Persuade me to ditch Internet Explorer in favor of another browser

[TheFatKid]

@Silver Tyger Girl

Firefox has tons of free plug-ins. You want no ads? You can have no ads. You want to not use the internet to procrastinate? Leechblock will give you a time limit for sites. You want spellcheck? You got it. You want to be able to copy just plain text? You can get that. You have a bad habit of closing a tab then wishing you hadn’t? Tabsaver lets you undo it.

Ditto. Firefox, hands down.

[Shagnasty]

Others have implied it but you don’t have to “convert” to a new web browser like you would with a new operating system. It is just an application. Install every single one of them on your computer if you want and have your way with them. Anything not Internet Explorer tends to be pretty light weight. I use Firefox almost exclusively but it would be stupid to try to get rid of IE altogether because there is no point and there are still a very small number of sites that only work with IE.

[TheFatKid]

@Shagnasty

Others have implied it but you don’t have to “convert” to a new web browser like you would with a new operating system. It is just an application. Install every single one of them on your computer if you want and have your way with them. Anything not Internet Explorer tends to be pretty light weight. I use Firefox almost exclusively but it would be stupid to try to get rid of IE altogether because there is no point and there are still a very small number of sites that only work with IE.

True. I keep IE around because every now and then I run across someone who’s not yet with the program.

[gonzomax]

Nobody has to convince you to abandon IE. IE does that all by itself when you use it.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I used Safari on my PC and now that I switched over to the dark side, it comes installed with the OS.

I love it; it’s been trouble free for me all along.

[Red_Barchetta]

@stpauler

I’ve been using Chrome since it’s main release. I find it’s faster than Firefox but doesn’t have a lot of the bonuses (no ad block, bugmenot, et al). Part of me wants to switch to Firefox, but I’ve become a creature of habit.

There are ad blocking solutions available for Chrome, such as AdBlock:
http://stevenpratt.com/2008/09/06/google-chrome-adblock-plugin/

As for me, I’m Chrome all the way (except for on my Mac, where I"m stuck with Safari for now). I tried Firefox, but that program is almost as slow and bloated as the piece of shit browser it was originally designed to replace.

Chrome is lean, boots-up fast, loads pages even faster, and has a brilliantly designed minimalistic UI (its drag and drop tab functionality is second to none). I can’t recommend this browser enough.

@Snowboarder_Bo

I used Safari on my PC and now that I switched over to the dark side, it comes installed with the OS.

I love it; it’s been trouble free for me all along.

I used to be happy with Safari…even the 4 beta worked fine for me. Now the final version gives me the beach ball of doom at least once every couple of hours, forcing me to force-quit it. I’m counting the days until the Chrome version of Mac is ready–I’m on the developer channel and it’s almost there; once it gets bookmark managing, I’m switching over permanently.

[stpauler]

@Red_Barchetta

There are ad blocking solutions available for Chrome, such as AdBlock:
http://stevenpratt.com/2008/09/06/google-chrome-adblock-plugin/

As for me, I’m Chrome all the way (except for on my Mac, where I"m stuck with Safari for now). I tried Firefox, but that program is almost as slow and bloated as the piece of shit browser it was originally designed to replace.

Chrome is lean, boots-up fast, loads pages even faster, and has a brilliantly designed minimalistic UI (its drag and drop tab functionality is second to none). I can’t recommend this browser enough.

You’re my hero du jour! Thanks!

[Munch]

@Claire_Beauchamp

Thanks … I don’t mind keeping the two windows separate. I do have the “view in IE” add-on if I need to switch mid-browse, but it does launch a separate window. If it’s IE, it’s work-related 99% of the time, so it’s actually helpful to have that distinction (for my purposes, anyway). Good to know about, though.

If you click the little Firefox icon down in the bottom right corner, you can toggle that tab to IE and back without opening a new window. Or you could set your settings to open new windows in a new tab instead.

[Dave_Hartwick]

Another Chrome user chiming in, and a former Firefox user.

My needs are simple. I get the security I want and I get a cool pseudo home page that displays my most visited sites. And-- I bring this up because an acquaintance mentioned he wasn’t comfortable with that-- there an incognito mode where your browsing history and searches aren’t recorded.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Cisco

Did you even consider Opera?

I’m downloading it now and will install it and try it out at lunch.

[Claire_Beauchamp]

@Munch

If you click the little Firefox icon down in the bottom right corner, you can toggle that tab to IE and back without opening a new window. Or you could set your settings to open new windows in a new tab instead.

oooh, good to know

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Munch

3. Their workplace doesn’t allow anything but IE.

/raises hand

I’m stuck using IE at work (and I had to jump through approximately 20 billion hoops to even get IE7 vs. IE6), and it drives me insane. At home, I use Chrome (or, rarely when a page isn’t loading right, Firefox). IE has huge, clunky bars accross the top that you can’t turn off, there’s no way to re-open a tab you accidentally closed, and (worst of all) the search function is absolute shit.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Shot_From_Guns

/raises hand

I’m stuck using IE at work (and I had to jump through approximately 20 billion hoops to even get IE7 vs. IE6), and it drives me insane. At home, I use Chrome (or, rarely when a page isn’t loading right, Firefox). IE has huge, clunky bars accross the top that you can’t turn off, there’s no way to re-open a tab you accidentally closed, and (worst of all) the search function is absolute shit.

IE 8 lets you re-open tabs you have accidentally closed, and you can remove the unwanted bars by going to Toolbars in either version 7 or 8. I don’t remember about 6.

[Mahaloth]

Anyone ever flip back to IE for awhile and have you jaw drop when you see how many ads are on the internet? It’s stunning!

[DMark]

I used to only use IE, but when I started taking classes on web design, we were told to start using Firefox (due to many features that are very good for web designers).

Originally I hated it, but to be quite honest, I have learned to love Firefox and now use it exclusively. However, of late it seem to take forever to load up initially - not sure if that is my computer, or the newest version of Firefox, but it is a bit annoying.
Once it is up and running, all is fine - but it seems to be taking longer and longer to load up the first time.

[Terraplane]

@DMark

However, of late it seem to take forever to load up initially - not sure if that is my computer, or the newest version of Firefox, but it is a bit annoying.
Once it is up and running, all is fine - but it seems to be taking longer and longer to load up the first time.

I think it’s the newest version of Firefox. It used to be great for me too but after 3.0 came out it got terrible. I switched to Chrome and while it’s not perfect either, all in all I like it a lot better than anything else I’ve tried.

[Pleonast]

@tr0psn4j

With Adblock plus you don’t get any adds. NoScript blocks a bunch of annoying scripts.

Get these two plug-ins even if you get nothing else.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

IE 8 lets you re-open tabs you have accidentally closed, and you can remove the unwanted bars by going to Toolbars in either version 7 or 8. I don’t remember about 6.

1.) I can’t use 8. It was a battle to even get 7.
2.) No, you can’t remove all the toolbars–believe me, I’ve tried. I’m talking about this thing right here, which at best I could shrink down to a single button. Compare how much crap there is at the top in IE with how much there is on my browser at home, where I use Chrome (IIRC, there are exactly two buttons to the right of my bookmarks bar–sorry it’s not a full screenshot, but I pulled this out of a directory of images I made to show someone how to use a WoW database website).

[Duckster]

Anything you can do, (IE)
I can do better. (Firefox)
I can do anything (Firefox)
Better than you. (IE)

Others in this thread provided the examples, so far.

[Mangetout]

@MsWhatsit

Adblock does not do any of the above. I browse the Web just as I would usually, except, blip, all the ads are gone. There’s not an annoying blank box where they used to be. They just aren’t there. It’s so incredibly nice.

Spot on. I’ve been using FF for a couple of years now, and whenever I have to go back to IE for some reason (usually if I have to troubleshoot someone else’s computer), I shudder at how horrible the internet actually is with all those intrusive ads flashing in your face.

I’m not going to try to persuade the OP to use my favourite browser - I just don’t see the point - but if you’re not happy with IE, then try some of the popular alternatives and let your experiences do the convincing.