Recently, I've noticed that people have been asking me, "Kyle, why do you use Firefox?" Well, how about I just make a list of reasons that I prefer Mozilla Firefox to Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Reason 1 - User Friendly: Firefox is simple enough for everyone to use, but also has enough features easily available for those intermediate-advanced users out there.
Reason 2 - Versatile: There are FREE add-ons and themes that you can use to customize Firefox to what you want it to look like. There are over hundreds of themes to choose from and more than likely you'll see one of the popular one's being used appealing to you. In comparison, Internet Explorer doesn't have many (if any) first party themes and most of their add-ons aren't worth it and the ones that might be will cost you money.
Reason 3 - Secure: I can not and will not try to prove that Firefox is indeed more secure than it's competition, but I can offer you the following. Why do you think Mac users don't succumb to viruses? Because there are beefy security men waiting to pummel that hacker on the other side? (I doubt it, but man that would be GREAT). Good programming? (Perhaps, but unlikely as to the reason stated). The reason that Mac users and Firefox users are prone to less attacks is because they are less widespread among end-users. Most people use Internet Explorer. Hackers don't attack these minority hardware and software systems as much as something more mainstream. I would imagine that if you are creating a virus why would you do it to only infect a couple systems? I'm sure they would have their reasons, but if you're going to do it - do it big. Nothing is invulnerable to an attack online, but you should do what you can to prevent something from happening.
Those same people who follow my advice here then ask, "Hey, you - what add-ons should I use with this thing?" Well seeing as how there are so many of them and quite a few of them being very useful - I'll only name off some that I use. Keep in mind that if you use too many extensions (I'm guessing like 8-10+) your computer might start to dislike you using it (depending on how awesome your system is). Let me begin.
To browse all available add-ons in Mozilla's library, visit this link.
- NoScript: This add-on will block a lot of bad things that can happen inside your browser such as cross-site scripting (transferring you or your information to another page without your consent), malicious Java/JavaScript/Flash (all things that can be coded into a webpage to do various nasty things to your computer). This serves as a second line of defense against attacks such as these.
- AdBlock Plus: This does exactly what it says - it blocks ads. Also, depending on your subscription you may also block images, cookies flash videos, etc. Anything that can be loaded into your browser it can block for you. You can turn it off for certain sites (as some sites that you regular may look strange without them. Example: Ctrl+Alt+Del) With this add-on, you can also subscribe to filters which act as kind of a "blacklist" for ads. I recommend the following:
- IE Tab: This is a very nice little add-on. This will let you load Internet Explorer in Firefox. You might wonder where that would ever be necessary, but there are some anal web pages out there that only support Internet Explorer so instead of closing out of what you're doing and loading up Internet Explorer just press a button and it will load the same page in Firefox using the Internet Explorer engine. It's pretty slick.
There are PLENTY more add-ons out there such as ones that let you play iTunes in Firefox, download managers, FTP browsers - almost anything you can think of someone has probably made.
Some people don't need this functionality, but I do. I like to block things I don't want to see. I like to be able to prevent malicious code from being executed on my computer. All of these things make for a very enjoyable web experience for me and I hope that you'll think likewise after reading this.
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