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Celtic Radio Community > Retro Computers > Firefox 3

Posted by: oldraven 20-Jun-2008, 08:33 AM

Mozilla just released Firefox 3 (a web browser) on the 17th, and got themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records by providing the highest number of downloads in 24 hrs. (8.3 million worldwide. Their goal was five). It's a much more secure browser than IE (pop-up blockers never existed in IE until a long time after Firefox made it popular), and is lightning fast in comparison. And it's skinnable!

There are a few dozen theme packages (just the way your browser looks), but I'm sure that will grow fast. Many of the old themes don't work with 3.

15000 upgrades from Firefox 2, and there are some beautiful add-ons available. There are A LOT of add-ons, actually, but many are so specific that few people would ever use them.

-Adblock Plus (blocks adds on webpages. You right click on the add and choose 'Adblock image' or 'frame' and you'll never see that add again)

-Flashblock (no flash animations unless you click on them)

-FoxyTunes (embeds your audio player controls in the browser... any audio player)

-GooglePreview (Inserts website previews next to the link with your google search results. Yes, this is eye candy, but you can turn it off with a button in the lower right)

-UK English dictionary

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox

Posted by: Mailagnas maqqas Dunaidonas 20-Jun-2008, 11:19 AM

I've been using the Beta version for a few weeks now, and can affirm what oldraven says. Well worth the upgrade from Firefox2 (I only use IE when a web designer absolutely requires it).

Posted by: DesertRose 05-Jul-2008, 11:09 PM

Ok, stupid question. what about those of us who have msn as a their server? who do we use for both email and internet search? I was told to use Thunderbird.

Any of you have other ideas before I switch?

Many thanks!

Posted by: oldraven 07-Jul-2008, 07:49 AM

I haven't switched to Thunderbird yet. It looks to be a direct replacement for Outlook, but I'm not to savy with setting up e-mail.

Posted by: MacEoghainn 07-Jul-2008, 03:50 PM

I've downloaded 3.0 and I found a theme that makes it look like IE7 (or darn close) so I can find my way around. The only thing stopping me from making the final move is I can't figure out how to add an icon to the toolbars to launch my mail program (one of the few things I like about IE7).

Posted by: ogdenmusic 26-Sep-2008, 06:51 PM

Is it possible to have both IE7 and Firefox 3 loaded on my computer? Or, is it better to remove IE7 after downloading Firefox?

Posted by: Aaediwen 26-Sep-2008, 07:24 PM

they should co-exist just fine.

Posted by: A Shrule Egan 27-Sep-2008, 10:34 AM

QUOTE (oldraven @ 20-Jun-2008, 10:33 AM)

got themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records by providing the highest number of downloads in 24 hrs. (8.3 million worldwide. Their goal was five).

Adam, I think that was simply because Firefox 2 had an automatic download feature for any updates. Still gets my vote.

Aaediwen (Anthony) got me using Firefox a few months ago and I haven't had a single crash or hang-up since. Next computer gets Linux and Bill Gates can stuff it.

Only problem I have had with Firefox, has to do with some Java issues. I've re-downloaded Java and some web pages I still can't view certain content. I'm sure Anthony will come up with the right cure, as he keeps giving me more things to check.

Posted by: ogdenmusic 27-Sep-2008, 02:56 PM

QUOTE

they should co-exist just fine.

Thanks, so far so good.

Posted by: DesertRose 29-Sep-2008, 05:56 PM

We have them both and all works fine! Hope that helps!

Posted by: valpal59 29-Sep-2008, 06:14 PM

There are some things that I have to use Internet Explorer for because they use
Active-X. I only use it when I have to. I use Firefox most of the time.

Posted by: subhuman 15-Oct-2008, 02:33 AM

QUOTE

There are some things that I have to use Internet Explorer for because they use Active-X.

ActiveX is very unsecure (is that even a word? it is now!) compared to Java. I would recommend being careful about what sites you allow to install or access ActiveX controls.

On that note:

QUOTE

Is it possible to have both IE7 and Firefox 3 loaded on my computer? Or, is it better to remove IE7 after downloading Firefox?

I know this has already been answered, but there is one thing that MSIE can do that FF can't. FF cannot be used to download and install MS updates for Windows. For that reason alone, I would recommend keeping MSIE installed.
This is all related- FF will not execute the ActiveX controls MS needs to run in order to verify you have a legit copy of Windows.

QUOTE

I don't know what mail service you use, but Webmail Notifier may do the trick: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4490
If it doesn't, I'm sure you can find a plugin to do the job here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

QUOTE

Next computer gets Linux and Bill Gates can stuff it.

I still vote for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecomstation Native support for OS/2, DOS and Win16 code- then add in http://odin.netlabs.org/site/index.xml for Win32 support and http://everblue.netlabs.org/site/index.xml for XWindows (Linux) compatability and you have an all-in-one OS.
With either eCS or Linux, you'll have the option to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFS_(file_system) as the filesystem, which is still not available for Windows.

Posted by: A Shrule Egan 15-Oct-2008, 03:33 PM

OK Sub, aka Bob, since you seem to know a bit about Firefox, why am I having so many problems with Java on Firefox? Everything is checked off like it's supposed to be, re-loaded Java multiple times but still have Java issues. Got any other ideas on what's the cause?

When I have Java problems on a web page with Firefox and open IE to that page, everything works fine.

Posted by: subhuman 15-Oct-2008, 04:49 PM

Ok, well first the easiest way to start trying to track this down would be to visit one or more of the pages where you're having trouble.
Next, Java errors are quite rare- however Javascript errors are not. Despite the similar names and syntax, the two are totally unrelated scripting languages. It gets even more confusing when you factor in JScript which is MS' version of Javascript- and by MS' own admission, there are dozens of ways in which JScript is not ECMA compliant.
I'm suspecting that the problems stem from the websites using JScript-specific commands that only exist in JScript, and not in Javascript.
If this is the case, then bitch at whoever maintains the sites you're having trouble with. Requiring you to use a specific browser (which is what they're doing by using JScript) is akin to a restaurant owner requiring you to wear a specific brand of cologne before you're allowed to order dinner.

The majority of the useful information is under the 'History and Naming' heading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript

Posted by: jime307 29-Oct-2008, 06:27 PM

Yeah there are scripts errors involving jscript on a very regular basis with be as well, although I try to steer clear of MS "enhanced" languages

Posted by: Heartless75 13-May-2010, 06:55 PM

I personally prefer to use Google Chrome.

Posted by: DesertRose 14-May-2010, 05:39 PM

I, too, keep having Java errors with my Firefox.

I have heard about Google Chrome. Can you share pros and cons in regards to this browser? T hanks!

Posted by: Dogshirt 14-May-2010, 05:54 PM

I've been using IE8 for 6 weeks now and have had 0 problems. I know this isn't very long, but I think I'll stick with it. Very smooth and easy to use, NO problems what so ever.

Posted by: oldraven 03-Jun-2010, 09:57 AM

This is all very odd. I've yet to have any java issues. A few sites wouldn't load specific frames on FF2, but not with FF3.