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| Moderated by: Brian | Page: 1 2   |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation 
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Hi, Everyone. The final release version of Firefox 3 is out today. They're trying to get in the Guiness Book of World Records for most downloads in one day. (The "day" in question started at 1PM EST.) As most of you know, I'm a big fan of Firefox, and I encourage everyone here to download it and give it a try. They've gotten 2,920,691 (and counting...) downloads so far. 
 "It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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UsedToRide Original500© Member  Lovin' the Life
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Ok, Bri. Educate me. Why should I have Firefox? What benefit will it give me, the computer inept who uses my PC for email, forums, writing letters to Bullet, paying my bills and playing a couple of games. (Is it ok that I call you Bri? Everyone else has shortened names!  )
Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet A hundred criminals may be set free, but one innocent man should not go to prison, for that will make the entire system criminal ~Chief Justice T.L.Venkatraman |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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UsedToRide wrote: Ok, Bri. Educate me. Why should I have Firefox? What benefit will it give me, the computer inept who uses my PC for email, forums, writing letters to Bullet, paying my bills and playing a couple of games. You're allowed to call me Bri. Basically, the biggest advantage you get with Firefox is that it's not Internet Explorer (which is integrated into Windows and therefore a huge, gaping, soul-sucking security hole). Nothing Microsoft ever does to make IE more secure will ever amount to a thimble full of urine, because of that tight integration. Secondly, Firefox has useful add-ons that give you all kinds of added functionality (e.g., weather forecasts in the browser, an integrated FTP client, tab previews, and the ability to download flash movies and animations). ` Firefox also has an extension to color tabs and the ability to move tabs around (which I don't think IE has). And on the more techie side, since it's open source, you can go inside the add-ons (or even the browser, if you want to) and make modifications. (One mod I always make is to port add-ons to a higher version, since a lot of times the authors don't). Anyway, that's my sales pitch (even though the browser's free ).Edited to Add: One more thing: The address bar in Firefox indexes your History and Bookmarks, so that if you type, e.g., "24" in the address bar, the forum will come up as one of your first choices. 
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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UsedToRide Original500© Member Lovin' the Life
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Basically, the biggest advantage you get with Firefox is that it's not Internet Explorer (which is integrated into Windows and therefore a huge, gaping, soul-sucking security hole). I didn't know this. So the security stuff I have (AVG, Ad-Aware and Spybot) may not get everything that could screw up my computer? If I try out Firefox can I use it at the same time I am using IE and decide which I like better then delete (de-program? remove?) the one I chose not to go with? Will I have to re-load all my favorites? I'll have to write them down if so, because my favorites list is loooooooooong. I don't use bookmarking because it seems to be the same thing as favorites.
I don't know what most of that means, but I will look at the link you provided after I post this. Is there a charge for these things? I like having the weather easy to get to. As of now, I have The Weather Channel in my favorites.
I like the tabbed browsing that I have. I keep my email, and all 3 forum sites I visit daily open all the time. But what do you mean about color tabs and the ability to move them? As is, when I go to my favorites, I use the arrow to the right of the drop down window next to each favorite to open each tab and they come up in the order I do that. (One mod I always make is to port add-ons to a higher version, since a lot of times the authors don't). Um, huh??
I can start to type an address in the box and get a drop-down box with similar sites that I have visited before which gets smaller as I type more into the address bar. If Erinna sees this she will be thinking, "Thank GOD she's asking Bri and not me!" You can put any answers you have for me in a language as if you were speaking to a 6-year old. Have I proven just how computer inept I am???!! 
Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet A hundred criminals may be set free, but one innocent man should not go to prison, for that will make the entire system criminal ~Chief Justice T.L.Venkatraman |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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UsedToRide wrote: Basically, the biggest advantage you get with Firefox is that it's not Internet Explorer (which is integrated into Windows and therefore a huge, gaping, soul-sucking security hole). Right. Those programs attack viruses and spyware, but they work on a case by case basis, based on what the software (AVG, Ad-Aware, etc.) knows about. They don't actually make IE any more secure. Think about it this way: You can station a guard at your door, and tell the guard to keep anyone out who's carrying a weapon, but if you don't lock the door, anyone carrying a concealed weapon would get past the guard. Basically, that's the problem: IE has built-in functionalities that are risky, and Ad-Aware or Spybot or whatever isn't trained to deal with those behaviors, because they're intentional. (If you read up on ActiveX, you'll see what I mean.) UsedToRide wrote: If I try out Firefox can I use it at the same time I am using IE and decide which I like better then delete (de-program? remove?) the one I chose not to go with? Will I have to re-load all my favorites? I'll have to write them down if so, because my favorites list is loooooooooong. I don't use bookmarking because it seems to be the same thing as favorites. 1) You can use both Firefox and IE together. You don't have to pick. You can delete Firefox, but IE is part of Windows, so you're stuck with it. 2) You won't have to reload our favorites. Firefox can import them. 3) Bookmarking and Favorites are essentially the same thing, but bookmarking is a little bit more powerful in the new Firefox. You can add tags to bookmarks to organize them better. (For example, you can tag your newspaper websites as "news" and the bookmarks will all come up together in a search.) Firefox also has "Smart Bookmarks" which automatically group together your most recently visted, most recently bookmarked, and most recently tagged pages. UsedToRide wrote:
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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Here's a feature list outlining the new features in Firefox 3, for anyone interested. 
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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UsedToRide Original500© Member Lovin' the Life
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Ok, before I get into the rest of this, if IE is "stuck" and I can't remove it if I like Firefox better, won't the stuff that can screw up my computer through IE still get through since IE is stuck on the damn thing? Or will having Firefox uploaded catch things that IE doesn't? Does Firefox have its own type of security that is better than what I have or should I keep the security stuff I have now? And it is 0125 and my lids are heavy. So don't rush with any more info. If you're around I'll get back into this with you tomorrow when my brain isn't trying to fall asleep on me. Thanks for the info......so far! 
Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet A hundred criminals may be set free, but one innocent man should not go to prison, for that will make the entire system criminal ~Chief Justice T.L.Venkatraman |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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UsedToRide wrote: Ok, before I get into the rest of this, if IE is "stuck" and I can't remove it if I like Firefox better, won't the stuff that can screw up my computer through IE still get through since IE is stuck on the damn thing? Or will having Firefox uploaded catch things that IE doesn't? Does Firefox have its own type of security that is better than what I have or should I keep the security stuff I have now? Hi, UTR. The short answer is, it's generally safer to use Firefox than IE, as much as possible. It's not that Firefox is anything extra-special in that regard (although it does have some pretty nifty security features like anti-phishing technologies and enhanced security info on sites). Mainly, the advantage is that Firefox doesn't have the direct access to the operating system that IE does. Simply having IE on your computer doesn't necessarily make you vulnerable. It's using IE that can cause the problems. If you had IE on your machine but never used it, you'd be perfectly safe from IE's vulnerabilities. Essentially, using Firefox prevents those IE vulnerabilities from being exposed. To use a crude analogy, it's like having two sets of chains at your disposal, and using the thicker chain to lock the fence. If you never use the weaker chain for anything, simply having it doesn't matter. Here's one way to think about IE: If you've ever heard about Outlook mail viruses, you know how much havoc they can cause on your computer. The reason they can do that is because Outlook is so tied into your computer (if you have it installed) and can interact with other programs and the operating system itself. IE is based around the same set of technologies, and therefore opens your system up to the same kinds of problems.
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member  ~~sea hag~~:)
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well because i trust Brian, i just downloaded it. i will have to play with it later since i am tired.  i did lose my 'favorites' list.
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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Lady Cop wrote: well because i trust Brian, i just downloaded it. i will have to play with it later since i am tired. Hi, LC. At worst, your Favorites list is still in IE, so you didn't lose it. But you can import your Favorites manually. Just go to File -> Import..., select Microsoft Internet Explorer, and go from there.
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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foxglovepress Forum-Blogger© Original500© Member  NON-PC!!
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Hi Brian, I sure wish you were here to fix my dang computer! I'm starting my business, and every once in a while something will pop up telling me my program has shut down, do I want to continue??  Then, I have all sorts of problems trying to send e-mails! Half the time if I'm not sending to my safe list, it tells me it's encountered an error!! Now I'll get to the topic of this thread..........I think firefox is the one JBF downloaded and used, but he couldn't answer any pm's here in 24 while he was on it. I don't know if he still has firefox or not anymore. When I get a chance, I'll see if it's working for him now. Have you had any problems with pm's in here? If so, what have you done about it?
Justice for Mark.....Imprison Employers Who Hire ILLEGALS! |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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foxglovepress wrote: Hi Brian, I sure wish you were here to fix my dang computer! I'm starting my business, and every once in a while something will pop up telling me my program has shut down, do I want to continue?? Hi, Fox. When Firefox 3 was in beta testing, it wasn't 100% compatible with the forums. I had to add emoticons in my posts by hand-coding the images into them. But now all of that seems to be fixed. I've never had any problems sending PMs, though. I think if you tried Firefox today, you'd have no problems on the forum. As far as your e-mail goes, it sounds like a problem with Outlook/Outlook Express. My recommendation: Don't use either. I personally use Gmail, although I know a lot of people here use Yahoo, too. If you feel more comfortable with a program you install on your computer, I would suggest Mozilla Thunderbird (made by the same folks who brought you Firefox).
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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foxglovepress Forum-Blogger© Original500© Member NON-PC!!
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Brian wrote: foxglovepress wrote:Hi Brian, I sure wish you were here to fix my dang computer! I'm starting my business, and every once in a while something will pop up telling me my program has shut down, do I want to continue?? Mozilla Thunderbird is what one of the data bases suggested I download. They said it's free too. I'm going to check into both! I'm a little afraid to do anything until I get someone in here to tell me WHY I'm having problems though. It may just be a matter of getting rid of something that's not compatible with what I have. I am able to sent to G-mail as well as Yahoo. It just keeps telling me it's incountered an error, when I try and send any e-mail to the little boxes that pop up from different web sites.
Justice for Mark.....Imprison Employers Who Hire ILLEGALS! |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation
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foxglovepress wrote: Brian wrote:foxglovepress wrote:Hi Brian, I sure wish you were here to fix my dang computer! I'm starting my business, and every once in a while something will pop up telling me my program has shut down, do I want to continue?? Hi, Fox. I can explain (in general) why you're having problems with Outlook. It really comes down to three things: 1) Outlook sucks. 2) Bill Gates is the Antichrist. 3) Uhh... did I mention that Outlook sucks?  Essentially, Outlook is entwined with Windows, Word, and Excel, which means it has to play nice with all of those. If some Windows setting conflicts with how you have your Outlook set up, that will cause problems. If some Word setting conflicts with Outlook, it's the same deal. And keep in mind: All of these programs have millions of lines of code, so the chances that Outlook will cooperate nicely with Windows at all times is rather low. That's why it's better to use non-Microsoft applications for word processing and e-mail. You don't have to cross your fingers and hope that a bunch of programs will decide to cooperate today.
"It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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foxglovepress Forum-Blogger© Original500© Member NON-PC!!
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).