Flaming browsers

Post by **myglaren** » 10 Jul 2009, 17:21

Sid_the_Squid wrote: IE8 promises to actually follow the standard rules and not make up its own wacky stuff.

Seen any flying pigs lately?

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 10 Jul 2009, 17:40

CitroJim wrote: One has high hopes that this new Google Chrome OS will finally fix this situation.

Considering it's just another flavour of Linux and, being Google, it will be in beta for ever and a day you may as well go with one of the established Linux distributions. Ubuntu works fine on all my hardware, just needing a few tweaks to work on my EeePC.

I find the best OS of all is a very basic installation of XP with the bare minimum of "Crippleware" installed. Lean and mean.

Presumably you mean with all the updates installed, and a good antivirus, and antispyware, just to bog down the system.

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 10 Jul 2009, 18:59

OMG I've started a flame war

Post by **myglaren** » 10 Jul 2009, 19:06

MikeT wrote:OMG I've started a flame war

Wasn't it supposed to be?

The title is "Flaming Browsers"!

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 11 Jul 2009, 02:46

*edit* Ignore this stupid 3am gibberish post.

Post by **CitroJim** » 11 Jul 2009, 08:48

Homer wrote: Presumably you mean with all the updates installed, and a good antivirus, and antispyware, just to bog down the system.

Absolutely

Patched up like an old banger, my XP!

I also run a decent virus checker (McAfee).

What I meant is that my XP only has essential software installed, which for me is Opera, Office 2007 and a few other essential packages such as a basic web editor and an image maniplulator.

I've tried Linux. least said soonest mended

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 11 Jul 2009, 10:37

CitroJim wrote:basic web editor

Notepad? That's all I use.

I've tried Linux. least said soonest mended

Recently?

Ubuntu comes on leaps and bounds with every release. These days it's rare to need the command line (but it's there and as powerful as ever if you prefer to use it), comes with everything you need and compared to XP (pared to the bone) on my laptop it absolutely flies.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 11 Jul 2009, 12:44

Notepad is the best web editor

Never got on with McAfee, don't like it's ability to let your machine get infected before it tells you a couple of months later when you run a manual scan

(had that both at NTL and now at Daimler)
As for linux, still too much hassle for no gain.

Post by **myglaren** » 11 Jul 2009, 14:01

I just removed McAffee from a friends machine, replaced it with Spybot Search & Destroy (others waiting to go on)
Which found 16 pieces of spyware that McAffee was unaware of.
And she was paying for that!

This I find is SitNorm for McAffee and even more so the dreaded Norton/Symantec.

Avast and Superantispyware seem to compliment one another nicely, with Spybot S&D for it's tools and the ones that slip through.

Very pleasant to skip all this nonsense with Ubuntu though.

This is encouraging news too: The Register.

As for the Windows/Linux/Mac endless debate, I think you should use what you are happy with. Same as cars

.

I use Vista and Ubuntu predominantly and while I prefer Ubuntu I don't have any real issues with Vista now I am used to it.

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 11 Jul 2009, 17:49

I agree, many free tools are far more trustworthy than paid for items. My recommendations go to AVG, Spybot, Rootkit Revealer and Trend Micro Online scanner.

If someone could let me know when/if Linux variants have equal or better
hardware support than MS, I'd jump ship in an instant I reckon.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 11 Jul 2009, 20:47

I know many people have, but I've never had a problem with Norton, and it's found viruses/protected against infection when McAfee failed (it was at NTL that a contractor with his own laptop running Norton threw up an alert saying one of the company workstations was trying to infect it).
At £20 for 3 licences (depending on what time of year you buy) it's not a bad price for norton internet security and covers nearly all the computers in my house.
The couple of people I've sorted out who complained their PCs were running slow were actually running more than one anti-virus, or have set theirs to background scan every hour, which with it taking over an hour to complete a scan basically meant their hard drive was constantly busy!
AVG is probably the best freebie, but you get what you pay for.
I had the professional version (given away as a free download from a magazine) and it's malware protection wasn't that great

Within a month of my ex using the laptop it was infected by one of those browser homepage redirectors, asking for her credit card to fix the problem.
I did actually install ubuntu for her as she just browsed the web.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 13 Jul 2009, 18:45

I haven't noticed any problems with IE8 !!! I am running it with Vista, is that perhaps the difference?

Ian

Post by **myglaren** » 13 Jul 2009, 20:31

The disadvantages in moving to IE8 mostly stem from compatibility problems. Many workplaces have applications that use some of IE6's coding, which may explain the persistence of that insecure browser. Also, a number of older webpages are still optimized for IE6 and may not render properly in IE8. Microsoft is trying: there's an imperfect compatibility mode in IE8 which allows it to emulate IE7. And their new browser has an option where the IE8/~IE7 rendering engine is chosen automatically.

But other than that IE8 is apparently a fine product: Paul Thurrott likes Firefox but he considers MS's latest to be an excellent product and his #1 choice at least as of March 2009. He thinks that those who have IE7 should upgrade to IE8 and that those outside of corporate environments who are still using IE6 should get a life. So I guess I'll move forward on this sometime soon.

Blatantly nicked from another forum.

ETA: This is not meant to indicate that I endorse Microsoft products.
I never use IE, seriously dislike it.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 13 Jul 2009, 21:17

I'm using IE8 as I type this, with my 28" TV in the living room as my monitor, ready for an evening of iplayer on the TV, followed by movies streamed from my PC upstairs.
The joy's of having an old laptop with a broken screen and S-video out.
Now, just need to talk Danielle to move in with me, and to bring her 40" HD TV

One of the things I don't like about IE8 (which is ok as you can turn it off) is the colour grouping of tabs, as I find this makes it hard to tell which is the active tab, and even after it's been turned off it's still not that easy.
If I was slightly vision impared or colour blind I think I'd find it very hard and could accidently close the wrong tab.
Hmm, maybe that's why it's got the feature to re-open closed tabs

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 16 Jul 2009, 10:13

How strange - now I've uninstalled IE8, I can use this forum fine with IE7 BUT Firefox now goes into the log in loop if I use it on FCF.