What Is Firefox?
FireFox is an alternative browser, its built by the Mozilla organisation, which are a non-profit group. Firefox is developed by employees at Mozilla, along with others from Google, IBM, Sun and Red hat.
Why Should i Change?
Internet Explorer is arguably the worst browser out there in terms of security. Worse, its a integral part of windows, It is allegedly the reason that 99% of all spyware/malware can enter your system even when you are completely patched.
Now you may argue that because Internet explorer is used more its targeted more, or its because of the poor security and flaws in the system that its an easy target. Either way if it was a product you had brought for home you be asking for your money back and looking for something else. Internet Explorer in my opinion no long makes the grade, its clunky ugly and shouts out come and infect me.
However, don't just take my word for it firefox is recommended by many others - including, USA Today, The Times and The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
Firefox is faster and easier to use than IE, perhaps most importantly it keeps your passwords and data more secure making online transactions safer, stops spyware and popups from interfering with your surfing all quietly in the background. It helps you surf the net trouble free.
Firefox has won several awards like
“Best of 2003, Web Browser” —PC World Magazine
“Best Web Browser, 2003” —LinuxJournal Magazine
How to do I install it?
It is so simple to install and not very big either, so no excuses for not giving it a try. They have windows, Macs, Linux versions as well as others.
1. Click the big button bellow the firefox logo, or here if you want ^_^
2. When asked to 'Open the file' or 'Save it to your computer', select 'Open' to begin installation OR if you save it to your computer, save the file to your desktop.
3 Double-click the Firefox Setup.exe to start the install.
Here is the cool part the nice people at mozilla have gone out of there way to help you switch from internet explorer, when you first install firefox a wizard opens and lets you import your favorites, options, cookies and passwords, which means you don't even have to remember what password you use on ciao it still remembers it for you. They have free online support should you need it.
How do I use it?
Look wise there is little difference, sort of, ok it looks much better and has more options and its not identical but you will know where everything is because it has that familiarity about it. Your favorites are called book marks, refresh is called reload, nothing major to start with but you can add so much and change so much you can make its appearance to suit your needs.
What are the Advantages over IExplorer?
Tab Browsing - all your windows live inside a single window, with nice tabs so you can click in and out easily and quickly
Searching - Google is built in to the browser little box in the top right next to the address/location bar, you can also add, ebay, Amazon and UPS to name a few to the same little box.
No spyware - Since switching to Firefox , I have had absolutely zero instances of spyware on my system (with the exception of a few tracking cookies).
Usability - its faster and has a cleaner feel to it. if you are a developer or programmer its open source so you can change it rebuild it, extend it anyway you want, for a normal user there are loads of extensions and modifications already created and available on there homepage for you to customize to your hearts content.
Speed - much faster than Internet Explorer which can lag even with broadband at loading pages as it renders them to slow.
Popup blocker - edit->preferences->advanced->smart browsing->block popup ads. no clunky 3rd party software installed needed like with IE.
Download Manager - has its own built in download manager so you can resume and access your downloads quicker, or you can add the flashgot extension to have flashget as your default with options added to your right click menu of flash get link or flash get all, very handy!
Automatic Updates - Quick Fix released when bugs have been found.
What Are Extensions?
"Extensions are small programs (or plug-ins) that add new functionality to Firefox. It can be anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature, such as mouse gestures. The great thing about extensions is that they allow Firefox to stay small and un bloated. Anyone who requires more features can download the appropriate extension. You can even create your own extensions. Information about that will available in the future."
Which extensions are worth having?
Just go to Mozilla UpdateHere