Why This Is Better: FireFox
Saturday, May 31st, 2008Welcome to the first edition of my life dictation series, where I tell you how should live your life. Ok, well maybe not that fascist, but more of a blog entry on why I think certain things are better than others and a (in my opinion) logical reason as to why I feel this way… and hopefully with no added pressure on the reader. But I must warn you, I may get a little carried away. So please don’t leave comments about it because deep down, I’m one of the biggest fanboys you’ll ever meet, and I am well aware of that.
Anyway, to kick-start this frenzy of mind-numbing madness, I have decided to follow up the post I made the other day about the web browser, “FireFox”; King of all internet browsers.
So what is it about FireFox that makes it better? Well, on first impressions it doesn’t seem like it is better. If you were to follow this advice and download FireFox before reading the rest of this post, you’d think “Hey, this isn’t really any different from Internet Explorer. What’s so good about it?” Well that’s where this post will step in. If you already know the wonders of FireFox then you can, of course, ignore this post and continue merrily on your way, living in your world of web-browsing happiness. In the mean time, I’ll deal with those of you who don’t know about FireFox, and it’s wonders.
The next part is quite geeky. If you get too bored, scroll down until you see more red writing like this.
To start with a bleak topic (just so the ending isn’t dull!), FireFox is more secure. It will protect you from bad domains, cookies and other malicious web content. Of course, you can turn these features off but they’re useful to have, and are a lot more thorough than the excuse for protection Internet Explorer attempts. Not only this, but FireFox also has a more secure backend as well, with regular updates to fix any problems that may arise.
Internet Explorer is the king of, well, being exploited by malicious web content. And while, admittedly, the user is more likely to cause these problems by clicking dodgy links, Internet Explorer itself also has specific problems related to it, rather than just entering your details on a scamming website.
Another confession is that the more recent release, Internet Explorer 7 does have a few more security features to prevent problems than it’s predecessor, but for those of you using the old dinosaur “Internet Explorer 6″, it’s a big, buggy mess waiting to eat your system alive. And the thing is, a lot of people are still using Internet Explorer 6, despite the release of IE7 last year; Schools and Businesses in particular.
And what about you Mac users that don’t have Internet Explorer? (thank you for sparing us, Microsoft!)
Well, Safari is hardly the best browser in the world. But it is one hundred times better than Internet Explorer. Yet it still has a few flaws, such as the recently uncovered “Carpet Bombing” threat, which downloads files from the internet randomly. Now that is no more than a bit of a pain for Mac users, but for Windows users who run the Windows version of Safari, combined with a bug encountered with Internet Explorer (oh yes, that familiar name), it can be catastrophic for your system. Now Apple is partially to blame for not fixing the issue yet, but Microsoft is even more to blame for leaving an obviously system-wide accessible bug out in the open. And chances are Microsoft will never fix it, or just tell users to install the next version of Internet Explorer to “fix it”, even if their computer can’t run Internet Explorer 8 (Or whatever it may be named).
But for Mac users, FireFox still gives a more secure environment for Downloading files. While Safari automatically downloads files (even if it isn’t set to auto-open safe files), FireFox always prompts users on where they want to save the file, and if they want to save it. Now, some may find that an annoyance (like I do) and some will find it an excellent tool. Personally, I use it every now and then for grabbing Mp3s or other files I need from the internet when Safari can’t download those file types, and it can be really useful to select where you want to save it. But it’s a very “Windows” idea, and I prefer to download files automatically, assuming I’ve requested for them to be downloaded, and if not, the file can’t do anything as applications can’t run automatically, whereas in Windows they can; hence the large amount of viruses that kill your computer without you even knowing, and why the “Carpet Bombing” exploit in Safari is only listed as a mere annoyance for Mac users.
Ok, so moving onto the more interesting bits. Why is FireFox better for you?; the person who doesn’t really mind about about boring old security and this geeky nonsense. After all, you’re probably a sensible web user who doesn’t go on suspicious websites or download dodgy “codecs” for Windows Media Player from pornography websites.
/G33|<-n355 0v3r
Well, here’s the more “fun” bit….
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Oh, just to let you know, if you want to know more about the details of security and the less interesting bits, you can click here…
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Getting there…
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Annnnnnd!…
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… FireFox is completely customizable! Yep. That’s right. You can download plug-ins, themes and extensions to do pretty much everything imaginable. In “Part 2″, I will list my favourite FireFox plug-ins, but for now I will give an overview of a few things you can do with FireFox’s amazing add-ons.
Well, to start with you can download a multitude of themes that will transform FireFox from boring old Windows-looking to super awesome fun-time bonanza (Yes, with levitating Children)! Yep! Whether you just want a theme that lets you get your work done in a nicer web environment, or want to wow your friends, chances are you’ll find the theme that’s suitable to you.
Whether you want a sexy looking theme, a theme for children, a theme that will let you get on with your work or one that looks like your old browser – just incase you want the benefits of FireFox with the look of your old browser (*cough* or want to install it on the family computer, but don’t want your parents finding out you’ve installed new software when they peer over your shoulder *cough*) – chances are you’ll find it.
No matter what you’re looking for, you’re likely to find a FireFox theme that suits you, no matter what Operating System you use, assuming you’re using one of the big three; Windows, Mac or Linux. The range is truly fantastic.
FireFox also has a large Add-on community as well, meaning that you can add amazing new features to FireFox. As mentioned earlier, I’ll likely go over this in a follow-up of this post, telling you about some cool things you can do with FireFox, but for instance, you can get add-ons that display all the images on a web page in a large full-screen viewer, an Advertisement blocker (One of the best available, if not the best), FTP clients, Browser tweakers, Performance increasers, Built-in Dictionaries, toolbars, Bookmark System add-ons (Like Del.icio.us, and others). Really, it’s best to look for yourself on the Mozilla (FireFox Creator) Website.
Thanks to the way that FireFox is Open Source (meaning that any software developer with the right knowledge can contribute to the effort), there are literally millions of FireFox add-ons out there. It’s truly amazing what you can find.
Now before I head off until the follow-up, I must give you the all important link to FireFox. So here you go. If your mind isn’t changed yet, wait until the next edition of “Why this is better”, where I’ll give some examples of awesome FireFox plug-ins, and some cool things you can do with it (Such as telling you how to get a mobile version of FireFox that you can take with you and use on other people’s computers).
Stay tuned!
