Malware
Ernie The Attorney notes that he is starting to get popup that have gotten around his Google popup blocker (contained in the Google Toolbar). I started my defensive battle against popups with the Google Toolbar and found it to be a must have for browsing the web. But then I figured out the real problem: IE is just a poor piece of software.
As I must use Windows at work, I have long suffered from the onslaught of attacks that hackers send Microsoft’s way. My solution in the browsing and email areas was to stop using Explorer and Outlook. I browse with Mozilla Foxfire and I use Mozilla Thunderbird. I have found both programs do their jobs well, are full featured, and do not cause the headaches I constantly ran into with Microsoft’s “solutions.”
Foxfire’s tabbed browsing experience is something not to be missed. I have 28 web sites that I check over every morning. I have these sites in a folder on my Foxfire toolbar. I hit the “Open in tabs” button in that folder, fill up my coffee cup, and all 28 sites are loaded and ready. Browsing through the sites is reduced to closing one tab at a time. What I miss out on is waiting for each page to load, making this morning task ridiculously short.
