Request advice on changing from IE to any other browser.

[Technoid101]

This is a novice user question. I have been told to dump my IE-9 for something else. Other than personal preferance, are there solid technical reasons why I should concider another solution such as Google Chrome or FireFox?

And if I choose to make a switch, what is the best practice? Complete removal of IE or load a second browser that will co-exsist?

I currently have no issues with IE. Thanks for your advice.

 

[rclarke250]

If you like IE-9 and have no issues with it, why change? I use FF, because I have for years, but have used Chrome, and IE when I needed to for work, or because that was what was on the machine I was using. At this time I find no difference where one is head and shoulders above the others.

 

[goombawaho]

Install as many as you want - you can run them all simultaneously. You could have Chrome, Firefox and IE all open at the same time. You can't really remove IE anyway. Just leave it alone and let it receive updates when they are available for security purposes even if you never use it again.

Quite a while back, Firefox was touted as being less prone to malware attacks because IE was the big target and because people felt that Microsoft didn't patch it quickly enough when exploits were found AND too many exploits were found on a regular basis.

I can't comment on that in terms of the current status, but my personal reason for running Firefox is that I like it better and it tends to behave itself (not lock or crash as much).

 

[FredWagner]

I run IE8 and Firefox one one home box, and IE9 and Firefox on another. FireFox is actually more friendly to use. There are some apps that will only work on IE, it's good to keep it running and current. Strangely enough, the one app that is either odd or unusable in my home IE setups, is Hotmail! On a Vista machine, it won't connect after I give it the ID and password, and on a Win7 machine, it comes up in a REALLY Large font, like it thinks its on a smartphone. At work I use IE most of the time, no issues - but we don't access personal email accounts from work. FF works well there too. Haven't tried Chrome. Did try Opera , didn't like it at all. See what works for you.

Fred Wagner

 

[strongm]

>I have been told

Really? By work? Or by a friend giving advice in a bar? Frankly, once we are talking about IE9 and it's peers, it's pretty much personal preference these days. The big players are all pretty similar in performance and core browsing functionality (what one wins in one area, another wins in another).

 

[goombawaho]

I think personal preference is the main thing. They will all have bugs which will get fixed at various speeds. They will all have things that one does better than another.

What personally made me switch from IE is when you first start it. On a really slow old computer it might take 12 seconds to get to the home page (fully open IE and fully open home page). You cannot stop it from going to the home page until it's done. The stop button does nothing. Firefox listens to your stop command better.

Sounds petty, but I work on a lot of slow/virus infected PCs and time is money and my patience is often shot.