I had the same experiences about 2 years ago with Firefox. I tried it out for a bit and found that it was just too buggy. However, Firefox seems a lot more friendly then it was before. However, I think this will be a permanent switch. Crime is on the rise with the economy being down and the internet is the new-age place for crime. Some hackers from Russia and China wont mind getting into your accounts especially when there is no mutual legal agreement between the US and them. Its time to switch over.
I'm still stunned at how much faster pages load. Without losing any content I want. And if something is blocked that you want, you just click to enable it. Very intuitive and easy. If you try the new FF, definitely install the recommended ad-ons.
AFAIK FireFox is as safe, or safer, than Explorer. But you NEED a good firewall. The new Windows firewall might be okay, but I also use ZoneAlarm. It will tell you if an unknown program is trying to send info OUT, as well as block incoming trouble. You also need a good realtime anti-virus. I use Norton, but there are other good choices. Also, only choose a broker who has a hardware key device. I think most do. These devices make it virtually impossible to take over your account remotely.
I noticed that. Try changing some settings: Tools ---> Options ---> Content: Fonts & Colors. Click the Advanced tab there too.
Avira AV and Commodo firewall are one of the best security tools out there and they're completely free: http://www.av-comparatives.org/ http://www.matousec.com/ Using FF over IE is safer but mostly because it is less popular and therefore less targeted by hackers(+ some of the security addons help)
I don't run a firewall (only the router) or live anti virus. Haven't for decades. Never a problem. Pray 4 me. 99.9% of protection is between your ears. The other .1% can't be stopped by anything known to man.
I received one virus intrusion alert from Avira AV yesterday while on Internet Explorer. I wasn't on porn or dangerous website, just rereading an old mail on my yahoo box. I use Firefox now. Do you have to uninstall IE to make your computer work faster?