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Listen to the podcast: IE 7, Firefox 2.
Transcript Hi everyone, this is Leo Notenboom with news, commentary and answers to some of the many questions I get at askleo.info. So the big news this last week was the near simultaneous release of Internet Explorer version 7, and Firefox version 2. Naturally the tech press is all a'twitter over the feature sets, the competition, and what each means to the future of the other. IE7 has been a long time coming. But I have to say that many of the changes really have me shaking my head. For example, the address bar is now above the menu bar - and you can't move it. Now I'll admit, losing the address bar is a frequent problem, but cementing it to the top of the window in a new and unfamiliar location was not, in my opinion, the answer. Example number two: where's the friggen home button? It's completely beyond me why they would move one of the most commonly used buttons to a completely different, and I'll say bizarre location.. (Can't find it? Look sorta off to the right on the bar that has the new browser tabs. Took me a while too.) Now, I'm certain ... ok, I'm hopefully ... that IE 7 includes all of IE 6's security updates. There's also list of new security related features, most interesting of which might be the anti-phishing trap. Personally I'm looking forward to learning whether the "Diagnose Connection Problems..." tool actually helps - that's another very common problem I hear about here at Ask Leo!. Firefox 2 is a more subtle upgrade. In fact, unlike IE 6 to 7, about the only thing you'll first notice after upgrading is that several of your extensions won't work - though those do seem to be getting updated relatively quickly. Like IE 7, Firefox 2 includes several enhancements - including, surprise, a new phishing filter. But upgrading FireFox certainly isn't as jarring as upgrading IE. In fact, upgrading from IE 6 to FireFox 2 is probably less of a usage change than an upgrade to IE 7. So here's my recommendation, for IE and Firefox users alike:
The bottom line? IE is really a part of Windows and is used by many other applications. This and future updates should continue to improve the security of your system. But that doesn't mean you need to use it as your browser. Go ahead and use this opportunity to switch and begin using Firefox as your browser. It's what I do. I'd love to hear what you think. Visit ask leo dot info, and enter 10851 in the go to article number box. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you. This is a presentation of askleo.info, a free on-line technical question and answer service. Hundreds of questions and answers are online and ready to help solve your computer problems. That's askleo.info. Related:
• Recent Comments
...AND FOR US THAT CAN'T LEAVE WIN98SE, FIREFOX IS A COMPATIBLE GODSEND! Posted by: Wayne Scharf at November 4, 2006 09:35 AMI have had no problem with IE 7. Firefox gave me problems when I tried to use it as I am very dumb when it comes to computers. I keep mine going all the time though and IE 7 has made that easy for me. Not to mentioned , the many tool bars available with no problem, making music etc. available right handy! Cheers from Canada. Posted by: Thunder at November 4, 2006 12:11 PMI've successfully used the "diagnose connection problems" tool. That seems to be the most valuable thing in IE7. I'm with you: FF for browsing, as the new IE interface is driving me crazy. Posted by: Nancy at November 5, 2006 02:47 AMI have been using FF for several months now, and am now using FF2. It is FAR superior than IE7 (which, I might add, is STILL very buggy). It amazes me that if you have an open source platform like FF, it is STILL safer to use than IE7! And for that matter, Microsoft CONTINUES to ignore what people really WANT in a browser. It is totally UN-customizable, considering that FF releases 5-7 extensions, and the same number of themes DAILY to add to the experience. I use IE6 (I had to reformat my computer after I installed IE7) for ONE site - only because it is written specifically for IE - otherwise, it's FF2 FOREVER. Posted by: Carl at November 5, 2006 08:26 PMI really like IE7 and so far I have zero problems. The download from Windows Update took 6 minutes, including the installation! Someone mentioned that IE7 is slower than IE6--I have not found that to be the case. Without disparaging Firefox 2, I must say that the Tabs work well. As for the location of the Home icon, yes, it bothered me....but really, I have to give the program designer some leeway. You should not dwell on "minor" features which you dislike....it reminds me of Consumer Reports going crazy because of some "trivial" safety defect which would only endanger a moron. I like reading Leo's responses, even if they're not quite what I would write (actually they're better...). Let's emphasize the improvements, and IE7 has a lot of them. Posted by: Arthur at November 6, 2006 05:03 PMI downloaded IE7 quickly and easily and I love it! you have a wonderful site.I'm sure it's a lot of help to everyone that uses it. I will disagree with people who says IE7 is great. I would love to go back to IE6, but I haven't figured out how to change back. Posted by: laverne hargett at November 11, 2006 07:59 AM I have a Dell XPS 600 with Pentium D CPU with 2.8 GHz with 1 GB ram and Window XP Media Center edition Version 2002 with Service Pack 2, I recently downloaded Internet Explorer version 7 upgrade. Since that time, I am not able to access the desk top icons (Short Cuts) to access the internet. However, if I open Internet Explorer and use my favorites to access a site it works ok. Thank you for any help you can give me, I installed IE7 and now whenever i go to hotmail, it creates another page behind it. So, when i am finished with email, i have to close the second window also.
Tony Posted by: Tony at December 12, 2006 01:50 PMi've used Firefox for some time now and installed 2.0. I also have IE7 and I find after weeks of using them I use IE7 more. Firefox has a number of problems that IE7 doesn't have. The main issues are that you have to set them up properly to use either one. Many people are so predisposed to love one or the other they usually don't take the time to actually evaluate them carefully. While FF works well for most people I can list multiple problems with it. It performs best on highspeed line access but is abysmal on dialup. There is a utility that allows you to compact FF to help performance. It works well. FF doesn't always fill in saved userids and passwords properly. FF doesn't display all sites properly. FF doesn't display buttons on all sites properly. All of these things IE7 DOES properly every time. Post a comment on "IE 7, Firefox 2":
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