Browsers: Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, etc...

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 1:04 pm

Who here uses an Internet browser that isnt IE, like Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc...?? What do you think of it??

I moved to Firefox a few months ago and can say that I would never touch IE again, even with a stick. I changed all 5 home computers to firefox and everyone likes it better then IE.

TEAM LANDCRUISER · Post by **TEAM LANDCRUISER** » 11 December 04 1:38 pm

We have used mozilla and opera but are now using firefox but it does have some limitations where we need IE as a backup sometimes for various uses. But as far as browsers go it's one of the better ones. We also recently started using thunderbird as a trial and seems to be handling our mail workload aok.Cheers TLC

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 1:48 pm

The reason I made this post was I acctually started using Thunderbird yesterday. It took a bit to setup but I can see already that its way better.

Have you tried the built in RSS support?

TEAM LANDCRUISER · Post by **TEAM LANDCRUISER** » 11 December 04 1:51 pm

Yes we do Sniper

... It just notified me of your reply.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 2:05 pm

Screen shot of the RSS features of Thunderbird:

http://xca.auscstrike.com/images/Thunde ... Sfeeds.jpg

I will just link to it since the image is a screenshot and would then fill the screen if I did it inline.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 2:17 pm

This probably wont be useful to anyone here but if you use PGP, OpenPGP or GnuPG encryption for mail or for file sending then Thunderbird has an extension called EnigMail which works seamlessly with GPG to open, view and create secure messages.

http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

dak's Emu Mob · Post by **dak's Emu Mob** » 11 December 04 2:18 pm

G'day,

I have been dissatisfied with IE for some time. I started using Opera for a while, but I gave it away for some reason--can't remember why.

I've been using Firefox now for about three months. The tabbed browsing features are worth the switch, if nothing else. The only time I fire up IE now is on the odd occasion when some brain-dead site requires IE for some reason. (It's reason enough not to visit that site again!)

So, it's Firefox for me for now on. No more worrying about IE's myriad security holes and archaic feature set!

I tried Thunderbird a couple of months back, and I really liked it, however, "Lookout" gives me an integrated mail/contacts/calendar, and as far as I recall, Thunderbird only has mail and contacts. Also, I have Lookout set up to move to the next message (not the next unread message), and Thunderbird wouldn't do that. I found this really frustrating. I know that sounds like a very minor thing, but it was the last straw. So, I went back to the M$ offering, which I think is pretty good, by the way. There is virtually nothing I don't like about Outlook. I've never been hit by any security issue (never with IE either for that matter), but I take endless precautions while on the 'Net, which more than likely accounts for that.

Perhaps there is an extension that overcomes the next message/next unread message thing, but there wasn't anything available at the time.

In any event, I need a calendar too, and I don't want to have to run multiple applications to have that facility.

Cheers,

dak

aussiecoder · Post by **aussiecoder** » 11 December 04 2:31 pm

I've been thunderbirding and firefoxing for over a year.

Multitab in firefox is an excellent feature as is the popup blocking.

Spam filtering makes thunderbird worth it - I get over 100 spams per day (spread over 3 email accounts). Thunderbird is keeping email usable for me.

I also run the calendar software sunbird. I'm waiting for it to catch up to the quality of thunderbird and firefox.

Up until now I've ignored RSS, but this thread has given me an excuse to have a look at it.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 2:40 pm

Dak,

Outlook's an all in one package and Thunderbird goes up against Outlook Express which is a heavily cut down version of Outlook.

Outlook's not free, you only get it with the Office package or bundled with a MS PocketPC.

I never liked Outlook since it had too many features for me. Like you said it comes down to personal choice. One feature/lack of feature can change a persons opinion of something.

I checked Thunderbird for the Next message and it still just takes you to the next new message

On another note, if your worried about losing connectivity with Hotmail from Outlook (2002+) or Outlook Express (5+) then try FreePOPs which runs as a service under nt/2k/xp and allows you access to Hotmail web email from a POP3 email client like Thunderbird or Outlook 2000. I am still testing it out but so far it seems to work great.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freepops/

Aushiker · Post by **Aushiker** » 11 December 04 3:34 pm

Hi

Been a happy Opera users since around v. 4 or 5. Have Firefox as well but find it limiting incomparision to Opera. Eudora is my email program and I use the opensource Spambayes for spam management (20%) of my email.

Cheers
Andrew

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 December 04 6:03 pm

In case you didnt know about the 'new posts' feed address:
http://geocaching.com.au/rss/forum.rss

Dooghan · Post by **Dooghan** » 11 December 04 8:09 pm

Lt. Sniper wrote:This probably wont be useful to anyone here but if you use PGP, OpenPGP or GnuPG encryption for mail or for file sending then Thunderbird has an extension called EnigMail which works seamlessly with GPG to open, view and create secure messages.

http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

I been using EnigMail for a while now to sign my email. I just don't know anyone that uses encrypted emails.

Yes I have to say I like the spam filters in thunderbird. One of the reason I gave outlook express the flick.

One thing that outlook express has is filtering by attachments which I miss.

Also about the same time I went to firefox and have never looked back. Got to love the tab browsing

Dooghan

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 13 December 04 10:43 am

I use firefox and thunderbird for personal use, or konqueror and kmail (Linux w/ KDE at home). I'm stuck with IE at work, and am happy with Outlook for work-based PIM.

Regarding sites that "require" IE, you can often tell Firefox to fake it for that particular site so that you don't have to switch.

- Rog

Hounddog · Post by **Hounddog** » 13 December 04 11:44 am

There have been so many programmes to have come and gone over the years that I've lost track on the ones I have used. We certainly have come a long way in the many years I have been accessing the Internet. Hands up those who can remember the old days of Fido, and Compuserve, and when for searching you had to ask "Jughead", "Archie" and "Veronica". My fist on- line hook up wasn't with a modem at all but with an accoustic coupler running at 300/75 baud. Snifter and I actually ran a f BBS service at that speed.

After trying them all, I still use I.E for the World Wide Wait. But I spend so little time on there these days it really doesn't matter. Nestscape was perhaps the best browser I have used after this. You are always going to have software comming along, claiming to be better that I.E and trying to wrestle the stranglehold on the browser maket from from it. Try it all if you like, but I still think I.E is the best.

For the Usenet, where I spend most of my time, I still use Agent which is by far the best for this application. The best part about the Usenet is that, when I surf it, I am completely invisible. Amazingly there are people out there that have been using the internet for years and still don't know what the Usenet is.

It really is a matter of what application best suits your needs, They probably all have their good points and bad points, but I think most people just get too wrapped up in the WWW without exploring the many other possibilities the Net has to offer.

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 13 December 04 11:50 am

I'm interested to read that, Hounddog. What was it about IE that you preferred over Firefox?

Firefox doesn't really claim to be better than IE, it just is, from most accounts.

- R