Browser options: Part I - Firefox

A lot of people will be content with the software that come on the computer when they purchase the machine. Current example of this are Internet Explorer on Window based machines and Safari on modern day Macs. I will also admit that if you are used to using something it’s hard to switch for the sake of switching.

The web browser I used most of the time is Firefox and it was not easy to convert. A few years ago my main computer for work was a Windows based computer running either Windows 2000 or Windows XP and for a long time I put up with Internet Explorer as my main browser but when popup ads, having multiple windows open and increasing security concerns mounted I finally made the commitment to switch to using Firefox, a product of the Mozilla Foundation which came about as a project to reprogram the original Netscape, the original “mass-market” browser. I currently us a MacBook Pro as my main computer and even though Safari (a very good browser) came installed by default I still chose to use Firefox as my main browser and on everyday basis. Since I made the switch to Firefox Microsoft has added features to Internet Explorer in version 7 like added security, tabbed browsing, better popup blocking, etc. I’m glad Microsoft has made those additions to Internet Explorer but I still find the Internet Explorer interface annoying and not as user friendly as Firefox.

I recently saw a great post at Lifehacker.com on Top 10 Firefox extensions that don’t require extensions (additions to the program that don’t come in the initial install).  It’s a great list and I know of at least one more that I love is the live bookmarks feature which allows bookmarks to show recent updates to the web site with out visiting the site first. This is done by using RSS which I have mentioned in the past.

I’ll be talking about the other current options in future posts. What do you use and why?  Internet Explorer, an Internet Explorer “overlay” like Maxthon, Safari on the Mac or PC, Opera, what?