OT: Which Web Browser Do You Use?

I might also add that my home pc often doubles as work pc (and vice versa, in some cases). I also have pop-up blockers installed, and am no longer annoyed by them.

Safari 99% of the time. I use Firefox only for sites that don't work with Safari. IE is a no-no!

Camino and Firefox. Camino 95%. (iMac G4, OS 10.4.3 (Tiger)

 

George (The Virus and Spyware-free Old Fud)

I use FireFox most of the time but I also have Netscape 8.1 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 2 installed and I use them occasionally.

 

Note that MSIE 7.0 is much safer than 6.0 and it now has tabbed browsing.

 

My wife uses Safari on her iMac but if I had a Mac, I'd use FireFox.

As well as Firefox, get all these:

 

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

 

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

 

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

 

an up to date antivirus package like this:

 

http://www.free-av.com/

 

a firewall like this:

 

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm

 

and all critical updates from:

 

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

 

All of these are free, or have free versions.

<< ... Give me one good reason to download and install yet another browser. ... >>

 

Two good reasons: Mozilla Firefox works better (and I think a half-step faster) with fewer vulnerabilities. That's been my experience.

 

[Note: I am neither a computer expert nor what I would describe as an "advanced computer user." My assumption is that experts *might* be better able to configure and protect IE to avoid trouble.]

Safari (Mac), Firefox (Mac/PC), Opera (PC), IE (PC). But mostly using Safari (PC only for

work)

Hhhmm... where are the other 80% ??? as some stats would indicate - over 80% of online surfers use Internet Explorer ....

Safari works fine. No nastiness.

Konqueror on Linux and Firefox on everything else. Oh, Opera on my mobile phone once in a month.

 

And stay away from IE7 until it is finished, whatever that means with MS Software. The current version is clearly marked as BETA, meaning it is not finished yet.

Firefox on 5 different computers.

 

A very tiny fraction of websites misbehave on Firefox vx. IE6. My most glaring is a subscription site for the pharmaceutical industry that is run entirely in Java....it's non-functional in Firefox.

 

Skip

Firefox - I've had zero problems of any sort since moving from Internet Exploiter, or whatever it's now called, a year ago. The nasty "buggers" haven't "bugged" Firefox yet!

 

If you've had a virus it isn't necessarily all IE's fault (oh, blame Microsoft anyway!) - maybe you should also ask what Antivirus and Firewall people use. For me it's Zone Alarm and AVG, plus Ad Aware free editions - no virus, trojans, hijacks, pests, nuisances or anxiety attacks for over a year!

On my mac, I use Opera.<br><br>

Opera has the interesting feature of not only tabs, but when you close a tab.. it goes into your 'trash bin' in Opera. This means if you accidently close one, you can easily bring it back up. Or if you close it earlier in the day and forgot the URL, you can get back to it. I find this easier than trawling through a browsers history window.<br><br>Some websites can load a little funny in Opera, but to me its not as big an issue as the benefit of the trash bin feature.

"Hhhmm... where are the other 80% ??? as some stats would indicate - over 80% of online surfers use Internet Explorer ...."

 

They're busy working, or laughing their asses off.

Nels,

 

I suspect that since ~80% of those using IE are at the office, and therefore have no choice as to which browser they use. IT departments are notorious for limiting choice. Second, a good percentage of computer users are pretty hopeless when it comes to actually using their computer and knowing their options (it's much the same as how hopeless most point and shoot camera users are). Remember, you're with a pretty select group of individuals here. The vast majority "out there" are clueless. Sounds crass, but it's true.

<<You'll be able to run Windoze (via a simple re-boot or via virtualization software) and have the safety, security and ease of use of the Mac>>

 

Ron,

 

You are no more secure running Windows on an Intel-based Mac than you are running on an Intel-based PC. The security problems do not magicly go away simply by installing Windows on Mac hardware.

I've been using IE since practically the day they made it available, and have been prudent enough to use all precautions necessary with firewalls, pop-up blockers, anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc. I have yet to see a reason to switch, though for the heck of it I may try out Firefox one day on my home pc if I find enough spare time.

 

On a side note, I feel that no one using a browser such as IE should have to spend extra money on security software to protect their browsing and online shopping activities - i.e. MSFT should supply all the necessary protection software for free, or a very nominal subscription fee. It bothers me that I have to spend extra money on firewall stuff that I bought from Symantec and McAfee.

Nels, if Microsoft designed Windows 2000 and XP for security instead of ease of use, you wouldn't need all this. But Windows would be as "hard" to use as Linux, then :-)

 

OTOH, you can make IE 6 pretty secure, just turn of every form of scripting, ActiveX and Applets. A whole new web experience :-)

 

I've used Mosaic, switched to Netscape and stayed with it. There are a couple of websites which won't work with those, I remember when I tried to buy a printer in Staples online shop in 1998 and got lots of VB script errors, I bought the printer somewhere else.

Firefox

Opera and Firefox. For firefox I've added these exts: Session saver, bookmarks synchronizer, plain text links, mouse gestures, and adblock

 

Nels: IEv3?? Shiver!

Safari is very nice. I used to use Konqueror a lot before I got the Mac. Apple has improved

a lot on Konqueror.

Rob,

 

>You are no more secure running Windows on an Intel-based Mac than you are running

on an Intel-based PC. The security problems do not magicly go away simply by installing

Windows on Mac hardware.

 

In fact, you are more secure as your network connection goes through the Mac's firewall.

 

In addition, when your windows gets infected or owned with spyware, the entire windows

environment is just a file on the mac. Delete it and copy back the file you saved after first

installing windows in the VM.

 

Finally, chances are you'll surf and email on the Mac side and so be less exposed on the

Windows side.

 

It really is better on a mac.

<p>Konqueror, Mozilla, Firefox, Safari. Sometimes Opera.</p><p>IE won't run on my main (Linux) computer, and when I reinstalled Mac OS on the other I saw no reason to waste any bytes of its (smallish) hard drive on M$IE.</p><p>Actually M$IE isn't all that bad, but the alternatives are obviously better. M$ and its products are stuck in the last century.</p><p>Now try exercising your browsers <a href="http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/">here</a>.</p>

Safari still works well on my old eMac. I like how Apple seems to stay on top of security

issues and gets the patches out to users (in the form of free downloads) quickly. I'm not

too happy that Apple has switched to Intel processors and I don't plan to buy an Intel Mac

until I absolutely have to. I've been a satisfied Mac user since 1984.

<i>I suspect that since ~80% of those using IE are at the office</i><p>

 

I watch the statistics on my web site visits, and most of those are IE users coming in from non-work type IPs. The vast majority of people I know use IE at home, or come in at times that obviously aren't work hours - a techie-oriented forum like this one attracts different users, obviously. I use Firefox but test everything in IE (IEView is a great extension) since that's what people use to view the site.