early 1990s.
|
Catalysis
EtherealEngineer
Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 8 months
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Vvellum]
#4171984 - 05/13/05 05:38 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
I don't even consider that a flaw because you need to enable websites to automatically install software for it to be taken advantage of. To me, that is a security hole in and of itself. There is no reason to enable any site to install software on your comp without authorization. Although it may be a little more convenient, it is totally unnecessary IMO.
|
Vvellum
Stranger
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
|
Re: Why use Firefox? [Re: Catalysis]
#4174095 - 05/14/05 10:05 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
it's for installing extensions and themes and search engines - all a major feature of firefox. but at any rate, the bug has been fixed. Users can always disable that feature anyways - even if it is enabled, if you try to download an extension or theme from a website that is not included on your "allowed sites" list, you'll get a warning and have to manually include it onto the list - huge difference between this and, say, IE's problem with activex and spyware. At this point, if there is trouble, it is not a security hole, but rather, user stupidity.
Edited by bi0 (05/14/05 10:12 AM)
|
|