Technology, Computers and Smartphones

[sleepy]

What exactly is bad about IE? Mr. Sleepy says it's bad, but I don't get why. He uses Opera, but I think IE is easier. Please edumacate me!

[nadia]

From what I've been reading it has "highly known security vulnerabilities." Probably because a lot of people use it so hackers and virus makers will likely target IE.

I don't like using IE because it find it slow, and dated, I guess. Firefox has more features I like about it, including a built in pop-up blocker. With IE I got tons of popups even though I had a separate blocker installed. That's something else I once heard. The companies making pop-up ads and spyware created them so that they could get around IE's "security."

[laconicchick]

Yeah, Adblock and tabbed browsing (I have 17 tabs open now; it's a godsend when reading LiveJournal/Journalfen threads that go on forever) were good enough reasons for me to switch to Firefox. Plus all the cool kids are doing it.

[sleepy]

Okay, the security issues make sense. But can't you do tabbed browsing in IE? I do, unless I'm misunderstanding what tabbed browsing means. It just means having several windows open at once that you can go back and forth between, no?

I don't mean to be a pest with all these questions -- I'm just really curious about it.

[nadia]

The tabs are the only reason I even started using it. ;D I usually have all my favorite threads (about 20 of them) from here opened at once. It makes it much easier than always hitting "Back" to go to another topic.

I got my boyfriend to switch last week and he preferred it so much that he's switching the work computer to Firefox from IE.

ETA: Sleepy, with Firefox you only have one window open, with tabs under the address bar, like a file folder. I've found it to be much faster than having multiple windows open. I'm not sure why but having more than two or three windows open at once really slowed down my PC. The tabs have been much speedier for me, unless I have about 30 open. Screenshot of Firefox. Sorry about the blurry shot. For some reason Photobucket is resizing my pics to blurry proportions, even though it fits their maximum size.

EATA: Yes, I'm finding IE is a pain in the ass to get rid of. At least I can heighten all my security to high.

[laconicchick]

I think the new IE (or... something) is coming out with/has tabbed browsing. But I won't switch back. I know Netscape has it as well.

[180deg]

laconicchick said:

I think the new IE (or... something) is coming out with/has tabbed browsing. But I won't switch back. I know Netscape has it as well.

IE7. It's Microsoft's "new vision" for internet browsing. I had a friend explain to me all the great new features - and then I explained to him how they're all taken directly "borrowed" from Firefox etc.

The security problems can also be tracked back to Microsoft - once a product's been released they prefer to ignore problems until something goes big-time wrong.

Nadia: The automatic updates are a part of Windows Update which is probably run by code in the IE file, so IE runs it even if no browser windows are open. Best course of action: Set your alternate browser as default, delete any shortcuts to IE, and try to forget that it's still lurking in your system.

[niddlemiddle]

All of you frustrated with IE..
We'll you're touching on the very reason Microsoft was taken to court for being a monopoly.
You simply cannot remove IE!

One would think that you should be able to add/or delete any 'application' of your choosing but Microsoft wanted to overtake Netscape*, back in the day, and made it an integral part of their operating system.
Now, it is what it is...

*I should mention that I worked at Netscape 'back-in-the-day' all of this was happening and while it was many years ago, I still smarts a bit. However, I'm honestly not one to hold grudges, I'm just happy Microsoft has lost some steam. Absolutely no company should hold the kind of power it had, it's not good for the economy.

With that said, I just watched Dateline NBC and all is forgiven with Mr. Gates. He's doing amazing things with his foundation in Africa (which is hands down better than what I see many Internet millionaires and in some cases billionaires doing with their money) and I hope what he, his wife, and Mr. Buffett (whom I lurve) can make a dent in the medicine that is needed to help these poor, starving children and families.
::I was hopelessly bawling::

[/sorry for the rant]

[nadia]

I hate most things Microsoft but Bill Gates seems like a decent person so that kinda takes the wind out of my "Down with Microsoft" sails.

I'm kinda wanting a MAC, but people I've known who had them weren't happy because so few things were available to them. Has that changed lately? According to those commercials with the geeky PC guy and the "hipper" MAC guy, it sounds like it.

[niddlemiddle]

nadia said:

I'm kinda wanting a MAC, but people I've known who had them weren't happy because so few things were available to them. Has that changed lately? According to those commercials with the geeky PC guy and the "hipper" MAC guy, it sounds like it.

That's changing rapidly. I'm a mac user and always have been and there was time where I was frustrated and broke down and bought a PC (I felt like the mac was the PC's fetal cousin).

Years ago, I bought a new Epson printer and couldn't get an OS X drive for it... it took way too many months to get one. That was also the case with cameras plug-ins for RAW images and such.
I lasted only a few months before I switched back to a Mac, I just love them.

Now, I can get everything but it really depends on what you do. There's just too many PC's out there for Mac's to compete but they have gotten better. At one point, I thought the Mac's were going to go down in history but now companies have diverted some money into developing applications for the mac.

One good drawback for Mac users, there are little to no viruses for them. Those devily hackers spend their time targeting large audiences, and Mac's don't rank.

ETA: A link to Apple's website. You could always check it out and see if they have the kind of applications you'd be looking for.