Mozilla's Firefox internet browser...it's great !!!

[+ cougar]

I have now had this browser installed on my computer as a second browser for a few days, and it is great. It is faster than Internet Explorer, just as esay to work with and it is free from a download. The ultimate test was the Rentboy site....loads faster, as does all other sites.

 

So I would reccomend that you load this browser, and I am sure you will agree that it is better than Internet Explorer. No conflicks with any other program, I am using Windows XP.

 

The link for this free download for Firefox 1.0:

 

http://www.mozilla.org/

[+ deej]

Interestingly, I just read a conversation among a bunch of webmasters comparing their website traffic (mostly tech-weenie nerd sites). In just the last 90 days, visitors to their sites have been using Firefox more and more. Internet Explorer has dropped 20% in 90 days.

 

A lot of people are attracted because of the well-known security exploits involving IE. While it's true that Firefox is impervious to those, Firefox has security holes of its own! There just aren't any exploits yet because it's the lesser-used browser and hackers go after the broadest reach/biggest kill. As it grows in popularity, you can expect to start hearing about Firefox exploits.

 

It *is* a cool browser. One of its most endearing features is that if a poorly-designed, non-standard site (like microsoft.com ;-)) will only display properly in IE, you can tell Firefox to pretend it's IE and the site generally works fine.

 

One of the webmasters in the group I mentioned above ran a query specifically for hits coming from within microsoft.com. 86% were using Firefox! Hmmm .... ya think maybe they've noticed? Think they might maybe be preparing to react? }(

[DelawareGuy]

I've been using Firefox for about 3 months now, as my primary browser. I've had no trouble accessing web sites (once verizon.com wouldn't load, but the next time it did). The only issue I have is with storing passwords; sometimes Firefox remembers my password, sometimes it doesn't. And it's almost always here at the MC that it doesn't remember my password. I re-type it maybe a dozen times, and then suddenly, there it is next time I log in. Other than that, I think it's great. Tabbed browsing rocks!

[Guest skrubber]

Have been using Firefox for about six months now and yes it is great. Only thing with mine is the bookmarks don't seem to work. It is my number one browser with a crisp appearance and is much faster than IE.

[roma]

I have a question - I use Maxthon - an add-on to IE. The BIG thing is its ez to use tabbed interface. Does FF have that also?

[Boston Guy]

Yes.

 

Firefox is great. :-)

 

BG

[Kevin Slater]

I just installed Firefox and it's doing okay, but when I try to check one of my email accounts (http://www.stanfordalumni.org/home.html) the browser simply has conniptions, flashing all sorts of URLs, maybe five a second, until it finally times out. Odd, huh?

[Guest JustStarting]

For a few sites you need to turn OFF the popup blocker to get them to work correctly--I don't know if this applies to your problem or not; but it has helped me with a couple of sites.

On my Apple system, Firefox is noticeably faster than Safari.

[Guest Fruit]

I had to uninstall Firefox after using it about two weeks. The browser and email client worked great. The problem I had was both were painfully slow to load on my Win XP copmputer. It took up to 45 seconds. Whereas IE loads in about 5 seconds.

 

If that can be corrected I would go back for the tabbed browsing and headline feeds.

[Rick Munroe]

Because of the above testimonials, I just downloaded Firefox and I have a question. When I went to sign on here in the Message Center or on other sites like amazon (in each case, by the way, I was disappointed to see that my stored passwords were not transferred over from Internet Explorer), I kept getting a message saying that the connection was not secure and that others could possibly intercept my information. I have never had that happen when using IE. Btw, I use Zone Alarm firewall and McAfee VirusScan. Can any technonerds help me?

[Steven_Draker]

Why are you assuming that your saved passwords will be transferred automatically from one browser to another ?

[Rick Munroe]

I'm not assuming; it asks you when you install if you would like to transfer all of your data, including favorites and stored passwords.

[bbyguy]

When you 1st started using IE, you would have received a similar msg saying internet connection not secure. In the pop up window, there is an option to turn this msg off when connecting again to the internet. You most likely did that.

[RobPA]

I also love Firefox, but would make a suggestion to anyone using it. Install the extension that backups your bookmarks. Twice over the six months that I've been using Firefox all of my bookmarks just disappeared. Browsing the Mozilla help forums I learned that this is not an unusual occurence. The backup extension copies your bookmarks every time you close the browser so if your bookmarks should disappear just copy the most recent backup.

[Boston Guy]

Exactly. You probably turned off the equivalent IE message years ago. Just tell Firefox you don't want to see that warning.

 

Firefox is definitely superior to IE. I suspect you'll like it a lot.

 

BG

[Boston Guy]

I'm not sure why your passwords weren't transferred. When I installed Firefox a couple of months ago, I chose to have the passwords transferred and they all came over just fine.

 

My suspicion -- but it's only a suspicion -- is that your only choices at this point are to either re-enter your password for each site the first time you go to a passworded site in Firefox or uninstall/reinstall Firefox and try again.

 

But you can try asking your question here: http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/

 

This annoyance notwithstanding, if all of your prior Web-browsing experience has been in Internet Explorer, I suspect you'll quickly learn to like Firefox very much. It's just better in lots of little ways and also in some major ways (like supporting tabbed browsing and automatically blocking popups).

 

BG

[Boston Guy]

Rob,

 

Thanks for the warning. However, I just checked for that extension and Firefox doesn't list any extensions currently available for backing up bookmarks automatically. I checked pretty thoroughly but didn't see anything. Can you provide a link or, if not, the exact name of the extension?

 

Thanks,

BG

[RobPA]

Here you go. It's not listed for some reason among extensions. I found it in the help forum.

 

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=13&hl=bookmark+backup

[Boston Guy]

Rob:

 

Thanks. Just installed it and tested it and it's working great. You may very well have saved me from some major future headache. Thanks!

 

BG

 

ps: If anyone else decides to install this, Firefox will prevent the site from installing the software when you click the "Install" button. At the top of the window, you'll see a message indicating that the action was blcoked. There will be an Options button to the right of the message. If you click that button, you'll be able to choose to allow the site to install software on your computer. Choose that option. Then close the little dialog and press the Install button again. As is the case with all Firefox extensions, you will need to stop Firefox and then restart it before it will take effect.

[buckguy]

I've been using Firefox (and Thunderbird, it's email program) for almost 6 months at home and in the office. It helps to have broadband, as Firefox is slower to load than IE. Occasionally, I find an interface that doesn't work with Firefox (such as the personnel interface that does our payroll at work, or some Real Player applications), but this is rare and I still have IE as a back-up. Thunderbird is fine and there's nothing I miss from Outlook.

 

Firefox reduces the number of spybots, etc. but doesn't eliminate them. I still have a-squared, spybot, and ad-aware, but now I just run them once a week, instead of almost everyday. I like IE's bookmarking better, but basically, I like Mozilla and am very happy to have this alternative to the Great Satan from Seattle.

[DelawareGuy]

I'm still having trouble with Firefox remembering passwords, especially here at the MC. I had posted earlier that it takes 6-8 times for Firefox to finally remember it. Now I've discovered that if I close Firefox completely, it goes back to not remembering the password again.

 

Also, I can't get into Gay.com with Firefox. But these are just minor annoyances; I'm overall very pleased with it and plan to use it as my primary browser.

[Rick Munroe]

>You probably turned off the equivalent IE message

>years ago. Just tell Firefox you don't want to see that

>warning.

 

So...does that mean that the connection really is "insecure"? It's nothing to be concerned about?

[Boston Guy]

Ummm... well, yes, it's really not secure and we generally don't care about that too much. For example, I don't care if someone intercepts the text I'm typing right now and reads it -- which is possible to do, since the connection isn't secure and all of the text is passed as plain text. Of course, the chances of someone intercepting any given message is small but it's not zero.

 

The only way to have some confidence that what you enter on a Webpage won't be intercepted and read by someone other than the intended recipient is to use secure connections. You'll see the little padlock icon on most sites when a form asks for confidential information. In fact, if it's not there, you shouldn't trust the site.

 

It's the same with all browsers, not something different about Firefox. Firefox was simply warning you about this because you hadn't yet told it not to do so.

 

BG

[tedbear]

>I just installed Firefox and it's doing okay, but when I try

>to check one of my email accounts

>(http://www.stanfordalumni.org/home.html) the browser simply

>has conniptions, flashing all sorts of URLs, maybe five a

>second, until it finally times out. Odd, huh?

 

 

I had a similar thing happen recently, but using Apple's Safari browser. It occurred when Apple moved their homepage which had been co-branded with Netscape. Many Mac users had the same experience. I simply went in and deleted all the cookies mentioning "Netscape". Problem gone!

 

Try deleting any cookies with stanfordalumni in their URLS and see if it helps.