Which is best - Firefox, IE or other?

http://www.freerepublic.com/ ^ | 2-3-10 | self

[Former MSM Viewer]

Im getting tired of the errors and such on my IE browser. I hear Firefox is good...

Any comments would be appreciated.

[bolobaby]

After I switched to Firefox about 7 years ago, I stopped getting viruses and spyware. That pretty much sums it up.

[Former MSM Viewer]

I own GOOG stock, but dont trust it with MY email...scary company

[Yossarian]

I use Safari mainly on my Mac, and I hear it's gotten better recently on Windows. It might be worth a look. Here's a download & review link.

On Windows and Linux, I use Firefox, and it seems to do a fine job.

Google Chrome is out there, but I just can't get past Google's outright, contractual censorship in China, probable censorship / biasing here in the US, sickening slobbering love for Obama, and general growing omnipotence on the web. (Don't get me wrong, Apple isn't great either, it's a matter of degree.) I hope others pick on on the technical innovations introduced in Chrome, though.

[WestwardHo]

I’ve tried Firefox a couple time, and go back to IE because of those sites that are IE dependent and can’t run on Firefox.
You can easily try Firefox and go back to IE if you don’t like it.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Firefox here and no complaints.

As for safer, depends on whether you're savvy enough to turn off Java and install the Adblock Plus and Noscript addons.

[RJS1950]

Each browser has advantages and risks depending on how they are used None of them is any safer than another despite the anti-MS propaganda. For some types of web based applications Firefox works better, for others IE works best. For browsing IE, Firefox Chrome, Opera will work well and each has their specific features that some like and others don’t. Having multiple browsers available on the desktop is not a bad idea.

[antiRepublicrat]

Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome are all pretty good. Among them it’s more a matter of personal preference or a specific feature set you want (like the large plug-in availability in Firefox).

IE 8 is better than earlier, but still not up to the other browsers.

[nutmeg]

I've been using Firefox for years and love it, although recently there were a few problems with one of their updates.

I'm running version 3.5.7 now... so far, no problems.

[Billthedrill]

Yet another vote for Firefox, which I’m using at the moment, although I also have Opera on one box and Chrome on another. Opera has a couple of nice features - its zoom feature for when old eyes are trying to make sense out of a netbook-sized display, for one, not that the others don’t support something similar. Chrome seems faster on older hardware. I do keep IE around for those few holdout websites that require it. It’s one of those things I just can’t get very passionate about. IE’s good enough for most things and you’re going to be patching anyway if you’re running Windows.

[TomGuy]

Some versions of Firefox will create more headaches than they solve. If you find a good version, don’t be quick to update it, as new versions can create havoc. Be sure to do a system back-up before even minor Firefox version upgrades.

I’ve used Firefox for about 4 years. I use an IE6-based tabbed browser for FR, but use Firefox for most everything else. Firefox has some neat add-ons/extensions. You can built/add on stuff to Firefox.

Firefox has always had a problem of consuming system resources. Current versions aren’t as bad as older ones. Ver 0.7 to 1.5 were horrible. The current ones (ver 3.5 range) still are resource hogs, especially with videos and heavy graphics, as it does not release memory when a tab is closed. Firefox teams blame the extensions, but the problem is inherent in the Firefox code.

I tried IE7 and dumped it immediately. I didn’t like it at all. I have some add-on features that work with IE6 and those features are not available for IE7 or IE8. I haven’t tried IE8.

For quick browsing, such as short videos, I use a browser called QtWeb. That way, I don’t have Firefox consuming memory. http://www.qtweb.net

[Man50D]

not knowing anything about Firefox, am i to assume it is complete with all the necessary add-ons one would need to use?

They have add-ons but I don't know all of them. I only use two or three. I recommend going to their website for the list.

[BubbaBasher]

“But it’s a bit of a memory hog” that is a WINDOWS Problem not Firefox

That's incorrect. Each application is responsible for releasing the memory it used when the application is closed. It is ALWAYS an application problem not a Windows problem. (not a fanboy, just a programmer)

[sniper63]

I run firefox on Vista no problems, I run Seamonkey on an XP box, Seamonkey is a Mozilla Clone of Netscape.

[wvdmc]

I used Firefox for years, until Google Chrome came out. Chrome is great! Give it a shot.

[tang-soo]

I've used Firefox for 3-4 years and like it a lot (X Windows and now Windows 7). the muliple tab feature alone is worth migrating. The only problem I have is that after a few days, it begins to bog down. The task manager will then reveal that more than 500 MBytes is in play. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the worst at 1.2 GBytes. At that time, I use the task manager to kill the process and restart.

There are also hundreds of 3rd party add ons for security, enhanced viewing, downloading of images, videos ... etc. Well worth it.

[AnnaZ]

I used Firefox for years but have switched completely to Chrome (they finally put out a beta for Mac...)

When I changed my default browser settings the other day, it was as epic for me as a Facebook relationship-status change. lol.

[CalvaryJohn]

I wasn’t aware of that, but it makes sense. Microsoft is the king of bloatware.

[Free Vulcan]

Opera!

[TomGuy]

Foxit is faster and better PDF reader.

Check out PDF-Viewer [freeware]. It even allowed some editing of existing PDF files, and it loads faster than Abode.

[battlecry]

FreeRepublic loads faster on my machine under Opera than Firefox. Go figure