What is the upside of using Firefox vs Explorer? I see that many here are using it. Is it a better browser or is a "I hate Bill Gates thing"?

Also, If you change to Firefox must you uninstall Explorer.

1 yes
2. yes
3.no

Hi John,
Personally, I moved to Firefox because of the pop-up blocker feature and found that it was a much better browser and I've never really used IE since to be honest, apart from the odd time where I've encountered a web page that will only load with IE.

Also I was having problems with IE constantly crashing when surfing the Net and I just got sick of it.

Funny you should mention un-installing IE, as far as I'm aware, you can't actually delete it from a Windows computer, it is part of the package.
I tried to do this once on one of my other computers and Windows seriously threw a wobbly.
I think this is also the case with Windows Media Player as well, but I haven't tried to delete that.

I am also a happy Firefox fan. IE was crashing my computer all the time. I still use AOL for Email and part of Steve Case's deal with the devil to get AOL on the Windoze desktop was switching from the Netscape browser AOL owns to IE. AOL reliability has sucked ever since.
I suppose I should try to get another Email address but about 200 people know me as gfretwell@aol.com. All I ever use on AOL is mail

You guys should take a look at Opera Browser. Its very fast and it doesnt take much effort to install the plugins [flash, quicktime... etc]

~Matt

Not quite sure what you mean here; AOL has been on Windows since before it owned Netscape. I believe that Netscape is an end-of-life product, and that they aren't developing it anymore. Back in the (mid-late 90's) time when I was still using AOL, you didn't have to use or install another browser at all, as the browser was integrated into the AOL core client.

I installed Firefox yesterday. Looks very good. Spell check in this browser. Still exploring the browser, but so far I am very pleased. Thanks everyone.......John

Before they released W/98 Gates told Case, the only way AOL would be on the W/98 install disks is if he dropped the Netscape option when you installed AOL software. (that happened at aol 3.0 as I recall) Case caved in and removed the netscape (or any other browser) option. AOL software got buggy after that. When I run AOL I am using IE even though my default browser is Firefox.
Netscape became an end of life product because of this. If AOL, the owner, can't use Netscape on their own product, how much future can it have. This is just another case of Microsoft squeezing superior technology out of the market with their wallet.

Actually, AOL bought Netscape after Win98 was released, and the lack of development partially stemmed from the free licensing that AOL received as part of their anti-trust claim against Microsoft.

I don't think they actually shipped W/98 in 98. If they did it was late in 98.

June 25, 1998

That was when the dropped the beta on the public like a cluster bomb. (some kind of cluster anyway)
Some say W/98 wasn't really ready for the public until SE came out.

Best thing I like about Mozilla stuff, is the fact that it's all open-source.
Anyone can modify the programs to their liking, provided they know what they are doing.

There are pages and pages of add-ons and other bits and pieces on the Mozilla website, that ordinary people have written.

One good aspect of this open-source idea, is that any bugs that are found in a given application are fixed pretty promptly and notified on the Mozilla website.

Here is a little trick for Firefox users.
Need to open your browser in a hurry?:

PC Mech article

I go another way. I have shortcuts to the sites I visit frequently right on my desktop so I seldom open the browser directly. My default site is
http://scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
(google without the ads and tracking cookies).

Our Veesta PC came with IE 7 installed of course, but it never gets used.

Firefox is OK, but slow to start and load pages. Open source is a plus though.

Safari is pretty good, compatible with mostly everything, but Veesta and it don't get along too well.

Google Chrome is my choice. It's fast in starting and loading pages, compatible, and open source to boot. Default.

On my iBook, Mozilla's Camino is the top choice, followed by Firefox then either Safari or www.sunrisebrowser.com/en/

Ian A.