What's your browser of choice

[complich8]

So, we haven't had one of these threads in a while (err ... ever, according to the search). I could probably parse the webserver logs looking for this, but I'd rather just post a poll and ask! Laziness prevails!

So what's your browser of choice?

Do you still use IE, despite all the malware and exploits?

Is Firefox your horse? Do you sing along with Opera? Or run a vanilla Mozilla? Maybe you go on a Safari, or ride like a Konqueror on a Galeon?

What do you use? And, as importantly, why?
(If you use more than one, pick the one you use most often).

I use firefox primarily, mainly because of adblock. If opera had adblock and a tab close button that stayed in one place, I'd probably use it instead.

[Wilik]

I use wget + cat | more to surf the web....

[complich8]

cat | more is redundant! All you need is more! It's like cat | wc -l, just wc -l does the same thing!

You insensitive clod :p. Wasting valuable system filedescriptors on an extra pipe...

[Wilik]

bah! I dont want the word count I want to see the words comp!

[Kraco]

Firefox. Because of tabs and security. I'm not any MS hater, but still it also just felt good to switch away from IE. I guess I grew bored of reading about all those security flaws and such.

[el_boss]

Firefox all day every day. I've used it for a while now, and it just feels handicapped to use IE. I use it for the excellent browsing features and the security. I have had like no malware since I started using FF, whilst with IE I would get hundreds in a relatively short period of time.

Also one of the things that helped in my choice of FF are the extensions. I'll take this oppurtunity to mention some of my favourite extensions for FF.

*As Complich8 said Adblock Plus combined with Adblock Filterset.G Updater will remove all ads past, present and future.
*NoScripts stops javascripts from running unless you give permission.
*Tab Mix Plus adds a shitload of features to the tabbed browsing and alot of other general stuff.

EDIT: Meant no disrespect man.:)

[Board of Command]

Firefox for all websites compatible with it. It's marginably faster than IE and the tab browsing is very useful. I think it also uses system resources more efficiently because it loads much faster than IE as well.

[Tommy_Salami]

Opera all the way baby, i could not live without mouse gestures, and so the tab close button moves key board hot keys are faster

[Ryllharu]

Extensions make Firefox capable of being the perfect browser.

Firefox tweaked with:
IE View: an unfortunate necessary extension
DownThemAll!: A neat extension I rarely use, but time saving when you want to save a TON of pictures off a site.
Nuke Anything Enhanced: Another neat one that I don't use too often, but serves it purpose when I need it. As the title suggests, you can remove any object off of a page from your view. Great for reading a text that was littered with ads.
Tab Mix Plus: I really like the unclose tab feature of this, as well as the session saver that helps out on the off chance Windows crashes firefox.
BugMeNot: Great for logging into places like the NewYorkTimes and other sites that aren't full featured or blocked until you register, it autofills the login info right off their site. Never register unless you want to again.
Finally, pdf download: I vehemently hate AdobeAcrobat, so this lets me use foxit reader by default.

I only use IE for the stupid university sites that are so poorly written they don't work well in Firefox.

[kenren]

internet explorer ... i find it easy to use

[gr3atfull]

Mozilla Firefox: faster than IE, block pops up.

[woofcat]

I Run Firefox with Adblock, Greesemonkey, and Switchproxy.

[Board of Command]

internet explorer ... i find it easy to use
I think you just became Internet Enemy #1.

[samsonlonghair]

I love all Mozilla browsers, but Mozilla Seamonkey (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/) is my favorite. It's basically taking Mozilla 1.7 a step further. It combines the power of the full Mozilla Suite with the useability and speed of Firefox, and it supports many extentions including adblock, googlebar, needlesearch, Multizilla and a bunch of others. I also use firefox on some computers, but Seamonkey is my browser of choice.

[dragonrage]

monzilla firefox... and msn explorer.....

monzilla beause its easy to use basically give you everything you need, speed,tabs, google bar, popup blockers.

msn explorer cuase it was provided by the ips, its also handy virus portection, popup blockers, email, msn, and a lot more comes with it..... just hate the signing part. don't use it much for anything else.

[IFHTT]

Add me on to the Firefox group. So many features, most of which I don't even take advantage of unfortunately, but mainly the ease of extensions without the compromise in security. No ActiveX = Enough Said.

[Assassin]

firefox here as well. love the tabs feature and the lack of security holes and general crapiness is a plus.

[Mr Squiggles]

ditto. Firefox is great.


firefox here as well. love the tabs feature and the lack of security holes and general crapiness is a plus.

At first Ijust read the "general crapiness is a plus" and I was like "whatever floats your boat I guess...", but then I re-read your sentence... :o

[complich8]

I wonder when IE grew so reviled...

maybe it was the iframe exploit that didn't get patched for 4 months... <_<

[seanos]

I'd expect most people to use Firefox, and not for security reasons, mainly as its got lots of hype, and general media-coverage, the new 'cool thing'.
People don't care about security/exploits, if they did, they wouldn't install screensaver packs which are offered via popups, or click on emails offering them a c0rk enh4ncement with attached .jpg.exe to get the ball rolling.

[IFHTT]

^ I've never met anyone who uses it because its "the cool thing to do". Most people I know use it because you can visit about 30% more of the internet without the worry of browser hijackers. God I hate Browser Hijackers.

[woofcat]

I use it becuase i use linux, IE really isn't a option.

[Terracosmo]

Firefox no question. Looks nice, works nice, and I just can't use anything else. Lovu.

[Kraco]

It can't be denied Firefox is a cool thing. IE was quite dominant before Firefox appeared. Netscape was dying out already, and Opera (and many others) were quite marginal. Of course Linux was getting more popular, and with the lack of IE (if it's even proper to say so) other options gained popularity. Considering all that, it's just cool to pick something else than the mainstream application. The sheer cool factor must be lessening now when it has already got maybe tens of percents of popularity, and it's hardly rebellious or "different" anymore.

One funny thing is that when you visit browser threads at almost any forum, the IE users always end up looking like losers, and Firefox users as winners. This was actually one of the reasons why I initially switched to Firefox a long time ago.

[BioAlien]

Opera, because it's easy to use

[Augury]

Firefox here too.
I also don't think people are switching to firefox because it's "cool," but rather because of the security. It was pretty simple for me - norton would pick up "threats" after I opened IE after a scan, and no more problems appeared after I started using firefox.

[To Young]

I have not tried this with IE. Since it is deeply, sexual intercourse way, intergrated in to windows. (may be you can try it with IE7 beta, anyways).

I obtained superspeed ramdisk Plus. Made a virtual drive M: (128 MB). Turned off windows restore on it (it can hog 12% of drive space).

Installed firefox on M: drive.
reinstalled firefox on C:/program files (need to tell windows FF is installed in proper place, trust me this step comes in handy if things don't go your way)

run the fire fox see if everything works.

Click start --> run, Type firefox.exe -profilemanager
make a new profile, which has its data saved on M: drive.

Now go to M:/firefox/ and run firefox.exe (make a desktop shortcut if you like)

Holy crap man. speed is crazy.


Simply put this attemps to put your entire firefox data in RAM, and does not even bothers with harddrive. Good for people with a lots of RAM, who use fire fox every 15min.


p.s. make sure your cache size is 50 MB or your little 128 mb drive will be full in no time.


I am not responsible for destroying your computer.

[2:25]

Firefox cause I have this cool tool extension thing on it. But I sometimes still use IE.

[outkast7053]

Mozilla Firefox for me

[Raven]

Back about a year ago I used to use IE because I could swear there was nothing wrong with it, despite people constantly complaining about it and saying it was insecure. Then, on a whim I tried Firefox, and it's so incredibly awesome I've never looked back. It has all the functions of IE practically built-in, and then some. I LOVE the tabbing system.

I know, I know, welcome to 6 years ago. :D

[Xollence]

I love Mozilla Firefox. I never get any popups. I always get crazy IE popups like a week or two after I reinstall Windows.

Hehe yeah I love the tabs too, but it sucks when you hit the all tabs link and end up tabbing all of your bookmarks.

[Ciber]

Seems i'm the only Safari user...

Why? It's the fastest browser on OS X(Yes, it's faster than firefox).

[ChaosK]

firefox for me. :D

[Knives122]

Firefox as well, all other browsers are stupid(especially IE)

hey after dl Tab mix plus, is there anyway to make the regular tab exit button on the right go away?

[complich8]

Seems i'm the only Safari user...

Why? It's the fastest browser on OS X(Yes, it's faster than firefox).

Reasons not to use safari:

(1) Historical rendering bugs (you weren't a mac user back then, you wouldn't remember the numerous display bugs the pre-panther days, but they were there). Nowadays, it passes acid2, but history and the crap browser that safari 1.x was turned a lot of people off to it regardless.
(2) No UI customizability. You can get it in any theme, as long as it's brushed metal.
(3) Bad UI layout choices (close button on tabs, can't drag bookmark toolbar bookmarks to the trash to get rid of them).
(4) No ad removal tools means suffering through every cpu-raping bandwidth-whoring skyscraper flash banner in the goddamned world. Sure, safari's fast at rendering html/css, but when you toss in the difference between loading and rendering a meg of irritating flash on a page or not, those render times go out the window.
(5) How many of these people are mac users? Of those, how many are exclusively mac users, such that using safari would pay off for them? Are you maybe mistaking this for Mac Achaia (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/8300945231)? If you don't have mac users, you don't have safari users, and mac users can afford to buy anime, so probably don't download it all the time :p -- which is good for them, because mac's bittorrent support also blows.

So there ya have it. Why are you so surprised, man?

[RedX1z]

it would have to be firefox, it's fast, it blocks pop-ups, you can neatly organize multiple windows in one, and you can download sexy skins?

that's basically all i need.

[kooshi]

Opera for me. To me, the functions are pretty much the same as Mozilla Firefox, except just a tad easier to use.

[Ciber]

Reasons not to use safari:

(1) Historical rendering bugs (you weren't a mac user back then, you wouldn't remember the numerous display bugs the pre-panther days, but they were there). Nowadays, it passes acid2, but history and the crap browser that safari 1.x was turned a lot of people off to it regardless.
(2) No UI customizability. You can get it in any theme, as long as it's brushed metal.
(3) Bad UI layout choices (close button on tabs, can't drag bookmark toolbar bookmarks to the trash to get rid of them).
(4) No ad removal tools means suffering through every cpu-raping bandwidth-whoring skyscraper flash banner in the goddamned world. Sure, safari's fast at rendering html/css, but when you toss in the difference between loading and rendering a meg of irritating flash on a page or not, those render times go out the window.
(5) How many of these people are mac users? Of those, how many are exclusively mac users, such that using safari would pay off for them? Are you maybe mistaking this for Mac Achaia (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/8300945231)? If you don't have mac users, you don't have safari users, and mac users can afford to buy anime, so probably don't download it all the time :p -- which is good for them, because mac's bittorrent support also blows.

So there ya have it. Why are you so surprised, man?


Umm there are plenty of ad removal tools for safari that get rid of ads including flash(I use them...). I'll list two that i use:
1. Saft
2. PithHelmet

As for BT... Maybe it has been a long time since you've used OS X, because there are PLENTY of BT clients and BT sites for Mac and don't forget USENET. :)

[kenren]

crap...i started using firefox...and it was ownage... XD