Life After Internet Explorer

I recently encountered an article on Microsoft's own Slate website that describes some of the major security flaws with Internet Explorer, which is the default web browser for over 95% of internet users (not surprisingly, as it is installed by default with Windows).

In addition to its security flaws, Microsoft has allowed CSS bugs in Internet Explorer to linger for years. It may come as a surprise that future versions of Internet Explorer are not planned.

Although I have been a long-time advocate of Mozilla Firefox, it's only recently been recommended to the masses as a secure alternative to Internet Explorer. Not only does Firefox protect you from inadvertantly installing spyware, adware and browser hijackers, it supports web standards for displaying content (Internet Explorer often requires "hacks" in the code to get a website to display correctly).

Firefox includes a popup blocker, a tabbed browser interface (keep all the sites you have open in one window and access them through their respective tabs), and is available for both Windows and OS X. Easy-to-install extensions and themes abound for extending functionality and customizing the Firefox interface. Best of all, it's absolutely free (although donations to support future development are gratefully accepted).

It's easy to make the switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, and detailed instructions, including terminology differences can be found on the Firefox website.