Do you use FireFox? And why?

[DarkJedi664]

I wanted to ask people if they used FF over IE. And if so, why? I recently got into an argument with Charlie Douchebag over at the Inquirer.net saying that IE is SOOOO insecure that he HAS to use FF because he'll get viruses and spyware by using IE. Now honestly, why do you use FF, is it because you believed the hype that IE is so insecure, do you just like the look? I refuse to use FF mainly because it's Netscape based, but also because I know better than to believe the hype that FF is more secure than IE. You CAN'T get a virus or spyware just by having IE open; unless you are going to a shady site, or have accepted the ActiveX control; and people who believe otherwise are just plain wrong...so let me know.

[Imbroglio]

i use it because i have tweaked it to the point that i like the way it handles the web and web-based apps, not saying that you couldn't do that with IE, just i spent more time in FF. i like the look, the feel and everything better than IE, that's why i use it. IE is as customizable as making toast, sure you could use either butter or jam, but it's still just plain old toast.

[DarkJedi664]

have you tried IE7 at all? i think you'll be pleasantly surprised :)

but why did you start using FF in the first place? what make you change?

[a12ctic]

ive been using mozzila for years, when firefox came over i naturaly switched, but really theres no reason to be using IE, its utter ****, especialy IE6, IE7 is SLIGHTLY better and thats only because they coppied a whole bunch of firefox's features... honestly, i think that ie is possibly one of the worst web browsers ever, id rather be using something text based, like lynx, than IE...

[Marvel_us]

Tabbed browsing is what won me over to use FF. IE7 has it now too I think, but why switch?

[DarkJedi664]

ive been using mozzila for years, when firefox came over i naturaly switched, but really theres no reason to be using IE, its utter ****, especialy IE6, IE7 is SLIGHTLY better and thats only because they coppied a whole bunch of firefox's features... honestly, i think that ie is possibly one of the worst web browsers ever, id rather be using something text based, like lynx, than IE...
sorry but you haven't actually given any facts, you've just given you're opinion. honestly explain why IE is crap as you say; and why it's the worst browser ever.

I'm not looking for "i use it because IE is crap". if you are going to actually say that, explain why it's crap, and not just because FF is better.

[superklye]

For one, IE doesn't conform to W3C standards and therefore displays CSS differently than a broswer that does (Firefox).

Plus, I really like all the plugins and stuff for FF.

[DarkJedi664]

that's a better explanation :) though FF isn't up to standards either.

[jAkUp]

I use it for tabs, and cached browsing. The spyware is B.S.

[1337_Like_ThaT]

I.E 7.0 with tabbed browsing ftw :)

I have both firefox and IE on my system and I have no preference between the two, but I mainly use IE as it has been set to my primary web browser for quite some time now

[jAkUp]

Yea I think IE7 is pretty good, even if they did completely rip off most of Firefox's stuff.

[grey_1]

I've never had anymore spyware troubles with ie than I have ff tbh. Your browsing habits come into play there.

I find ie7 to be pretty sweet + it's more the standard for some sites (much fewer now) that may not render pages correctly in ff.
Customizing it is a different story, themes wise any way. There's some great programs out there like windowblinds, but I think they all cost, except for the vista transformation pack, which is very well done imho.
Not much in the way of extensions.
I've never been hacked through either browser.

FF has tons of free themes and extensions, support is good and speed has increased a good deal recently.

Main reason I use ff here is there seems to be a bug which crashes ie (6 or 7) on this site. Others have experienced it, some others haven't. But overall very happy with ff.

[DarkJedi664]

besides tabbed browsing, how has IE7 "stolen" features of FF? The phising filter actually came first from IE7, and tabbed browsing has been around for ages, so FF wasn't first.

Also, if you use IE, have you tried any IE shells like Avant Browser, or maxathon? I personally use Avant Browser mainly for the tabs and the fact that it'll save my open pages so when i load it later, all my pages are opened again (i LOVE that); IE7 now has that feature which is cool; but i love bottom tabs instead of top tabs; easier to work with.

thanks for the responses guys, keep em coming.

[evilghost]

I use Firefox because it's cross-platform and works on Linux. I've also used Opera as well. Both support Tabbed Browsing. As ac12tic clearly stated IE is chit and anyone using it is either already owned or is likely to be owned in the near future.

Reasons why IE is shovelware, notice the dates as FYI, I've only pulled this month's unpatched security vulnerabilities:

2006-07-21 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "Content-Type" Header Handling Denial of Service Vulnerability
2006-07-21 : Microsoft Internet Explorer CEnroll Object Handling Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability
19.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer Office Web Components Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability
19.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer Common Controls Library Remote Integer Overflow Vulnerability
17.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer DirectX Image Transform Object Denial of Service Vulnerability
17.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "MHTMLFile" Object Client-Side Denial of Service Vulnerability
15.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "FolderItem" Object Access Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability
13.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer DirectX Image Transform Object Denial of Service Vulnerability
12.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "TriEditDocument" Object Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability
11.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer HTML Editing Component Denial of Service Vulnerability
09.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "DirectAnimation" Control Denial of Service Vulnerability
09.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer Remote Data Service Object Denial of Service Vulnerability
07.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer "appendChild()" Client-Side Denial of Service Vulnerability
06.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer Structured Graphics Control Denial of Service Vulnerability
03.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer HTML Help Control "HHCtrl" Memory Corruption Vulnerability
03.07.2006 : Microsoft Internet Explorer Data Access ActiveX Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability

[AdmiralHalsey..]

I just use it for the tabbed browsing, not taskbar crowding and stuff. I also like how easy it is to adjust the themes and extensions, and the crazy fact that its good and free.

[DarkJedi664]

ummmm when was the last time you got hacked? Or hacked just for using IE? NEVER! and by the way, FF isn't without their security flaws either. people only care because IE has 85+% market share. granted i'm not saying IE is the best thing since sliced bread, but people need to realize that IE is NOT as insecure as people think it is. all software has security flaws, and the only reason why people try to exploit those flaws is because so many people use it; yet no one cares to hack FF or Mac, because they aren't popular.

Free??? since when has MS charged for IE? and don't give me the BS of i paid for it with windows. Opera was a pay browser, though thankfully they went to free; but their mobile client is still pay.

[evilghost]

ummmm when was the last time you got hacked? Or hacked just for using IE? NEVER! and by the way, FF isn't without their security flaws either. people only care because IE has 85+% market share. granted i'm not saying IE is the best thing since sliced bread, but people need to realize that IE is NOT as insecure as people think it is. all software has security flaws, and the only reason why people try to exploit those flaws is because so many people use it; yet no one cares to hack FF or Mac, because they aren't popular.

Free??? since when has MS charged for IE? and don't give me the BS of i paid for it with windows. Opera was a pay browser, though thankfully they went to free; but their mobile client is still pay.

I run Linux so I don't get "hacked". However to cite your IE example specifically would 1+ Million people being served malware from MySpace due to a banner-iframe count?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/07/myspace_ad_served_adware_to_mo.html

Internet Explorer users who visited a Web page containing this ad and whose IE was not equipped with the WMF patch would not get that warning. Rather, their machines would silently download a Trojan horse program that installs junk software in the PurityScan/ClickSpring family of adware.

people only care because IE has 85+% market share.

Tell me more about these numbers your pull from your arse.
IE - 65%, http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
IE - 55%, http://www.safalra.com/website/web-browser-market-share/

If you ever were going to apply for a job at Krispi-Kreme now would be the time to do so because I just made your mouth look like a glazed donut.

[boro]

Opera.

[DarkJedi664]

from the wiki:

"Nevertheless, Internet Explorer remains the dominant web browser, with a global usage share of around 85% (based on statistics reference). Usage is higher in Asia and lower in Europe. For example, the share is around 94% in Japan, and around 70% in Germany."

what i'm talking about is global market share...and was that some sort of a diss you were trying to attempt?

[Schugy]

I use Linux since 2001. There was no IE but the Mozilla Suite 0.9. I've tried several early Firefoxes but I switched with 1.0.

Other friends and relatives use FF too. It's stable, feature rich and easy to use.

FF usage is 39% here in Germany ;-)

[DarkJedi664]

39%, and IE is 70%, hmmm 109%?

i'm not trying to start a flame war here, so please don't make it; i just want to find actual answers here.

[Schugy]

I just use the OneStat numbers (http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox44-mozilla-firefox-has-slightly-increased.html), Websidestory tells us it's just 26,6%.

[Aphot]

Firefox is alot cleaner looking, and has alot more feature I can use VS IE.

[|MaguS|]

Firefox for me feels faster and just more stable when browsing many pages at once. Here at work everything is web based so im forced to use IE since were not allowed to change the default settings for the network. I just hate how I have no tab browsing and how slow it loads even network pages.

Firefox > all

Vista better allow me to use Firefox...

[DarkJedi664]

you should try using avant browser since it allows tabs, and uses IE as it's core; plus it doesn't require admin rights to install ;)