According to my logs, about half of the visitors here are using Internet Explorer. There is a critical security hole in Internet Explorer that allows a web site you visit to take over your computer. Secunia has the details and a test to see if you are vulnerable. If you are, the best solution is to switch to another browser. I recommend Firefox. It's free, has many more useful features than Internet Explorer, and you can have it installed and running in a few minutes. (Via Slashdot. PC World has more details.)
I'll second that Firefox recommendation, and Gentoo Linux for my favorite alternative to windows. Bit of a PITA for setting up, but well worth it.
emerge -u world
I am using Mozilla however I do have IE installed. It's a Mac so I don't think I'm vulnerable, but If I were would just having IE on my desktop be cause for concern?
Never mind.
anyone here use the IE extension for firefox? I'm assuming it doesn't include any built in IE security holes?
I tried Firefox at home in the hopes of avoiding the IE security issues. But I found it to be dog slow compared to IE, especially for downloads. Given how light it is, this surprised me. I set it up at work also, but this time I tried turning off the Download Manager and setting it to auto-detect my network proxy settings rather than assume direct Internet connection.
It may be in my mind, but it does seem faster now. Am I on the right track? Any suggestions would be welcome.
Firefox is slower to load because core components of IE are loaded into memory as part of the OS. Once loaded, though, Firefox renders pages more quickly than IE.
I know of no particular reason why Firefox and IE would differ in speed for downloading files.
Been running Firefox at home now for a good couple of months. Found it to be much faster and cleaner, and far more user friendly.
Best thing so far: Zero incident's of spy/malware, likewise viruses (don't use outlook either)
I have been addicted to OPERA for years. I too find FF slow and bit clunky for some reason.
Tim - I often set up OPERA to appear as IE to get around some stupid sites. I think a lot of people do this so the actual IE numbers are probably less than appears.
I've found Firefox works fine for me. Downloads are always fast for me as well.
I use Opera in preference because it loads faster and renders faster. However it has a lot of problems with secure sites (eg the SMH or the Commonwealth bank).
I have had Firefox have it's home page changed by the lop.com trojan/malware so I don't think it is immune to problems. Opera has not yet caused those sort of issues.