Hi,
Firefox is my favorite toy.
http://www.firefoxie.net
However, I don't really have time for a lot of its quirks. I love the developer extension, and if I want to see something in a different size, I'll pop up firefox.
I could always get that functionality with an IE add-on but hey, like I said, Firefox is my favorite toy.
During the security crazed days of IE6 on XP Service Pack 1, I got so tired of IE I stopped using it for periods of time. I just got tired of the spyware.
Since XP service pack 2 came out, I'm back to IE as my regular browser. It loads fast, of course it does this because it only needs to open a window,
not load a program, you can't beat that.
It feels lighter and faster now in the Service Pack 2 iteration, probably just the lack of spyware that has managed to infiltrate my pc these days.
I think that was the "real" slowdown before.
IE6
I like deciding which activex controls I will allow.
I like deciding which downloads I will allow.
I like opening windows madly with almost no overhead.
Firefox
I like the extensions - fun toys
I like the "in page search" feature
I like the "build it yourself" aspect, you put in the options that "you" want.
If Internet Explorer continues to work as well as it does now, with all of the available features and add-ons that are available for it, why switch?
Any computer these days needs:
Norton Anti-Virus
Ad-aware 6
Spybot Search & Destroy
A router for a low-overhead firewall
In addition, you can have secure Internet Explorer to the extreme if you really need it.
Internet Explorer security has improved greatly by default and there are lots of options if you really want to see how far you can take security.
You can lock down Internet Explorer
You can use Qwik-Fix Pro which comes out with security patches even before Microsoft sometimes
You can also use Maxthon if you want all the latest features like tabbed browsing added to your Internet Explorer
There's also a product called
Secure IE but I haven't tried it yet and therefore have no comment on it.
A balanced view will say, "Use what you like, when you like". When I'm playing around, I use firefox sometimes. I also use it for the great "in page text search" feature.
Most of the time though, I need to get things done so I use Internet Explorer.
Danno