I've been using IE for years, many hours a day because I'm a web developer, and the only time I've had a scare was when there was a trojan embedded on a .wmv file on CollegeHumor.com or something. Luckily Norton Intenet Security recognized and quarantined it instantly. Really I think that was more of a Media Player vulnerability than an IE one. Does Firefox have phishing filters yet (they may, I just don't know)?
Jack, I missed this question previously. I don't think I'm using it; there really aren't many (if any) plugins I'm using on that machine. But I'll take a peek when I'm back home tonight.
I've created web sites before and I tested them on IE, Opera and Firefox, using various resolutions on different monitors so I would think that it's your job to find out what Firefox is capable of. An IE-centric web developer is kind of like a car reviewer who only buys GM cars. I just can't imagine that I'd ever limit myself like that by only using IE.
Do you have any "plug-ins" Running, like "Ad Block" ? If so try turning them off, or un-installing them.
FWIW, what I find that Firefox does, on some sites (but not many) is that some components of the page overlap each other. Sometimes text will be obscured by such an overlap, and sometimes a clickable option will not be clickable, due to such an overlap. Safari seems to handle such sites just fine. Most sites display fine with Firefox.
FYI, a friend of mine actually just told me he had this problem with FF 2.0. He didn't try to figure out what's wrong, but simply did a full uninstall of FF and reinstalled it, and that seemed to do the trick. I have seen those overlapping components in FF often on sites that are generated by ASP.NET (yes, from M$ !). A while ago, I developed a few web applications in that framework, and figured out that this happens if you apply some fancier settings on the controls on the page. So, quite likely it is again a problem of M$ not caring about other browsers in the content their web application framework generates. And, of course, web developers that are too lazy to check their pages on other browsers.
For public-facing applications (like www.AfricanChristianCharities.org, which I created pro bono for someone I know), I'll view them in FireFox just to make sure everything still works, I just don't use it on a daily basis am not aware of all of its features.
Problem solved. And now I feel kind of foolish. Turned out it was a firewall problem after all, one I stumbled upon while making my way through the Mozilla forums. This computer (which is the problem machine, and on which I'm now happily browsing in FF again), had Norton Internet Security when I bought it. I later added another internet security package but kept Norton active after the subscription expired. I figured two layers of protection were better than one. But because Norton is now just a backup of sorts and I haven't done anything with it for months, I didn't think about checking its firewall. Out of sight, out of mind ... again! Well sure enough, somehow it had gotten configured to block everything from FF. Not sure how, other than a loose screw about two feet above the keyboard. Only thing I can figure is that it must have given me one of its "We recommend you block internet access with this program" prompt (or however it's worded) for some odd reason, and I must have unwittingly accepted its recommendation in the midst of some rapid-fire mouse clicks. Once again, many many thanks to all who offered help!
Don't run two layers of Internet protection. Norton is enough of a resource hog all by itself, let alone with another one running on top. You should completely remove the old Norton. The best way to do that is to download the Norton removal tool from their website: http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?OpenDocument It will clean out everything related to Norton, so make sure that's what you really want to do. After that, use something better such as BitDefender. Tom
I use the free version of AVG for antivirus and ZoneAlarm form my firewall. I recommend both of those.
Just an FYI, I left an expired Security system on my computer without realizing it and only found out it was expired by not being able to access anything on the internet. (My email worked just fine) I fear that when the subscription runs out, some products do this without notification - best to uninstall!
One thing I hated about Norton was how difficult it made configuration. Those "we recommend you block" prompts lacked an option for "permit once" or "block once," and once you told it to block something it was really hard to find the place to change it. I really liked Zone Alarm, for being much easier, until ZA put out an upgrade which screwed up the whole computer (for a lot of people). It's nice to have gotten away from a platform that requires all that stuff.