Interne Exploler 6 or FireFox?

I have this dilemma.
I got latest FireFox with everything good on it but it's slow on my computer and it likes to crash very frequently.
Internet Explorer is now defended with all sorts of updates, softwares against viruses and spyware, (SP2, Anti Spyware, Spyware Doctor, etc.) and IE is faster and personally I think it's better. But should I take the risk that any momemt my browser could be highjacked by some idiot, moronish "web search bar"?

Although I pretty much don't go to untrusted sites. Just the usuals: GFXVoid, RaceSim Central, deviantART, webcomics.

So what do you suggest?

I would suggest you stick with IE. as long as you dont go to mp3, p0rn and similar sites you should be fine. I have used IE for an extreamly long time and never got hijacked (before I switched to Firefox), its all a mater of the sites you go to.

As for firefox crashing and slow performance, well firefox is pretty stable on the various systems i run it on, I would recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version. As for performance, well thats a known issue and is a common complaint. Firefox can realy slow things down. If you find performance having a detrimental affect, then your better off with IE.

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Originally posted by MetalSkin@Apr 27 2005, 11:47 PM
I would suggest you stick with IE.* as long as you dont go to mp3, p0rn and similar sites you should be fine.* I have used IE for an extreamly long time and never got hijacked (before I switched to Firefox), its all a mater of the sites you go to.

As for firefox crashing and slow performance, well firefox is pretty stable on the various systems i run it on, I would recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version.* As for performance, well thats a known issue and is a common complaint.* Firefox can realy slow things down.* If you find performance having a detrimental affect, then your better off with IE.

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Yeah, If you like the pr0n go with firefox. Mine was crashing every 5 minutes almost, and after I installed Sp2 and updates it runs fine now.

It all depends, would you like a crappy engine? Or something as cool as the gecko one. It's all your choice...

well actualy the IE engine isn't realy crappy. performance wise IE outbeats firefox. Firefox is well accepted though cause its supports RSS, has muti tabs, is skinable, has a nice plugin environment and appears to be more secure than IE.

Note that firefox is relativly new, only has a small market share and as yet hasn't realy been targeted by script kiddies and of similar ilk. several security holes have already been found and I know that quite a few more will be found over time. i have already seen some sites that have got around the popup blocker built into firefox.

Actually, I don't really care which one, all that matters is browsing the great internet.

I use firefox. It's faster then ie (for me). Also it has better sercurity, along with nice features. I'm a frim supporter of firefox. I beileve when firefox becomes more introduced and developed, it will become alot better.

I really never heard of FireFox slowing down a computer. If anything, it may have been an unrelated issue that happened around the same time you downloaded firefox.

Firefox is known to have performance issues. slashdot is a good source for opinions on that, but generaly its because of the multi tabbed panes being used, i suspect some problems in that area, cause only when using those a lot do i get the performance issues.

I should clarify, its not realy a performance problem, its a memory issue, firefox tends to use mega memory. on my 1gig machine, not realy a problem, but with 512 you get more swap space usage which has a detremental affect across the board. Very noticable if you have a few large programs open.

With ie, as its part if explorer, it doesn't have the same issue (you have it half loaded already). though explorer crashing has a bigger impact than firefox crashing.

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Originally posted by MetalSkin@May 2 2005, 10:16 AM
Firefox is known to have performance issues.* slashdot is a good source for opinions on that, but generaly its because of the multi tabbed panes being used, i suspect some problems in that area, cause only when using those a lot do i get the performance issues.

I should clarify, its not realy a performance problem, its a memory issue, firefox tends to use mega memory. on my 1gig machine, not realy a problem, but with 512 you get more swap space usage which has a detremental affect across the board.* Very noticable if you have a few large programs open.

With ie, as its part if explorer, it doesn't have the same issue (you have it half loaded already).* though explorer crashing has a bigger impact than firefox crashing.

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I agree ^_^.

I greatly prefer firefox.. find it a million times better than IE..

I can't web-browse without tabs.

Hmmmm.... What if FireFox turns into the evil was of Microsoft and goes paid?

I really prefer FF.

Seriously, i've gotten alergic to IE

I don't see firefox going paid anytime soon. if it does it would only be for commercial users i suspect, even then the last version under the free license would still be usable.

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Originally posted by Relentless@May 2 2005, 08:03 AM
Hmmmm.... What if FireFox turns into the evil was of Microsoft and goes paid?

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Well then I will whip out my backup EXEs, and re-install and older version.

I find FireFox better in every way than IE. The plugins, security, skinnability, lack of spyware, and the most important - tabs. I swear to god I could not live without tabs. In every sense I have found, firefox uses less memory than IE. Most people complain about this becuase they have a ton of tabs open. This is sort of like having a ton of IE pages open. You are just combining more sites into an easily managable, organized interface. I have been using it since .3 I believe, I have never had a problem with it once. I don't even have SP1, and only some of the updates - I found most of them as trashy as IE itself.

Not to mention how much I despise the interface of IE. The top bar takes up so much space. I just compared it, and I can see a lot more of the screen using FireFox. And I assume you haven't use the "FireFox Hack" yet, have you? It greatly speeds up the speed of loading things. It does work very well, actually, and not loss of security.

I think this is all I have to say for now. If come up with something else I will post something up.

Get fireFox.

The interface of IE can be changed.

By default the toolbar size and position of everything is designed for non computer literate people. In that case, the bigger buttons and so forth make the learning curve that little bit less.

ie can be configured to use a very small space, just experiment with the settings. Strange how you experimented with Firefox and options but not with IE.

I do agree with the tab options, I wish IE had it. But I disagree as to your conclusion of what slows down Firefox, its not just the tabs, its a problem with Firefox that is seen widely in the community.

As for not loading the service packs, well do you want to quantify 'trashy'? Thats a very large claim without facts to back it up.

Please dont provide rants about how you hate microsoft, that doesn't assess how good software is, it just lets us know that your emotions influence your choices.

Bottom line, I prefer Firefox because of its features. I have learned to live with its problems.

I am not bashing MS in the least. They come up with some very good software, and give an incentive for others to make better software to compete with it. Like Linux for example.

And by trachy I mean - everytime I update something or another another new error messages appears whenever I start up my computer. It fixes something but in turn it usually messes up something else. For me atleast. Along with an extreme amount of complaints along most computer forums I frequent, when Service Pack 2 was released. I have even had experienced computer techs tell me dad not to install Service Pack 2 on his computer, for fear of failure.

Are you sure the tabs are not the problem in firefox? Whenever I have one tab open it is always faster than when I have multiple tabs open. I have not researched this problem yet, but this is just what I have found.

I just looked into customizing IE, albeit it is smaller. You have me on that one. I never looked into it until now because I have been using FireFox for a long time now and never had the use to screw around with IE.

hehe lol, no worries. I may have mis-interpreted your comments...

[edit]yeah i did, re-read and realised i got yours confused with someone elses rant... [/edit]

Its sorta strange, IE with three seperate open windows uses more memory than Firefox with three seperate tabs to the same pages, but swapping between apps and i find firefox slower. Note however that I always push the limits of memory on my laptop and as such page swapping will be occuring.

I suspect IE must handle this better, buggered if i know how though.

Btw, for more screen space, try switching to full screen mode in ie. I never used it cause i have a nice 21" screen that doesn't need to make use of such features. Firefox has a smilar feature (f11).

As for installing patches and service packs? Well I have never known a service pack or a patch to cause problems unless there are legacy drivers or very old hardware lying around. I've been involved in IT since pre Windows 3.1 (started on Unix and DOS 1.x). There is always a chance of an upgrade causing problems, but normaly its because of incompatible drivers and normaly only happens in a major upgrade (like from 95 to w2k or w2k to WinXp, etc).

I would strongly advice upgrading to latest service packs and security updates. Just wait a few days to make sure there wasn't an issue wit the update (its always very public when that happens).

Of course if your behind a NAT then you dont have to worry too much about security other than what you install and using firefox.

microsoft is evil. get firefox, and the new(ish) thunderbird, outlook replacement. microsoft is going to go :D

with 50Billion of cash, I doubt very much if Microsoft will 'go'. losing 5% market share of web browsers and bugger all of outlook express will not affect them. IE is free, so is Outlook Express.

Now if Thunderbird affected Outlook then maybe, but Outlook is more than just email and notes and so forth, its work flow and back office integration.

I honestly don't see how he changes in web browsers and email clients can affect the money MS makes.

Well after i did the speed up firefox tutorial i surf a hell of alot faster in FF then IE so i stick with FF.

I prefer FF because its more secure. My IE had so many popups and this porn toolbars and it changed the IE homepage. I jus got so many virus from sites such as www.astalavista.com because of the 'Click Yes to Install Software - You have to click yes to install software' trick.

However, when i want to right-click 'Save As' in FF it wont work. Therefor i cant download my mp3s so i use IE for that.

I've never had security problems with IE, although I do go on warez sites. you just need a quick finger, and to read teh prompts.
I personally use avant, which uses teh IE engine, but with tabbed browsing etc. added. works alright for me.
Really, security all depends on how careful you are.
Really, I agree with Relentless, in that it doesnt matter which browser you use, it's just all about browsing teh net.

You could clear history and cache and stuff, that's what i do.

firefox is the best you can get for free. 80% of all internet viruses can only be recieved through IE. firefox is up to 6x faster IIRC. after you have firefox, you can not live without the tabbed browsing. :P


firefox is way better hands down. :D