Technical questions

[katyhasclogs]

For a while now I've been considering changing my web browser from Internet Explorer to Firefox, but can't quite make up my mind to make the switch.  Can anyone tell me about the particular advantages of Firefox?  And will I be able to import my favourites easily?

On a related subject, I've been having trouble with the internet lately, but I can't

Comments

[lady_bracknell]

I'm a total Firefox zealot, so don't expect me to be objective when I say FIREFOX WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER. Seriously, I love it. You can add all sorts of cool stuff - ad blockers etc (which might help with your other issues) as well as awesome bookmarking facilities and you can customise it with a pretty theme - like anything you want to do, there's an add-on for it. It's been so long since I switched that I can't remember about importing favourites, but FF is SO user-friendly I'm sure you can.

[lady_bracknell]

Oh, one thing that might help a lot is that FF is a really small programme in comparison to IE, so it runs quicker and more efficiently usually. You could always download it and see if you like it rather than switching straight away :).

[katyhasclogs]

I'm a total Firefox zealot, so don't expect me to be objective when I say FIREFOX WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER. Seriously, I love it.

Lol. But if you feel that strongly then there must be reasons for it, right? So it's still helpful advice.

I've always liked the sound of the add-ons, and when I investigated a few months back found a few I liked the look of. There's so many though that it's hard to know where to start looking!

A smaller programme sounds like it would be a useful thing whether or not it solves my problems.

I think I'm going to go for it. I don't know why I keep dithering so much - it's not like it's an unreversible decision!

[katyscarlett76]

I've been using Firefox for years and now whenever I have to use Internet Explorer (my work email defaults to it when I click on a link which I can probably change but I digress) it always seems weird. I use Firefox because I was told by IT guys at work that it was better than IE, can't really remember why but I do find it easy to use. I was starting to do our department website at the time and that might have something to do with it. But I'm not a techie so I don't know. It's not perfect but I can't say I've had many of the issues you describe with Firefox.

If I recall correctly there's a box to tick to say you want it to copy your favourites when you load it the first time.

[katyhasclogs]

Have switched and am liking it very much. :)

[lareinenoire]

I switched to Firefox a few years ago because of a wonderful plugin called AdBlockPlus that automatically blocks most advertisements from your browser. It doesn't get all of them, but it's really effective. There's also XMarks, which automatically updates and saves your bookmarks so you never lose them.

In short, Firefox is great! And I believe there's an option to import your bookmarks from elsewhere, although it's been long enough that I don't remember offhand...

[katyhasclogs]

I'm trying it out and it already seems awesome - and I haven't even got to the add-ons yet!

[bookish_brownie]

Are you using the newest version of IE? My internet also started giving me problems a few weeks ago (very slow loading, some pages wouldn't work, a few times it just shut down). Last weekend I downloaded the newest version (I think it's like 9 or 9.2 or something), and I've had no problems since then. Although the consensus here does seem to be to switch to Firefox; I don't have any experience either positive or negative with that browser.

Good luck.

[katyhasclogs]

No, probably not, now you mention it.

However, I'm currently trying Firefox and it seems pretty damn awesome. :)

[shimotsuki]

I am a huge fan of Firefox, possibly just because it isn't IE, lol, but I do like the AdBlock Plus. Also, FF had "tabs" before IE did and I thought that was a brilliant idea (although IE has caught up with that by now, at least).

I also find cookies management easier with FF. I have it set to not accept cookies by default, and then I individually give particular sites (*cough*LJ*cough) permission to leave cookies. There may be a way to do that in newer version of IE as well, but when I tried a while back I couldn't figure out how to do it.

I actually just upgraded to FF 4 today; so far, haven't noticed any major changes, just a rearranged toolbar on top.

(Hope you're doing well, by the way! I miss seeing you around on my f-list.)

[katyhasclogs]

Yes, I'm quite liking my experiences of Firefox so far. The 'Read it Later' add on will be quite handy I think, because I like to read fanfic in bed but don't have wireless internet! (Though LJ comment-collapsing is proving a bit awkward for offline reading - need to find a solution to that...)

(Hope you're doing well, by the way! I miss seeing you around on my f-list.)

I am, thank you. I'm sorry for the lack of posting and ashamed to say it's mostly the result of laziness/never getting round to it. And of course there's always the catch 22 situation of when there's time to post, there's not much to say, and when there's things to talk about there's no time to post because you're busy doing them!