Ask dotTechies: What Internet web browser do you (mainly) use?
November 5, 2009 76
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Firefox is, more or less, known as the browser which initiated the browser wars. However, now with so many browsers out there, many users are using different browsers. So the query is simple. What internet browser do you mainly use?
[poll id="2"]
After you vote, feel free to post a comment below saying which one you use and why you use it so we can get a good idea of why people use what.
About the author: Ashraf View all posts by Ashraf
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Firefox every time, i must have tried them all over the years, firefox just can not be be beaten, get “speedyfox” and it is even better.
I have three, but voted for FF3x:
FF 3.5.4
Chrome 3.0.195.27
IE 7.0.5730.13
And use them in that order. The DW stays with IE.
Originally I went with FF because of the security issues with IE6.
I feel the security issues with IE are not as bad as they once were, but I’ve grown accustom to FF and stay with it. I probably won’t go to IE8 until 9 comes out.
While surfin with FF or Chrome some pages will open in IE, and WinUpdate won’t allow updates thru other browsers. :(
Chrome was an aberration I had last year, and is kept as backup.
I do like its tab, and bookmark functions better than FF.
At times I will have all three open at once, and have had no problems.
Chrooooome!…all the add-ons i need is in the desktop care of ashraf’s dotech and gaotd!
Been using Slimbrowser for years now. Probably from ie5 days. It has tabs, groups and works great. May try Chrome again but why?
tswill2
FireFox. It works. Constantly updated. Add ons. Free. What more do I need?
I only use Firefox as it is much more secure and faster than IE. Also its really simple to use. I tried to go with OPERA few bays back but i didn’t find it easy to use as compared to firefox. The only little problem with Firefox is that it opens after 15-20 seconds on first running it.
Firefox! Wouldn’t use ANYTHING by google on a bet!
Ghostery blocks web bugs and Startpage HTTPS for searches.
I have to say that I have been using Internet Explorer for many years. The reason was because I had used it for so many years it was easy for me.
I recently became frustrated with all of the problems with Internet Explorer crashing and freezing so I tried FireFox.
Wow, FireFox has so much more to offer, it is lightweight and does not crash like IE 8. I still use IE 8 as I transition to FireFox but I can honestly say that FireFox is far superior to IE 8 in the short time that I have used it.
I really love all of the addons available as well.
Thanks for another great post.
Vidimo Se!
@Jeanjean:
I use the Seagate Disc Wizard (free if you have a detectable Seagate drive connected. Even an external one will suffice to keep the wizard happy).
If you have IE7 or IE8, I would uninstall them prior to creating an image.
Then if you do need to do a Repair Install, you should be ok.
@Rob: I use The World with IE6. Works for me.
@Sandeep: To speed up FF, you could try,
Vacuum Places Improved 1:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/13878
I use speedyfox:
http://www.crystalidea.com/speedyfox
Not sure how big VPI1 is, but sf is only 358KB
@ Alan: Does Ghostery do more than AdBlock and NoScript? Is it worth installing it with the other two, or is that overkill?
It is strange that I seem to be the olnly one to use the best browser, Maxthon 2.5.
Highly recommended for all purposes except when I am forced to use IE.
I have both Firefox and IE8. i like Firefox because I can have it my way.Meaning i can have the browser all black. that’s the visual. inside it’s faster than IE8 i like being able to have things look and feel the way i use them. with IE8 it just looks boring.they wont let you custom it. as for Safari and Chrome the same very boring. the last time I used safari the way it saved BM’s drove me nuts.
I use IE8 when necessary (some sites I visit require IE), but mainly use Firefox. My personal favorite is Enigma because it is so very fast, but I cannot get it set as my default browser; Firefox overrides the default setting somehow.
I like Firefox because it has of nice a lot add-on and I started using it long time ago so I’m comfortable with it so must say that it’s my favorite.
I switched from IE to Firefox 3.x when multiple instances (or even tabs) of IE began crashing. Even reinstalling it did not fix the problem. Interestingly, I noticed in Task Manager that Firefox runs as only one instance no matter how many tabs or browsers are open.
I really like being able to close the browser and have it restore my tabs the next time.
It took awhile to get used to the Firefox bookmarks, but I love the Add-ons. Favorite Add-ons: Tab Mix Plus, SmoothWheel (AMO), QuickPageZoom, OpenBook, History Submenues, Fox Tab, and of course, Cooliris.
Interclue, Domain Details, and View Source Chart are useful for those who want to know the technical aspects of sites they visit.
I must say, I use and enjoy Firefox (latest edition), but I still get frustrated when it won’t work with a mainstay webpage and I need to fall back to IE8 to use on the page. IMHO, FF needs to “finalize” itself as a mainstay browser without a user having to try to devise solutions for issues.
My favourite is something I learned about just a few months ago. It’s called Lunascape and is now on Version 5.1.6. It’s at: http://www.lunascape.tv
It incorporates the Trident, Gecko, and Webkit engines in one slick UI. All of these work extremely well. The only downside is that it doesn’t support Firefox extensions.
Interestingly, and for reasons unknown, serious problems I was having with MSIE 8 and Chrome disappeared after I installed Lunascape.
My second choice is Firefox, though solely for some of its extensions.
Unfortunately for me, several clients I access via Citrix portals require MSIE only. Although Lunascape displays the sites correctly in IE mode and the passwords work, the security tokens don’t get through.
I’ve been using Opera since before it was free. I try others, and go right back to Opera. I love how I can customize it to my liking. The built-in email client is a big plus for me too.
Opera of course, what else ?
Beside its other qualities, it’s lightning fast, even on my old Pentium II-300MHz with 64 Mb RAM !
Hello,
I’ve started using Firefox almost 3 years ago, and since then I’ve used IE only maybe 4-5 times…:) With Firefox I’ve had less infections, and the browsing experience has been great. I’ve used Firefox as my default browser, and in IE I have changed security settings, such as, put security HIGH, and privacy MEDIUM HIGH, and also uninstalled adobe flash player plugin for IE and left only the one used for Firefox. Another advantageous aspect of Firefox is that you can use some indispensable add-ons, like NoScript WOT, McAfee SiteAdvisor, Finjan Secure Browsing, BetterPrivacy, AdBlock Plus and some others. However, personally I use v 3.0.15 instead of v.3.5, because I find it better and with less problems than 3.5 THere are no perfect browsers but for me Firefox is the safest among all.
Cheers
@Rob: Thank you for the advices that I hold just in case …!
Because I’m feeling lazy I’m going to copy a post I did in the Forums on why I use IE:
“…
Yes, I still use IE. I know I’m a bad geek.
Well Safari I don’t use because Apple software is never good on a windows machine, though that doesn’t surprise me. Chrome is missing too many features of other browsers still and I think a lot of its speed is theoretical, after all most JavaScript now is used for AJAX, meaning it’s going to be slowed down by the call backs anyway.
Now you have the big one left, Firefox. I have it on my system, though that’s more for test that web pages work in it as well as IE. For starters, I don’t like its interface, though that’s purely a personal thing. In addition, I keep my web browser open constantly, with at least four tabs and Firefox’s memory leaks start to show.
Back to IE, yes I like its interface. Now I admit there are some things missing from it, mostly grease monkey scripts and a download manager, but I got this lovely add on called IE7Pro (works with 8 too though) which adds to IE a download manager and user scripts as well as some other nice features. I know Firefox is supposed to be faster the IE, but I don’t see it. At best case they’re the same, worst case I find IE to be faster, at least on my machine. Finally, although I suspect this will be fixed soon, being on Windows 7, only IE8 so far uses 7’s features. I do use Firefox though, hilariously enough, for one website, Apple.com that seems to always crash IE!
…”
If a site doesn’t accept Firefox, I move on.
I haven’t use IE for almost 10 years
and will never use it.