Opinion on Firefox

Hey everyone,

I was wondering about Firefox. I am considering using Firefox but wanted to know:

1. How does it compare to IE6. Differences? Similarities?

2. Are there any major problems with it? Bugs? Flaws? The only reason I haven't installed it yet is because I read somewhere about a major bug which will wipe your program files when uninstalling.

3.Which would most prefer. IE6, Firefox, other and why.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Xaq

 

One of these days version 0.9 will be published. RC1 has been publicly available since last week.

 

I would never use IE6 to surf with, it always has sooooo many known flaws. Firefox has none that i'm aware of (maybe one known one, if you want to call it a flaw-i don't). My advice dump IE as soon as possible, only use it for Window$ updates, and use Firefox from now on. It's Quicker and far safer than IE. You'll never get hijacked again with Firefox.

 

firefox has MANY bugs/flaws

1, its massive memory leaks

2, its memory leaks

3, did i mention it has memory leaks

i did use firefox for along time, UNTIL i noticed i was getting alot of memory being ate up, and the occassional bsod, i havent gotten any bsods since i stopped using it , i now use opera

regards

ps. goto firefox's forums , then 2 the bugs section, its full of bugs, just as many if not more then IE, just different ones

 

Yes but there's a difference between a few 'bugs' (as in Firefox) and the 'flaws' that allow an attacker to take control of your computer as we have seen so many times with IE. Some so big you could drive a truck through them! I have not heard of any such flaws in Firefox to date.

 

I've been using Firefox for a couple of months now, and I've seen none of this.

Anyway, Xaq, give it a whirl - I think you'll enjoy it once you get past some of its oddities.

 

From Firefox KB frequently encountered issues: http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.phtml?title=Firefox_:_Issues_:_Installer_Deletes_Files

 

Yup, I agree. Not every one who's been encouraged to use Firefox as an alternative to IE will hang out in the support forums and read the KB, etc. There are FF/Moz afficionados and then there are just users. Most users just want to browse the net rather than become FF/Moz tinkerers and experts. They don't keep visiting and exploring the Moz site and forums, updating with nightlies etc and so would miss out on such potential issues unless they happen to read about them elsewhere or have the misfortune to discover it firsthand. This is more serious than just having problems getting a page to load or FF crashing.

I believe I first saw a reference to this issue in a post/thread here at Wilders not too long ago. I found that rather disconcerting and at the time had to look for info regarding this issue on the Moz site and support forums. I didn't encounter the issue when I once had to uninstall and reinstall FF, thank goodness. Such things provide a reminder that having a regular backup routine is not a bad idea.

 

I have also been using firefox 0.8 for several months, as welll as mozilla. I have had no problems at all with either and will never go back to buggy msie.

 

Another vote for Opera as an alternative browser to consider. I've been using Opera's latest release (7.51) and I like it. It's pretty configurable so one can streamline the GUI as I do. There's a freeware version that is ad supported (but it's not noxious spyware) and if one selects the text ads display, they don't take up much room and are relatively unobtrusive. Of course, purchasing the browser removes the ads. Opera also comes with a mail client, newsreader and chat client. http://www.opera.com/features/ So far I've just used the browser.

But I like Firefox also. And some people prefer Mozilla (FF is a sort of "son of Mozilla"). See which you prefer.

 

Despite the ultimate aims of Firefox and "this is just a technology preview" mantra, I'm rather pestimistic about Firefox ever becoming a browser for the masses.


Headsup for those thinking to upgrade immediately to 0.9 when it's released in a few days, DON'T. Espically if you are using several "must have" extensions, the new extension manager breaks ALL extensions unless the extension is modified. Here's a list of those modified so far

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=79512

 

New release of firefox 0.9 ( Firefox is now only 4.6MB ) http://www.mozilla.org/download.html
also Thunderbird email client 0.6
certainly a nice browser and faster than 0.8

 

I have used Firefox for several months & have had very few problems. The speed & versatility is quite impressive, especially compared to IE6. I had a problem with integrating a seperate download manager but found an extension yesterday at mozdev.org that appears to have solved the problem but will not know for sure until further testing. The security capability is certainly light years ahead of IE6. My continuing problems with IE6 was the driving factor in adding Firefox.. I plan on staying with v0.8 a few more weeks and then upgrading to v0.9.
I would recommend giving it a test spin - it's free, easy to use and is perfect for "tweekers". Good luck.

 

That sounds like a good idea don't upgrade to v 0.9 for a couple weeks. Just incase of any bugs.

 

Well i thought ,after i heard you all recommend firefox 0.9, to give it a try.
But unfortunately my housemate isn't pleased at all with it .
The browser crashes everytime when she wants to play the game runescape
www.runescape.com ,which uses Java-applet.
We don't have any problems when we use IE, opera, etc.
What could be causing this?
Also the "ad blocking" function of my Zonealarm Pro isn't working with firefox.

 

It must be something with Mozilla, because i tried to play the game on a different comp using not Firefox 0.9 but Mozilla1.6 this time, and yes after playing for a minute, the browser crashed also.
(I must also tell, that i protected the exe using Process Guard, but i also do this with the other browsers.)
So 2 different comps and same problems...Seems to be something to post in the Mozilla forum and not here.
For the moment i'll stick to IE,Opera, Avant Browser and Fast Browser.
too bad . But i don't want sad familymembers in the house

http://www.mozilla.org/support/

 

After the last flaws,i really want to drop IE,so the past 3 days i ve been usng Firefox,i like it a lot,today i installed 0.9 version ,all fine,BUT, as a poster mentioned above,it has a memory leak.Right now it takes 45 MB of my RAM and i have only one tab open.It's unacceptable.I ll give a look at Opera.

 

I use Opera 7.50 and I like it.
It's a registered version and I have no complaints about it.

I use Firefox 0.7.
I do like it and will upgrade to the latest availble version when I have more time.

Between the two, I prefer Opera slightly.

 

Re: updating from v0.8 to v0.9

I have become very cautious on updating my software since my firewall happens to be Zone Alarm Pro. I started to update to v5.0 but stopped when the installer requested that I uninstall my AV software - PC-cillian 2003 before installing the update. Being a curious sort & a member of the ZA forum, I decided to take a look at user posts prior to upgrading. I was very lucky! Anyone following this issue is well aware of the serious problems caused by this incredibly buggy piece of crapware. Does Microsoft have secret ownership control of Zone Labs?

Zone Labs have a user revolt on their hands.

Thank the web gods for forums.

Slim

Slim