11. August 2007
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I know a lot of you have to use Windows, for a good variety of reasons, but this statistic I do find disturbing. It seems that a whopping 40% of you are using Internet Explorer! Now it occurs to me that perhaps I haven’t made it clear to you all that there are superior alternatives…I’ll try to be brief.
The Problems of Internet Explorer
It lets in a TON of spyware! Don’t think you are exempt to this, if you use IE your computer is already infected with literally hundreds of malicious software bits. I promise!
It takes up more of your computer’s RAM than it ought to (it makes your computer lots slower).
It loads pages slower than Firefox or Safari.
It is less customizable than Firefox and Safari.
It crashes far more than Firefox or Safari.
Alternative One: Safari
My favorite browser is Apple’s Safari.
Safari for Windows is so new that nobody has had time to make any malware that gets through it. Apple is also very good about staying on top of things, so I suspect it will be the safest browser for years to come.
Safari loads pages extremely quickly.
Safari is light weight and takes up very little of your precious RAM or processor power.
With Safari, you can close the browser and get all of your open tabs/windows back when you reopen it by going to History -> Reopen All Windows from Last Session. Very nifty.
Safari is beautiful.
Alternative Two: Firefox
My second favorite browser is Mozilla’s Firefox.
Firefox is programmed very well, and very little spyware gets through in comparison to IE. Mozilla is not keeping on top of this as well as they could though, and more and more malware is able to get through Firefox.
Firefox loads quickly compared to IE, but slower than Safari.
Firefox is more full-featured than either Safari or IE, but subsequently requires more of your available RAM and processing power than Safari (but not IE, because IE is just programmed terribly).
Although Firefox can’t natively restore all tabs/windows from the last session, you can trick it into doing so by always closing it illegally (CTRL-ALT-DELETE, Processes tab, click Firefox and End Process). That way it will ask you if you want to restore the last session when you start it up.
Firefox is skinnable, so if you don’t like the look you can change it to countless others.
In closing let me just say that making the switch isn’t very difficult. Downloading takes a few minutes, installing takes another few minutes, and you’re good to go! Both Safari and Firefox will import all of your Favorites and preferences! It has never been simpler to make the switch!
Let’s make it a goal to see that 40% figure drop to 30% over the next few weeks! 
Tags: General/Other |