Posted on 12/20/2004 10:09:29 PM PST by Redcloak
Thu Dec 16, 3:00 AM ET |
Michael Desmond
Are you sick and tired of Internet Explorer? Have you grown weary of the constant vulnerabilities and patches? Do you scratch your head at sudden program lockups and crashes? Are you dismayed that Microsoft hasn't lifted a finger to improve or enhance IE since it buried Netscape's Navigator browser at the dawn of the century?
Yeah, me too.
Welcome to Internet Explorer backlash. For the first time since Microsoft launched its flagship browser in 1995, Internet Explorer is actually losing market share. Research firm WebSideStory reported that the enormous chunk of IE users declined from a high of 95 percent in June to 92.9 percent in October. That number could drop further, as a sudden wealth of good browser options attracts users of all stripes.
A lot of the credit can go to the folks at the open-source Mozilla Foundation, which was established in 1998 to breathe new life into the fast-failing Netscape browser platform. It's taken six years and the utter failure of Netscape the company, but Mozilla is finally delivering on its promise.
Today, not one, but two significant browser alternatives are powered by Mozilla's Gecko software code base--America Online's Netscape 7.2 and the wildly popular new Firefox 1.0 browser. Of course, even those two aren't the only IE challengers: A third major alternative, the Opera browser from Opera Software, has been serving disaffected IE users for years.
With so many choices just a software download away, questions swirl. Why should you care? Which browser is best? And after all is said and done, should you really switch? Software junkies may tell you the answers are obvious and conclusions foregone, but wait; read on.
There are a lot of reasons why users are fleeing Microsoft Internet Explorer, but a lot of it boils down to security. Microsoft has chosen to run IE like a highly automated factory. ActiveX controls, dynamic HTML, and other technologies deliver lots of automation and programmatic control over IE. That's great if you want to integrate, say, a billing system with your browser, or have Web sites offer dynamic interfaces. But those same controls can be misused or targeted, amplifying the threat from malicious code.
Microsoft's response has been a grim parade of patches, fixes, and advisories. In some instances, Microsoft has suggested turning off features or setting security levels so high that they disable the very capabilities that make IE attractive in the first place. Finally in October, Microsoft released Windows XP (news - web sites) Service Pack 2, a wholesale update that helped close many of the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.
But understand this: No browser is without flaws. Mozilla patched some holes of its own prior to the Firefox 1.0 release, and Opera has issued a few security-centric updates in the past year. The problem for Microsoft is the overwhelming popularity of its browser. Virus writers and hackers target IE because there are so many systems running it.
Perhaps more frustrating than security leaks is the fact that Microsoft quit adding new features to its browser. The last major feature refresh for IE dates back to August 2001--and it shows. Firefox, Netscape, and Opera all offer significant feature improvements over IE, including tabbed browsing for juggling multiple Web pages, and built-in pop-up blocking to prevent ads from opening new browser windows. Other refinements include helpful managers for file downloads, integrated search bars, and more accessible controls for managing histories, cookie files, and the browser cache.
In fact, the future of Web browsing comes down to one word: tabs. I realized it the instant I fired up multiple pages in a single Opera program window. Just like that, I could browse a half-dozen Web pages with ease, jumping from one to the next simply by clicking on the little tabs at the top of the window. What's more, I could open multiple tabbed pages in the background, so they could load while I looked at the page in the foreground.
Not all tabbing systems are created equal, and no one has done it perfectly yet. Opera gets the nod for best keyboard shortcuts. For example, I can close a tabbed page by holding Shift and clicking on the page tab; clicking the tab for the foreground page bounces me to the last page I viewed. I can even drag tabs around to keep pages in neat order. Both Firefox and Netscape offer tabbing that is a bit more rigid.
Of the four browsers I've worked with--IE, Firefox, Netscape, and Opera--Firefox 1.0 stood out as the best overall choice. The browser does an excellent job of faithfully displaying Web pages, offers a superior user interface, and suffers fewer crashes than my previous favorite, Opera. It's also highly customizable through something called Firefox Extensions. I installed one module that lets me navigate pages using mouse gestures, a feature I became addicted to during my Opera years.
One area where you'll hear browser makers tout an advantage is performance, or how quickly a browser can show you Web sites. I'd urge you to take any such claims with a grain of salt. In my testing, I found that performance was usually determined by the speed of my Internet connection (not surprisingly) rather than one browser or another. Although Firefox tended to outperform all the others in loading complex pages, we're talking about a difference of one to two seconds.
When the dust settles, the different browsers offer their own unique benefits and drawbacks. Here's a quick take on which browser might be best for you, depending on how you work.
Firefox: The best all-around alternative to IE. Great for power users who want to add functionality to the browser, and appropriate for newbies just getting started.
Internet Explorer: Best for corporate users in controlled environments and those who spend most of their time on Microsoft-branded or IE-specific Web sites.
Netscape: Best for AOL subscribers (with AOL Instant Messenger integration) and those who are willing to put up with some rough edges to use other goodies, including an HTML editor and e-mail program.
Opera: Best for power users who keep many pages open at once and perform frequent downloads. There's an e-mail program included, but banner ads on the free version of the browser are annoying.
So is it time to ditch Internet Explorer once and for all? In a word, no. Microsoft requires its browser to access its Windows Update and Office Update services, and it's not uncommon to find Web sites that are designed specifically for IE. Pages such as MSNBC.com can challenge non-Microsoft browsers. Firefox renders MSNBC pretty well, while Opera fails to render the fly-out menus on the navigation bar.
For the time being, most users will need to keep IE handy, just in case. Keep in mind that you can have more than one browser on your computer. If one acts up, close it and launch the other.
But for general-purpose Web browsing, there is no reason to put off the switch a minute longer. Firefox, Netscape, and Opera are an impressive trio of IE alternatives that could help shelter you from the daily blizzard of Internet exploits.
Michael Desmond is a freelance writer living in Burlington, Vermont. His wife doesn't understand how anyone can get so excited about tabs.
2004 IE 6 IE 5 O 7 Moz NN 3 NN 4 NN 7 December 67.0% 4.7% 2.1% 21.2% 0.2% 0.2% 1.2% November 68.5% 5.0% 2.2% 19.3% 0.2% 0.2% 1.2% October 69.5% 5.7% 2.2% 17.5% 0.2% 0.2% 1.3% September 69.6% 6.2% 2.3% 16.9% 0.2% 0.2% 1.3% August 70.3% 7.0% 2.3% 15.5% 0.3% 0.3% 1.4% July 71.0% 7.7% 2.3% 13.8% 0.3% 0.3% 1.4% June 72.4% 8.3% 2.3% 11.8% 0.3% 0.3% 1.4% May 72.6% 9.2% 2.2% 11.0% 0.3% 0.3% 1.4% April 72.4% 10.1% 2.1% 10.3% 0.3% 0.3% 1.4% March 72.1% 10.7% 2.1% 9.6% 0.4% 0.4% 1.4% February 71.5% 11.5% 2.2% 9.0% 0.4% 0.4% 1.5% January 71.3% 12.8% 2.1% 8.2% 0.4% 0.5% 1.5%
I have found that Bargain Buddy requires the 1-2-3 punch of "Spybot Search and Destroy," "Ad-Aware" and "AVG Antivirus."
But it can be removed permanently.
The problem you're having is that Bargain Buddy hides a copy of itself in the "prefetch" directory and repropogates/reinstalls after removal.
bump
Opera's tabbed pages can also be dragged off the window onto the desktop, and the 'session' feature allows a preset collection of multi-tabbed, multiple windows to be started with one click.
If for instance you have a dozen web pages to browse for stock market data, another 8 for economic/business news and 10 more for forex and commodity data, they can all be started with one click grouped as three windows (for example) and will load pre-arranged on your screen(s) completed with forward and back button pre-loaded as however they were last used.
Very efficient memory and CPU use.
Combined with zonealarm's ad blocker, it's great.
I'd like to see Opera add a feature that enables java script or java by website, like it does now for cookies.
I'll give it some more time.
My ieSpell doesn't work though. :(
What makes it different from Weatherbug, which provides the same weather display feature in your system tray? http://www.weatherbug.com
We have DirectTV satellite for TV, but they want us to pay $600 for some sort of box to use them as an internet provider. Plus another $100/month to use their services.
AOL (I HATE AOL -juvenile IM and all the other Mickey Mouse crap and pop-ups) is the only ISP with a local access number.
Regardless, I can travel to any city in the USA or any country in Europe or South America and transact email business on a local dial-up connection from my hotel.
Any ideas?
Sorry, that won't happen until Longhorn ships. By then you'll be shelling out money for a new computer since Longhorn will probably be tied into Intel's new Palladium chip.
Download and install Javacool Software's Spywareblaster. That should keep em from coming back. And go to Eric L. Howes' website and download and lock down Internet Explorer with IE Spy-Ad. Both measures should keep your computer virtually 100% parasite-free. And they're both FREE.
IE can be removed from the desktop but not from Windows XP. Its integrated into the Operating System so if you did remove it, parts of Windows XP won't function. Its different from Windows 9X where you could delete the browser without missing anything. The reason Microsoft can't upgrade its browser is there's a lot of Windows OS code that has to be rewritten. You'd think Bill Gates would have kept the two separate. And now he's kicking himself for that mistake.
Is weatherbug powered by adware?
The free version does display an ad. It doesn't actually do anything malicious except display the local weather in the taskbar. If you don't want to live with a sponsored ad, by all means upgrade to the paid version.
I do not want to rouse any defensiveness. I just don't like ads. The firefox forecast extension has no ads.
Good point. I wouldn't consider it adware since it does provide a useful service I don't mind advertisers subsidizing. What I do consider adware are pure ads that are forcibly foisted upon me without my knowledge and my consent. As far as true adware is concerned, my attitude has always been that if advertisers want to turn my computer into a 24 hour bulletin board for crummy ads, they ought pay me to display them.
Absolutely. I feel the same way about those stickers car dealers put on cars, and I've told them so.
I can be pretty damned curmudgeonly/crotchety about these things, but it's the principle.
The only drawbacks I can see for the firefox weather extensions are (a) they might decide to go to an ad basis since Firefox has exploded in popularity and (b) the weather is not visible if the browser is not running.
As for those drawbacks, if ads appear I'll deal with it then, and since my browser is constantly active (with FR, of course), the weather forecast is also always there.
The only thing it doesn't do is improve the weather.
Thanks for the tip- I just installed it, and it is a cool little extention!
Everyone else? If you can't abide the idea of using Firefox- for whatever reason- get something else to use in lieu of Internet Explorer.
Even the old copies of Netscape you probably have on all those free discs you got in the mail are better than IE.
We started using FF on the home PC's after a nasty hijacker in June, and we only use IE on the few sites that will not accept alternatives.
I use FF from time to time but I agree completely that the $40 for Opera is well worth it for me, it's a well crafted product that has a lot of features built in vs. plug-ins that may, or may not, work. I would encourage browser shoppers to give the ad supported model a try.
Was struck by another comment a few messages back about IE being Soviet style. I felt the same thing when I went from NS to IE 3.0 at which point I honestly thought IE was the better product (I don't think there was much question in the market). Funny how lack of innovation can result in such a quick sea change in the market, but my memory is that Gates made that very statement in their battle with the Feds.
For one thing, you don't get the blizzard of spam you get with Weatherbug.
My Mom and my Father-in-law both have Earthlink accounts and their dial-up numbers are local calls. In fact, they each have a couple of local numbers to pick from on the list.
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