Today I'm going to break my oft-broken rule and offer a suggestion to the users of Internet Explorer. I know why you still use it. It's convenient. The little button is right there. There is no need to download anything new. No need to change settings or anything. And if you are like me you just don't understand what the huge deal is. Many people say that you should switch to Firefox, or some other browser, because they are superior to IE. However, nobody ever told me why, in plain english, alternative browsers are better for protection, speed, and the internet community than IE.
At some point this summer I went ahead and changed over despite not having any clear answers. I don't think that Firefox is as wonderful as many people make it out to be. It isn't alchemy or anything, but I believe it is safer, has some fun features, and tabbed browsing is pretty cool. Today I found an article (written awhile ago, I suppose) that really lays out why you should switch from IE to any of a number of alternative browsers.
It's conclusions are these:
So, in closing, I leave you with two thoughts:
1. Due to the combination of ActiveX, scripting, and its integration with the Windows operating system, Internet Explorer is more vulnerable to attack than many other browsers.
2. The designers of Internet Explorer have purposely turned their back on the standards designed to benefit the Internet as a whole. They have done this for years, continue to do it today, and appear to have nothing but their own interests at heart.
I ask that you consider these points and pull down a copy of Firefox, Opera, or another alternative browser. Run it for a week and see how it feels. As mentioned above, I personally recommend Firefox due to its excellent development team and large user base.
The full article is available here. If you don't need that to convince you, then you should go and download Firefox asap.
