Firefox emerges as credible threat in browser battle

San Jose Mercury News ^ | Mon, Nov. 29, 2004 | Mike Langberg

[nickcarraway]

Firefox is one very hot browser, pardon the pun, and your computer will be safer if you switch to this free software that's heating up the charts.

There's been a seismic shift during November, with Firefox emerging as the first credible competitive threat in a decade to Microsoft's aging Internet Explorer browser for Windows.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I love FireFox.

[yarddog]

I switched and have not had a single adware or spyware program, or at least one that my removal programs have found.

There is one problem, maybe someone can help me with. Google search is on the Firefox home page and I use it a lot. The problem is I can't get rid of the old search items. On IE I simply highlighted them and deleted which got rid of them permanently. Now I must have a couple of hundred search terms and can't figure out how to get rid of the ones I don't want.

[Graybeard58]

If your computer runs Windows XP, you should also upgrade to Microsoft's free Service Pack 2, despite the very slight risk it will hurt your system.

It didn't hurt my system when I down loaded it, I just couldn't get on line anymore until I completely uninstalled it.

I have netscape7.1 now.

[Trampled by Lambs]

I've been using Firefox happily for months..

But yesterday morning, I woke up and all of my bookmarks had vanished. I am a little miffed about that.

It's very odd.. they were completely gone (I searched). I am the only user of the machine and am an experienced user.

I had a lot of links that will take time to find again, if I find them at all.

If it happens again I may have to rethink using FF.

Aside from that it's been a great browser.

[Bahbah]

Confessing how embarrased I am, I'm asking anyway. How do you switch browsers, and do you have to do a lot of stuff to or with your computer to do it. If so, I'd best leave well enough alone.

[dennisw]

FIREFOX TRICK:
Go to tools>
options>
cookies>
view cookies>

Then remove the San Jose MercuryNews cookie.
Then you can read the link to this article without registering.
This trick works for many newspapers.
Your first look at San Jose Mercury News is allowed but when you look again they try to force you to register.

[jejones]

One thing puzzles me: What are "extensions," and how are they used?

Firefox/Mozilla extensions are code that do a lot of useful things--one of my favorites is "Adblock", which lets you selectively block files. You install extensions and then they just work. Head over to https://update.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefox and check them out.

[politicket]

I use Firefox as a secondary browser (when browsing websites developed on a Mac by someone who doesn't make their javascript cross-compatible).

Internet Explorer still has a MUCH better rendering engine (especially in terms of speed). Firefox is too annoying waiting for the rendering of a page to occur.

[Graybeard58]

I woke up and all of my bookmarks had vanished

I had the same experience with netscape 7.1

Also occasionnaly my down load manager will disappear for a few days and then come back.

[ibbryn]

I can heartily recommend Firefox, based on my three weeks of usage.
Seems very cool.

[Ex-Dem]

No, all you have to do is install it. Firefox won't do anything to your Internet Explorer, although it may ask you if you want Firefox to be your default browse. You're free to say no. If you find that you don't like it, you can just go back to using Internet Explorer. I should mention that Firefox is capable of importing your settings and bookmarks/favorites from Internet Explorer, so you don't have to waste a lot of time customizing it.

[mbennett203]

Firefox rawks the b0>< :D

[BJClinton]

Here's the official web page. I love the pop-up controls and defense against spyware.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[PA Lurker]

Nick, I'm adding myself to the list of satisfied Foxfire users. I am grateful to the Freeper who put me onto it many months ago.

Also, you have a cool FR page. I am a fan of La Senora too.

[Mrs Zip]

ping

[Ex-Dem]

Try right-clicking on the Google form to the right of the address bar and select "Clear History".

[South40]

Internet Explorer still has a MUCH better rendering engine (especially in terms of speed). Firefox is too annoying waiting for the rendering of a page to occur.

Interesting. I have two PCs and run Firefox on both. As a comparison, pages open noticably much faster than do those when I use IE.

[IamConservative]

I switched a few weeks ago and would observe:

1) WAY FASTER rendering speeds w/ Firefox.

2) Many nice features including many browser extensions that help facilitate specific tasks.

3) Tabbed browsing. Very nice is you regularly use an enterprise web base application like Siebel, mySAP, etc.

4) Much less spyware susceptible. I haven't had one of these vile creatures since I switched. I even safely surf Drudge again.

5) I have noticed some instability on Windows XP since switching. Had the browser hang a few times and had a browser process get orphaned a few times - browser exe still running and nothing visibly left on the task bar.

6) The toolbar area is not as flexible as IE, but you soon forget that nicety.

7) Automatically lets you know when updates are available.

[tfecw]

I've been using firefox for about a year and a half now. Its not too shabby. I'm a fan anyways

Firefox is a little bit slower, but thats basically because windows preloads IE in the expectation that it'll be used (not a bad idea i guess) So they get to cheat a little bit on that front.

In terms of page rendering. I really haven't noticed that much of a performance hit. Usually well made pages respond about the same.

On security. Well the simple fact is people target IE for the same reason because the world targets the us. Its affluent, rich, and "invading" people's lives. Firefox can (and probably will be) broken like everything else.

Somethings kill me about firefox though. It really bugs me that when you click on a link that spawns a new page. Firefox spawns a new page. Seems to me that if your a "tab" browser it should spawn a new tab. Oh well...maybe sometime.

Also... whats the ctrl - o equilivent for firefox? anyone know that one off hand? its been killing me (ctrl-o brings up the url box at the top of the page in IE)

[ECM]

Opera user here on 7.6 beta--no complaints.