[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Is Anyone Using Internet Explorer? here

[phillypa800]

i use IE8 for updates in XP only but primarily FF3 on XP,Vista,& WIN7. no other browser tickles my fancy.

[ivorycruncher]

I agree. Firefox 3.0, while not the fastest, is most certainly the most versatile and customizable. IE7/8 is a big, slow hog, and Opera, while fast, is just too simple for my tastes (same with Chrome).
And actually, I've been running Firefox 3.1 beta 3 for a bit now with zero issues, and that browser is BLAZING fast compared to FF 3.0. I've heard beta 4 (which will be versioned 3.5b4) is coming soon, and is supposed to be even faster. If that's the case, Opera and Chrome will certainly have something to think about, because speed alone isn't everything.

[Evildave]

Technically, every Windoze user is using IE, since it's 'part of the OS', and shares guts with Explorer and many applications carelessly linked to common libraries that ultimately reach into IE for services.

Most of it will be resident (and providing helpful services to malware developers) whether you want it or not.

[jrbales]

I use IE 8.0 as my primary browser and love it. I use Firefox as a secondary browser in the rare instances that IE8 doesn't work on a particular site. However, Compatibility View generally takes care of most problems so I don't open Firefox very often. I prefer the way things work in IE 8. Flame me all you want, Firefox fanboys, I go with Microsoft and like it!

[RNR19952]

I do not get the Firefox thing, put it on my test rig, ran it all day, have not used it since.
It was slow and did not do anything that IE does not already do.
So what's the attraction?

[publicmenace]

I run both at the same time. I use IE 8 for sites I visit that absolutely will not work with any other browser. Sirius Radio's streaming service is the big one. They are hooked into Windows Media player and so Firefox won't work there. I like Firefox's spell checker for posting on web forums like this one.
Right now I'm using only Firefox 3.0.9 because I happen to be using Ubuntu 10.8 at the moment. No IE or Sirius for the time being. Oh well, Pandora's nice, too.

[ivorycruncher]

@ jrbales - Hey, if IE8 works for you, great! Use what works for you, not what fanboys tell you. I'll gladly tell you why Firefox is my choice, but that doesn't mean it should be your choice too.


@RNR19952 - Firefox on its own isn't exactly earth-shattering, but when you factor in all the added functionality from extensions, and the themes you can install to make it look the way you want, it's awesome. I personally don't like the default theme myself, but there are PLENTY more to choose from. Also, just adding a couple extensions can significantly enhance different aspects of the browser, such as tab control. The Session Manager extension adds a lot more tab controls, including re-opening previously closed tabs, and restoring tabs in the event the browser closes unexpectedly (browser crash, PC crash, power failure, etc.). I also use Forecast Fox for weather info from accuweather.com, which is much lighter on system resources than any standalone weather app, and much more convenient than going to a weather website manually.



And that's only the beginning of what kinds of things you can add onto the browser. Sure, IE has addons too, but there's a limit to how much they can actually do since IE is a closed-source app. Firefox is open-source, which makes it much easier to customize in just about every way. As for being slow, I'm not sure why you thought that, since personal experience has shown that it's always been faster than IE. If nothing else, wait until the 3.5 upgrade graduates from beta and gets released to the public. It will be significantly faster than the current 3.0 release. For the short amount of time I've been running the current beta version, I can definitely see a big speed boost.



On the other hand, if you only do light browsing, and don't need a lot of fancy bells and whistles, IE will probably continue to work just fine for you. Don't feel that you need to switch just because others tell you to. If you personally don't get any additional value out of the switch, then there's really no point in switching.

[ImaPhake]

I've seen no noticeable speed difference between IE and Firefox on my machine. People should just use what they like and ignore the hype coming from either side.

IE8 has the ability to restore after a crash as well.

[RNR19952]

Thank you all for the information, I was not taking sides, I am no fan of M$, I just do not see why everyone thinks FF is so great? I really have no need to customize my browser to any real extent, other than how the tabs work. I think I tried the chrome on that PC too and it kept crashing, IE8 installs = 4, not working installs = 2, so I stopped. How is anyone else's luck with IE8? I will show my age and exclaim how I really liked Netscape 3x as I used it as the interface for the PC. LOL...

[AiM92]

What is Netscape? ;)

[RNR19952]

Exactly!

[Gizmo]

Ok my 2 cents worth, I now know why they make Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate or the old saying "To each his own"... enjoy your web browser no matter which one you use... :) lol

[Zach101man]

I only use IE8. firefox is crap, its too elementary and childish looking. I do have google chrome though for random times and hey its google. I love the speed of IE8 (yes it is fast). The new search bar is nice andmy favorite feature is it finds the site you want as u type it. sometime it only take a couple letters then you can hit shift+enter. I dont care if firefox has this or not. IE8 rocks

[coastie65]

IE8 all the way. Nuff said. coastie

[tremp101]

ie8 only. no FF or chrome rubbish for me!!!

[bbvammy]

IE8 = Windows only

FF = All OS

Since I use more then just one OS. Vista, XP, Ubuntu, USB Xbuntu

IE is not a good choice of browser for me

FF is better in sync between different OSs. ]:)

[yankeeDDL]

I don't like IE. Never did. And unless there are some serious changes, never will.
I love the possibility to customize the browser. Opera and Firefox give me that possibility. I find Opera buggy and prone to crash and I don't like the "forced" .torrent support. So I use FF most of the time. I have FF3.6 alpha installed for months now and I find it very fast. Comparable to Google Chrome, despite quite a few add-ons that run with it.
The AdBlock is a fantastic must-have in my opinion: it simply changes the way the Web looks. Without Ads browsing is much, much, much smoother and pleasant. AdBlock did to FF what the "popup-blocker" did years ago.
Not to mention that IE8 flunks the Acid test, meaning that you look at websites in a way DIFFERENT than how they were designed. Why would anyone want to do that?
In any case, it's good to have choices. There was no development on web browsing after IE defeated Netscape. The same will happen if we had only FireFox, or Google Chrome. So hurray for the competition.

[VSDude]

I'm torn between IE8 and Firefox, based on needs and use.

I like the way IE8 goes right back to the exact location of the page you came from when you hit the back button. Firefox just returns me to the top of the previous page.

On the other hand, Firefox's plugins and built-in spell check really make it shine. Firefox has also correctly rendered pages that IE8 (even with compatibility view enabled) finds fault with.

There are still times though when IE is required (for certain work or commerce related sites) and yet, there are times when Firefox is required (for WordPress admin, for instance).

I'd put Google Chrome and Opera in last place though - they're too basic for my needs.

[yankeeDDL]

VSDude, which FF version do you use?

With FF3.* works just the way you indicate (when you hit back, it goes back to the exact position on the previous page, wher eyou left it off).
I am using the latest version but I'm quite sure it worked like this already since 2.*.

Perhaps it's some of the settings that you have?

Have alook here: http://groups.google...e64d558a1f84874