Seems I'm not the only one who saw lots of heat and strong opinions ... but few facts. 1) More FireFox Pros And Cons In the current article on Firefox ( http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911 ) my opening argument was "FireFox is a good browser, but not at all the panacea its most ardent fans think it is." My closing argument was "It's great that there are open-source alternatives to try, and it's smart to proactively explore all your options. But go in with your eyes open: All software has flaws. There are no panaceas!" To me, it's hard to imagine less inflammatory statements. I mean: "All software has flaws." How can anyone disagree with that? But the froth-on-the-lips crowd is out in force, claiming I'm shilling for Microsoft, or have my head far up a nether orifice. If members of the rabid pro-Firefox crowd admit to any flaws in that software at all, they say that the numbers of flaws are tiny, and the security holes insignificant. This view, however appealing, is totally false. There is no objective evidence--- zero, zip, nada, nil--- to support that view. Instead, there is a large and growing body of evidence that indeed and of course, there are problems in Mozilla/Firefox, and some of them are quite severe, opening the door to data theft, backdoor infections of your PC, and so on- -- exactly the same kinds of problems that Internet Explorer is reviled for! In fact, in addition to the information originally cited in http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911 , some new info came out this past weekend, after my article was already written: The folks at Mozilla posted advisories on 9 newly-discovered flaws in Mozilla and its offspring (including FireFox): "Mozilla flaws could allow attacks, data access...Multiple vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to install malicious code or steal personal data have been discovered in the Mozilla Suite and the Firefox open-source browser." (Full story: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5674883.html?tag=nl.e589 ) Again, these are *exactly* the same types of problems that IE is rightly criticized for. Does all this mean that Firefox is a bad browser? Not at all. It means it's a normal browser, and will require vigilance to use safely. Does this mean that Internet Explorer is wonderful? Not at all. It's a normal browser, and requires vigilance to use safely. If you keep either browser patched, and use the other security tools we discuss here issue after issue, you'll be fine using either IE or Firefox. In point of fact, most of the actual real-life exploits in IE have affected out-of-date, unpatched, and/or unprotected systems. If you keep your software up to date and protected, you'll be fine. Bottom line: Firefox is a fine tool. If you like it, by all means use it. But don't think that using it will automatically make you safe from serious browser security issues--- in fact, cold, hard facts prove exactly the opposite. So, once again: "It's great that there are open-source alternatives to try, and it's smart to proactively explore all your options. But go in with your eyes open: All software has flaws. There are no panaceas!"
All I know is that since I switched to Firefox a few months back, my Spyware issues have virtually vanished. And, the tabbed browsing is great.
True. Microsoft is squarely focused on making money, when customers started demanding better security Microsoft started throwing more effort at it but not something that can be changed overnight especially when the product was not designed from the bottom up with security in mind. And how is that Microsoft's fault? And how is that Microsoft's fault (unless you are saying that these are Microsoft's applications which I doubt)? Historically PC's were single user machines, even networking features were an add-on while Unix machines were designed to be multiuser. PC's are used by the most naive users while Unix boxes tend to be admin'd by people who know what the hell they were doing. By your own admission a lot of the problems with Window's security is the fault of the users, not the product. What you are doing is complaining that the average GM car doesnt have its tire pressure set right while a race car would never be driven without the tire pressure set correctly and then blaming GM for this. Two different user populations - not a fair comparison.
never have been able to read a pdf document on mozilla. a blank page and the computer is frozen. no problem with netscape, windows explorer or oprea
zdreg, Installing the plug-in worked and now I can finally read those pdf files that came up blank for weeks!
1st you have to update your Adobe Acrobat Reader, then make sure you have the lastest version of Firefox. (1.0.4 I believe). Then I went to Firefox Central and downloaded a plug in. I think this is the one. I hope this works for you. It sure was a pain though! https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&id=636