I was doing a piece for the Computing Expert magazine a while back where I looked at six web browsers and chose which one was the best. The winner for me was Firefox 2.0. I transferred from Internet Explorer to Firefox when IE 7.0 was released and wasn’t too impressed with the new browser. Maybe this review will convert you.
Firefox is an open source project which means that the code behind it can be used and modified by anyone. It is a cross platform browser, so you will find a version for near enough every version of Windows, Mac and Linux making it available to everyone unlike browsers like IE which can only be used for Windows and Mac.
So, what does Firefox offer, well apart from the obvious functions that you see in most browsers nowadays, like tabbed browsing, bookmarks, history, skins, integrated search and password saving. It also offers extras like a massive amount of add ons available as well as its own download manager. The whole browser looks and works a treat and is fast and extremely secure. Security was a major problem with IE as it holds the majority of the market share for web browsers (although Firefox is gradually catching up), Firefox has and always has had very good security, and best of all it is security that doesn’t get in your way like in other browsers that have message boxes and yellow strips across the top everytime you do something it doesn’t like.
The popup blocker in Firefox is second to none, I have never had a popup get past it. There is plenty of support out there for Firefox, not only help files (which include a section specifically designed at old IE users) but plenty of help websites which help you to successfully convert. So why not try it now, just click the link below to download Mozilla Firefox 2.0 for free.
Simon North, 25th January 2007
