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I use IE. but the prblems is it always has the problems of not responding in threads here(mostly music ones for some reason) Any suggestions.
Thinking either google chrome of firefox(if its free) is it.
Any other suggestions

Chrome! Come to the dark side...

In honesty, Chrome is my favorite browser out there. IE and Firefox are really slow for me. Chrome loads websites instantly (I have no idea why it's just Chrome; I just always have slow load times with Firefox and IE). Plus, Chrome lets you have the nifty homepage of eight favorite websites (The ones you visit most often) instead of just picking one to start on. If you've ever used one of the two Apple browsers - I believe it's Safari, but I could be wrong - it's the same principle.

The only thing I will say that I don't like about Chrome is that it doesn't have RSS support yet outside of downloading addon(s). Firefox and IE can both do it straight out of the bookmarks tab; Chrome does not.

I've used Internet Exploder, Firefox and Chrome, and I'd say Firefox offers the best compromis between speed and feature set. Yes, Chrome is a faster page rendering engine, but Firefox has better support for extensions, and can handle RSS feeds.

Yes Firefox is free.

I use it. Chrome ran slower on my machine than FF does - and IE I leave for when I have to manually visit the MS update site.

Chrome is OK but I switched back to FF after a while, mainly because of the plug in support. The one thing I did like about Chrome was it's layout so I now have the Chromifox theme installed.

Chrome is my favorite browser out there. IE and Firefox are really slow for me. Chrome loads websites instantly (I have no idea why it's just Chrome;

Chrome compiles the code to display the website from Javascript into machine code as far as I'm aware which makes things slightly faster to other browsers that compile javascript into some kind of operation code which applications then try to interpret in order to display the page or perform any functions it needs to.

IE is by far the securist browser out there. IE has to be, Microsoft have many many big custoemrs where IE is used in banking environments and the like. So IE has to be secure and manageable through policy for controling features and locking down the interface or deployment for certain needs and so on.

In my opinion IE is the best browser out there because of the security perspective. I'd rather have a page take half a second or whatever extra to load than be more prone to vulnerabilities. But hey, its up to you. I really don't think theres a noticiable speed difference in 90% of cases.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and IE8 has an abundance of supported plugins now. I've used both IE and FF and I've experienced a fair few problems with plugins in FF.

L0rdF1end wrote:
IE is by far the securist browser out there. IE has to be, Microsoft have many many big custoemrs where IE is used in banking environments and the like. So IE has to be secure and manageable through policy for controling features and locking down the interface or deployment for certain needs and so on.

In my opinion IE is the best browser out there because of the security perspective. I'd rather have a page take half a second or whatever extra to load than be more prone to vulnerabilities. But hey, its up to you. I really don't think theres a noticiable speed difference in 90% of cases.

IE secure? I would have to take umbrage with that, given the gaping security flaws that have plagued IE over the years. The jury is still out on IE8 as it is still relatively new. MS always suffers from it's own success. Mac fans always say that they never have viruses; this is only because Mac use is so minimal compared to MS PC, therefore making virus attacks much more common on Windows. Same is true of IE; it has the largest browser market share and so is the number one target for attacks. This doesnt excuse the fact that it has a lot of holes in it.

IE8 is by far the most secure browser which has been proven - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/ContinuumNews/Internet-Explorer-8-named-most-secure-browser/

Its also one of the fastest browsers which is proven in benchmark tests - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/videos.aspx?mname=IE8_Perf_Test2

It also has more usability allowing you gain key information in less clicks and lots of useful features. See the above link and videos if your not aware of some of the really useful features.

My vote goes for IE and it always will, especially now with increased competition. MS now have to try twice as hard to keep ahead of the game when it comes to IE because of the amount of competing browsers and the browser choice it now has to give you in Europe when installing/settng up Windows.

Watch this space. I predict even more improvments/enhancements in IE as the browser market is considered a key area where market share can generate a lot of additional incomce from other key products and services, not to mention online advertising.

Thanks for linking a report on IE8 security from MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) - that must be objectively written and researched, right?

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-sponsors-two-nss-reports-ie8-is-the-most-secure.ars

Edit: Also, it is slightly disingenuous to talk about IE8 given that the uptake for it is quite small compared to IE7 and 6. In your example you stated that banks use IE. This is true; however, most banks and indeed large corporations use IE6 or 7, largely due to the fact they have legacy systems that are only compatible with those versions.

LOL, I just used Bing to find some key information to prove my point.

http://blogs.msdn.com/giorgio/archive/2009/08/12/most-secure-browser-internet-explorer-8.aspx

"NSS Labs, a trusted advisor to the information security community" - Its an independant company for security testing.

See the full results of the tests from this link.

It is an MDSN link to a Microsoft sponsored test? What part of impartial are you not appreciating?

My Point is as before. IE8 is the most secure browser. I'm not going to discuss previous versions of IE because I know my point isnt valid for previous versions. The key is staying up to date if you want to be secure or as secure as you can be which is never 100%.

Also, the additional points I was making is that IE8 is just as fast and faster in some tests and I was just pointing out the new key features of IE8 showing that its actually a pretty cool easy to use browser.

Im not here to argue, just wanted to share the details, people will always make up their own mind and will genearally stick with what they no and use until having a bad experience.

I appreciate you have your own point of view and I agree that people generally stick to what they know. However, the point you are making about IE8 being the most secure is NOT valid as far as I am concerned, given that you insist on presenting a Microsoft sponsored test and published on MSDN as valid evidence; it is not.

Also, if you don't want to talk about older versions of IE then why did you cite banks and other organisations as example in your previous post?

Mind you, at the end of the day - you pays your money, you makes your choice.

The point about banks is true, They do mainly use earlier versions of IE because they are fully compatible with their inhouse applications. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of education in the fact you can run IE8 in compatability mode for IE7 to get around issues that might arise. So the uptake here is likely slow but the move should be faster but any switch or upgrade has its own expense when it comes to testing and so on.

The main reason companies use IE is because of the management piece behind it through group policy and the way its so configurable to suit your needs. Obviously if you have a support agreement with Microsoft it makes sense to use their product.

My point about security was ran by an Independant security testing company and the test was sponsored by Microsoft. Other companies had the chance to get involved and didnt, they also had the chance to respond to the tests completed and most didnt. So, until proven otherwise I hold this information as true.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Edit - Here's another link sharing information on IE8 Security - http://windows7talkz.com/2010/03/06/most-secure-combination-windows-7-ie8-or-chrome/

Firefox for me - It's definitely fast enough, and very customisable, so it makes me happy! I left IE at IE6, and I don't plan to go back until consensus changes

I'm experimenting with Chrome at the moment on my Netbook.

On the plus side it is fast, and the usable screen area is large. On the down side, some of the options screens are more than 600 pixels high.

Previously I used Firefox.

Also Chrome doesn't have the Windows 7/Facebook chat bug.

I use Chrome and love it. I haven't had a need for all those Firefox plugins.

Going back to the initial posters point and the reason he shared his wish to move away from IE, I'm just curious, why do you think it is that people move away or feel the need to install a broswer that's mostly always installed by default? Personally I'm used to using IE because I have all my life and I really can't be bothered to download another browser which isnt going to offer me any additional functionality I would make use of.

I have chrome, opera, firefox, safari, and IE on this machine. Chrome is a clear favorite being plainly more functional than all but safari (which is only better because of the cool bookmarks spread thingy).

I would suggest chrome.

Personally I'm used to using IE because I have all my life and I really can't be bothered to download another browser which isnt going to offer me any additional functionality I would make use of.

HTML5 compatibility and security are both functionality that you would make use of, whether you knew it or not. IE is also by far the slowest of the browsers.

Yeah but is it the slowest browser? Links above that I found seem to demonstrate IE is actually just as fast or faster in some cases. I think what used to be just isnt the case anymore.

I personally have never had any kind of issue with IE concerning speed, realiability or lack of security to my knowledge so I just don't understand the need to use an alternative.

Yeah but is it the slowest browser?

Yes.

http://cybernetnews.com/cybernotes-browser-performance-comparisons/

Links above that I found seem to demonstrate IE is actually just as fast or faster in some cases. I think what used to be just isnt the case anymore.

Except it really is.

http://sixrevisions.com/infographs/browser-performance/

Seriously.

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=168623&page=1&zoomIdx=1

I personally have never had any kind of issue with IE concerning speed, realiability or lack of security to my knowledge so I just don't understand the need to use an alternative.

You've never had malware? Ever? Are you lying, or do you simply not understand the nature of the beast? As for speed comparisons, they aren't exactly obvious to the eye when you're only at one speed. It's not like other browsers are passing by faster in your window.

ShumaGorath wrote:

Yeah but is it the slowest browser?

Yes.

http://cybernetnews.com/cybernotes-browser-performance-comparisons/

Links above that I found seem to demonstrate IE is actually just as fast or faster in some cases. I think what used to be just isnt the case anymore.

Except it really is.

http://sixrevisions.com/infographs/browser-performance/

Seriously.

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=168623&page=1&zoomIdx=1

I personally have never had any kind of issue with IE concerning speed, realiability or lack of security to my knowledge so I just don't understand the need to use an alternative.

You've never had malware? Ever? Are you lying, or do you simply not understand the nature of the beast? As for speed comparisons, they aren't exactly obvious to the eye when you're only at one speed. It's not like other browsers are passing by faster in your window.

Thanks for the information, this is certainly interesting. The first link is back from when IE8 was in Beta so this isnt a fair test for the current build of IE8. I am happy to admit IE6/7 would be slower but these are older versions.

The second link is also for an older version of IE8. I'd like to see an up to date example. I would expect IE8 (latest version) to still not be on top but a much closer result.

The links I posted show some browsers are faster at loading some sites than others. Theres a pretty good spread actually. Your right with your point above, in most cases concerning speed you just aren't going to see or notice the difference because its so minimal.

Yes, I've had malware, I didnt think of that for some reason. I've picked up my fair share in the past. So aside from speed (because in 90% of cases the difference is so minimal) do people consider other browsers to be more secure than IE, is this another reason why folks would move away?

Yes, I've had malware, I didnt think of that for some reason. I've picked up my fair share in the past. So aside from speed (because in 90% of cases the difference is so minimal) do people consider other browsers to be more secure than IE, is this another reason why folks would move away?

Yes, though thats harder to put into a graph. IE historically has had significantly more exploits inherent to it, though it's shaped up a bit with 8. Regardless, it's still the lest secure of the major four.

garret wrote:I use IE. but the prblems is it always has the problems of not responding in threads here(mostly music ones for some reason) Any suggestions.
Thinking either google chrome of firefox(if its free) is it.
Any other suggestions

I would suggest running IE in no add ons mode and see if you can reproduce the problem.
Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-ons).

Also Try updating to IE8 if the problem persists and ensure you have the latest IE patch update installed which is MS10-002 - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-002.mspx

Download link for every supported operating system listed there under the Componenet heading for which ever version of IE you have installed.

I use firefox for the range of features (flashblock, password export, custom extensions I've written, etc) and to not put all my eggs in the google basket.

I recommend Chrome to less technical users as it updates very quickly and has the backing of google, who take security more seriously than pretty much any other major tech company.

I recommend avoiding IE to everyone due to it ignoring or randomly extending standards that are supposed to be there for the benefit of everybody, the poor track record of security in every version to date (and yes, IE8 has had remote vulnerabilities already), and the poor method of software updating in the event of zero day exploits.

ShumaGorath wrote:

Yes, though thats harder to put into a graph. IE historically has had significantly more exploits inherent to it, though it's shaped up a bit with 8. Regardless, it's still the lest secure of the major four.

Apparently IE8 on Win7 or Chrome on win7 is the most secure you can get. Any browser using Flsah apparently makes any browser less secure - http://windows7talkz.com/2010/03/06/most-secure-combination-windows-7-ie8-or-chrome/

L0rdF1end wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:

Yes, though thats harder to put into a graph. IE historically has had significantly more exploits inherent to it, though it's shaped up a bit with 8. Regardless, it's still the lest secure of the major four.

Apparently IE8 on Win7 or Chrome on win7 is the most secure you can get. Any browser using Flsah apparently makes any browser less secure - http://windows7talkz.com/2010/03/06/most-secure-combination-windows-7-ie8-or-chrome/

That article implies that osx is less secure (not the browsers) and that because it's not packaged initially in ie8 that IE handles it better. It's not exactly a good argument.

Im confused buy what you mean.

This all time hacker dude was asked directly what the most secure combination was...

"In your opinion, which is the safer combination OS+browser to use?

That’s a good question. Chrome or IE8 on Windows 7 with no Flash installed. There probably isn’t enough difference between the browsers to get worked up about. The main thing is not to install Flash!"

L0rdF1end wrote:Im confused buy what you mean.

This all time hacker dude was asked directly what the most secure combination was...

"In your opinion, which is the safer combination OS+browser to use?

That’s a good question. Chrome or IE8 on Windows 7 with no Flash installed. There probably isn’t enough difference between the browsers to get worked up about. The main thing is not to install Flash!"

Not installing flash isn't a particularly tenable option with the modern internet.

I would definitely recommend Firefox. It's quick, easy to customise and I love the addons (ah Babel fish instant double-click translations). Also it's really good at blocking popups and generally I think it's a lot more secure than IE. I have to admit I have never tried Chrome so I won't say anything bad about it, but the reason I've never tried it is just that I've never needed to switch away from Firefox.