Firefox 4 vs. IE9

[RobbieThe1st]

I only ever liked IE5-6, that's it. When I could no longer use IE6, I switched over to Firefox and almost instantly loved it more than both IE5 and six, and I don't think I'll ever go back to IE. But I'm not too keen on Firefox 4, isn't it basically the exact same as Google Chrome, they're just calling it Firefox? Look-wise, mind you. I don't plan on ever switching to it, and when I'm forced to switch, expect me to be complaining like a little [censored] for a few months.

Mind you, you can switch back to the classic look - For the tabs-location, just right-click on the menu area and uncheck "tabs on top". For getting the old menus, there's a way but I'm not sure of it.

[No Clemency]

I'm still not a big fan how Firefox 4 makes my persona look, but it's not that big of deal. In addition, I managed to make most of my Firefox addons compatible with Firefox 4 by changing the maxversion within the installer file, so I have most of my addons back, there were only a few that gave me trouble, so I will just have to wait until the developer updates them which isn't a big deal because they weren't anything important. In conclusion because I've gotten most of my addons working, I think I might go ahead and update to Firefox 4 now, I just want to run one more test with one of my addons called Syphon to see if it will work for Firefox 4 before I decide to upgrade my browser.

[Aleksandr]

You know, I wasn't going to vote, but I opened up my mom's laptop and firefox refused to connect to the internet. IE connected flawlessly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I want my browser to do is BROWSE, and IE has done that for me.

[RobbieThe1st]

You know, I wasn't going to vote, but I opened up my mom's laptop and firefox refused to connect to the internet. IE connected flawlessly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I want my browser to do is BROWSE, and IE has done that for me.

So you (mis) configured the proxy settings and now are blaming Firefox for that?
Seriously...

Unless the settings between IE(which is tied in with other Windows-stock applications) and Firefox are the same... you have no gripe.

[No Clemency]

Agreed Robbie, but I have to say, I was recently disappointed when I ended up having to remove a virus that redirected the customer's computer every time she clicked on a link from Google. The bad thing was it only occurred in Firefox, and not in IE which was really disappointing. I thought it may just be using a custom DNS or a proxy, but that wasn't the case. The virus only messed up Firefox, none of the other browsers on her computer, so that was disappointing to see Firefox as the only one getting attacked. But I managed to eventually get rid of the virus and her Firefox is doing great once again.

[RobbieThe1st]

Agreed Robbie, but I have to say, I was recently disappointed when I ended up having to remove a virus that redirected the customer's computer every time she clicked on a link from Google. The bad thing was it only occurred in Firefox, and not in IE which was really disappointing. I thought it may just be using a custom DNS or a proxy, but that wasn't the case. The virus only messed up Firefox, none of the other browsers on her computer, so that was disappointing to see Firefox as the only one getting attacked. But I managed to eventually get rid of the virus and her Firefox is doing great once again.

What virus was this? I'm not sure how it /could/ do anything unless it was A, a false DNS record, B, a proxy, or C a custom extension for firefox that monitors the URL and replaces it as needed.

[No Clemency]

It was some sort of root kit virus, I managed to eventually get rid of it with Kaspersky root kit tool, but I never really figured out what it was doing to Firefox to make it reroute like that. But I checked the DNS record, the proxy settings, as well as all the extensions to see if their was anything out of the ordinary, but it was all normal. However, their was a custom proxy setting setup, but even after I removed the settings and put it back to no proxy, the reroute continued all the same. I even ran Firefox in Firefox safe mode, not windows safe mode, but Firefox safe mode which removes all the settings, and it still rerouted the links on Google and it continued even after uninstalling, running CCleaner, and removing all Firefox folders, and then reinstalling Firefox, so it is still a mystery to what that virus was doing to make it reroute.

[Aleksandr]

You know, I wasn't going to vote, but I opened up my mom's laptop and firefox refused to connect to the internet. IE connected flawlessly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I want my browser to do is BROWSE, and IE has done that for me.

So you (mis) configured the proxy settings and now are blaming Firefox for that?
Seriously...

Unless the settings between IE(which is tied in with other Windows-stock applications) and Firefox are the same... you have no gripe.

I didn't configure [censored]. I started the computer, opened both browsers. Nothing fancy, just opened them. IE connected without me having to do anything, FF didn't. That's it. End of story.

[RobbieThe1st]

You know, I wasn't going to vote, but I opened up my mom's laptop and firefox refused to connect to the internet. IE connected flawlessly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I want my browser to do is BROWSE, and IE has done that for me.

So you (mis) configured the proxy settings and now are blaming Firefox for that?
Seriously...

Unless the settings between IE(which is tied in with other Windows-stock applications) and Firefox are the same... you have no gripe.

I didn't configure [censored]. I started the computer, opened both browsers. Nothing fancy, just opened them. IE connected without me having to do anything, FF didn't. That's it. End of story.

Perhaps /you/ didn't... But whoever last used the computer did. Somewhere between it being bought and you getting access to it, some settings were changed, which produced that effect.

[Aleksandr]

You know, I wasn't going to vote, but I opened up my mom's laptop and firefox refused to connect to the internet. IE connected flawlessly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, all I want my browser to do is BROWSE, and IE has done that for me.

So you (mis) configured the proxy settings and now are blaming Firefox for that?
Seriously...

Unless the settings between IE(which is tied in with other Windows-stock applications) and Firefox are the same... you have no gripe.

I didn't configure [censored]. I started the computer, opened both browsers. Nothing fancy, just opened them. IE connected without me having to do anything, FF didn't. That's it. End of story.

Perhaps /you/ didn't... But whoever last used the computer did. Somewhere between it being bought and you getting access to it, some settings were changed, which produced that effect.

It's my mom's computer. Personally, I think you're assuming a lot about a computer you've never seen before. She barely knows how to run some of the things that I would find fairly basic, so I doubt she would change anything like that. She uses FF and she hasn't complained about it, so the problem was only when I used it. My point being: FF refused to connect for no apparent reason and IE didn't, but if you want another reason I don't particularly like it, it sucks up ram just seems slower.

[RobbieThe1st]

Look: Programs don't simply /stop working/ for no reason(Unless they're Microsoft products ). Something odd happened if Firefox didn't work but IE did. Some setting change.
Perhaps it was just an internet burble; and your timing was simply off. Perhaps it was an odd setting. Who knows. But if Firefox wasn't working at all, and no one used it, then it'd probably be a proxy issue. I didn't know it actually /was/ used, so my diagnosis was off.

That being said, I don't like IE: IE8 and less are seriously non-compliant as far as HTML goes, and very open to browser hacks and holes. Firefox, Chrome and Opera are all better choices.
IE9 is better, but I still believe the other three are far better and IE shouldn't be used except as a last resort.

[cliffpanther]

Well, I used many browsers. Never liked IE, as it was being lazy all the time. And, of course - lots of bugs and holes. It's still one of the very popular browsers, so hackers are more likely to exploit them.
When it comes down to safety - there is no better web browser than Chrome (Unlike FF4, it scores 100 in Acid 3 test).
Now I switched back to FF4, it seems faster - the only disadvantage of it is using tons of memory, comparing to Chrome...

EDIT: Besides, FF4 has an awesome checkbox "Tell websites that I don't want to be tracked". No personalised ads for me.

[avwolf]

EDIT: Besides, FF4 has an awesome checkbox "Tell websites that I don't want to be tracked". No personalised ads for me.

"Assuming the website bothers to listen to this setting, which 99-some% do not." You're just passing a header on with your HTTP requests. I don't know how many ad networks or anybody else actually pays any attention to that header, being as it's not really in any spec (except for FF4's spec) that I'm aware of. There's currently a war, of sorts, over what the best way to request tracking advertisements not to track you, or if that should be dependent on the tracker doing anything at all, for that matter. Every new browser has a different solution for it, and they're all incompatible solutions.

[cliffpanther]

EDIT: Besides, FF4 has an awesome checkbox "Tell websites that I don't want to be tracked". No personalised ads for me.

"Assuming the website bothers to listen to this setting, which 99-some% do not." You're just passing a header on with your HTTP requests. I don't know how many ad networks or anybody else actually pays any attention to that header, being as it's not really in any spec (except for FF4's spec) that I'm aware of. There's currently a war, of sorts, over what the best way to request tracking advertisements not to track you, or if that should be dependent on the tracker doing anything at all, for that matter. Every new browser has a different solution for it, and they're all incompatible solutions.

You can always change browser agent or/and deny cookies. And to avoid geo-localisation... Proxify? There are some proxy addons for FF.
Most websites track you using some kind of fingerprint, which is usually unique for each computer (Installed addons+version+cookies, and a few more) - but it is possible to change that one. I guess it was a run parameter, or in about:config for FF.

[No Clemency]

Well the way I see it, I honestly don't care if any website wants to make personal ads for me because I use ad block plus addon for Firefox, so that gets rid of almost all ads to begin with. So since I don't have any ads to begin with, it makes no difference to me whether they are personalized because I can't see them anyway. Ad block plus is defiantly a marketers worse nightmare. Just one more reason why I like Firefox so much.