What's Your Web Browser?

What's Your Web Browser?

This month, I will discuss the two primary web browsers on Windows-based computers: Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Both applications present web pages in a graphical, easy to read format, work on Windows and are available at no cost. I believe that summarizes the similarities. To determine which web browser you are using, simply launch your usual web browser and choose Help > About…

Internet Explorer is Microsoft's web browser. Microsoft updates this product regularly and presents those updates as part of its Windows Update service. Internet Explorer has more than 90% of the market. People who do not know what their web browser is can doubleclick the blue "e" on their desktop. That, my friends, launches Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft has a web page dedicated exclusively to this product. Anyone can visit http://microsoft.com/ie to view Microsoft's promotional material. I am running the most recent supported version, Microsoft Internet Explorer v6.0.

Although Microsoft has given us the free Internet Explorer and made it a foundational part of Windows for years, there are those who diligently seek to exploit Internet Explorer's vulnerabilities. They pursue weaknesses with two aims: a) to defraud IE users, and b) to embarrass the Microsoft Corporation. They view IE as a popular target.

Rest assured, we have an alternative: Mozilla Firefox, available at http://mozilla.com. Firefox has emerged as a stable and more secure alternative than IE. Where IE has more than 90% of the market, Firefox obviously has less than 10%. Where IE is a highly visible Microsoft product and Microsoft haters reside all over the world, Firefox is much newer and Mozilla does not have as many haters. The Firefox logo appears to be a red, orange and yellow fox that cradles our planet.

Mozilla's web page says: "Firefox keeps you more secure when you're browsing the Web, closing the door on spyware, worms, and viruses. The Firefox community of developers and security experts works around the clock to monitor security issues and release updates to better protect you."

I use both. IE is the market leader. Several web sites work well with IE and produce errors or missing screen elements with Firefox. Some web site managers and ecommerce sites work exclusively with Internet Explorer. When I try to access them with Firefox, I get error messages. My peers recommend using Firefox for most, if not all, web surfing. Why? It is more secure and draws less attention from hackers.

Both IE and Firefox are free products that we use to surf the web. That ends the similarities.