What is FireFox and why is it useful?

[BrIONwoshMunky]

Hey computer peeps, I was wondering what this Firefox thingummy everyone is talking about happens to do/be, and why it's soo cool and what not. I'm not computer stupid, just computer ignorant.

Edit: I know google works, but you guys can tell me stuff that would take years to decipher on the whole interwebnethighway.

 

[Jung]

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Firefox is an alternative web browser. Imo, it's the best web browser available for Windows. It's secure, fast, and has tabbed browsing, a built in pop up bloacker and an open plug-in (extension) platform.

 

[BrIONwoshMunky]

and an open plug-in (extension) platform.

What does that mean?

 

[Jung]

Firefox offers an open platform for plug in development; anyone with knowledge of java can create a plug-in. In Firefox plug-ins are called extensions. See this thread for some extensions.

 

[BrIONwoshMunky]

Gotcha, so basically, it'll keep my HD's spyware/popup free and it's highly upgradeable?

 

[Jung]

Pretty much. You'll still be at risk for malware that uses javascript installers, but you can set the security levels on that. JS installed malware is also pretty rare, most of it uses ActiveX, which Firefox doesn't support. Firefox also renders all www.w3c.org compliant code, something that IE fails horribly in.

 

[BrIONwoshMunky]

I also saw you talking about some form of anti-virus program in another thread. Do you know what I'm talking about?

 

[Jung]

www.kaspersky.com is the best anti virus app out there, hands down. If you're talking about malware, google for Spybot and Spyware Blaster, also AdAware is pretty good. I use all three and haven't had any malware problems in a few years. I occasionally get one or two objects, but one of the programs finds and removes them.

 

[BrIONwoshMunky]

Edit: N/M, I found prices on the site.

 

[BrIONwoshMunky]

Is there any advantage to buying the Pro version of Kapersky, and do any retail chains stock it that you know of, or should I just buy it off the net.

 

[Jung]

It should list the differences on the site. The net would be the best place imo, you get an instant download.