Recommend alternate browser?

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Hi –

My main browser for my WinXP Pro is Firefox. I have IE as an alternative, but I would like to uninstall that in favor of another -lightweight- browser. Don’t need bells and whistles.
(Is it safe to uninstall IE8, or do I need it for other, unknown, Windows operations?)

Thank you for your recommendations!

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You will need to keep IE for Windows Updates as it uses ActiveX Control which FF doesn’t.

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You will need to keep IE for Windows Updates as it uses ActiveX Control which FF doesn’t.

And IE is tied into the OS for Help files and more.

Try Pale Moon browser: http://www.palemoon.org/

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Can someone provide info and user experience re Iron Browser?
It is derived from Google Chrome; like Palemoon derived from Firefox.
Would like to know the user experience. Is it a more privacy conscious browser?

Kinda belong to this thread. OK with me if moved to a new thread.

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Can someone provide info and user experience re Iron Browser?
It is derived from Google Chrome; like Palemoon derived from Firefox.
Would like to know the user experience. Is it a more privacy conscious browser?

Kinda belong to this thread. OK with me if moved to a new thread.

It would seem to be a more privacy conscious browser from this HowToGeek lowdown article http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-geek-blog/iron-browser-is-a-privacy-conscious-version-of-google-chrome/

If you like what it can do then give it a try, but you may also want to read what others think in http://malwaretips.com/threads/srware-iron-browser-scamware.9127/

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Thanks Sudo15. Interesting links re Iron Browser; close to heated … discussions.

It is privacy preference that I try to find alternative browsers.
I virtualized the installation and got the portable version of Iron Browser. Then ran it sandboxed for a while to check it out.
Not bad.
One negative is the default home page. It has some not so socially acceptable ads, sometimes. And it points to Iron’s web site as well. Easy to change it though. My Iron home page now points to Ixquick.com.

I’m downloading Superbird Browser portable (from UK). It is roughly same as Iron Browser: emphasis on privacy. I am trial running the portable version sandboxed … to see if it does something behind my back.

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While Adblock Plus is suitable for the main browsers and Iron Browser seems to be loosely based on Chrome, perhaps it would work in that browser as well to block the ads.

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I tried it. Yes, Adblock Plus works in both Iron and Superbird browsers.

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Have you decided which alternate browser you are finally going to use yet ?

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Not yet. I frankly thught there would be more suggestions. Will wait to see if any more replies come in.

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Here are a few more for you to check out http://www.thewindowsclub.com/list-of-25-alternative-browsers-for-windows

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I think I have tried them all. Most have something missing to makes it a keeper. Too slow in loading pages? A change of browser can result in better performance, faster page loading and videos that buffer seamlessly. If you do decide to use different browsers, you’ll soon notice how different they each perform, from surfing the web, page scrolling to variations in performances and more. The best browser is the one that meets your needs and more importantly, those of your PC. If you have 5 people in your home with 5 different browsers you will never get a unanimous decision on which browser is the best. It all depends on the PC and OS on each PC. Including maintenance of each to keep it up to date. Ram and hard drive.

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Can anybody PLEASE tell me why the heck nobody in this thread has even mentioned Firefox as an alternative?

With Adblock Plus and WOT and a few small tweaks like having it clear the cache on exit it has served me and my many customers very well over man years.

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Can anybody PLEASE tell me why the heck nobody in this thread has even mentioned Firefox as an alternative?

Answered in the intro:

My main browser for my WinXP Pro is Firefox.

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The management at Mozilla decided that the new CEO would not be retained because of a personal
political donation in 2008. Gays objected and management folded. The new CEO resigned.

Now there is a counter response of dropping Mozilla. I am dropping them.

There are many alternatives for Desktop, Pad or phone.

Al

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I’ve used SeaMonkey for years. It’s similar to the old Netscape. Although it has more bells and whistles (email, newsgroup, chat, HTML editor), it’s always run faster for me than anything else. And the pages look more “crisp” and “clear” to me. Firefox? I find it to be bulky and slow, with sometimes “bleary” looking pages. JMO.

http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

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Here’s a vote for Chrome, although I will admit that IE 11 is working well for me in Windows 8.

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i’ve used ‘crazy browser’ for years. it’s an IE shell browser. it uses the IE engine but not its GUI. IE is running but it doesn’t know it. http://www.crazybrowser.com
the only problem is that it hasn’t been updated since 2011 but i’m still using it on a win7 PC.

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Hi All:

FWIW: I have tried the WaterFox 64-bit recompile of FireFox and it was okay for awhile, but support seems to have stopped. I moved on to CyberFox (64-bit) and it works great for me, except there is no working “convert web page to PDF” add-in that works well with it, other than some that depend on a often-hidden-website to do the conversion whereas I desire local conversion. Its possible that the latest Acrobat Pro works with 64-bit browser, but I don’t want to spend the money on that.

I also have SeaMonkey installed, but use it mostly for simple webpage editing, although I do miss its ability to switch between browser and email, and between different email accounts without quitting (like is now the approach in Thunderbird, which we also use).

I recently adopted PDFXchange Editor for most work on PDFs, and it’s PDF viewer function works great in FF and CF, and most functions are free. The Pro version does more — almost everything that Acrobat does and costs a small fraction of that one.

I have Chrome installed, but rarely use it; other than a recent problem with a website that delivered PDFs for e-signing and wouldn’t work with IE, FF, CF or anything else in either 32-bit or 64-bit browsers or O/S’s.

HTH

Rob

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My ISP is FrontierNet.net which access’s all incoming and outgoing email’s and provides any information found to advertisers, and there’s no opt out of course. They also use information from all other Internet access in any and every way possible. And this is for ISP service that I pay for.

Is there any email client that can grab emails before the ISP so that my ISP does not even see the incoming or outgoing mail?? And the same for other Internet access so that my ISP is unable to harvest information??

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An update about my experience re Superbird browser:
Crash several times on light browsing, and less than 6 tabs, mostly 2 tabs.
My opinion: not recommended, or wait for improved versions.

I ran Superbird unmodified in default mode, no addons. Superbird opens/surfs faster than Chrome, Iron browser, Firefox, Palemoon. Clearly more snappiness. (Note: Browsers tested are portable versions.)

[Superbird is a privacy-centric Chrome derivation. Google for details.]

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My brother has a Dell 3000 desktop XP Pro SP3. He wants to switch his browser to Mozilla Firefox as he wants to continue using his computer as long as possible
— I personally am not in favor of continuing to use an XP OS but if he wants to try Mozilla Firefox I can certainly install it for him; however I do not have experience with Firefox

All he does is use Yahoo for his email, plays Pogo, uses Microsoft Office 2000 Word & Excel, in addition I like to use familysearch.org for genealogy
So my questions are:
How to ensure Firefox is safe & secure?
Since the computer will not upgrade to a higher IE version then 8, is that a limiting factor?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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My brother … wants to switch his browser to Mozilla Firefox …
… but if he wants to try Mozilla Firefox I can certainly install it for him; however I do not have experience with Firefox …

Download it ONLY from Mozilla’s download page.

After installing Firefox with the defaults and stating it:

1. Click on the down arrow in the orange Firefox square in left top of screen.
2. Open the sub menu of Options and place a check mark at Menu Bar.
3. In the menu bar click Options, Add-ons
4. In the search bar of the add-on window search for Adblock Plus
5. Allow Adblock plus to be installed.
6. In Adblock’s set up should come up automatically; in this window check Malware Blocking, Social Buttons and (Privacy?)
… well all three choices
7. In the search bar of the add-on window search for WOT
8. Allow WOT to be installed and restart the browser

Inform yourself and your bro about what WOT does. Tell your bro to click ONLY on search results with a green circular mark.

… he wants to continue using his computer …

I only can comment with an old joke: If ignorance is bliss why aren’t more people happy?

… however I do not have experience with Firefox …

But now you know what to do to make it rock.

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eikelein, your instructions for Firefox are helpful for me because I’ve been thinking about using Firefox on one of my Win7 computers
— I’ve haven’t had issues with IE’s so that will stay on my other Win7 computer
For my brother though, I wish he would move on from XP
— Just like so many other people I help and computer articles I read about people who love their XP’s, they wonder something like: why do I have to change? my computer runs fine
— In my experience, most of the time, people don’t like change, I’ve seen people get upset over a home page change, never mind an OS change
— I remember when I was the dumbest of the dumbest when I had to learn how to use a computer at work in 1985
— I’ve come a long way since then and I’ve seen changes after changes

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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