FireFox Questions

[tinytnt]

My fiance does internet tech support, and has been doing it for years. I'll tell you what he'd tell me and HAS told me.

Definitely go with Windows XP if your pc will support it. (Which it will unless it's ancient.) Windows ME has a lot of problems and crashes/forces reboots more often.

Don't use the DSL disks they give you unless you absolutely must. You can even call the DSL company and make them walk you through it WITHOUT the CD. Otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of extra junk on your pc.

We used Firefox for awhile, until it was discovered that as its popularity grew, so did the problems that users experienced with it. IE's fine, just keep it updated with available patches.

Norton and McAfee Anti-Virus and Firewalls cause WAY more problems with your PC than what they'll "protect" you from. Many people can't even get online at ALL because they have these programs on their computer. He tells them to take it off, they do, and *presto* everything works.

Your best protection against viruses and being hacked is to be smart about opening your emails and NOT downloading ANYTHING that "pops up" unless you specifically are trying to download it. Don't give any personal info (including credit cards, address, phone #, etc unless you're certain it's a secure webpage. (There's a little lock in the bottom of your browser window if it's secure.) Never EVER give your SSN online.

We have cable internet with a WIRELESS router, connecting our several computers throughout the house. We have our computers turned on and online 24/7 (except during thunderstorms) and run NO anti-virus or firewall. And we've never had an issue, except with spyware...

You can get spyware on your pc just by casually browsing... you don't even have to download anything. Sometimes you can just go to a webpage that has it embedded, and you'll never know. Until you get a ton of em on your computer, and it starts running like poo, if at all.

Do a google search, download "Ad-Aware" and burn it to a cd. That way if it ever happens, and you can't get online, you can run it from the disk. It's FREE, doesn't expire, and offers free updates. Just follow the directions in the help/read me files, and it'll get all that junk off your pc.

Anyway... sorry for the long post, lots of info to cover, and I *FINALLY* found a topic on here that I can offer proven, sound, expert advice on.

 

[125gJoe]

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Norton and McAfee Anti-Virus and Firewalls cause WAY more problems with your PC than what they'll "protect" you from. .. ...

I've been using Norton for years, and it works great. That's why I suggested using it. I know others that also "depend" on it. Norton Internet Security. The Anti-Spam for e-mail works great too!
:thm:

.. ..
We have cable internet with a WIRELESS router, connecting our several computers throughout the house. We have our computers turned on and online 24/7 .. and run NO anti-virus or firewall. ... ..

I would never recommend anyone to NOT run a Firewall. This is not good advice. Sorry, but I totally disagree. Also, if you have a router, read up on how to "protect" you router (password, etc.).



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[125gJoe]

.. ..
Do a google search, download "Ad-Aware" and burn it to a cd. That way if it ever happens, and you can't get online, you can run it from the disk. It's FREE, doesn't expire, .. ..

Good advice on "Ad-Aware".
I also run 2 anti-spyware programs.


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[tinytnt]

As I stated, my fiance takes care of people computers for a living. All of this would come from him... except the firewall thing maybe I didn't explain right. I'll wait until he wakes up to be certain how to word it, but I *think* there's a built in firewall/security features in the modem.

I think it's pretty standard stuff, and what I meant in my original post was that we run no ADDITIONAL firewall... nothing we had to go buy, certainly nothing we downloaded, as someone else recommended. I'd have a hard time trusting a downloadable firewall. That was really what I meant by that.

I'm absolutely CERTAIN that in his 8+ years of experience of having to sit there and troubleshoot and fix peoples' computers 8-5, M-F, that he knows what he's talking about. He's obviously not going to set up our OWN computers and put them at risk.

I'm glad that Norton works well for you... but the fact remains that about 1/3 of the calls he gets EVERYDAY are fixed by getting rid of Norton/McAfee. I've personally known of many other people who've used Norton in the past that had problems as well, and I'm not talking computer illiterate people either.

And I'm quite confident that my fiance understands how to use a router. I only even mentioned our router to show that by your/others' standards, we're wide open, but nothing's ever happened.

I think a lot of those type products are basically scams... It's like the flu shot... if you get this thing to "protect" you, sure, you might be safe from LAST year's bug, but there's always new strains floating around, so in essense, you're never REALLY protected. No matter what you do, you can still get it.

But, anyway, I'm sorry you disagree, and that you think I'm giving bad advice. :huh:

 

[125gJoe]

As I stated, my fiance takes care of people computers for a living. All of this would come from him... except the firewall thing maybe I didn't explain right. I'll wait until he wakes up to be certain how to word it, but I *think* there's a built in firewall/security features in the modem.

I think it's pretty standard stuff, and what I meant in my original post was that we run no ADDITIONAL firewall... nothing we had to go buy, certainly nothing we downloaded, as someone else recommended. I'd have a hard time trusting a downloadable firewall. That was really what I meant by that. ....

But, anyway, I'm sorry you disagree, and that you think I'm giving bad advice. :huh:

Now, with this post.. I understand what you are saying. Firewalls are needed these days. That's where I had an issue. The way it was worded, looked like there was no need at all for a firewall.

You are one of the lucky ones to have a computer 'guru' to fix inevitable problems with these machines! :thm:



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[tinytnt]

"You are one of the lucky ones to have a computer 'guru' to fix inevitable problems with these machines! :thm: "

Trust me, I know how lucky I am. If you read my thread about water change w/ fish dying, you'd know he also cleans house, but with one small error.

 

[tomdkat]

I've been using Norton for years, and it works great. That's why I suggested using it. I know others that also "depend" on it. Norton Internet Security. The Anti-Spam for e-mail works great too!
:thm:

My mom was using this for a while and it became problematic. Switching to the free edition of AVG has made her computing experience much more enjoyable. So, she's running XP Home, AVG (free), Ad-Aware (free), Spybot S&D, ZoneAlarm (free), and uses Mozilla suite instead of IE/OE and has 0 problems with spyware and viruses.

In fact, Mozilla's spam filter is so honed at this point, it's scary at how effective it is at keeping her inbox free of spam.

Peace...

 

[tomdkat]

We have cable internet with a WIRELESS router, connecting our several computers throughout the house. We have our computers turned on and online 24/7 (except during thunderstorms) and run NO anti-virus or firewall.

Your wireless router provides implicit firewalling.

You can get spyware on your pc just by casually browsing... you don't even have to download anything. Sometimes you can just go to a webpage that has it embedded, and you'll never know. Until you get a ton of em on your computer, and it starts running like poo, if at all.

I've found this is more of an issue with IE than other browsers. I know Firefox won't install anything without your expressed permission and that provided a level of protection, albeit weak, against the WMF issue that was in the news a few months ago.

Now, Firefox's extension system is something that can be exploited but I'm not aware of any major issues with that currently.

Peace...

 

[tomdkat]

I think a lot of those type products are basically scams... It's like the flu shot... if you get this thing to "protect" you, sure, you might be safe from LAST year's bug, but there's always new strains floating around, so in essense, you're never REALLY protected. No matter what you do, you can still get it.

I don't think they are scams but I think they do prey on people's ignorance when it comes to this kind of stuff. They pitch "all-in-one" solutions when those are simply too difficult to develop and maintain and have that solution work well.

People using Windows these days just need to train themselves to learn about the tools they need to protect themselves and keep them up to date and actually use them.

Peace...

 

[Galaxie]

Risochan,
From Firefox Tools menu, select Options, then General.
Make sure you check the box, "Firefox should check to see if it is the Default browser" Then you can select "check now" if you want.

After this, you can open up IE and go to the Tools/ then Internet Options menu. From here select the "Programs" tab. At the bottom, uncheck the box which asks "if IE should check to see if its the default browser"

Close all browsers. When you manually open Firefox, it may ask if it can be default...say yes. Manually open IE and when it asks (if it does).... say no.

If your internet application still opens IE, sorry, looks like you are stuck with it.