should i get firefox?

well.... my lappy is about to feel my hands. And i´ve heard about some firefox thing. Can someone tell me in how this is better than IE7? and when i get my laptop should uninstall IE7 or what?

some breve explanation could help

thx in advance

 

http://www.mozilla.org
Firefox patches security holes IE leaves open It's safer more secure more customizable
Leave IE alone as if (very VERY unlikely scenairio) Firefox cant open a web page

 

firefox has many plugins and also gets much less popups. With the right plug-in you can use mouse guestures making surfing the net with a touch pad much easier. Also google search is built right in to the address bar. Ex. I just need to type "notebookreview forum" into the address bar to get here while I would have to type the full url in IE.

so stuff like the above makes the overall experience of using firefox much better then using IE

 

If you know what you're doing IE is fine. Most people use it for customizing their browsers.

The Adblock feature is quite good alone.

 

Even that little problem is fixed, just install a plugin called 'IE-Tab' and you can just right click any link or bookmark and choose to open it in a IE tab like the name says Some programs however only work with IE so you can just leave it on your hdd, i don't think it'll be in your way really

 

I find firefox to be much lighter and smoother and very user friendly, hmm... most browsers are user friendly anyways. If you're comfortable with IE7, why let go. If not, than firefox is a great alternative because of it's rich plugins and smoothness.

 

Why not opera? I find firefox to be slow and hog memory.

 

Anyone remember those big lawsuits filed by many goverments in US and Europe. You can't remove it from Windows you can hide it but that is it so I would leave it alone and just not use.

 

Ditch both IE7 and firefox and go with opera 9. Its really light on resources and is faster then firefox.

 

Safari is cool

 

Use IE7 or Firefox. It does not really matter that much. Both are very similar. Pick the one that you like. I use Firefox since I use it across multiple operating systems (i.e. Windows, OS X, Linux, Unix).

To get rid of ads, I use Firefox + Adblock Plus or IE7 + IE7Pro.

 

YES it matters whether you use IE7 or Firefox.
IE7 would barely have earned passing grades for 2002 or so. (So yeah, it's better than IE6, but still not an up to date browser)

How does it suck? Let me count the ways.
It doesn't support XHTML at all (which is a standard dating back to 1999!)
It doesn't support half of HTML either (it can't handle Z-index properly, for example, which makes it *very* hard to write reasonably clean HTML when designing a website)
Its RSS support is sketchy at best (we've had at least two threads about that here recently)
It can't really be extended (Firefox has literally thousands of add-ons, adding virtually anything you can imagine. Opera has a good bunch too.)
Give Microsoft some competition. Why do you think it took 7 or so years between IE6 and IE7? Because they'd killed all other browsers on the market. So no need to improve. We were stuck with a browser from the stone age because Microsoft didn't see a reason to actually write a better one. Don't let that happen again. Please.
(Today, they've finally progressed to the bronze age or so... Perhaps one day they'll catch up again)
And of course, if it wasn't already apparent from the first couple of points, using IE will make every halfway qualified webdesigner across the world want to kill you.

So, Firefox or Opera? Opera generally seems to be faster and more lightweight, but my main problem with it is that it doesn't have all the Firefox add-ins I'm using. I'd have to sacrifice a lot of handy features if I were to switch to Opera.

Use IE for Windows Update and those 2 or 3 other websites that require it. For everything else, no way.

 

Install Firefox and ignore IE7.

 

Why does this have to be an either or situation?

I have Safari, Minefield (firefox), IE7, Opera on the Vista partition, and thinking of getting Maxthon...
Shiira, Safari, OmniWeb, Opera, Camino, Minefield (firefox) on the OSX side (plus Fusion to load up all the stuff on the Windows side if necessary).

You can never have too many browsers!

Install firefox and try it yourself. Having it doesn't mean you have to uninstall IE7 (which you shouldn't anyway since it's so integrated into Windows, even in Vista, and some old sites still require you to use IE).

 

Well, sure you can! If you never use a certain browser, why bother letting it consume hard drive space? Unless, for some crazy reason, you collect browsers as a hobby...

 

I used Opera exclusively for a bit over a month, just to give it fair chance. I use Firefox almost exclusively. I couldn't last a day when I tried to use IE7.

 

Here's your reality check from an experienced alternative browser user...

Firefox is nice for the extensions, but it's getting kind of slow. It is definitely is slower opening than IE7 is, and I mean really slow. You really notice it when you click on a file that needs to display with the browser. I still use it only because I need and use some add-ons.

IE7 works very well, and you can get Adblock-like functionality, plus spellchecking and most other commonly-used add-ons simply by installing the totally free IE7Pro program.

Definitely keep IE7 on your computer. If anything, you will need IE for Windows updating. Install Firefox and see if you like it, then use whichever browser you want.

There is also SeaMonkey from the same Mozilla organization as Firefox. It's faster than Firefox if you choose the option for faster opening when installing it. And I also like K-Meleon. It's very fast, but it uses the same rendering engine as Firefox does (Gecko). The difference is that it is native Windows.

Opera is pretty good too, but I find it overly complicated (just because it has feature-itis.

 

I completely disagree.

 

Firefox is awesome. Gives you exactly what you want on your screen.

I keep IE because once and a while, maybe once a week, you'll come across a site that just doesnt look right in firefox so I load up IE, thats about it.

 

I have IE7, Firefox, and Opera. I use Opera the most (99% of the time). once you get use to mouse guestures you can open pages in new tabs, switch tabs, close pages, go back in page history, etc. without having to move the curser to the tab bar. Plus if you ever accidentially close a tab you can pull it out of the 'trash bin' and continue where you left off.

 

I use: (get ready)
Firefox 2.00
Firefox Gran Paradiso
Sea Monkey
Slim Browser
IE6
IE7
Avant
Opera
Safari for Windows
Maxthon

 

I have recently come across FireFox (I've heard numerous good user report but until now I just give it a try), and never want to go back to IE except for some IE exclusive site. Maybe I'll give opera a try later

 

haha. Who cares.

 

Opera's a hit or miss for most people. It's incredibly good at what it tries to do, and whereas firefox gives you the ability to download add-ons to do just about anything and everything, opera focuses on letting you customize what's there - if you see it, you can customize it, and even if you can't see it, you can probably still customize it.

Another great thing about customization is you can select preferences on a site-by-site basis, and mask or id your browser as other browsers (with limited success on the sites that matter however), and change the interface to be as efficient as that of firefox's, but still keeping more buttons visible than firefox for the same real estate (far better than how wasteful IE7 is with space for example).

Because of this however, Opera has a slightly higher learning curve than Firefox and of course IE7. For example, all the default shortcuts are very different from firefox and ie7, both of which share many common shortcuts. You can customize this however, just like everything else in Opera.

Opera's biggest weakness are being bloated and odd page rendering. Although firefox has gotten a much larger footprint over the years, Opera packs tons of "features" into it - it's almost a suite, and we all know how badly mozilla and netscape did when they went that route (i.e. total catastrophe). For example, it has a bittorrent client built in (not a very good one - no options to speak of), an irc chat client (also not very good - in fact it can't do much else except let you chat period), an e-mail client (again, not very good), etc. etc. etc.

Although Opera boasts of the fastest page renderer in the Windows side (depending on the page, Safari 3 can do just as well or better though), many pages, and especially images, don't load or refresh properly - and some pages will just look odd (the NYTimes images and ads for example).

Opera is really an acquired taste, and you definitely want firefox as a backup just in case, as well as IE7. It's definitely light years ahead of IE7 of course, but sometimes it can be more trouble than it's worth.

Of all the browsers in Windows, it's probably still best to stick with Firefox for now.

 

If you are comfortable with Internet Explorer you can still use it. Its just that a lot of users these days prefer Firefox. Internet Explorer 7 comes with Vista, and you should not uninstall it. For anything Microsoft related, the page will only display in Internet Explorer, not Firefox, Opera, or any other browser. So keep it.

My friend told me the new Opera is much improved...I dont know if its just the newest version of Opera or Opera Alpha or whatever beta they are working on.

 

of all ive used IE7&Firefox are the best with opera 3rd & safari 4th

 

I use firefox because of:

AdBlock
NoScript

Opera is the superior browser of them all in terms of efficiency, resource management, look, but I don't like their widget approach.

With firefox I use the above 2 plugins, and I can actually control my browser. no more renegade popups, if I find the ads to be annoying or excessive I can block them. If sites like to load their pages with annoying little flash ads I can remove them, I can stops sites that try to conceal what they are really doing (no script).

Basically the above plugins give you more control over the javascript and content displayed. Which I like, ads are not bad, but a page loaded with ads is. Pages that use javascript to hide their location, or load scripts from other websites are a major security risk ( cross site scripting - xss ).

Firefox does not have active X, which is really IE's major weakness, but also its primary strength. So you need to keep IE because many sites require you to install ActiveX plugins.

I would recommend putting Opera, Firefox, and IE7 all on your machine and give them a shot. Each has its weakness, but they also have their highlights. For me the plugins on Firefox and the easy 'search google/amazon...' right click is enough to have won me over.

 

IE add-ons:
http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/category.aspx?bcatid=834&tabid=1/default.aspx

IE 7 also has a zoom feature built in (although probably there's an add-on for Firefox to do that too, I don't know.)

IE 7's menu/navigation area can be a little more space-efficient than Firefox's if you're using tabs. Firefox's button placement and icons feel a little more natural to me though.

Actually I mostly use Firefox... but I think IE 7 is alright too.

I think my favorite Firefox feature is the in-line Find box for searching within the page (instead of opening up a pop-up window).

 

theres no ''get'' aspect its free try it for yourself

 

But please don't.

You can not uninstall it, as far as I know.

For the record, Firefox has at least the irc client available as an add-on as well. There's probably a bittorrent client too, and maybe email. Haven't checked.

Yep, and there isn't really much beyond a hundred new toolbars and misc popup blockers. If you compare this to what the add-ons for Firefox are able to do, I think you'll agree. IE7 can not really be extended. Not compared to Firefox.

Yeah, that alone is worth switching for. Didn't really think of that, but you're right.

 

You'll never know till you try it out...
Don't install safari on a windows pc though. Its awful.

 

I used Forefox and will admit, when I first set it up it was blazing. Then when I added multi-tabs and set it up as my Explorer, they ran same speed except it was more difficult setting up 'addins' with Vista Ult 64.

 

My only problem with firefox is resource management. If you have lots of tabs open especially for long periods of time ram use constantly increases to the point where it slows down just minimizing itself. IE7 has the same issue, but no where near to the extent that firefox has it. For that reason I use IE7. And guys btw, IE7 is pretty much firefox these days except theres not as many addons. For me I dont really like managing all those addons and worrying about compatability and system resources, so I'm happy with IE7. As for Opera, I've never used it; but, I have heard good things about the upcoming release.

 

thx ALOT to all the opinions and somehow PROS and CONS. Im gonna download firefox to check it out by myself.... but im almost sure im going to keep it =P

p.s this thread grew hell fast!!! i put it yesturday near the afternoon and turn on the computer this morning on WOW!! ..haha

 

Yea, but the great thing about add-ons are that they're not "bundled" into the app - so you don't have to install them if you don't want to, whereas Opera's installers makes you install all those random things.

 

NOOOO!! Dude, wrong browser, k-meleon is the way to go. Hahaha kidding. Try them all out before you decide.

 

k-meleon is quite new huh?.... hmmm what good is it?¿

 

You can do the same with IE7 by downloading a plugin called IE7Pro.

http://www.ie7pro.com/

 

Picture firefox a year ago - light, fast, etc. That's essentially what K-Meleon is. It uses the Gecko engine firefox uses but is integrated into Windows much more smoothly (i.e. faster).

It doesn't have all the add-on and themes though (actually the default look is kind of ugly), so if those matter to you, don't go for it.

 

ooo, looks interesting about k-meleon...... im lloking for quality and SPEED, so im gonna check this before FireFox

thx

 

Yes you should get Firefox! IE 7 is a good thing, but firefox is always one step ahead.

 

hehe... im going to try out k-meleon first

 

Firefox FTW!!! i have been using it for 1.5 yrs and it had never gone wrong!

 

crap, i just dont get decided hehe, i really dont know now aaahhh

 

As mentioned, these are all free browsers, so there's no reason not to install as many as you like and test them to find the perfect one for your needs.

Try them all out - nothing to lose.

Afterwards, if you really like to keep your system and registry neat and clean, you can always run CCleaner to wipe all footprint of the programs after uninstallation if that's your concern.

 

ooo yea, i forgot that CCleaner thing.. thx

well im gonna download Firefox and K-meleon for a try

 

I have been using Firefox for three years now, I only use IE for Windows update and for the occasional odd site that is not compatible with IE.

Firefox is great.

 

well, i didnt read all 5 threads p) so im just going off your original question.

i just converted my friend to firefox and he says its faster and he likes it better, sooo yah

 

My own personal preference:

1. Firefox
2. Opera
3. IE6
4. almost anything
5. IE7

 

thx alot guys... im surely going to download Firefox first well.. when my lappy gets here ...hehe