Hi all. My browser has been IE6 for a number of years now. However,over the past week I have been playing around with the latest version of Firefox. The more I use Firefox the less it appeals to me. I find it is a lot slower that IE6 and every time I want to do something with it I am required to install something or other. I find also that it does unexpected things, like open window that I do not want to open etc. But that could be just me I suppose being impatient to speed up the selected actions. In a quest to find an unbiased appraisal of the 2 browsers I discovered this site. http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html Whilst on that site I discovered that Opera 8 gets a very good rub. I went to the Opera site to get more information and found there were numerous links to download it for free, yet cruising the site, one of the pages they quoted US$38 cost. I ask two questions. Why is Firefox getting all the rave reviews if it is slower and requires constant attention to make it simplely do what is basic in IE? Secondly, possibly more important, is Opera 8 a free program or does it come at a price? This question I really direct at users who already have Opera 8 installed. I ask this because I have experienced in the past with some other programs off the net that they are free as they say, but only for a certain period of time. Not much chop in that case. Regards Thinking hurts my head

Janset, first off "Opinions are like armpits. Everybody has one (or two).". To each his own, personally, I use FF and like it better. Speed simply isn't the priority that other things like popups, security, etc. are. Thing to consider along with speed is saturation of market. IE has something over 90% of the browser market so most of the nasties out there attack it and leave the others alone. As popularity increases that's changing. As for Opera, any user feedback? I'm not familiar. Same applies to Netscape, used it years ago, but... HTH. Ed in Texas.

I suspect FF will fade out and always be a nitch market. Alot (not all) of the people that are using it are just anti-microsoft and will support anything they can that isnt MS. If FF ever does gain more of the market share, it will have the same expoits as IE (or more given that the most recent one had been fixed in IE four years ago.). Sorry, I've never used Opera.

I think you mean niche market - although not truly applicable, snce a free (Open source) application isn't really being marketed. At 7% "market share", pretty impressive (that's a lot of computers) The notion of a Micro$oft backlash, while not totally without merit, can hardly be the driving force. I don't know what it is about some kinds of software that inspires such loyalty (or disdain) - use whatever you choose, you're not married to it Opera is fast, and it is free, but 'ad supported' unless registered Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne

If Firefox is slower at all sites as compared to IE on your system, something is wrong with your Firefox installation or with configs on your system. The only sites where Firefox should be slower is on pages that use "IE only" coding or very javascript heavy pages. If Firefox is exploited it will be because you fell for a phishing scheme or because malware already present (or acquired through IE use) on the system invaded Firefox through the OS. Firefox doesn't do activeX, which is the main route of drive-by malware infection. Also Firefox's caching strategy won't allow malicious files to execute because they are renamed as they are cached. You would have to purposely interact with the malicious file in order for it to execute and infect the system. If a serious vulnerability is discovered in Firefox, you can bet that a fix will be shortly released and it won't be a patch for a patch on a patch as with IE. Opera is free if you don't mind ads. There is also a $40 version without ads. I have never had a spyware/adware problem, or any detected on my system since I switched to Gecko browsers (of which Firefox is one) several years ago.

damn, I had it spelled right...oh well, not a word that you write every day.

Hi all. Thank for your responses. All have been noted. I am still using Firefox and I am finding it a lot easier, it's just a case of getting used to it I guess. My Spyware also appears to have decreased, I suppose Firefox may have something to do with it. I find that I am no longer having to load plugins to make things work (until something else comes along). Speed is not an issue, but having said that I still stand by my comment that when Firefox is initially loaded from the desktop, it takes far too long to load in my opinion. At time I have to click the button several times just to make sure that it is in fact recognised. There you go Ed From Texas, another 'arm pit' We just can't get away from them can we? ;-) Within the next week or so, Opera 8 will be under the pump. Regards Thinking hurts my head