What internet browser are you using for Windows 7?

Which browser are you using with Win7?

  • Internet Explorer

    Votes: 38 18.2%

  • Firefox

    Votes: 127 60.8%

  • Minefield

    Votes: 3 1.4%

  • Opera

    Votes: 9 4.3%

  • Chrome

    Votes: 30 14.4%

  • Other (Flock, Maxthon, etc.)

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • Total voters
    209
Grentz said:
If you want to start one, IE8 starts faster, runs faster, is just as quick in browsing, and is pretty much just as secure as Firefox.

Frankly they are both great, no reason to bash IE any more. There are some sweet features in IE8 as well.
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Yeah, although I only have IE8 on my Windows 7 install, I do have IE8 and FF on my XP drive. I can definitely say that IE8 starts up faster (at least on my machine). Actual page loading seems fairly close between the two, but that initial startup with Internet Explorer is much better then FireFox.

I also prefer the text in IE8 over FF, although I'm sure if I messed with the settings, changed the display font, etc., in FF I could match it. I guess I've just been too lazy to toy with the settings though. Either way, just with the default settings I like the IE8 more.
 
Currently using Chrome for Windows 7 and Vista. I used to use FF but it lags a bit when opening.
 
Maybe it's just the way I browse the net, but Chrome has crashed on me more times than I care to recount. Firefox has remained relatively stable. IE is better than it used to be, but the interface is not up my alley.
 
Asian Dub Foundation said:
firefox. so familiar with it now that using any other browser will throw me off my "workflow"
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Same here. There are little things in Firefox that I've learned to do so quickly over the years that any other way of doing it would slow me down, even if it was a "better" way.

It's kind of the same as with the Win7 task bar/start menu. Ever since XP, I'm used to launching my favorite browser by pressing the Windows key, then down arrow and enter. In Win7, the first item in the start menu isn't always the browser, so this no longer works. Even though the Win7 dock is technically superior, it now takes longer for me to launch the browser since I have to use the mouse and actually click on a small icon to launch it. I could pin Firefox to the start menu, but that would remove it from the task bar :confused:

However, Firefox looks really outdated and ugly compared to the other browsers. So there are a number of addons that I need to install before it looks like a browser from 2009 and not from 1998.
 
Win7 x64 RC7100 & Firefox ..only one kind of problem tho .. my wife plays some soriority something game on myspace and the scrolling is screwy with that game.. meaning, it's not smooth...like the graphics have to catch up to your scrolling movements. I haven't seen this happen anywhere else but on that myspace game
 
JimmiG said:
It's kind of the same as with the Win7 task bar/start menu. Ever since XP, I'm used to launching my favorite browser by pressing the Windows key, then down arrow and enter. In Win7, the first item in the start menu isn't always the browser, so this no longer works. Even though the Win7 dock is technically superior, it now takes longer for me to launch the browser since I have to use the mouse and actually click on a small icon to launch it. I could pin Firefox to the start menu, but that would remove it from the task bar :confused:
.
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You can have it pinned to both FYI....

Just make an Icon for it on your desktop, then right click on it and do a pin to start menu.

It will still be pinned on the taskbar as well.
 
chrome on the lappy (seeing it runs faster then IE)

IE8 on the desktop
 
JimmiG said:
Same here. There are little things in Firefox that I've learned to do so quickly over the years that any other way of doing it would slow me down, even if it was a "better" way.

It's kind of the same as with the Win7 task bar/start menu. Ever since XP, I'm used to launching my favorite browser by pressing the Windows key, then down arrow and enter. In Win7, the first item in the start menu isn't always the browser, so this no longer works. Even though the Win7 dock is technically superior, it now takes longer for me to launch the browser since I have to use the mouse and actually click on a small icon to launch it. I could pin Firefox to the start menu, but that would remove it from the task bar :confused:

However, Firefox looks really outdated and ugly compared to the other browsers. So there are a number of addons that I need to install before it looks like a browser from 2009 and not from 1998.
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You could just use Windows + 1 (or +2 or whatever) to launch the first, second, etc. item on the taskbar.
 
Arainach said:
You could just use Windows + 1 (or +2 or whatever) to launch the first, second, etc. item on the taskbar.
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Thanks, I'll have to remember that.

That's exactly what I'm talking about - even if a different or newer product introduces a "better" or theoretically faster way to do something, it would slow me down initially because I'm used to doing things in a certain way.

Same with Firefox vs Chrome (my second choice). Chrome is prettier but it just doesn't feel right to me.
 
JimmiG said:
That's exactly what I'm talking about - even if a different or newer product introduces a "better" or theoretically faster way to do something, it would slow me down initially because I'm used to doing things in a certain way.
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Such is anything in life. Part of living better is finding better ways to do things, I guess we call it progress. Just because we're used to doing things a certain way doesn't mean that its the best even if there is some learning involved.
 
Never heard of minefield.

I see no mention of safari in the poll. I use it as my only browser in OSX. I use it as a secondary browser in Windows. I prefer chrome. It's fast and stable. Firefox has just gotten too bloated and unstable over the years.
I have nothing against IE8. I just like chrome.
 
criccio said:
What about it is bloated and how is it unstable? I used it as my one and only browser and haven't experienced any bloat or instability.
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It crashes often, is slow to start, webpages load slower on it than in chrome, safari or Opera. Not a big difference mind you, but a difference.

It has the highest memory usage of any browser I have used.
I have used firefox in multiple builds of windows 7 and Vista as well as OSX. High memory usage across the board when compared to other browsers. And not as stable as others. But not a huge problem either.
Chrome is the leanest, by far. Very very low memory usage. Not much to the browser itself but it works.
 
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I've had many crashes with Firefox, and instances where I've had to reload a page a few times to get it to fully display, even with the proper codecs loaded. I also don't like the UI at all, and it's definitely not as snappy as it used to be. I'd agree completely that Firefox has gotten too bloated. Call me crazy, but I still find myself going back to IE8, and finding that to be quicker, more responsive, and more reliable.
 
I'm surprised that so many people are using IE and so few are using Chrome. I've been using Chrome almost 100% of the time, but then again, I dislike using plug-ins in my browser.
 
Wahu said:
I'm surprised that so many people are using IE and so few are using Chrome. I've been using Chrome almost 100% of the time, but then again, I dislike using plug-ins in my browser.
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I use IE due to compatibility issues with other browsers.

I feel very safe when I turn off javascript.
 
I had bad memories of IE crashing with illegal operations close now and viruses automatically starting through activeX. Before if IE crashed then the whole computer would crash also. Been using firefox ever since it came out. The plugins give it the edge also. Stuff like autopager, anycolor, forecastbar enhanced, babelfish, flagfox, extended statusbar, tabs mix plus, xmarks, find in tabs, customize google, imagebot, and save image in folder are some of my favorites.
 
it's really tough to recommend anything other than firefox at this point for me.

a year or so ago, there were memory hog issues but they've ironed them out and with the huge selection of add-ons and customizations - again - it's hard to recommend anything else...
 
indokyne said:
it's hard to recommend anything else...
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I could say the same about IE8, to be honest. Once people get passed the stigmata of it being a Microsoft product, it's a quite capable browser, that scores as well as Firefox in security tests. I'm hoping that with MSE's help, that whole Microsoft stigmata thing goes away...but I doubt it.
 
I too experienced the Firefox slowdown after having it up for a while. It has to be code related as I experienced it on clean install of 7 with nothing else running.

When I did my final install of 7 Pro, I didn't even install FF. I went straight to Chrome and although it's missing plugin functionality, it's snappier and never lags when I fire it up. Seems like a step backwards with FF, since I've spent so much time working on getting the fastest response from my machine. I had been using FF for the past 4 or so years, so I was sad to see it go. So odd that it happens like that with 7 since at work I'm running vista business and FF has no issues.
 
criccio said:
He asked what it was and I linked him.
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That's cool, I wasn't disagreeing with you
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I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure 'Minefield' is the term used to define any non-official release version of Firefox. Namoroka is the name of the specific version in development now.

The way Mozilla does things is a tad confusing.
 
Yeah, that is confusing. v3.6a1 was called Minefield, and now v3.6a2 is called Namoroka, while a new build v3.7a1 exists, that is called Minefield too, I had no idea that they re-used the minefield name. interesting. I guess Minefield isn't old news after all :)
 
Firefox. Everything else is bupkis (or they don't have the extensions I need, anyway).
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Firefox. Everything else is bupkis (or they don't have the extensions I need, anyway).
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Or haven't heard of. Foxmarks for instance is now Xmarks and works in IE and will all browsers shortly. I think that FF will big the big dog in add-ons for some time to come but many of the good ones are multi-browser these days.
 
I love Chrome. It's fast and responsive and I love the 'New Tab' page.

I still use Firefox for certain things (LogMeIn, Blackboard, etc.) and IE for certain things (Outlook Web Access for hosted Exchange).

But for general use, it's all Chrome for me.
 
Chrome ftw. I have been using it since release day and have not looked back. Right now I am running the 4.0.206.1 beta on all of my computers and am very happy (especially with the new 'New Tab' panel). I keep firefox around because there are some law school online app pages that are not compatible for some reason, and on it, IETab foe ActiveX pages.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I could say the same about IE8, to be honest. Once people get passed the stigmata of it being a Microsoft product, it's a quite capable browser, that scores as well as Firefox in security tests. I'm hoping that with MSE's help, that whole Microsoft stigmata thing goes away...but I doubt it.
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Stigma or stigmata?
 
IE8 on my Win7 computer. No reason to download another browser. IE8 does it all for me.

I use IE8 and Firefox on my work laptop with Vista though. Firefox for my "fun" browsing like this forum, and IE8 for anything work related. Just a routine I got myself into.
 
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