In many respects I feel like a jerk for sticking with Microsoft's Internet Explorer for many, many years. I went with most of the changes, ending up with IE7. Like all Microsoft software, in my opinion, IE7 sucked with respect to reliability. It is the web browser millions of people love to hate. For many months the damn thing would stop functioning when I had lots of tabs opened, sending me the all too familiar message that it had to shut down. I felt very victimized.
Whenever I see or hear anything about billionaire Bill Gates I have always felt intense anger, because all Microsoft products represent a conquest of marketing over quality. Millions and millions of consumers have been ripped off by Microsoft. Sticking with Microsoft is like a bad, unhealthy habit or addiction that seems nearly impossible to break. Eventually, my disgust with IE7 made me pay attention to alternatives. I found Mozilla Firefox and it was almost like having great sex for the first time. And it is totally FREE.
So, don't be a fool like I was for so many years, break the Microsoft addiction and switch to the web browser Firefox. To begin with, installation is incredibly faster for Firefox compared to IE7. The difference is mindboggling. The ease of installation is just the beginning of the satisfying experience with Firefox.
Generally the look and feel for Firefox resembles IE7 and previous versions of IE. But I have found it to work incredibly faster when it comes to opening up and working on web pages. There is one feature of Firefox that really impressed me. When there is a reason to shut down the browser because, for example, you have downloaded some new updates of some program, Firefox gives you the option of saving all the tabs you have created. It is a really terrific feature if, like me, you usually have many tabs open. This feature has always worked, and worked very quickly when I restarted my computer.
Of course, I must emphasize that I never have had Firefox crash the way IE7 did regularly.
I have also noticed that filling in comment boxes on web pages goes faster with Firefox and that it runs a type of spell check automatically.
Passwords for websites are another great feature with Firefox. It always offers a quick option to save the password and, like everything else, this feature has worked perfectly, saving me lots of time. It also seems to remember phrases used to fill in forms on websites, again saving me a lot of time.
After examining a number of technical reviews of browsers I was also impressed that the consensus is that Firefox offers greater security than IE7. I have noticed that when regularly running several adware and spyware programs to identify and get rid of cookies and other malicious things that track and steal information about me and my web surfing Firefox has dramatically reduced them. Also, I used to regularly confront websites that never displayed properly when in IE7. I have not run into that problem with Firefox.
Worth mentioning is that there are seemingly endless options freely available to customize the look and feel of Firefox.
To sum up, Firefox is quick, easy, simple and reliable. Do not fear change. You can easily download it and try it before giving up on Internet Explorer, which was what I did. After a short time I realized how much better Firefox was and made it my default browser. If you have already made the same switch feel free to provide a comment that shares what you like most about Firefox, compared to Internet Explorer.
Joel S. Hirschhorn has succeeded as: a full professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison; a senior staffer, U.S. Congress (Office of Technology Assessment); head of an environmental consulting company; Director of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, National Governors Association; now an author and consultant. Recent books are: Sprawl Kills - How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money, and Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government. He has published hundreds of articles in newspapers, magazines, journals and on many web magazine sites. He has given hundreds of talks at a wide range of conferences worldwide. He focuses on American culture, politics and government, and health issues.
Great review there, Joel. I've been using FireFox for years now, though I still use IE now and then. Yes, the key FireFox advantages are ease, speed, and security. It's a lean but mean browser. ~mogama~
Yes, foxfire updates automatically keeping your browser on the ready for malicious intrusions. And I've been using it so long I forgot that Explorer doesn't save your tabs. But not only is foxfire better than explorer, Mac is better than PC. Our new purchase will be the virtually virus free environment of the Mac. Why I've waited so long can only be attributed to habit . . . poor habit. Good article.
Good article, and great advice. Everyone using Internet Explorer should seriously consider changing over to (or really "upgrading to") another browser, such as Firefox.
To maximise security with Firefox, I strongly recommend getting the (free) AdBlockPlus and NoScript plugins. With those in place, Firefox is an extremely secure browser. Throw in free antivirus software like AVG Free and a firewall (the Windows one is actually not that bad!) and you're well protected against most threats.
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