Speeding up PC process questions

and more of the could.

That is no place to tell someone they SHOULD be using Firefox. Apart from the fact that it's over hyped, you ain't in a place to do that.

Answer the person's question - no more and no less.

Maybe you should answer her question and stop getting so mad when someone mentions firefox.

I saw what you had posted and got sidetracked. As for the OP, it's stuff that can be effortlessly found on Google.

There's also Seamonkey, Opera, and Safari to try. Or just Opera and Safari if you want to be a purist and get your panties in a bunch because Firefox and Seamonkey use the same rendering engine.

Doesn't matter which one is used, just so long as it's not IE. There's no getting around the numerous documented security issues with IE, the fact that it's competitors have considerably fewer issues, and that the issues IE's competitors do have are typically of lower severity compared to IE's. If you choose to bury your head in the sand, plug your ears, and hum loudly rather than face this reality... That is your choice, but don't try to drag other people into your self-destructive delusional world.

As I mentioned, I have used Firefox in the past, it has been a little while, not quite a year, but I can't really remember what it was like. I used to use Safari once and a while on a mac, but don't remember much of that either. I've heard of Opera, but not Seamonkey.

I'm definitely willing to give it a try if all those problems could happen, not worth keeping IE if this is the case. I knew things like this were a problem, but didn't realize quite how bad and didn't realize these other options were so much secure. I appreciate you guys letting me know about this.

Try them all, keep the one you like best. The only really important thing is that it is in no way based on IE, and those are the only ones that meet that criteria on Windows. There are a few other Gecko (the rendering engine used in Firefox and Seamonkey) based browsers for Windows, but they're more special interest oriented and/or abandoned.

To the OP:

Don't listen to the bullcrap going on by these anti-IE/anti-Microsoft folks.

Don't suddenly change because some uninformed peeps say so. Learn about Windows Security. More importantly, learn how many machines/corporations/individuals or whatever use IE, and the estimated amount of machines in the world that are supposed to have some kind of compromise.

Not only that, but (you listening, Jackson?) Every single machine I deal with that is infected (and I mean 300+ infections, not just your usual smitfraud or whatever) to ALWAYS have Firefox installed. So yea, Firefox really does protect you from infections. IRONY.

Enough said.

O, and if your gonna slag Windows/IE/whatever, quit whinging, and as they say "go bite an apple" - there's nothing like your good old hypocrit to laugh at.

If you want people to take you seriously, don't talk like some immature 12-year old kid. I mean seriously... "Peeps", "bullcrap", "gonna", and "slag"? Not to mention the misuse of a bunch of terms like irony... Quick tip on that one... That Ironic song from Atlantis Morisette a few years ago... The only ironic thing about that song, is that nothing in it is ironic. But, just try and figure out those Cannuks. If not for Corner Gas, and the great amusement I get from listening to people from Nova Scotia talk... Well, we're getting a bit sidetracked here.

I'll make you a deal though... If you go and learn a little bit about logic, common logical falacies in particular, and maybe develop your reasoning abilities a bit more, I'll stop having to make fun of you.

I know there are thousands of companies out there that probably use IE, and a good majority of those companies have people who are paid quite well to do everything they can to mitigate the damages. Quite a bit more than your little after school job clearing off systems for friends and family.

That little attempt at a straw man argument was bad enough, but you followed it up with an even worse one. I hardly know where to begin picking that one apart.

A) Show me one example of where I said simply having Firefox installed was sufficient
B) Having a program installed, but never using it, really isn't going to make it easy to reap the rewards
C) That's not ironic
D) What proof do you have that any of those systems were infected while the person was using Firefox
E) That's not ironic
F) It's not hypocritical either
G) That's not ironic
H) Did I mention that's not ironic

We can agree that people should learn a bit about security in general. I don't see any reason to limit it just to Windows. Why limit yourself needlessly, when there's plenty of good material that will apply equally to almost any operating system you may ever encounter?

Oh, and lastly... Just because you've developed some irrational emotional attachment to a bit of software, doesn't mean the rest of us have. Further, just because someone is pointing out a clear and present danger in using your beloved program doesn't equate to the person being anti-anything. I may love my dog, but still not be real keen to his piddling on the floor.

So, when you graduate from high school, make sure to take a course in logic when you get to college. Maybe a few philosophy courses to train you to think critically and construct an argument. Also, for the love of the gods, pay attention in those freshman english courses. I know they will seem stupid and you'll wonder why you have to take them, but there is a very good reason why, whether or not you see it at the time.

Do you think I care what you or anyone thinks of me? It's a forum, you tube, not a social gathering.

I'm not going to adhere to your terms (I like your attitude, you think your pretty high up in here don't you?) Just to earn some "respect" from you.

If I want respect from someone, I'll do it elsewhere of the internet.

As soon as you get off your high horse and quit thinking I weant anything from you, you might have managed to pull your head out of your **** and finally realised PEOPLE DON'T GIVE A DAMN!

You can argue with me until you're blue in the face, and likewise with me. But the fact is, you'll believe what you do over what I do, and so will I, you.

So be it - opinions and beliefs are what makes the market an interesting place.

If you continue to shun my arguments after this, it will just further prove your arrogance that you have trouble accepting the -many and other- opinions out there.

There are some things I like about Firefox, yes, for instance the fact that you can type a keyword into the address bar and it will automatically take you to the most likely site. But I will not, and will do my best to prevent people from doing it to others, be told what to do, what software to use or why.

There are also things I dislike about products I use on a daily basis.

I may be pushy in my choices, and readily admitting that is no problem for me, but not once will you hear me saying "you should use XXX" in the same manner as you and many others pop out the usual "GET FIREFOX" line, as if its bloody mandatory. Well here's news: IT ISN'T.

Oh, and I just love the way you and so many others resort to pulling people up about their use of precise English language when you are obviously running out of insults to make at someone who has clearly shaken your little security theories. Pathos.

-> Just be sure you don't make fun of someone who is dyslexic; you might then just begin to realise what a pompous stuck up arrogant loser you really are. I wouldn't be surprised if a mod deletes this either, but I don't care, it's for you Jackson, so long as you read it and perhaps take some of it in to your brick thick skull there.

I have had the opportunity to view both sides of the posts to the question of what to use and what not to use and it is clear to me jackson has clearly solidified his point by allowing the user of whatever browser to decide for themselves and putting his experience with each in words with the ultimate decision for the user.

Now on the other hand, Me Myself and You clearly made statements as to his ability and experience, but with arrogance and attempting to shoot down anothers opinion has in my opinion clearly comes off as a bully of sorts attempting to push off his idealism onto the masses.

Yes, I know this has nothing to do with XP, and you may also say its none of my business. I only have made an observation to signify that experience is the best teacher and it may take a lifetime to get it.

To jackson , I applaud your ability to narrate your thoughts in a logical manner for those here and to assist and I, like you understand in this cyber world there are those who know it all but, know know nothing. That nothing they dont know is Tact, Respect, and Compromise. Not everything can be learned in a book and even then, the book can sometimes be wrong.

To Me myself and You a lot of times people such as yourself lose focus and attempt to force your opinions on others. you must remember one thing, opinions are like people, there are billions of them because there are billions of people and your opion doesnt make you right but it doesnt make you wrong either. Apply thought to situations without emotion is the key to solving problems.

I have written this short narration with the intention of letting those all here who read my words to learn from good or bad opinions and grow and make your own decisions based on your own experience with a little help from others experiences. I hope this short glimpse of my thoughts is not taken with ill boding, but as a breeze that blows across the face of creativity.

I hope you both keep up the great work and hope to read posts from you two again.

I use Spybot Search and Destroy and Adware, I believe I read about them in PC Magazine (the reason I chose them)


Okay, I thought that you could search and figure out what the programs were, I just wanted to confirm that the information they were giving me was not correct, I thought it was way too easy.

I have used Firefox before, but I didn't see much improvements, so I just went back to using IE... The main reason I use that particular computer is for work, I don't do much of anything except for work on it. There are certain websites that I have to use for work and they often have a hard time running on different browsers. So, I guess I will just try them out and see which ones will work.


Thanks for the info Chimlim!

It's not that you need to use Firefox, its just that you shouldn't use IE. IMO, Firefox is the best option but there's Opera (which is a close second in my book) and the other options listed in the post above.

A lot of malware, spyware, adware, etc.. are spread through using IE.
Even though the actual performance maybe equal to Firefox or Opera, it is much safer to avoid using IE at all costs.

I have a tech that is local that I use for all of my computers. Really good and willing to work with me. The only problem is that I work on the computer from early morning to around 10 at night and usually can't stop to work on computer issues. He works around my schedule alot, so that helps, but since this is such a long process I was trying to take care of some things myself. I have been working on it from around 10 at night until early morning, the latest so far 7 in the morning. So this normally isn't an issue for me, I learned long ago not to really trust the techs. So far my experiences with the chat support has been okay, but this last once was not real good.


I am definitely going to try and switch to a different browser. I have someone else use that computer once and a while and they don't handle change real well, so i have to make sure it will be easy for them to use as well, but I am going to try it.... So it is okay for me to keep IE on the computer, just as long as I don't use it, unless I have to?


With Outlook Express, what are the alternatives? Again I use it for my business, so I just have to make sure it will work. I use POP3 and a mail server through my company, not sure if there is any other important details I may be leaving out.... Oh, and again it is really important that I can easily save emails somehow and then save them to my computer when needed. I'd also like it to be pretty easy to adjust to, for the reasons mentioned above. I've heard of IE replacements, but nothing for OE.


Again, with OE, do I leave it on the system or go ahead and remove it? And, if I remove it can I get it back if I would have to?


My only concern is if I switch if I will have a problem if something goes wrong. Now if there is a problem with OE or IE I can get support pretty easy. If something goes wrong with my e-mail or internet will it be a lot different to resolve the issue?


I'm going to get started figuring out what programs to run at startup... I didn't think the info I got was right, glad I confirmed


I suppose if increasing the virtual memory won't do any harm it is worth doing. I plan to upgrade my RAM here soon, at least another gig, maybe 2 if I can. I need to clean out the tower as well, need to get some info on how to do that!


I really do appreciate all your help. I'm trying to increase my knowledge with computers. I can use them just fine and run most applications. I can do some very basic troubleshooting, know the basic terms, etc. But when it comes to things like this and things that are more advanced, I'm in the dark. Your help has just made my life so much easier!!!!


Thanks a million!

If it's your computer, if you ask me, the other person should be glad you allow them to use it at all, and will work around the fact that you decided to change browsers. Of course there may be some personal bias seeping in there, since I have little tolerance for people who treat my good will like some kind of entitlement.

As for Outlook Express replacements... Probably doesn't matter much. Mozilla Thunderbird is what I used before just moving myself to an entirely web based system in Google's Gmail. I also see that the Thunderbird developers recently released a new version of Eudora which they sort of inherited from Qualcomm a few months ago. For the most part though, so long as it doesn't have Outlook in the name, it's probably quite a bit safer.

You can't really get rid of Outlook Express, just like you can't really get rid of Internet Explorer, so you have to do the next best thing which is not use it.

And one of the great secrets of the computing world, is that most programs work in nearly identical ways. There has been very little in the way of fundamental interface changes to web browsers since the first version of Mosaic was released over a decade ago. Same goes for just about any other major application category you can think of. Email programs, word processors, spreadsheets, even the main operating system interface. Computer programmers are rarely the most artistic or imaginative people in the world, so they keep to familiar patterns. If you ever saw screenshots or demo videos of the first ever graphical interface for computers, you would be able to recognize a lot of elements still present in all graphical interfaces today, over two (or maybe it's three now) decades later.

The key to the success of most computer "experts" is learning to spot these common elements and apply a little intuition. If pressing this button does one thing in Program X, and Program Y has a similar button...

POP3 has been around probably longer than there's been a Microsoft. Any email client should be able to use it without problem. Same with SMTP, which is the most common method used for sending email messages. Either way, it's all the more reason not to get rid of OE, just not use it. Worst case scenario, it's your failsafe fallback option.

You may also want to reconsider the RAM. For most people, 1GB is kind of the sweet spot, and anything more has diminishing returns. Also, since it's an HP system, you're probably already close to the max supported RAM at 1GB.

Cleaning out the tower is always a good idea. One I don't always follow as well as I should. I recently had my tower apart for the first time in probably over a year, and it had a rather impressive amount of dust caked inside. Most of it you can just pull off with your hands, and it's up to you if you want to buy a can of compressed air to clear out the fans. The pressure the compressed air is under gives it far more force than you could probably muster by just blowing on things yourself... But unless the dust is really caked onto the blades of the fan, just blowing on it yourself will probably be sufficient.

days with HP


The other person is actually my assistant, so I supposed it is her good will that I'm using. The main reason I want to make it as easy as possible. Plus, the easier it is to change, the easier it will be for me to train her!!!

I love Gmail, use it for my personal e-mail, I think it is great. It basically has everything I need, just doesn't offer some of the most important things. For example, I have to be able to have my e-mail address include my company name, requirement of the company, which is why I haven't gone this route yet. I will look into Thunderbird, that was recommended to me the other day and also Eudora, I hadn't heard of these programs till now, so I've not tried them.


I didn't think you could get rid of OE or IE, from what I could tell, but I figured I was wrong.


I see what you mean, over the years things have changed much, they just add a few things to make it look pretty... I guess I'm on my way to being an expert!!!!


I don't really know much about the other forms of sending and receiving e-mail, so I will assume I will be safe either way, just thought I should ask.


What kind of diminishing returns can more RAM cause? I didn't know that this could happen. I've only been inside the case of my computers twice, once to add wireless to an old desktop and once to add more RAM to a Compaq. I had originally purchased it as a gift for someone that only wanted it to surf the internet, so I went with a basic PC that I could buy and take home, so the specs were pretty low and it had an AMD Sempron chip. Then they decided they wanted to use it for more than just internet and it wasn't really fast enough to do what they wanted, so I tackled that process then. It really didn't affect the computer, at least that I know of, but it really made a huge difference in the speed. So now I always thought as my computers got older I would just add more memory to keep them around a little longer. I believe my computer can hold at least 2gb of RAM, but I will have to check the exacts, I know I was fine on the Compaq I did, but I can't remember how muhc I could haved added.


Also, I was told that for Vista 2gb is really the minimum that you should have to keep it running properly, do you not think this is the case?


I plan to clean out the tower soon, I leave for vacation next week, so I may wait until I get back in case there are any problems. I'm sure it needs it pretty bad.


Thanks again, you have been a huge help!

On the RAM thing, I just mean that the amount of benefit you gain for your money starts to drop off after about 1GB for most people... On XP at least. Since this is the XP forum, I made the assumption that's what you're running. With Vista, that would probably be what you'd want as a baseline. Nothing less than 1GB, and 2GB probably being the sweet spot. Though I have seen some people claim that 4GB is Vista's sweet spot, but given where I saw this claim made, I suspect the person's needs were far more demanding than the average person.

I'd also say, if you don't have Vista, it may not be worth upgrading. Most of the changes to Vista were superficial in nature, like the new Aero UI. It's just a poorly done copy of Apple's Mac OS X interface that offers next to nothing useful from a business perspective, while significantly increasing the hardware requirements. Most of the rest was the continued sellout to Hollywood by including even more restrictive DRM garbage into the OS. They did add a special protected mode for IE that should make it harder for mass malware infections like on XP and earlier, but one has to wonder why they don't just fix the source of the problems, rather than implementing stopgap measures.

By and large, if what you have is working, and available upgrades offer you little or nothing, why bother? This from someone who's a fan of change for the sake of change. If you're already stuck with Vista, that's another story, but this IS the XP forum, so...

I just got off topic a little. I am planning to get a new laptop and was told for Vista that you should do at least 2gb. I thought that you meant in general more than 1gb wouldn't work... I understand now.

I have Vista on the laptop I use with 2gb of RAM. I don't think I would go under 2, but I think that it does the job just fine, from what I have experiencd anyway.


I remembered that I forgot to ask a question earlier.... If I switch to something like Thunderbird, is there anyway that I can import my address book from OE as well as the messages I have in there? I could probably get by without the messages as I could save the ones I don't need all the time and just forward on the ones I need to have, but I really don't want to have to start the address book over... the settings are okay if they can't be transferred, I kind of figure they can't since it is a different program, I can take care of that if I need.


Also, I don't think you gave your opinion on which browser you like best. I didn't know if you had a preference.


thanks!!!

Sorry, it got mixed in with all the other posts and I missed it. It doesn't show up when I go into my account, had to go back through the whole thread.


Thanks!

Should be done automatically the first time you run Thunderbird. Address book, messages/mailboxes, even most of the network settings IIRC, all should be imported.

I prefer Firefox myself... Opera is my second choice, and what I use on my iBook. If Opera had some better ad blocking features like I can get with AdBlock Plus for Firefox, I could probably make the switch to Opera with ease.

I have nothing against Safari... Particularly since it uses a version of the KHTML rendering engine from the KDE project, which is getting folded back into the Qt GUI development toolkit, that also happens to have a Windows version... Meaning that any program made with Qt will have access to a lightweight and capable HTML rendering engine, and won't have to rely on calling IE. In any case, just a matter of taste, but I don't really like Safari that much. It has too much of the Steve "I Hate Buttons" Jobs influence in it. If it works for others that's great, it's just not for me.

And if Internet Explorer didn't have such grievous security issues, I'd put it in the same boat with Safari. If it works for other people, good for them, but it's not for me. If Microsoft ever actually fixed IE (and other programs) to be more secure, I'd be among the first to say what a great thing it was. I just don't know that I'll live to see the day that happens. I doubt our arrogant little teenage friend will either.

When I made those high school cracks earlier, I hadn't read this post yet. That's just too funny.

Nothing quite like the arrogance of the teenage years. You know absolutely everything, and everyone else in the world is a flipping idiot. You've managed to solve all the great mysteries that people many times smarter than you have devoted their entire lives to, and still haven't cracked.

I think most of us would like to forget that we were like that at one time, as you will in 5-6 years time. Once you've seen a bit more of the world, your mind has had more time to develop, and you aren't a hormone bomb with legs, you are going to look back at things like this and cringe. I don't expect you'll listen, but on that million to one chance... There are a lot of things you don't know yet, haven't considered, haven't been exposed to, etc. A true mark of intellect isn't what you know, so much as knowing what you DON'T know.

I didn't say " I know everything" in that post. It's you who perceived it as that.

You just don't like me challenging your views of "don't use anything Microsoft flavoured because it's got security holes OMG !!111!ONE ONE ELEVEN ONE!!!1"

because I can actually back up those claims. What can you do to back up yours? Not a lot I don't think.

For the most part I don't understand your post, however. As I said, I'm far from a computer expert... I'm not even sure what the client side and server side is,

But thanks again for taking the time to answer.

It's just someone trying to sound smart. There's also really nothing in there that's relevant to your situation. Much as we all might like to forget, we all went through that same arrogant know-it-all phase, so we should just use the maturity that comes with age and rise above our more base inclinations to point and laugh.

The core of what you should take away from this is the following:

* Using IE is bad, so use something else (Firefox, Safari, Seamonkey, or Opera, your choice)
* Using anything with Outlook in it's name, made by Microsoft, is bad, so use something else (almost anything else will do)
* HP/Compaq tech support is about as bottom of the barrel as you can get
* As bad a source of information Cnet usually is, it's a good step or two above HP/Compaq tech support
* Avoid Vista if possible, but if you can't, be sure to get a top of the line system or you will likely live to regret it very soon
* It's not really that difficult to become a computer expert, since most of it is just simply recognizing reoccurring themes in interface design and applying a little intuition

Think that about covers the major points.

Thanks so much for all your help!

I'm going to get started on this ASAP, can't wait to try out the new browser and e-mail client.


Thanks again!

try this site http://www.blackviper.com/ for your tweaks

opera has a built in mail client, it take a little while to get used to but it is pretty good.