I'm somewhat computer illiterate, so I want to know (other than having pop-up blocker and being less spyware vulnerable) what's the big deal about FireFox? A computer genius friend of mine recommended it and now it's all I ever use. I've heard that Internet Explorer has stuff dug deep into your computer that is very difficult/impossible? to completely remove. Is FireFox any better with regards to that? What are the other differences?
My favorite feature of Firefox is tabbed browsing. I often read pages with links to other stuff that I want to read, but I also want to finish the page I'm on. With tabbed browsing, I can click my middle mouse button on the link I want to follow and it will open it in another tab and then I can read that page when I'm ready. Also, when bookmarks are organized into folders, you can open all the bookmarks in that folder with one click. I find that unbelievably time-saving when I'm going through my morning routine. I have all my "football news" links in one folder and with one click, I can load up every single website in separate tabs. I've also gotten quite used to the "find" feature in Firefox. I think you have to enable it in options, but I have mine set to start a find when I start typing on a webpage. I often look for particular words when I'm surfing the web, and not having to navagate through menus to do a find is invaluable to me. Oh, and the built in Google search bar rocks, as does Foosinho's Bigsoccer toolbar.
Many of the benefits of using Firefox are also security-related. As you said, IE is essentially a part of Windows, and hence anything rendered in IE can exploit security holes and gain access to your computer that way. Firefox sits more on top of your computer like any other program. So while it also has security holes, the holes don't allow the same access to Windows for people with malicious intents. That alone makes Firefox well-worth it. A lot of people tout it more for the convenience feature, such as tabbed browsing, custom skins, and extensions, and all of those are great too. But its what you don't see that really makes it essential.
This sounds like a good feature. I use Safari (on a Mac). (How) Can I do something like this with Safari?
I too found out by mistake about the opening of a bookmark folder with a single click. btw Firefox is better because it shares the same name of an old Clint Eastwood movie.
Also, the Mozilla folks are much more proactive about updating Firefox and fixing security holes before they become a problem.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/120756 Critcal flaws found, a fix should be expected shortly, not to mention mozilla makes announcements on how to nullify the threat on their website.
You are far too generous. I need to update the toolbar, but I have found that I use the "UserCP" button most often, followed by dragging new avatars onto the avatar button. Maybe I'll try my hand at a unique icon set. I'm not a very good graphic artist, tho...
Quick links to the latest scantily clad/redhead/brunette/premium babes threads should be included as well.
Foos, you seriously rock! I've installed the updated toolbar and you've made my BS experience so much better!!! Big reps for you!
I use the "Tweak Network" for this purpose: https://do-not-add.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=327 The biggest difference I've found is the "Pipelining maxrequests" number: I use 30, instant loading! The rest of my settings is: _max connections:40 _max connections per server:16 _max persistent connections per server:16 _max persistent connections per proxy:16 _checked "Pipelining" & Proxy Pipelining" boxes
another difference IE - endless spyware, malware... what ever ya got firefox - i've never had a single bit of spyware
The best improvement for me: zero ad., nothing, nada..On this site, for instance, nothing goes through Adblock : https://do-not-add.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&id=10 I add these filters to it as well: http://www.geocities.com/pierceive/adblock/ (see "instruction.txt" for installation, use latest filter set, this month's is "2005-05-05a.txt")
I tell you what, if I can come up with a slick way to do just that, I will. In fact, this has got me thinking about some customization options I might be able to include...
Definetly let us know when the new version comes out, and what customizations we might take advantage of.
One thing I would really like to see is some kind of bookmark feature (or whatever you want to call it) where you can add the boards you frequently go to (eg. Arsenal, Technology, engines & more etc.). KJ