What is it with FireFox?Written by Pete Crewdson
I don't like FireFox. I'm not afraid to divulge fact that I don't like it. I don't like people who insist on running on about how great it is, or people who try to push it in my face. I can't ignore it though, and this is why:Whilst looking over FireFox website I noticed increasing number of downloads it is garnering, this inspired me to try and work out why people are so keen on this browser over its Microsoft Counterpart. So why do so many people choose to switch to FireFox? The Hype? FireFox has garnered more and more media hype as downloads increase, and more it gets hyped, more people download it. It's a never-ending circle of over hyped confusion, and one of many reasons people have chosen to download browser. The Cross-Compatibility Issues? I'm not a fan of FireFox but even I own a copy on both my home and work machines. Cross Browser compatibility on websites is a must to for every website, you cannot afford to lose out on visitors/potential customers because your website doesn't work in other browsers. Remember, FireFox now have almost 20% of browser market share - that's 20 out of every 100 visitors you will be potentially losing if your website is not cross browser referenced! The Tabbed Browsers? Though you wouldn't think this would be a top competitor in this field, it is. A lot of people I asked said they decided to go with Mozilla and FireFox browsers because of tabbed browser bar. This enables you to open more than one Internet page within same browser window, in turn, saving on computer usage and virtual memory capacity. Internet Explorer opens a new window as opposed to this, and in turn, uses up a lot of computers memory, which can lead to unresponsiveness and crashing. The Security Issues? Nearly everyone I spoke to said one thing, "It's secure." And I'm not going to deny it, but is Internet Explorer really that unsecured that people feel they have to switch - well, in reality - no. The reason for this is that so many people have hacked and hunted down flaws in Internet Explorer, that Microsoft has been forced to fix them, and made them more secure. Yes, there are still holes in Internet Explorer, but FireFox has not been on market long enough, or holds enough of a market share for hackers to try and discover all holes in it. And already, a few companies have in fact, found vital flaws in FireFox (which have now been fixed).
| | Microsoft Hits Spyware on the Head!Written by Ryan Parsons
Finally! It seems that build up of spyware on peoples computers have finally caused sleeping giant, Microsoft, to wake up! Spyware has become a larger problem then viruses, as small programs, hijackers, and hidden browser toolbars compete to pop up revenue earning ads on your computer. There have been a ton of free spyware blockers available for download on net, but none of them could get job done. Now, Microsoft has finally stepped in and is ready to do something.Microsoft Battles Spyware When I first heard that Microsoft had a beta version for a spyware blocker/remover software, I was slightly skeptical. Why now? What hell took so long? I have seen users use anti-spyware programs that do more harm than good. The best free spyware on net was currently AdAware, but that may soon change. As an avid computer user, I consider spyware a larger problem then viruses. I have seen such a build-up of spyware on a single system that Internet Explorer would refuse to browse web and only browse advertisement pages. IE gets so effected with spyware that it is prone to crashes, freezing, and random closing. Well, I have finally got my hands on Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta and put it to use on a very 'infected' computer. The results were nothing short of excellent. After getting approved by Microsoft as containing a real [not stolen] license of Windows XP, I was allowed to download their new anti-spyware software. After installing software, anti-spyware immediately stopped random desktop pop-ups [when IE opens on its own to show an advertisement page]. Alerts were popping up continuously stating that a 'internet explorer hijacking has been stopped.' Even before running a full system scan, Microsoft Anti-Spyware program can already find hidden toolbars installed into Internet Explorer as spyware. Running scan is simple. Just boot up anti-spyware software and let scan go to work [can take up to twenty minutes or more]. For computer that I tried Microsoft Anti-Spyware on, program found just under 70 instances of Spyware currently running on computer. I told software to delete ALL of spyware programs.
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