Is Firefox & Thunderbird better than IE & Outlook?

[m8E]

I have been having some internet security issues recently and have seen Firefox mentioned with comments that Firefox is much more secure than Internet Explorer. Has anyone got any experience of Firefox either positive or negative which they could help me decide if I should convert? Also, is Thunderbird more secure than Outlook Express?

Thanx

[MCT]

yes, firefox is better, BUT, its ugly id get opera if i were u lol firefox is a good free alternative tho & definately 10x more secure then IE

Tbird is better then OE cuz its less bloated & does all, BUT u cannot check hotmail or any other pop3 accounts without another program like freepops or mr. postman

[Spyder2k]

Whats IE

Seriously tough, I'd say my main reason for using firefox is it's flexibility (extentions etc). IE is pretty good, it just has the security drawback of being the most targetted.

Vote: Firefox

[Martin Zugec]

Maybe U should little change this poll...

IE isnt good, BUT I am using Maxthon - dont U want to add category Maxthon+Outlook (not OE)?

[matrix0978]

No question about it. Most mozilla products are one of the best out there. Better then IE and Oulook. And in my opinion i think its better then Netscape!

[Zxian]

I'd have to say that in comparison between IE and FireFox, the latter wins.

With Thunderbird and Outlook, on the other hand, I'd have to say that Outlook is far more useful than Thunderbird. T-bird is simply an e-mail client while Outlook has a built in calendar, task list, and better contact organization than T-bird.

[prathapml]

Do you want a fanboy-type reply, or an answer from experience?

Okay, lots of fanboy replies *WILL* come here anyway - so let's talk real world.

If you are on XPSP2, you have the best version of IE there is. How does firefox _seem_ to be better? Because it is crippled! Do you say a car is better because it has entrances only at the top therefore making it less easy to enter? If so, you are forgetting that if you had basic security knowledge (of locking your car when you are not around) there's no need for crippling your car, plus there's the fact that if someone wants to steal your car anyway, it doesn't matter to him where the door is (only thing that matters, is whether your car is worth stealing and whether you have taken appropriate measures to secure it).

If you work in a corporate environment with managed settings by your Network Admin, and have custom apps which were made for the IE engine, you have pretty much no reason to have problems (unless your admin is a "defaults man" ).

A barely literate user (but who knows to talk a lot) browses a few warez and porn sites with IE, gets a dialog-box to install something and he clicks yes without bothering to read what it says - now he's infected. :crycry: And his admin was dumb enough to not have users logon as *USERS* and instead all accounts are local administrators. BOO HOO! Why am I not surprised!

So now what is their reaction? Abandon IE and run crying to firefox. These same people will once again run to something else when problems with firefox are discovered. They'll never have peace.

Firefox has not enough users worth hacking, and it offers very less features. This is the reason its not hacked into as much as IE. A sane person will see that. A fanboy will not.

Having said that, I don't oppose firefox. In fact, I've been a major supporter of it right since the days of v0.1 (that's when it was called phoenix after having branched off the mozilla codebase) and even during mozilla 0.x days - in those days the obnoxious firefox fanboys weren't around to push it down all throats. Competition is good - but using unreal arguments to get someone to move away from their preferred app is not. I still use multiple browsers.

Do not base your decisions on "running away" from something or someone. Your choice should be positive (eg: XYZ *DOES* this), rather than negative (eg: XYZ does *NOT* have this fault). Personally, I would take a good look at what the usage of the browser/e-mail client would be, and then decide which one is best.

----------

Outlook Express - remove that immediately, use thunderbird.

IE - If you have XP (with SP2) then you can continue using IE itself. Otherwise take a look at firefox or Opera. Mainly, decide why you're moving away from your current browser - features? security? ease-of-use?

[SiMoNsAyS]

@prathapml, let just leave out the ambiguous term "security". tabbed browsing, themes support, millions of possibilities adding extensions, css...

this is about firefox, about thunderbird i'm not going to talk bc i've never used a mail client (neither outlook). i still preffer my old-school html mail or my gmail notifier extension

Edited January 13, 2005 by SiMoNsAyS

[m8E]

Wow that's a great response to Firefox! and prathapml that's a 1st class reply! I'm thinking along security lines as a reason for converting, I'm not so interested in lots of *extras* on a browser or email because I like to keep things simple so if Firefox and Thunderbird are much more secure and easier to use then I would consider that a form of upgrade

I keep hearing of Opera too, I've yet to investigate Opera but I'm going to look into that, is it a browser only or is it email too?

[prathapml]

Here I am logged-in on firefox typing up a lot of text to say why IE's security is better, and firefox crashes on me!

Well, I don't want to type it again. 2 simple ways to improve security with IE:

- If using XP, install SP2.

- Run "gpedit.msc" and configure IE security features.

Opera is a complete suite of browser,mail,IRC,voice-command,etc.

That is the one I use at home, and am extremely happy with what it gives.

[Looneyboy784]

Im a firefox user but Prathapml is right if a user is not a complete id*** IE is a great browser. I like firfox for its extensions such as bandwith tester but im sure most of these have similar plugins for IE

Thunderbird only has one thing on Outlook......it is free if i had outlook i would use it over tbird

[epic]

The "better" browser? Depends on what your surfing usage and computer literacy rounds to. Both browsers & mail clients have Pro's & Con's between them. Firefox has a multitude of extensions & themes (i.e. adblocker*****, Sage feed reader, and other great tools). What I like about Firefox is that these extensions are integrated into the shell; unlike IE. Tabed browing is the best feature.

prathapml is right about Firefox being a _crippled_ application. No community is really out to strike it down as fast as Microsoft products, therefore flaws are not as noticeable and is not discredited as often. It's a very SIMPLE application as more or less dumbyfied. I like the simplicity of it.

However the issue with IE is that most hot headed users want to bring MSFT down and discredit them for their technology & constructive critisim. IE is a very useful application and is the most secure browser on the market when used correctly. It's the people that say something is better 'fan_boys' when in fact the reason they are fans is that they are too **** lazy to set security settings on a windows machine and expect everything to work at default settings. IE is not id*** proof no computer or application is. I still believe you need a license to operate.

My analogy is if comparing Windows vs G5 for photo and video editing and tell me that windows does a better job... you better buy a G5 and find out yourself. No matter how much you tweak windows it will never display photos and video as crisp and clear as a G5 (or any apple). It's comparing apples to oranges.

Personally, I stick with Firefox/IE & Outlook 2003 @ home and IE & Outlook 2003 @ work. I switch between browsers at home since some sites actually display better with IE.

On a side note, just move to a Mac and your problems will disappear. I have used my girlfriends mac for 3years and no application has ever crashed since it came out of the retail box.

[JoeMSFN]

Love them tabs....

Can't say how many times I'll use IE (on a computer without Firefox), middle click on a link and instead just wind up scrolling all over

Plus Outlook Web Access is displayed in "lean" (vs with IE in "rich") mode. Makes OWA much faster (search for message isn't available though).

Actually what turned me onto (Mozilla/Netscape 6 or 7) initially (cuz that's what I used before Firefox/Thunderbird whatever it was called wayback when) Was BOOKMARKS...

I like my bookmarks all in one HTML file. I can post it to a web site... all with clickable links!.

Plus since some sites don't change the "TITLE" tag with each page, IE would make you rename it (after all Favourites are FILES... and thus must be unique) when you made it a favourite. Where Firefox lets you add all the same named bookmarks you want!!! Must admit, without ,

Open Book extension adding bookmarks is kinda clumbsy... as well as managing them after the fact...

But "one of these days, I'll go through and sort them all!" (yeah right..)

:Edit.... One last thing I forgot "This Frame" context menu.... With my choice of "Open in New Tab" etc.

Helped me break out of tiny window/frame (such as in "http://www.geocities.com/elx9196/")

Ah nice WIDE readable area. Though sometimes requires turning off JavaScript so the site doesn't re-enable the micro content window with HUGH navigation pane.

Oh yeah... thinking about it. That's another thing (I like about Firefox). Tools->Options->Web Features.... easy to understand... and I can configure what I WANT javascript to do (or not).

In IE, lets see Tools->Options->Security->Custom Level. or is it under the "Advanced" tab? Lots of options... but really confusing if your not in there 24/7.

And one more thing well maybe two...

The cookie options (in FF) are WAY COOL (and once again, very understandable). "for the originating web site only" is the best setting I've ever seen. I keep mine at Allow, for originating site, until I close Firefox. With the only exception being AOL's screen name service web page (needed for webmail with them).

:ANOTHER edit... I've found Firefox adjusts Text size on sites that IE just leaves micro small.

[JoeMSFN]

Hey! Just realized the title of this thread is "Is Firefox & Thunderbird better than IE & Outlook?" and there was only a pole question for Firefox.... what gives?

Well Outlook EXPRESS vs Thunderbird...? Thunderbird!!!!

Outlook vs. Thunderbird...??

Comparing Outlook to Thunderbird is an apple to orange sort of thing....

Outlook does so much more (or tries to at least) than just email...

If you ONLY use if for email, then it depends on if you access an Exchange Server or not.

Now someone needs to comeup with an extension for Thunderbird for exchange server...

:edit Thank you soulin for that SuSE happy info.

[Martin Zugec]

2JoeMSFN: It wont take long time - SuSE provided its Exchange connector to open source community... My brother is working there