browsers

With a dial-up connection, I had tried others a few years ago, Google and Mozilla Firefox I believe, but seem to recall them being exceptionally slow, so went back to Internet Explorer. Now, with a high(er) speed connection, I am thinking that I want to try again, probably Mozilla Firefox based on what I have heard and read, but am clueless, or at least a bit confused. I assume that I go online, find the site for the browser that I want, and download it? Then, once it is installed, that is the browser that I will be using when I go online? Is it relatively safe to assume that any browser will have features such as "favorites", where I can then click to go to say this site? And say I want the weather to come up when I log in, I can set that page as a home page or whatever? Okay so far?

And by the way, is Mozilla perhaps a good or bad choice?

But I have heard people say things like "I have two (or more) browsers that I use", or "I always have a backup browser". How, and maybe why, do you go to a different browser? Should I be considering more than one browser? Are some maybe not suitable for certain websites?

 

When you download and install the browser (FF or Chrome) it will ask you if you want to import favorites and do you want it to be the default browser. Some people (myself included) have more than one browser because some sites just don't work as well or display correctly in one, but work fine in another.

I use FF almost exclusively, Chrome occasionally, and IE for a few sites that are optimized for it and just don't work as well in the first 2.

 

I use it predominately and would consider it an excellent choice.

 

Seamonkey is the original Mozilla suite and works well. You might also try Maxthon. A Chinese browser based on Open Chrome.

 

Maxthon is built on IE, not Chrome (in fact back in the day it used to be called MyIE). It still has all the security holes that IE does - including the one that was just found this week being exploited by the Chinese hacking squad - that has Homeland Security telling people not to use IE.

Just say no to "Made in China".

 

Thank you all for the information, and you Matt for the heads up on IE. I have known that they were, purportedly anyway, not the best in regard to security, but was not aware of their latest problem, so, instead of doing something when I get time, will make it a priority.

 

Just to add, you can have ALL of the browsers on your computer. They only run when you open them, otherwise they just sit there, just like any other program on your computer that you're not using at the moment.
I use Firefox the most.

 

The Linux version I use is Chrome based. I thought that in Windows that had replaced the IE based version. My mistake?

 

It probably has some Chromium components in it to give it Webkit compatibility, but the Windows version is still very much IE based. This is evidenced by the fact that it can use ActiveX controls - which only run on the IE Engine.

My recommendation is Firefox with the AdBlockPlus extension installed.

 

Network Solutions, where I build my two websites requires the use of Java, so I have to switch from Firefox to Chrome to access it in order to make changes or updates. IE is gone. Never liked it anyway.

 

I still have IE but rarely if ever use it I much prefer Firefox over IE it just isn't as buggy as IE is and pages seem to load much faster too.