Firefox vs. IE: Pros & Cons - Help Me Decide!

[quiverfull7]

Okay... help me out y'all... I read different times about these two and I am clueless as to why one is better/worse than the other so PLEASE educate me... I know that our kids school uses Firefox as does one of my friends but she only has it cuz her son told her it's better ... please tell me the pro's and con's and why I do or don't want to use one or the other... Obviously I'm using IE now... TIA I do use Mozilla Thunderbird for my email and love it.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Well, I am not a computer wiz by any stretch of the imagination - but I started using Mozilla Firefox when I kept getting corrupt files with IE that were keeping me from accessing CC, or CS, or my bank account.....I called my ISP, and they told me to switch to Firefox, and I wouldn't have this problem any more - so I did.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Firefox is more convenient - you can have tabs in one viewer that allow you to keep multiple websites open and easily switch to.Firefox is more secure - it plugs many of the security holes that IE is continually trying to fix.Firefox is less of a memory hog.That's a pretty good start and the primary reasons I use it.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Firefox is more convenient - you can have tabs in one viewer that allow you to keep multiple websites open and easily switch to.

Firefox is more secure - it plugs many of the security holes that IE is continually trying to fix.

Firefox is less of a memory hog.

That's a pretty good start and the primary reasons I use it.

I LOVE :love: this feature! I can keep CS open all day long!

 

[quiverfull7]

Okay... next you must tell me how... do I just google it and then download and then what??? I'm stupid about these things... what steps do I take to switch and i read on here that sometimes... as with Merrill it seems that I would have to switch or go to IE... how do I that? Sorry... once I do the steps I'll have it but I'm clueless... anybody got a "map"????

 

[heather223]

Firefox is more convenient - you can have tabs in one viewer that allow you to keep multiple websites open and easily switch to.

Firefox is more secure - it plugs many of the security holes that IE is continually trying to fix.

Firefox is less of a memory hog.

That's a pretty good start and the primary reasons I use it.

I use IE and now I am confused. I have multiple websites open and all on one screen.... (Tabbed browsing?)

 

[Admin Greg]

I use IE and now I am confused. I have multiple websites open and all on one screen.... (Tabbed browsing?)

IE7 has the tab feature now. Either browser is fine, I use both. No real benefits between the two for the casual browser.

 

[quiverfull7]

Well... I tried IE7 and I loved the features I saw but neither my desktop or DH's laptop worked correctly after I did those updated so I had to sys restore back and then everything worked again... sigh...

 

[chefann]

Con: IE is a Microsoft product.
Pro: Firefox is open source, which encourages creativity in the worldwide developer community.
Con: IE hasn't been updated for Macs in several years.
Con: IE recognizes proprietary website code that encourages sloppy, non-compliant websites that require the use of IE (like Merrill)
Pro: Firefox is free from mozilla.org.Diane- go to Mozilla.org and download Firefox. When you install it, it will ask if you want to import your bookmarks, so you won't even need to do anything with them to use them.

 

[quiverfull7]

cool... when I get back from the bank... I'll take the plunge ... as long as I know I have y'all ready to throw me the net if I need it!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

And you will still have IE on your computer - so if needed, you can switch to that for dumb websites like Merrill that only work with IE.

 

[janetupnorth]

I have both on all PCs and use Mozilla Firefox 90% of the time. Firefox is very much like IE7, you should be able to switch easily.

 

[chefann]

And you will still have IE on your computer - so if needed, you can switch to that for dumb websites like Merrill that only work with IE.

When I installed Firefox on my desktop, it broke IE. I'm not sure how, because it usually plays nice with other software. But I found that I couldn't use IE on that computer. That said, it wasn't a Windows machine, so it's unlikely that anyone else here will have the same problem. There's also an add-on for Firefox that you can download that makes websites think you're using IE.

 

[lkprescott]

Okay... next you must tell me how... do I just google it and then download and then what??? I'm stupid about these things... what steps do I take to switch and i read on here that sometimes... as with Merrill it seems that I would have to switch or go to IE... how do I that? Sorry... once I do the steps I'll have it but I'm clueless... anybody got a "map"????

Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable

There are a few sites, like Merrill that doesn't play nice with Firefox. I just use IE for those times. 99% of the time though, it's Firefox all the way. It's faster to load pages, is not a space hog on my computer and is streamlined for operating. I've always been a multi-page user so having something lean and mean is vital for how I browse the web. Thankfully a lot of sites are also coding for Firefox so perhaps Merrill will also get a clue and do so soon (btw, you can use it all the way to submitting the order... then it's a no go... figures)... Igive.com was like that. (incompatible with Firefox).. and I'd just use IE for it.. but they are compatible with Firefox now and it works just fine.

I've been using Firefox for a long time (before IE 'was inspired' to add tabbing to their browser too) and I've just been so happy with the use of it.

 

[Kodeysmom]

I took the Firefox plunge a few months ago and i hate it when i have to use IE because that means that 100% of the time i get an error and it closes down. I have never had this issue with Firefox and can actually open many tabs at the same time without worrying aout getting bootted.

 

[quiverfull7]

Okay... I did it... so far so good! I have to open up Front Page in a moment to do some things for our schools web page... hopefully that all goes great too! Thanks everyone!!!!!!!!

 

[Mwalker]

Im still learning Safari after coming off of way too many years of IE so Im of no help on this. -meryl

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I HATE, HATE, HAAAATTE tabbing because I usually close windows I don't want to close!Some of our office macs have Safari and a few have added Firefox.At one point, Firefox would bring up sites that Safari wouldn't (like Yahoo) but after they fixed the filter problem, both do just fine.I sometimes run into problems with sites that prefer IE so I would keep it around, which does not help memory issues.

 

[heather223]

I took the plunge last night and installed Firefox. While I am still learning it, it is so much faster to load than IE and I like that I can change the appearance of it! Thanks for sharing. :chef:

 

[quiverfull7]

I think I'll really like it once I get used to it too. I keep trying to close the whole thing instead of just tabs but I love the tabs... Thanks everyone for your help!