Mozilla Firefox 1.5, An Alternative to Internet Explorer

08/12/2006

Mozilla Firefox is a free open-source browser which can be used as an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. Based on Netscape Navigator, this browser provides a safe, secure, and highly customizable user experience. Now in its second year on the market, Firefox still stands out as the clear choice for a web browser that is not only very user friendly, but secure as well. While Firefox is not a perfect browser by any meaning of the word, I've been using it since it was known as Firebird and since making the full switch over to the Firefox browser, my web experience has become a lot nicer.

Easy To Use

If you are like me, one of the first things you look at in software is: How Easy Is This For Me To Use? If it is not easy to use, I don't want to deal with it, especially when there is an alternative that costs less, works better, and is easier to use. Firefox has an extremely simple user layout, with only the standard functions of a web browser and a quick search bar. Plus it has tabbed browsing built in. No more cluttering up your task bar with 8 windows for just your web browser. I find switching through tabs in one window to not only be much more convenient, but also much more productive because I don't have to Alt+Tab until I find the window I need. If you don't like the tabbed browsing, you can still do the individual windows at a click of the mouse.

Secure

Firefox is a very secure web browser. I have two computers, both running XP pro which I visit relatively the same sites on. One of which I use Firefox primarily on and the other in which I use Internet Explorer as my primary browser. After 4 months of rather unequal use, (it turns out I use the computer with Firefox on it a lot more because it is faster) I decided to run Adaware on both computers. The Internet Explorer computer had picked up 114 pieces of critical spyware while the Firefox computer picked up just 16. I've done this test on several occasions, on average, the computers I do maintenance on that include Firefox as the default browser contain about 75% less spyware than the ones that have Internet Explorer on them as a default browser.

Firefox also contains another feature which I think is key to keeping the browser secure. Instead of giving you the option to fix the security flaws that are found in it, it just does it for you and notifies you that it will finish the update when you restart the browser. While this isn't as nice for the dial-up users (sorry guys) for those who use Firefox on a high speed connection, you never know it is downloading. Plus, since it is open source, the security flaws get fixed quickly. I rarely see it take more than 3 days to get a flaw fixed after it is discovered.

Customizable

Where would a browser be without customization? One of the things that has hit the market like wildfire is the ability to skin your programs. In Firefox they are called Themes and switching a theme is as easy as going to the Tools menu, Selecting Themes, and choosing the one you like. There are tons to choose from, almost all of which are free and can be chosen found on a link in the Themes window.

Also in the customization section is one of my favorite features of Firefox: Extensions. These are additional components that can be added on to Firefox for extra usability. They contain everything from an enhanced Ad Blocker to a way to download your favorite videos off of YouTube. In fact, these extensions are so useful that I have a few that I recommend you install as soon as you install Firefox.

Adblock Plus

Lets face it, Firefox does about as good or maybe just a slightly better job at blocking those irritating Pop-Ups than Internet Explorer does, which isn't saying much. Obviously their Pop-Up blocking skills could both use some work. Now you could use some expensive resource hogging Third-Party software to block them, or you could just use Adblock Plus which is free. Adblock Plus does an excellent job of killing the Pop-Ups in Firefox. Their latest version is so good that I have not seen a Pop-Up Ad in almost 2 months. This doesn't stop all the ads that are built into the web pages, though in the new version, it is starting to block those too, you have the option of manually blocking an advertisement by right clicking on it and selecting Adblock Image. I highly recommend this very handy tool.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater

This is the counterpart to Adblock Plus. Adblock works using a file that contains a huge list of known Advertisements, this program allows you to Automatically Update the filter list from an ever growing list of databases. Stay up to date without having to think about it, it is a marvelous thing.

Tabbrowser Preferences

This fixes another one of those things that Firefox (and apparently none of the other browsers) can't ever seem to get right. It makes it so that when you click a link, it opens up in a new tab instead of a new window. Maybe eventually Firefox will get this right, even though they have the option in their menu already, but until that happens, I suggest Tabbrowser Preferences.

McAfee Site Advisor

This puts a little bar down in the lower right hand corner of your browser. It changes color depending on the safety of the site according to McAfee. Green meaning the site is safe and you aren't likely to pick up a Trojan and Red meaning you had better watch what you download because this site has been known to host Trojans and other malicious things. Additionally when you search with either Google, MSN, or Yahoo! It will display the safety rating next to each link before you click on them.

Rating: 4.5/5