WARNING DO NOT DL/INSTALL IE 8

[Schuyler Bain]

IE isn't bad, especially for end users. Now designers have more of an issue with it. IEs box model has been the bane of desgners for years. However when I layout a site I have just as many issues with firefoxes quirkiness as with IEs.

Now with IE 7 microsoft has corrected the box model, with IE 8 they have standarized even more.

As far as security, Firefox has just as many security issues as IE if not more, as Microsoft has alot more experience battling the hacks. Anytime a browser starts getting popular, the hacks will start targeting it for bugs.

Opera used to be very buggy, now It's fairly good. For designer it's a pain because they swap between mozzila engine and IEs depending on the operating system the user is running on. And because so few users actually use Opera it's often ignored by designers. However Opera is one of the fastest browser, if not the fastest out there. Firefox is by my experience the slowest.

I agree 100% - this has been my personal and professional experience as well. Each to their own.

 

[Arrgh]

This is why I wait at least 2-3 months before trying any new MS programs.

2-3 months!?!?! I wait like 2-3 years!

 

[Hildebrand]

I've always liked IE.
I recently went with Firefox and I do like it better. I love "Foxmarks" extension. It allows me to sync any bookmarks at work to my firefox at home and vice versa. LOVE IT!! I also like the way the extensions are listed easier and more understandable.

Anyway, I just went from IE 7 to 8 on six of my computers at work with no issue except for my sixth one. Seems the user failed to uninstall AIM and Weatherbug toolbars and then there's this weird "discuss" extension that is causing this "search" popup error.
Oh well.... no soup for you! and it's Firefox for you!!

 

[Sorcha of Sonoma]

Firefox is a heck of a lot faster than IE for me. Chrome, Opera nad Safari never lasted long on my machines.

The real security hole among M$ programs though is Outlook Express. Since I switched to Thunderbird I doubt I would ever go back.

 

[Mairut]

You need IE 5 or higher in order to scan your computer for the latest updates from microsoft. I went ahead and checked that as I was checking the updates for my firewall and virus scanner...
Turns out I needed a few updates from microsoft. I thought I had them all...Its good to have your bases covered.
Also went ahead and did a malicious virus scan too; it found nothing but I'm glad I did it anyway. Got a nice siesta in while that was running ^.^
Better safe than sorry when it comes to something as nasty as Conficker.
A good defrag at the end of it all and my computer is running a little faster now.

I'm sure you've got my point

 

[NuSair]

I thought the rule with Microsoft was to use the product before the new one. I use Chrome and Firefox (depending if i need noscript or not).

Chrissay

MS is alot better at putting out quality products than they used to be. By quality, I mean less bugs.

If you are using any version of IE, then you really should upgrade to IE8, maining for security issues.

FF3 is alot better than the resource hog that FF2 was.

Interesting note on Chrome. In the most recent Pwn to Own (a hacking competition for those that don't know).

Other excerpts from PtO:
A security researcher has won $5,000 by hacking a Mac in under 10 seconds, exploiting a hole in Safari.

Next up, Nils. Just Nils- you know, like “Prince” or “Madonna”. With a little tweaking, he ran a sleek exploit against IE8, defying Microsoft’s latest built in protection technologies- DEP (Data Execution Prevention) as well as ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) to take home the Sony Vaio and $5,000 from ZDI.

If that wasn’t enough, Nils pulled a Safari exploit out of his hat (perhaps the same one used for the drawing?) and wowed us a second time- quickly taking down Apple’s browser for another cool $5,000. As a reminder, even though a browser may have been exploited once, anyone else is free to use a different zero-day exploit in order to cash in again.

We were ready to call it a day, but Nils signed up for another time slot, and took a shot at Mozilla Firefox. Lo and behold, another zero-day exploit of his was able to crack Firefox. At this point, I had to pull out my calculator, and tally up another $5,000 ($15K total for Nils today!).

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According to the hackers at the competition, Chromes 'sandbox' set up makes it alot more time consuming and takes alot more work to hack. Because, not only do you have the hack the browser, but then you have to find a 2nd hack to get out of it's box.

Also, for companies using windows, there is no reason to not go ahead and upgrade to the newest version of windows as soon as it rolls out. Why is that? Because even if they do it immediately, by the time they actually get it set up and the environment testing finished, SP1 will be out.