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A Better Way To Be Online

Technology: Brad Simmons
Tuesday, November 9, 2004

Get Firefox!

The Internet is a dangerous place to be. Dodging pop-up ads, spy-ware and ad-ware can make getting online a hazardous task for your computer. Add to that the seemingly endless security flaws in Windows and Internet Explorer and you might be tempted to just give up on the whole internet thing all together. However, hope has arrived.

Today a new program launches that could save the Internet experience, as we know it. Firefox 1.0 is a new, free, web browser that combines user-friendliness with security. With a built in pop-up blocker and default settings that makes it all but an impossibility for rogue websites to install ad-ware and spy-ware, you can feel much safer about surfing the net using Firefox.

Making the Switch

Making the switching to Firefox is easy. As you set up the program it will import all your settings, including your favorites & bookmarks from Internet Explorer. You probably won't even notice the difference.

Worried that the sites you go to wontt work in Firefox? No worries. If a site doesn't look right in your browser check the top of the webpage. There, Firefox will tell you what you need to do to use the site.

More Features

Firefox includes many features that make it better than Internet Explorer and those features are growing every day. People all over the world are writing extensions for Firefox that make features available that will never be available through Internet Explorer. Extensions include viewing current and forecasted weather at the bottom of your browser window, automatically filling out web forms to save you from repetitive typing, easy subscription to RSS & Atom feeds, the ability to zoom in on images on a webpage and more.

Don't like the looks of Firefox? Download new themes that make things as colorful as you like or as plain and simple as you like.

Want to search directly from your browser window? Firefox has a handy search bar right beside the address bar. You can choose from many sites to search including Google, Ebay, Amazon, Wikipedia and more! New sites are always being added.

More Information

For more information on switching to Firefox go to getfirefox.com.

My Favorite Extensions

Form Autofill
At the click of the button web forms are filled out with information you have stored. Name, address, phone numbers and even credity card information is stored securely and is easily entered into web forms.
View Page in Internet Explorer (IE)
For those pages that will work correctly only in Internet Explorer, this extension adds an option to the context menu that allows you to quickly open up that page in Internet Explorer.
ImageZoom
Allows you to zoom in on images on the web page.
Weatherfox
Puts the current weather conditions as well as the forecast at the bottom of your browser window.
Feed Your Reader
With one click you are able to subscribe to a site's news feeds in your favorite reader.