General Chat

I find Firefox pretty good and less trouble than IE8 on my XP machine, managing settings and add-ons is simple too.

Anybody that wants to try another browser rather than trolling the internet looking for links, might find a shortcut icon on their desktop which Microsoft was obliged to put there some time ago, titled Browser Choice clicking on that will enable you to scroll along a selection of alternative browsers and download them.

It should not affect your ability to continue to use IE there will simply be a shortcut on the desktop for Firefox, Chrome or whatever you select . It's worth having a back up browser installed in case you do experience trouble with the one you normally use. Possibly you may be asked if you want to make the new one your default browser you don't have to if you want to.

In fact you can run two at the same time if you want switching between them by minimising them.

Mayfield.

I changed to Mozilla Firefox about 18 months ago .................. and it runs fine

I had no problems downloading it

I do prefer IE for some things ........ such as the ease of putting sites of similar interest into folders in Favourites

I also, perhaps strangely ( :-D ), preferred the search engine Bing to Google.


GB .........

....... I did not notice any ill effects to my computer workings by downloading Mozilla Firefox .............. except the obvious one, of having to work out how to Bookmark (their version of Favourites) all my sites. I still have not transferred a lot of them over from IE

Glad it is not just me GB :-D

I'm running IE10 on windows 7 that's as much as I know...and want to know really

Guys I have not got a clue what either of you are talking about.

Thanks I will leave well alone for the time being.

All very interesting I am sure but I reckon most people on here are not interested in such complicated posts.
They just want a little help - in simple, non confusing, plain English terms.
You stated that IE10 wound not run on Windows 7 - incorrect information. Please let's keep things correct, nice and simple and inclusive.

u r quite right MS made the full version available for Win7 in Feb 2013.
The version that runs on Win8 is not the same as it supports metro.
Win11 (currently in beta) is def Win8 only.

Quite why MS have decided to have a series of browsers with older browsers only being able to ug to a certain point is daft. It means the users of older versions of the OS get hassles and developers just code to the minimum that will work or (often) not bother at all. They have done the same with MediaPlayer which has less and less capability as versions go by - eg not playing commercial DVD videos out of the box !

Unfortunately for me our work forces us to comply with this lousy product which is a black hole for money. No wonder GRU ignore it.

Microsoft have spent billions on smartphones with a current market share of about 2% and are turning the Windows platform inside out to make it support what they consider to be an ideal smartphone interface (Metro). More billions and market share of the tablet devices around 3%. Exactly who in Microsoft thought users ( and large businesses ) would fork out £ 400 / seat and up for a 19in capacitive touch sensitive screen or even more for an x86 tablet must have been on something. Yet without such a device Win8 ( or 8.1) is meaningless. Win8 was not supposed to be a clone of Win7 yet that is how it is turning out as MS seek to assuage the channel.

IE10 does certainly NOT "only run on Windows 8"

Microsoft will pull XP april 2014.
After that date no hotfixes or security updates.
No new activations.

Developing for IE8 requires web designers to jump through hoops. Most have already pretty well much dropped support for IE8 which def. includes Genes who are focussed on pure html5 as it keeps their costs down. They are not a megacorp with hundreds of staff and developers as people seem to think, not a lot more than a shoestring operation.

Running IE8 you are sure to get problems with sites who cannot see much point in expensive support for a legacy browser and OS especially as there are free alternatives. Outfits such as BBC have money to burn, at least for now.

IE9 has a raft of problems and in particular poor html5 compliance. This is in part because Microsoft want to go there own way with something called Azure. IE10 is not very compatible with IE9 (!) and anyway will only run on Windows 8 leaving Windows 7 and Vista with IE9. IE9 won't run on XP.

Opera, Firefox and Chrome run on anything, latest version, free.

You are going to have to change whether you like it or not.
Now would be a good time.

good luck

Thanks everyone.

So others have problems as well.

I use Windows XP and IE8 but other sites are not a problem.

Rollo I am wary of changing things around because I never know what other problems it might cause so I stick to what I know.

All that glitters is not gold.

http://html5test.com/results/desktop.html

We don't all have problems with IE Rollo. I have Firefox and Opera available as well but nearly always use IE as I have never had problems with it. (Though I have to admit I have heard IE10 can be a pain - I am using IE9)

I may take you up on your offer Errol as I cannot c&p from ancestry using IE

As for Smart phones and ipads they would be useless for me,,,so will stick to my laptop that sits on a table over my chair, not taking up any room

Wow Rollo - that's heavy going - had to read it twice to get my head round what you have written. <3

I like my Ipad but I also like my desk top and fine it much easier to use for some things than the tablet.

Errol rushes in where angels fear to tread.

Good luck weaning people off their beloved and trusted IEn is next to impossible. That Windows and IE in particular are the root source of most of the mayhem on the internet impresses not at all.

Just wait for April 2014 ... Dell boy, Acer et al are expecting a tidal wave of business as people finally give up on XP and buy new kit with help from their flexible friend. That just running a copy of Suse with KDE (free) for free would do the job will count for nothing.

Anyway if Errol gets any takers good for him, brave man.

Long ago it must be when Java 1.0 launched in Paris ( at the Winter Circus ) Tim Berners Lee said that he reckoned that the flat html model over time would take on embedded Java and insinuate itself into all sorts of devices. The acedemics went went with XML but good 'ol Tim was right and now Android (built using Java) is everywhere. In particular it is migrating into televisions saving people all the hassle of running a computer. I was quite impressed with the ease-of-use of the latest kit in Tesco - even my aged parent can manage it!

I doubt that desktops and laptops have much of a future in most homes. They take up a lot of room, are anti social and expensive. People like smartphones, tablets and internet-in-tv far better.

Poor Microsoft only has a toehold in any of these markets and nothing making money. If their bluebird does not fly the company is toast in its present shape. Remember Kodak ?

If anybody wants to try a browser other than Internet Explorer (or upgrade to a more recent version) please feel free to give me a shout and I will try to post some instructions in plain English.

I desist from the obvious comment.
I guess you should phone a friend.

I think it's got to be F/b fault even when I'm in it can have problems

I use firefox and fb freezes every time I go on there. I used to be on Yahoo, but it kept on getting hacked in to.

gru was down for a bit earlier today

Cogentco ( a massive networking company you have probably never heard of ) provides most of the backbone for Bright Solid south of the border. They have been having some problems which have got the online games people into a right mad mood and it is possible that these have had a knock on affect to GRU especially if the first leg of the connection from yr computer is not too hot.

No problems down here in the sunny south though :-)