Mozilla Firefox?

[ThinkPad]

Anyone use it on their thinkpads? I just downloaded it and it seems to be pretty cool

[AssPenny]

Yep, its all i use and have used for about the last year.

[Leon]

I'm not dogmatic about many things, but as the CEO of a major Software Security Company, it is my opinion that we should all be using it. At minimum, download and use it for one month. If you don't like it (unlikely) go back. You won't be sorry. If you stay with IE you WILL eventually be sorry.

[PetraM]

I would like to add that I don't have any problems with spyware/malware anymore since i'm using Firefox. None at all in over a month.

Me: Before & after !!!

You can also get a super cool plug-in for it called mouse gestures. Check it out.

Petra

[RogerPodacter]

Absolutely. been using it for a while now. much better than IE.

[Leon]

absolutely... although my post referred to the security advantages, when customized with plug-ins, it is VASTLY superior to IE. Tabbed browsing alone makes it better. (But soon IE will copy this feature, and I STILL won't go back)!

more secure and better... how can you go wrong? (oh, yes, and free too)!

[ThinkPad]

I belive most of the viruses and worms are designed for IE, so hopefully there will be more security with Firwfox.

[ThinkPad]

You can also get a super cool plug-in for it called mouse gestures. Check it out.

Petra

Where do I get it from?

[PetraM]

I don't remember exactly which one i use but browse a bit here:
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/exten ... Navigation

I googled for this link:
http://texturizer.net/firefox/extensions/#mousegest

When you install it go to View - Toolbars - Customize... and drag the new icon out on the toolbar.
There are really complicated things you can do with the gestures, I use only forward and back and reload, play with it a bit, hope you like it.

Think I found the one I have (Mouse Gestures 1.0):
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/ ... +mz+tb.xpi

Petra

[Torque]

I've been using firefox for a couple of days now. It really rocks. A much much better browser than IE and Avant. I like the simplicity, the plugins, tab-browsing etc etc.


Its just a wonderful browser for a wonderful laptop

[UCI2CI]

there is even a nifty plugin which kinda spoofs websites into thinking firefox is internet explorer. Firefox is even better than internet explorer at being internet explorer

[ndornhoefer]

Maybe a stupid question, but what are the advantages over IE?
I downloaded it and the only difference I think to notice so far is, that it seems to be slower than the IE (using Ethernet it takes sometimes many seconds to build up a cnn.com or google.com) building pages up slowly, picture by picture. So I stopped using it after a few days. But obviously I am the only one thinking that.

Do I have to change some settings ...? ... or any other magic touch?

N

[Leon]

If it WERE slower, the security advantages would far outweigh the small delay, however, I have none. I just tested both CNN and Google over an 802.11b connection and they loaded instantly. Don't know what caused your slowness.

Others ideas?

[jdhurst]

The advantages of Firefox have been noted here. In another very technical forum I belong to, the users are also Firefox afficianados, but there is a lot of discussion of problems - speed, stability, and site compatability issues. I still use IE because (1) I don't have a spyware problem and (2) it works at all the sites I use. ... JD Hurst

[UCI2CI]

advantages

1. tabbed browsing is a god send.
2. download manager keeps all downloads in one window
3. much more secure than IE
4. No active X
5. ....... list goes on

Really the only advantage IE has over Firefox is compatibility, although i have yet to see any major compatability problems.

I myslef have not experienced any slow downs using firefox. Maybe you are using a proxy server. that kinda slows things down. You might have been using an older version of firefox also, so try downloading it again and giving it another try.

[Leon]

and if you add the "Open in IE" plug-in, the few sites that don't work are but one click away....

[kkapoor]

I've been usit since 0.8. I use nothing else unless I need to run Windows Update manually. I even donated to this project. They really deserve all the support they can get.

[k3vb0t]

and if you add the "Open in IE" plug-in, the few sites that don't work are but one click away....

Ding ding ding... this is the winner. It can act like any browser -- IE, Netscape, etc. for those nasty pages that are built specifically for IE.

By far the best free source product I have used in the last two years. I never, ever touch IE.

Firefox + Thunderbird + Sunbird = free source for the win!

[taphil]

Meh.

I tried using FireFox but don't see what's so great about it. Biggest issue for me is that pages seem to load slow, whether real or perceived, because there's a icon place-holder for each image that is shown before the image is actually loaded, which is annoying. IE probably does have security issues, but how bad and eminent is this danger really? I don't really care for tabbed browsing. I do like the download manager though.

[Leon]

As a software security expert, I cannot over emphasize the security issues associated with IE and Active X. "bad and eminent" are understatements. And it gets worse daily.

[sugo]

i love the 14.1" SXGA+, but it can be a pain to read japanese websites sometimes.

well with textzoom extension plus firefox, those days were over

[primedude]

Firefox is an impressive effort, but right now, I see no need for me to use it instead of IE. IE feels faster to me, I'm intimately acquainted with its interface, and in... let's see, nearly seven years of using it exclusively, I've never had any unauthorized ActiveX controls installed, never been the victim of a remote exploit, never had any problems with spyware or viruses, or anything of the other dangers that are commonly referred to as the risks of IE. Perhaps that's because I've been diligent about updating my OS and browser (same difference, eh? ) and using caution and common sense when deciding what software to install, but right now, the annoyance and quirks of Firefox (at least as its interface is regarded by this long-time IE user) are not outweighed by the risk of my continued use of IE.

That said, for my parents or other unskilled users, I'd probably put Firefox on their computer as a default browser, solely to try to address the spyware problem. But for me, it's just not there yet.

[benplaut]

LONG LIVE FIREFOX!!!

i will never go back to IE, there is really no reason not to (except for the 1 in 10,000 websites that require it, and there are plugins for that )

instructions far adding Firefox to you sig (like mine ) are at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=6762

[zzyss]

At the risk of inciting a fanboi browser war, I just want to say that I am a Firefox user, who cannot give up IE.

• Some companies (including banks) are writing applications that run only on IE
• IE is a lot more forgiving, meaning that if the page wasn't written by some uber-l33t h4x0r, it will still render passably
• Firefox uses a lot of memory
• You can't really compete with shell integration
• I would dare to say that Firefox isn't necessarily more secure. It's just less targeted. If you were going to write spyware, who would you write for? The browser with 90%+ market share, or the one with < 10%? Another example: there was a recent security issue that affected all browsers which had tab support - including Opera, Firefox, etc. Funnily enough IE was the only browser not affected by that security bulletin. Link.

Firefox is neat, but it's hardly the be-all and end-all of browsers.

[UCI2CI]

one of the main reasons why i like Firefox is that its not integrated into the Window's shell. I can easily uninstall it if it become a security threat

I kinda agree with zzyss's last point, but i doubt Firefox will ever be as sh*t-smeared as IE.

[AssPenny]

I use Firefox 99% of the time. I find it much faster than IE at loading pages, plus, you can tailor it to be even faster if your connection can handle it. (see my below post)
It does use more memory, but whoopie, I think i can sacrifice an extra 10mb of the 1024 installed to have quicker, safer, and less annoying browsing. Its popup blocker is one of the best ive seen. Which in turn eliminates the need for a 3rd party one to be installed (memory saver?).
True, its safer because it isnt targeted as much as IE is. So what? Thats good, and that still means its safer, who cares for which reasons. Safer is safer.
This debate happens all the time, and it humors me everytime i see it. Not just the new browser but with all new technical changes. I bet everyone here has XP installed. Remember when XP was out, that group who said they wont change from 2000. That was the same group who wouldnt change from 98 when 2000 came out. I think its hilarious to watch this between technical generations.
I love to adopt new technology, i install every beta /test software that interests me. But i always have a backout plan and a clean ghost to fall back on when i get a rotten egg.
Oh well, enough of my ranting.

For the people who think Firefox is slower: (high bandwith user only please)
1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

browser.turbo.enabled True

[Silencer]

In my opninion Opera Browser is way better than Firefox. Opera was the first one to implement many features that Firefox programmers decided to use later.

Also one really important thing. Firefox itself is pretty useless, you have to install like zillion of exstenstions to make it a real thing. And every exstenstion is written by different programmers, they lack documentation and sometimes poorly programmed. Opera is a commercioal software and everything is made as it should be.

Shareware version displays small really not annoying google-banner.

And one more thing related to this forum. Latest Opera beta implements voice XML technology which is being developed in cooperation with IBM. I'm using this beta and have visited some IBM demo page (http://www.ibm.com/software/pervasive/m ... emos.shtml) where you can just hit scroll lock and then make a voice order of pizza for example on the Web page. It looks pretty awsome!

Here are links:
http://www.opera.com/
http://my.opera.com/

[UCI2CI]

See, thanks to FireFox and AssPenny, you can download piplelined porn 30 times faster. what better reason to use Firefox

[Rob Mayercik]

there is even a nifty plugin which kinda spoofs websites into thinking firefox is internet explorer. Firefox is even better than internet explorer at being internet explorer

Got a link for this plugin?

Rob

[UCI_MECH]

I have tried almost all the browsers available on the net (IE, Opera, Netscape, Firefox and others). Most of them will impress you if you are coming from IE but after a while you will find some annoying features or things you used to do in other browsers and you cannot do it with this browser.

To make the long story short, I found the ultimate and the only browser I will ever need. It is Maxthon (http://www.maxthon.com). If you were impressed by Firefox, you will be blown away with Maxthon. I have been using it now for a year and I still find new features I didn’t know about them before.

Give it a try and you will forget Firefox !!GUARANTEED!!

P.S. I don't work for Maxthon. I'm just a very satisfied user.