Wow, thanks Lifehacker. I started a new job a few months ago, and many people at the office always complained about IT lockdown. I'd never even attempted to install Firefox myself, seeing as I thought I'd be screwed.

Just gave it a run right now, turns out they don't have it locked down at all - just that other people that work here are too computer illiterate to figure it out.

Whee! Firefox for me!

letoofdune

If you haven't, give this a shot instead of going back to Micro$oft's IE:

[addons.mozilla.org]

dm83737

i use IE7 when im in vista because of protected mode. while firefox is great, it does crash every so often, and every time a browser that is no snadboxed crashes, i get nervous.

i use IE7pro to satisfy most of my firefox needs. and i use folder share to sync my favorites folder to my other machines -- it's not perfect, but it works.

natenovs

I only use IE for sites that wont open or function right in Firefox. Sometimes particular survey forms and such wont let my click selection boxes on Firefox.

Rabbit1

@combat chuck:

Fair point - most casual users see the Big Blue E icon as 'The Internet'...

IE8 is on its way to the market - it will be interesting to see what improvements have been made from IE7.

gmurtagh

the easiest way is just to download firefox or use firefox portable on a flashdrive

daybringer

Once I was at a hotel, and it was effectively locked down. It did not detect flash media, and there was a password on changing the BIOS to boot off of CD. Fortunately, however, it had firefox.

NathanK

@gmurtagh: I guess I meant it in the sense that everybody that runs Windows has IE, and the average user who doesn't know much about computers just uses that as their browser, but the community of dedicated IE users and add-on developers is very small compared to FF. I know Firefox is growing big time (I've been using it since 1.5), but I'm amazed at how many people still haven't heard of it.

combat chuck

I just add IE Tab to Firefox and all is good. It works with Portable Firefox too, so there is really no reason not to try it.

dm83737

My big beef with IE7Pro was that you essentially have to rewrite any greasemonkey script that uses GM_* functions to support IE7Pro.

I don't know why they didn't make it transparent.

engtech

I only fire up IE on cases when I can't seem to get Flash working on Firefox. It seems that after using Firefox for a while, Flash video always get stuck and don't play. I either reset Firefox or open up IE. That's my only annoyances with Firefox.

Other than that, I almost never open up Internet Explorer and use the IE Tab.

Nu Digi

Lifehacker readers don't represent the mainstream, but of interest may be our browser share breakdown. Firefox over 50%, and IE 6/7 combined at about 28%.

Gina Trapani

I use IE7.
Currently beta testing Opera 9.5 and FF3.
Not that impressed. I'll probably go back to IE7 in a few weeks. But these should make some of the stuff I like go back with me.

chustar

@combat chunk

I disagree with your comment that IE7 has a "much larger user base than FF".
In fact reports have indicated that FF is used more than IE7..

gmurtagh

@wannamac: i second that. IE tab is excellent if you run into an IE only web-page (which is thankfully becoming a rare occurrence). [addons.mozilla.org]

ampoliros

Even though IE7 has a much larger user base than FF, it doesn't have the community that FF does, cranking out a massive cornucopia of add-ons, which is the best feature of FF.

combat chuck

I use firefox so when I come to a page that requires me to use IE I just use the IE tab add on I got it works great have not had any problems with it yet. If you visit a page alot that requires you to be running IE you can set the tab to automatically open too.

wannamac

I use FireFox and have come across alot of pages that require mean to be using Internet Explorer. Since I don't want to use IE I just went to firefox add ons and got the IE tab and it works great you can set it to automatically open those pages that need IE so you don't even notice.

wannamac

okay I understand why some people are forced to use it. But an easy workaround is to go to [portableapps.com] and install firefox onto a thumbdrive....problem solved :) no installs on your work computer but all the firefox goodness you can handle!

superbryant88

I will never tie down my users to just one browser. Ofcourse that says a lot about where I work. Some companies have tighter IT Policies.

I let the user make the decision which browser he/she uses. I always recommend FireFox, and for computers that are just infested with spyware and crapware I completely remove IE after the cleanup and obligate the user to use FireFox.

There is the odd webpage that looks horrible and even difficult to browse because it was made specifically for IE. In those cases, I just loose interest and go to another page. It's never been a situation that I have a NEED to browse the page and if I don't use IE it would make my job difficult.

I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones that have absolutely no obligation or need to use IE.

xint

The only thing I use IE for is sites for which I have multiple logins where I want to be logged into both at once (Google/Gmail account being the primary offender).

darthbith

The title of this post is at once both misleading and disappointing. IE will never have Firefox's best features: Firefox extensions.

scott johnson

I Live in IE hell

Almost all of our corporate web apps, especially the proprietary ones
}:-( are IE only because the higher ups wish they could be Bill Gates, and therefore have begun enforcing an MS only office.

Unfortunately - We recently upgrade from IE6 to 7 so now (almost) all my IE6 hacks and backdoors are useless.

My big issue is what User Experience "id 10 t" at MS thought it was a good idea to move everything around? Stop and refresh buttons on the wrong side of the address bar, a home button no where near anything useful - the file menu not at the top of the window so I have further to move my mouse when I'm done typing in an address like honestly - what were they smoking? Is it legal? And can I have some?

Boter

"Whether a stubborn IE-only web site..."

If that's the thing making you use IE, why not try IETab [addons.mozilla.org]): works perfectly for me on those stupid sites that haven't caught up to this decade yet...

aphexbr

I voted that I don't use IE, but that isn't entirely true. I use it as a media viewer for Netflix "watch instantly" movies, but that's it.

jtimberman

Unless I am incorrect, IE7Pro only allows you to assign the keyword for a page and not tying the keyword to a URL Search String like the Fox.

There is nothing better than when the network proxy goes down and I can still get on the web.

mickbw

Sadly, where I work not only are we still forced to use IE6 on Win2K PCs, portable Firefox running off a USB key doesn't work either.

The simple solution to this is to install Maxthon ([www.maxthon.com]) which brings ad-blocking, tabbed browsing and many other nifty features to the mix.

Strongly recommended! In fact, I use Maxthon on some of my prehistoric Win98 systems on which Firefox refuses to install.

ZSX

against *

Lawk Salih

Other-Web development and testing again different browsers.

Lawk Salih

Firefox all the way. And if the site doesn't like it I use the IE tab.

andylogaz

Another article where Lifehacker ignores Maxthon.

Congrats. A few more posts about Firefox extensions and it's coffee break time.

KillDeer

My gripe with IEPro is the extra time it takes the browser to start up with it enabled- IE noticably freezes whilst loading up the giant morass of extensions that makes the thing rumble forwards, increasing the startup time by several seconds.

I'd rather have a browser that starts up instantly and do without dozens of somewhat excessive features. If I'm that desperate, I'll just open something like Opera/Firefox - the chances are that if you're in a locked-down environment that stops you using either of the two, you're not likely to be able to install a huge package like this either.

AirRaven

Just use Firefox. So much better

MikiP

Just looking at so many screencaps of IE makes my browser feel dirty.

TunaFish

Dude! Just use FF with an IE tab addon for those stubborn, IE-only sites.

Even FF is not entirely CSS compliant - no browser is.

What we need is a browser that is 100% CSS compliant. I'd switch to it in a second.

squishyalt

Thanks a lot for this list of the various IE add-ons that most people wouldn't know are around!
I have used IEpro but it really can cause the odd problem and as you said, the support for scripting isn't as good as perhaps it could be - no match for Firefox at least!
I have now moved over to Firefox, solely based on what I read on this very site!
Of course it is becoming more and more popular and every forum or site I visit will have some thread or other where people are debating the benefits of Firefox over the 'curses' of IE.
Firefox every time!

Here is an idea:
as everyone reading this will most likely have family with PC's...you know, the sisters, aunts, Uncles and even friends of the family, basically the ones that phone you up when something goes wrong and you find yourself, once again turned into PC Support Helpline for a few hours on your only day off.
Well do what I do:
Get every one of them to install firefox. Most of them will not even know there is anything else except that blue E on the desktop which they really do think means 'Internet Here'.
If we can convert more people it can only be a good thing right?
Tell you what, it has definitely heped in my life...so much less phone calls for spyware removal since I got them all using Firefox.
Do it today!

GimmeAreason

I voted for 'Other'

Everyone knows IE is unsafe; System integration makes it all the more dangerous.

I use IE only for two purposes:

1. One of my banks supports only IE for online banking

2. Windows update

Firefox rules
Opera is also lightyears ahead of IE.

vihar

IE7Pro also does restore last closed tab and other tab goodness

it does do search string keywords

it also does mouse gestures, form-filler, text-saver & adds a download manager as well. it also does shweet things like save entire pages as images and allows a firefox-like "page-info" view. Oh, also has a user-agent switcher, "super-drag&drop", web-accelerator etc.

the best part is you DONT need to use or even load into memory any functionality that you don't need. It is modular & you can uncheck any modules you don't need to stop them from loading

currently, i've switched to firefox 3. but before that, during the days of ff2, i was all IE7+IEPro. I just couldn't find a good "collection" of functionality like IEPro's and didn't want to hunt down separate add-ons

I used to love Opera too, until FF3 came out. I was also partially "converted" by BetterGCal extension and IE's slow javascript performance

_||_

What sites are you going to that are still IE only? I'm running Linux and Firefox exclusively and I haven't ran across a site that said IE only for over 4 years.

I constantly switch people over to Firefox and Thunderbird. At first it's "this is so weird!" but I come back in a week and they are just amazed at what they can do. The Allegory of the Cave ([en.wikipedia.org]) comes to mind

rubbsdecvik

@ZSX: do you work the same place I do?

I get 'cease and desist' emails from IT whenever I try to add IE7 (it's on the approved software list, but I guess isn't approved)

Our student management system only works with IE6. But then various people think some of our forms only still work with Reader 5.x (well, they don't work with 6 or 7, but do with 8)

And we couldn't add extensions or add-ons if we wanted.

So I patiently wait to get home and get to blogs, flickr, myspace, web-based email and ANYTHING other than IE. (even Lifehacker is occasionally blocked)

karlawithak

IE only for testing compatibility. I really hope that FF3 fixes all of the memory leaks and random plugin issues that I see in FF2 (problems with flash or quicktime that seem to be installation specific). I get tired of having to restart FF, especially when it's still in memory after I close it or inexplicably using half a gig of memory.

warped2049

@GimmeAreason:

It'll never fly. I can just imagine sitting down with my mom now...

Okay Mom, Internet Explorer isn't great, so switch to Firefox. Now, when you come across a page that doesn't look right, you'll need to grab this add-on called "IE Tab" and switch the rendering engine so that....Mom? Where'd you go?

OX4

I got around IT lockdown by installing the portable FF on a thumb drive. Problem is, it's slloooowww. Sometimes so slow I bust out the IE just for some relief.

Last time I checked, IE add-ons were in *.exe form...something I can't run because of IT lockdown.

OX4

@rubbsdecvik: Believe it or not, my ISP's support site ([help.rr.com]) is still IE only. Which drove me nuts the one time I needed it, as I'm on Ubuntu and don't even have a dual-boot setup.

HeartBurnKid

Spiralfrog

otherwise it's Opera then Firefox 100% FTW

marksman7328

In IE7Pro there is an option for "Text Saver" does anyone know what that does/how it works?

basharo

FireFox is a nice browser, but it constantly crashes my computer.

Yes, I have all the latest drivers and patches. IE is much more stable. Go figure!

SalParadise

i dont force anyone to use a single browser

however i do actively set firefox to default if the user has no pref.

FF never seems to crash for me, infact i find it stable and for older pcs, i use opera!

i simply have no need for ie other than some intranets

gorilly

I feel a little silly saying this, but I would switch to Firefox in a heartbeat. IE7 is ok, but Firefox outshines it by a mile..Here's my problem. I prefer the way that IE7 renders text. It seems to me the text in FF is faded and a bit blurry, while the text in IE7 is clean and crisp. Is there a way to address this in FF? On another note, I've tried IE7 Pro a few different times and have always ended up uninstalling it because of various problems. It was pretty cool, but still didn't bring the browser up to the level of FF.

cidman2001

Is it crazy that the only thing keeping me from running Firefox is the fact that I can't access my favorites via Vista desktop search? As soon as this huge FF community gets around to adding that function, I'm in, notwithstanding the fact that I'm still not exactly sold on why Firefox is better. That said, if someone knows a workaround to the favorites indexing issue, I'm all ears.

XanderCrews

Also note that you can install and use IE7Pro with IE6 on Windows 2000.

Although it doesn't add tabbed browsing support to IE6, it does allow you to use some other IE7Pro niceties such as URL/ad blocking, In-Line search, user scripts etc.

William

I would give Firefox a try if I could bring up my favorites in Vista desktop search. Anyone know of a workaround?

XanderCrews

Did anybody hear about www.AantBrowser.com? Pretty good browser. IE7Pro make IE very competitive too. Il mention groups - open multiple sites, is a good feature too. www.geek.nexo.com

petrusa001

why we should use IE while firefox is much better :)

Nxqd3051990

I really dislike ie7pro, sometimes it causes websites to display improperly.

Jshaw

I guess I'm just a weirdo. I like IE6. I'm very satisfied with it. It gives me no problems and I can configure it just how I like it. Some of the computers at work have IE7 on them and I can't stand it. I always go back to machines with IE6.

I tried Opera once upon a time. Didn't care for it. I suppose I should try FF at some point, but I'm just fat, dumb, and happy I guess. :o

JaimeZX

@Nxqd3051990: And thank you for chiming in with that breaking news, which just added so much to the conversation. (rolls eyes)

It's almost like the Consumerist "don't read post, add your two cents that aren't really all that relevant in the first place" tendencies have infected here... :/

drjayphd

Of course, the ideal way to deal with being forced to use IE is suicide. Then again, I'm sure the devil runs IE on Vista...

ceviche

I'm trying to think really hard of a situation where this might come in useful... perhaps a super-locked-down PC that can't run any EXEs other than the approved ones (but there are enough thumbdrive workarounds for that).

Nice article LH, but I don't see this ever being of any use in my life, now or ever.

kureshii

Arg... our school computer labs used to have Firefox on them, but they were removed recently because it is so easy to enter proxy settings that would allow us to get past websense (anyone who blocks something for "tasteless" is evil). Normally, I'd disable the process that blocks installing apps and install them on the computers but Deep Freeze just reverts them all back to thier original state as soon as you restart so it us just faster to just use IE7. Other than school, FireFox FTW.

Nickcompoop

Nice. You have to spent an hour or more with tweaking just to reach the functionality of a vanilia Opera (or FireFox, K-Meleon, whatever). Worth it? :)

Dagenham

@cidman2001: Hey, heres a tutorial on how to turn on MS ClearType in Windows (and in Firefox)

[samanathon.com]

Zenshai

More and more I was finding that Firefox is unreliable, from erroring on scripts in Google pages to freezing on streaming video.

So I started to use IE again, I updated to IE8 Beta, though im running in IE7 emulation mode, and I'm finding it to be a much more reliable solution.

Plus IE introduced my favorite feature yet in any browser, the new IE zooming. While at first it broke webpages, but its working as intended now and its great. Instead of increasing/decreasing text size on a page it actually does a digital zoom on all elements of the page, kinda like iPhone's Safari.

Zenshai

@Gina Trapani: So articles you post are only for people who are already using that program/thing?

What percentage of Lifehackers exercise or eat some strange limited diet that you post every so often?

You honestly don't think you can convert people? Glad you have high expectations about your influence.

KillDeer

I work for uncle sam in a government facility, and the bastards have blocked Firefox from accessing the internet, only two weeks ago! So I have since had to exclusively turn to IE at work. IE7Pro is helping to ease the pain a bit.

paqman

Comment on Get Firefox's Best Features in Internet Explorer I have a love/hate relationship with Firefox. I'm used to it since I've used it for years, but random crashes, memory leaks, horrible printing support, and unsupported sites make me open up IE more often than not. For me, IE is a safe and reliable browser that serves as a great "back up" to the expected Firefox mess-up. Some might disagree with the "safe" label, but I understand some people need more hand-holding to use a computer safely.

KitGanjka

I am forced to use Internet Explorer because of corporate applications, otherwise I use Mozilla Firefox or Opera on my Nintendo DS \ Wii.

m-p{3}

Oh, I forgot to add: IEPro also adds Opera's Speed Dial feature to IE, and calls it EasyHome.

@basharo: Text Saver simply saves a copy of every form entry you make in plain text. This allows you to restore the content you typed in case the browser crashes or you have to do a page-reload/refresh. You can restore saved text or delete saved text on a per-form basis by hovering over the top-right area of a entry field/form. A toolbar appears that lets you do this. You can also access this via IEPro preferences dialog.

IEPro works almost perfectly well with IE 8 beta 1 too. In fact it's crash-recovery interface is better than IE8's built in system, because it let's you choose which tabs to restore on an individual basis

_||_

As ZSX puts it, try Maxthon ([www.maxthon.com]).

ralfy