Poll: Teh Browser Wars!

[Beiluxia]

I hadn't even heard of Netscape until today.

I used it as a very youngling in 1999. I thought it was awesome.

People who haven't even remotely heard of Netscape must've been born after 2000. Seriously, it wasn't that long ago.

[Aeken]

It's looks old as fuck.

Not really. I remember back in the early 2000s (is that supposed to be old?) when everyone said it was the "faster and safer" alternative to IE. That and Firefox.

It's old.

I used it as a very youngling in 1999. I thought it was awesome.

Eh, I was raised using Internet Explorer and thought that it was pretty great...Until I found Opera, of course, which is millions of times better than IE.

Nah.

[Vettrera]

I use Chrome & Firefox so.....um....
It's really a dead heat, though I find Chrome a bit more consistent.


And my iPod uses Safari, which I don't care for

[Jamessonia]

I like Safari, it's simple and easy to use so it works for me.

[Beiluxia]

Not really. I remember back in the early 2000s (is that supposed to be old?) when everyone said it was the "faster and safer" alternative to IE. That and Firefox.

It's old.

To think just ten years ago when we all had tube screens is now considered "old". Why can't I just be an ignorant child forever? I wish I'll never grow old.

[Luveria]

Chrome though I use firefox for browsing porn because no script is a useful tool.

Firefox is just the best friend of fappers

WOT + NoScript + RequestPolicy + KillJasmin + DoNotTrackMe/Ghostery + ClearCache + Memory Fox + TooManyTabs + Flash and Video Download version 1.29 + CoolPreviews

Flashblock in the case you open another tab and the shocking image doesn't immediate appear so it isn't too obvious for other people walking in the house, giving you time to switch before they identify the site you are on

etc. etc. etc.

Hah, epic.

Or you could be hardcore like me using Chrome and not hide any history. I'm not scared of people knowing the obvious. I just don't allow them to go near my PC.

[The Jonathanian States]

We need multiple choice; I use both Chrome and Firefox. Safari too, if you count my phone.

Mentioning safari on your phone I'll assume its an Iphone of this or that generation?
If so,download Mercury.I find it way more practical,including better tab-switching.

[Calimera II]

Chrome biatch!

[Pandeeria]

If it's an Apple product, then definitely Safari.

For everything else, I use Google Chrome.

[Thafoo]

Firefox is just the best friend of fappers

WOT + NoScript + RequestPolicy + KillJasmin + DoNotTrackMe/Ghostery + ClearCache + Memory Fox + TooManyTabs + Flash and Video Download version 1.29 + CoolPreviews

Flashblock in the case you open another tab and the shocking image doesn't immediate appear so it isn't too obvious for other people walking in the house, giving you time to switch before they identify the site you are on

etc. etc. etc.

Hah, epic.

Or you could be hardcore like me using Chrome and not hide any history. I'm not scared of people knowing the obvious. I just don't allow them to go near my PC.

I don't let people on my computer because they'll probably do something stupid and fuck it up.

[Hetalian Indie Rio de Janeiro]

Firefox is just the best friend of fappers

WOT + NoScript + RequestPolicy + KillJasmin + DoNotTrackMe/Ghostery + ClearCache + Memory Fox + TooManyTabs + Flash and Video Download version 1.29 + CoolPreviews

Flashblock in the case you open another tab and the shocking image doesn't immediate appear so it isn't too obvious for other people walking in the house, giving you time to switch before they identify the site you are on

etc. etc. etc.

Hah, epic.

Or you could be hardcore like me using Chrome and not hide any history. I'm not scared of people knowing the obvious. I just don't allow them to go near my PC.

I don't hide history and people here know I fap, I just don't like them seeing what I like to watch.

My screen is enormous, and my PC is in the living room, and it can be seen from all of the kitchen and two other rooms.

[Ordealius]

I use Google Chrome for things in general, because I like the load time, but I use Fire Fox for gaming as, alas, Chrome doesn't support Hardware Acceleration. Opera for Linux/XUbuntu. Everything before the current IE is crap. IE11 is...decent. It gets the job done. I don't personally use it, though.

[Beiluxia]

We need multiple choice; I use both Chrome and Firefox. Safari too, if you count my phone.

Mentioning safari on your phone I'll assume its an Iphone of this or that generation?
If so,download Mercury.I find it way more practical,including better tab-switching.

I think I had that on my old two-gen. iPod Touch. I have iOS 7 on my iPhone 4, and the new Safari's quick and reliable enough that I use it alongside Chrome.

[Lydenburg]

I've never even seen Netscape in use. lol

You're old.

It's looks old as fuck.

To be completely honest when I first downloaded it back in the early 2000s I just liked the clipart. And the teal colour. But mostly the clipart. That was before the (current) Netscape icon had this shitty white N on a green and black background. Then it was a white N flashing like a thunderbolt across a teal sky on a rocky black landscape, like one of those bad zombie games from the early Nintendo era. Every web page you viewed had that rocky outline on the upper right hand corner. I started seeing it (and sometimes still do) in my dreams. I swear the thing was subliminal. You could never get it out of your peripheral vision, and even when I looked at somebody else's laptop it was always still there.

If you're wondering, I actually picked up this particular programme on a visit to Taiwan. Never heard of the browser before in my life. Italian neighbour recommended it.

[The Jonathanian States]

Mentioning safari on your phone I'll assume its an Iphone of this or that generation?
If so,download Mercury.I find it way more practical,including better tab-switching.

I think I had that on my old two-gen. iPod Touch. I have iOS 7 on my iPhone 4, and the new Safari's quick and reliable enough that I use it alongside Chrome.

Mercury is the firefox of iOS.
Way more convenient.

But I suppose I can't force you,eh?

[Beiluxia]

I think I had that on my old two-gen. iPod Touch. I have iOS 7 on my iPhone 4, and the new Safari's quick and reliable enough that I use it alongside Chrome.

Mercury is the firefox of iOS.
Way more convenient.

But I suppose I can't force you,eh?

If I download Mercury, I'll have three browsers on my phone. I don't think I need three browsers.

[Lydenburg]

I used it as a very youngling in 1999. I thought it was awesome.

People who haven't even remotely heard of Netscape must've been born after 2000. Seriously, it wasn't that long ago.

That would make a significant proportion of NS about....thirteen at the most?!

*mind boggles*

Wait. This explains everything.

[Vettrera]

I've never even seen Netscape in use. lol

You're old.

It's looks old as fuck.

My pappy had Netscape installed on his computer

[New Waterford]

Internet Explorer...

[Luveria]

People who haven't even remotely heard of Netscape must've been born after 2000. Seriously, it wasn't that long ago.

That would make a significant proportion of NS about....thirteen at the most?!

*mind boggles*

Wait. This explains everything.

I assumed it was common knowledge.

[Thafoo]

That would make a significant proportion of NS about....thirteen at the most?!

*mind boggles*

Wait. This explains everything.

I assumed it was common knowledge.

Just make a thread title "<Marxism/Leninism/Stalinism/Libertarianism/Voluntaryism/Objectivism/Conservatism/Fascism> <pick one> Was Right The Whole Time" and they will come like ugly on an ape.

[Hetalian Indie Rio de Janeiro]

I used it as a very youngling in 1999. I thought it was awesome.

People who haven't even remotely heard of Netscape must've been born after 2000. Seriously, it wasn't that long ago.

December 1994er who only knows of it because of researching the history behind Firefox showing up.

[Breadknife]

Where's the Lynx option? And what if I always liked using Mosaic?

Other (please specify).

But that implies they're not mainstream... But how else is one going to easily browse Netscape Unfriendly pages on Geocities?

[Hetalian Indie Rio de Janeiro]

Other (please specify).

But that implies they're not mainstream... But how else is one going to easily browse Netscape Unfriendly pages on Geocities?

Geocities is rated as an unreliable site by one of my extensions.

I think I got malware from it at about 2006 or 2007 or so.

[Breadknife]

I use Chrome and IE.

I never understood the IE vitriol. I never noticed a difference in speed between IE and anything else and I never got a virus or anything while using IE so I think the security's about the same.

I guess I don't have discerning enough taste...

Don't know 'bout you, but I have IE on several computers. Each has a bazillion useless toolbars, and I'm a total noob when it comes to making them go away. Also, each computer has extreme lag when it opens up IE.

That'll be related.

The following is off the top of my head, and no substitute for someone who knows what they're doing having the machine in front of them, rather than rattling off a load of educated guesses for you to follow, like I am doing...

1) Go to control panel and Add/Remove programs (or "Programs/Uninstall a program", or whatever). Look for "<Foo> Toolbar" entries and uninstall any you find and aren't explicitly welded to using. (Don't bother filling in the "Why I am leaving?" pages these inevitably bring up.)

2) Select "Tools" menu item in IE (or that "gear" icon in more recent versions), and Manage Options, look at the Toolbars And Extensions and see if any more toolbars exist, go back to (1) looking for any names that appear here that might not have been "<Foo> Toolbar" in the former. (You can also disable them, but best to remove them.)

3) Get something like MalwareBytes (note, the CNet download page doesn't force you to 'register' to download the installating program, unlike MalwareBytes' own site's download location) and run it and update it and do a full scan. It may pick up other things, as well, but "PUP/whatever" items ("Potentially Unwanted Program"?) tend to be the marker of merely annoying toolbars (tick to remove everything so found... Well, I would, but maybe you'll recognise a program that you think needs to stay, in this and point number 1... I doubt it, but caveat emptor, etc...)

4) Have another look at your browser. It shouldn't have much in the way of unnecessary toolbars left. But right clicking on an otherwise anonymous non-toolbar bit (between the page display area and the window header itself... or if you have the in-built "Menu Bar" enabled than anywhere on the line with the text that isn't actualtext) and see what's listed. "Menu Bar" is Ok (if you like the "File, Edit, ...etc" words... but it's only on by default up to IE8 and you probably won't miss it if it isn't there). "Favouites Bar" is, in my opinion, a waste of space, but it's an inbuilt (possibly default) item. If it isn't ticked you may see a <Star> Favourites" thing on there anyway, maybe on the same line as the tabs themselves or somewhere near the "gear" icon. "Compatability View Button" is Ok (for versions of the browser that feature it) and it doesn't use a whole line up on its own. "Command Bar" is Ok ("Page, Safety, Tools, etc" may be the words that feature, along with some icons, and it doesn't use line for itself, although without it the Tabs, or whatever it shares the line with, can use more of the screen width). "Status Bar" is the line below the web-page area, and is optional (but I like to see it, because useful information appears upon it). Anything else (ticked or not) may be a sign that you've somehow missed a toolbar.

5) If you go through all the above and any toolbars remain, or re-install themselves without asking, then there's probably a (possibly less-than-scrupulous) related 'helper' program doing that for you. You really need someone used to these things to look at your system, to be honest.

6) MOST IMPORTANTLY! - When you install a program, or update something (like Java, any of the Adobe products, etc), look for the "Yes please, I would like to install <SuchNSuch> Toobar!" with a tickbox. Which will be ticked. Untick it. The same applies if (assuming you haven't already installed it, or had it installed by this method) there's an offer to install Google Chrome or McAfee WhateverItIs (which I think includes a toolbar component)... Unless you want to. I wouldn't (and even if I thought I might want it, I would even prefer to go and get the thing manually), and yet this is the distribution method used by so much AnnoyingWare, and not a few bits of SpamWare and borderline Malware as well. Also your AntiVirus program (especially if free) probably likes to aggresively push its own toolbar (e.g. AVG and its "Nation Toolbar", which looks dodgy, but is a proper AVG product... not that I'd personally let it install, of course, it seeming to add nothing relevent to a computer already protected by the standard AVG product), which - if you strictly followed the above instructions - may now have been uninstalled (without affecting the core AV protection). But having uninstalled various toolbars, you're probably going to start getting a "Do you want to install Goodle/Yahoo/McAfee/AVG/whatever toobar?" pestering pretty quickly as other installed software from that vendor suddenly decides you might like to reinstall it...

And can I just say: Toolbars with a "Search" box on them. Even IE Eight has a pre-integrated search box (which, if you've installed toolbars is probably also defaulted to something other than Bing (default) or Google (a popular change) - but that's something additional to check...) integrated into the "non-toolbar" menu bar on the same line as the address bar, and later versions of IE may chuck that functionality into the address bar itself. No toolbar ever has the good reason to use up screen real-estate with its own personal dedicated search-box. Not that it stops them. And that equally applies to the 'good' (AV programs), the bad (actual malware) and the ugly (everything else).