UPDATE: Version 2 of Firefox is out. You can get it here.
Microsoft’s newest version of Internet Explorer is now available. If you haven’t already downloaded it, it will soon be forced upon Windows users through a routine Windows update. However, I would suggest you hide the icon and pretend you don’t even have access to Internet Explorer. Why? IE has some pretty big security flaws that go unpatched for long periods of time. These security flaws can cause you some big headaches in terms of internet privacy and safety.
I suggest you use Firefox, which allows tabbed browsing (a great feature!). It’s available for PCs, and Macs and Linux machines, so you’re set regardless of which platform you use. You can even download a portable version of Firefox which you can install on a USB key and take with you wherever you go, including all your bookmarks and stored cookies.
Wish that were an option, but there are times you just have to use IE. I know that some sites flat-out don't recognize FireFox (besides microsoft.com sites
). We also have some sites that run on IE plug-ins. The fact that IE7 is a little more secure than IE6 makes this a worthwhile upgrade for me.
I do agree that Firefox is better for my purposes in 99% or so of the sites I visit, especially using the 2.0 RC2 or RC3 versions. Get the "MR Tech Local Install" extension and you can still install extensions that haven't had their code tweaked for 2.0 yet – most of them work just fine. Even better is the auto-update for Firefox that's built in. Checks for core program updates and theme/extension updates automatically.
Of course, there's still the "non-bug" with memory usage in Firefox, but that's one of the things we have to deal with at the moment. There's a config option somewhere that swaps FireFox out of active memory when minimized (on Windows at least) and that makes a big difference when you minimize and restore as far as memory usage goes. Even uses less memory when the program is restored.
-Pete