soap

[GreenCrayon]

I curse them every day.

Ha ha! I now have electronic help to make sure my wurds are spieled out rite!

ieSpell, if anyone else is interested, and using Internet Explorer as their browser for the forum, and on a PC.

[Simon.]

using Internet Explorer as their browser for the forum, and on a PC.

Although I'll be getting a new pc soon. I will definitely not be using internet explorer. And if any of you are? Shame.

[Jesster]

Simon just changed history!

[GreenCrayon]

Shame.

Why so? I use IE, Firefox and Opera, as well as Arachne and Lynx (two DOS-based browsers... seriously). I don't find that using IE brings me down with plague, and I don't find Firefox cures said bubonic disease. While people have preferences for one or the other -- and I can understand that -- they all function very similarly.

If you were thinking because of the security issues, IE has never yet left me vulnerable (like with all tools, you need to tell it to calm down on what it allows, but it's all in the options).

If you were thinking because it means I'm sucking up to the man, or his lackeys, I don't see what benefit they gain from me using one browser over another.

[Simon.]

Shame.

Why so? I use IE, Firefox and Opera, as well as Arachne and Lynx (two DOS-based browsers... seriously). I don't find that using IE brings me down with plague, and I don't find Firefox cures said bubonic disease. While people have preferences for one or the other -- and I can understand that -- they all function very similarly.

If you were thinking because of the security issues, IE has never yet left me vulnerable (like with all tools, you need to tell it to calm down on what it allows, but it's all in the options).

If you were thinking because it means I'm sucking up to the man, or his lackeys, I don't see what benefit they gain from me using one browser over another.

I use firefox for the main reason that Microsoft hasn't deigned Apple important enough to give them a good compatible version. Unless you have a new dual core machine. And are running windows. But hey, if you want to run windows. I'd say get a pc!

As for the security. My friend recently got a terrible virus, apparently through internet explorer. I wasn't sure how he knew. But it's what he claims. It could very easily have just been some attempted porn though, and, knowing him. That's a VERY likely story. But for arguments sake. It was IE.

I used safari for a while. But it was just too basic. And I preferred the look of firefox. As for Opera, well, there's no benefits to it over Firefox.

Firefox is my preffered, but, I have no real problems with any of them. Just that IE refuses to conform to browser standards, and interpret page data properly. Which really irks me.

[GreenCrayon]

My friend recently got a terrible virus, apparently through internet explorer. I wasn't sure how he knew.

Yeah, I've noticed that a good few people who come to me -- or tell me about -- computer issues regarding virii* and spyware have got it through their own ineptitude.

"IE gave me a virus!"
"Have you downloaded anything recently?"
"Yes, and I always open email attachments. Stupid Microsoft."

If you're looking at dodgy websites (for pornography, copyright-infringing downloads, or -- and this is always the one that makes me laugh -- "hacking tools") and downloading programs from them, you really need to take extra security than an average person browsing for online shopping.

I mean, I had a friend who swears he never downloaded anything that could have explained the spyware on his system, yet he let someone install Kazaa on his machine.

Just that IE refuses to conform to browser standards, and interpret page data properly. Which really irks me.

This is true. Yet a good percentage of all pages cater to IE's way of not-conforming rather than being standards compliant. Thus, I generally use IE for everyday browsing, and prefer Opera or Firefox for visits to specific sites that look nicer or run more smoothly with them (there are also sites that play nicer with IE).

* Which is actually the Latin for "men".

[TwoBuy]

I tend to not care wether things work on apples since I can't stand browsing the internet on them because of the keyboard differences (for example you can't hold down shift to hightlight text)*.

Opera has the key advantage of being able to search inside form data. Not always useful, but really nice to have at certain times. Like if you ever have to program in DTML.

Not getting viruses, worms, spyware, or other malicious infections is very very easy. Don't run as admin. Run as a regular user and it won't matter what browser or security settings you're using.

I respect people who don't use IE because of the standards issue**, but personally don't care. I've been using Maxthon (formerly MyIE2) for a long time now (long before I worked for MS) and like it. It's a wrapper on the IE rendering engine with a bunch of features. That way I get to see pages displayed properly but also get tabbed browsing, better ad blocking, better default security, searching from the address bar, etc.

*Don't give me crap about how I should just re-train my fingers. If I was willing to do that I'd have learned Dvorak by now. It's just not happening.
**Though most people who claim this in my experience just hate MS and if it were the other way around and IE was complient and FF wasn't, but displayed properly on most sites they'd say "IE sucks cause pages don't display right. You should use FireFox."

[Jesster]

I was an IE user for years, switched to Firefox at the insistence of a Microsoft-hating friend. Mostly, I was impressed with the tabbed browsing and the fox logo.

I now still use it over IE because it's on my start bar, and I don't see the need to change. Never really understood what all the fuss was about.

[epoch]

I tend to not care wether things work on apples since I can't stand browsing the internet on them because of the keyboard differences (for example you can't hold down shift to hightlight text)*.

Opera has the key advantage of being able to search inside form data. Not always useful, but really nice to have at certain times. Like if you ever have to program in DTML.

Not getting viruses, worms, spyware, or other malicious infections is very very easy. Don't run as admin. Run as a regular user and it won't matter what browser or security settings you're using.

I respect people who don't use IE because of the standards issue**, but personally don't care. I've been using Maxthon (formerly MyIE2) for a long time now (long before I worked for MS) and like it. It's a wrapper on the IE rendering engine with a bunch of features. That way I get to see pages displayed properly but also get tabbed browsing, better ad blocking, better default security, searching from the address bar, etc.

*Don't give me crap about how I should just re-train my fingers. If I was willing to do that I'd have learned Dvorak by now. It's just not happening.
**Though most people who claim this in my experience just hate MS and if it were the other way around and IE was complient and FF wasn't, but displayed properly on most sites they'd say "IE sucks cause pages don't display right. You should use FireFox."

Prefacing this by saying I don't Hate MS.


I can agree with most of the arguments I've seen here, but Firefox is my favorite so far, because of the fact that I started using it for work because IE would crash when trying to do anything on my companie's website


I might add, that the website was supposedly "built to work very well with IE"

also, we are partnered with MS for a lot of stuff.


so I use firefox almost exclusively at work...and I switch between IE and firefox at home...I don't use Opera because for whatever reason...it crashes my laptop.

[TwoBuy]

I don't use Opera because for whatever reason...it crashes my laptop.

You've probably had windows installed for more than six months and need to reinstall. Also, don't run as admin. Things never break when you run as a normal "user".

[epoch]

I don't use Opera because for whatever reason...it crashes my laptop.

You've probably had windows installed for more than six months and need to reinstall. Also, don't run as admin. Things never break when you run as a normal "user".

...


effort.

my laptop is a 4 year old Compaq Armada with a 6 gig harddrive, 192 MB of RAM, and Win XP.


it's just not worth the effort.

but I'll remember that for my desktop, so thanks.

[GreenCrayon]

Don't run as admin. Run as a regular user and it won't matter what browser or security settings you're using.

I've already mentioned, the machine I use most runs Win98SE. So, extra precautions with the security settings are a must.

That said, I've already passed on your advice about not running as admin in XP, TwooBs. And some people have listened, others haven't. It's precisely the same as seeing someone running a *nix, and logging in as root just to check email and surf the web. Or, like watching an acrobat on a tightrope, without a net, juggling chainsaws that are on fire. Only difference is, those guys are awesome.