Praetoryus Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Since everybody and their mother seems to be switching to alternative browsers these days, (or at least everybody SHOULD be) and avoiding the unsecure and useless POS that is Internet Exploder (and no, that's not a typo) :) which one of the two big hitters are you using? Since the biggest debate seems to be between FF and Opera as far as alternative browsers are concerned, I have limited the options to those two. Notice that I have left off any option if you're still using IE, since if that is the case, I feel sorry for you. Comments about why you choose one of these browsers (or not) are definitely welcome, speak your mind!! Let the voting begin... ;) And my choice... FF all the way!! (although I do have Opera as a backup, but hardly use it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterC Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 /me votes for Firefox. I like how it's customizable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stezo2k Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 firefox; i just prefer the interface and theres so many great plugins for it, its hard to beat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 At work I use FF, but I wish I could use Opera because of the ram FF uses. but for soem reason soemthign here makes Opera dead slow. At home I use pretty much both. but since there's now finally an IE7 beta I can useI'm testign that, and I really like it, it's faster than either of the alternatives and so smooth to work with, the the only reason I don't activelyuse IE is the lack of tabs, though I'm sort of addicted to gestures as well. And before you go sprouting the IE is insecure ****, you might want to remember that it's nto IE that's the problem it's the users. I've never gotten spyware or Malware through IE without knowing and requesting it. the only thing unsecure is peopel changign the reccomended security settigns to low for their own convenience, then they answer yes to every dialog windows, and then they blme anythgin besides themsevles, in this case IE, because obviusly it's not the users fault they turned off all the stuff protectign them and then additionally go and actively answer yes to installign all kinds of toolbars and malware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malisk Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I've switched from Opera to Firefox now because I disliked Opera's cookie management. But both are good browsers; Firefox better in the extension department, and Opera in the "comes with the features you need" department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetoryus Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Hawkman: That's true, a lot of the problem with IE is that people use it because they don't know any better, and it's what is already there on their system, but aren't savvy enough to tweak IE to make it safer. However, it still has been proven time and time again that IE is full of security holes, and it seems every week another one is announced on the news, while Microsoft seems to take their sweet time to fix the problem. Hackers seem to target IE more than any other browser, hence why in general using IE is dangerous, even if you've made some adjustments to it. Besides, that GUI for IE is so old, I think Windows for Workgroups looks comparable!! :) LOL Jugulator: Agreed, Opera is definitely better in terms of "all-in-one" functionality, and certainly does not require the kind of tweaking that FF does. But it's rewarding to make FF exactly as you want it to, and you can make it exactly like Opera in functionality anyway. I find Opera does not render properly on more pages than FF ever has a problem with (and if FF does have a hiccup, I switch to IE tab and problem solved -- great extension!!) Any Opera fans have feedback about their browser?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanghoku Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 i use both, but mainly opera... been using opera since i don't know how long... i think it's just a great browser... tabs and all their options, quick prefs with f12, adblock... but like you said, you can make ff work just like it... i don't use all of opera's features, just the browser and the rss... maybe i'll give 9 a try and see if it can please me enough to use the other functions aswell... i'd still rather have 15 apps doing what they need to do in stead of 1 big one doing more or less what it should do :) oh yeah, opera is fast as hell :) (too bad some pages don't show up correctly though :( ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+John. Subscriber¹ Posted April 26, 2006 Subscriber¹ Share Posted April 26, 2006 Firefox :) all the way. I tried Opera, but for some reason I kept on switching back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravix7 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Opera all the way, it's the fastest rendering over the other two. Opera has a ton of features, and if you don't want to use one you don't have to as it doesn't bloat up the program. Used firefox for a year had it running sweet with a dozen extensions and extra tweaking. I was reluctant to try Opera because I had FF running so perfect, now I can't go back to FF. some people who have trouble with IE pages only in Opera should try this out: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=448534 it allows you to view the page using IE in an Opera window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galley Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Opera user since 2000. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal_dragen Veteran Posted April 26, 2006 Veteran Share Posted April 26, 2006 Firefox definitely. I've tried and tried Opera as a main browser, but I just don't like it. I want a browser to be a browser, and I don't like all the extra crap that Opera bundles. I don't want e-mail, "widgets," bittorrent, etc. in my browser. I also found that trying to customize the keyboard and mouse layouts in Opera is akin to trying to give yourself a root canal with a cordless drill and a pocket mirror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0m8er Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Out of these two - Firefox. It is faster and simplier than Opera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The2 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I've switched to Opera in 2001, and then switched to FF 2 years ago... only because it has so many good extensions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAaaMan64 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Opera, I shouldn't have to waste my time downloaded and reinstalling and then reconfiguring FF on every computer I own. Opera out of the box works exactly the way I want it to. Great browser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueFlame Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I'm using Firefox. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorak Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I was using FF 1.5.0.2 but I switched to Opera 9d. I had FF optimized with all the things that were supposed to speed it up, which they did. The interface was blah, but many skins helped. However, Opera comes with all the goodies. I've tested both browsers and Opera IS faster. I also like how it renders pages, looks so clean and smooth unlike Firefox. And in my opinion, it's far most customizable. I change up the toolbars to my liking and the settings allow you to have it look just the way you like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepsihabbit Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I am using opera. I like firefox better but i got so sick of it not remembering some of my logins and passwords for sites. I use so many different sites that I dont like having to remember all that info. Im sure it is easy to fix but I was lazy and started using opera. Its a good browser although i get sites that doesnt like opera or sites that opera doesnt like :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 firefox; i just prefer the interface and theres so many great plugins for it, its hard to beat Same :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetoryus Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Good to see some feedback from Opera users on this, and the gap in the poll that FF had is not so big a gap anymore!! I think the biggest thing that kept me away from Opera was the improper rendering of some pages. And in some cases, I noticed that FF was actually faster than Opera when loading the same page... case in point, I have a site I regularly visit, Test My Net, on which you can do a "smarttest" to determine the speed of your net connection versus the average. I noticed that when I ran the test with Opera, and then with FF, I got faster speeds with FF, and the graphs themselves that load when the testing is occuring actually load faster than Opera. Now I'm not sure if there was a setting that I didn't have configured properly in Opera, or what options there are to tweak it and speed it up like you can with FF, but that was a big decision maker for me to stick with FF. Any Opera users have feedback about tweaking and speeding up the program?? Great feedback everyone, let's keep it going!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PT 13 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Opera 9 beta :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzy88ss Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 uhh safari? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srn Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Opera for me because it seems more responsive. Better RAM management and faster Back & Forward functionality. Firefox gives me the impression of being bloated and I don't want to update all the Extensions after each Firefox update. If I decided to use the Gecko rendering engine I would use the K-meleon Browser. It uses less resources (even less than Opera) and is faster than Firefox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galley Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 Firefox definitely. I've tried and tried Opera as a main browser, but I just don't like it. I want a browser to be a browser, and I don't like all the extra crap that Opera bundles. I don't want e-mail, "widgets," bittorrent, etc. in my browser. I also found that trying to customize the keyboard and mouse layouts in Opera is akin to trying to give yourself a root canal with a cordless drill and a pocket mirror. If you never set up an e-mail or news account, then you'll never see the e-mail portion of the browser. BitTorrent can be compeltely disabled via the "opera:config" preferences editor, likewise with the widgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L3thal Veteran Posted April 28, 2006 Veteran Share Posted April 28, 2006 I use firefox mainly for its extensions and themes, not because its "safer" than IE. Nonetheless, I cannot comment on Opera because I have yet to give it a try, but I have heard pretty good things about it. It just comes down to personal preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Veteran Posted April 28, 2006 Veteran Share Posted April 28, 2006 Camino :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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