Try another web browser – Mozilla Firefox
Most people use Internet Explorer for windows and why not? It’s preinstalled on every Windows PC. Well, there are a number of reasons to consider using another product.
One is security. I’m not about to say that open source software does not have security vulnerabilities. It does. I have found those vulnerabilities to be fixed in short order though. Mozilla Firefox (now at version 1.0.6) is a good alternative to Internet Explorer. It is an open source product, meaning that the code is freely available to be reviewed (or for suggestions.)
It offers a number of features that Explorer lacks. Tabbed browsing is one such feature. It’s possible to open a new web page in a new tab without a brand new standalone window. Through plugins it can be extended with toolbars for web development tools, rss news tickers running in the information bar, complex adblocking capabilities, weather forecasting in the toolbar. There’s also a searchbox built in in the upper right hand corner of the browser.
There are other browsers out there as well, Opera for instance, and Netscape is still around too. One thing that I appreciate with Firefox is the fairly good rendering of web pages.
One of my frustrations for some time have been pages designed specifically for Internet Explorer. I still run across some that Firefox chokes with, usually because they have some old browser detection to give different coding for different browsers, but Firefox has been doing what no other browser has been able to do. They’ve been taking market share away from Explorer.
One other thing that I really like it for on Windows machines is to have a second option for getting to the web if Internet Explorer is really “messed up”. Sometimes adware or other problems prevent Explorer from being useful. Then you’re stuck without web access and frankly it slows down your ability to repair the PC. That’s one reason I carry a disc with a Firefox installer on it to appointments.
It might be worth it for you to give it a try too.