OS, Browsers and such

[ecgordon]

I know a lot of you guys are much more knowledgeable about tech than I am. I do have my own website, but I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without the help of my son. I barely know how to turn on my computer and use the minimal programs I have.

Do you mainly use PCs, or are there Mac users here? What browser do the majority of you use?

I normally use Firefox for most everything, but lately they've been blocking Flash Player, and I'm ignorant enough about such things that I never knew there was a problem with it. Almost every place on the 'net uses Flash, and if it's obsolete, what is the alternative?

Should I switch to Chrome, or should I go back to IE now that I have 11?

 

[Jim of WVa]

I know a lot of you guys are much more knowledgeable about tech than I am. I do have my own website, but I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without the help of my son. I barely know how to turn on my computer and use the minimal programs I have.

Do you mainly use PCs, or are there Mac users here? What browser do the majority of you use?

I normally use Firefox for most everything, but lately they've been blocking Flash Player, and I'm ignorant enough about such things that I never knew there was a problem with it. Almost every place on the 'net uses Flash, and if it's obsolete, what is the alternative?

Should I switch to Chrome, or should I go back to IE now that I have 11?

I use Chrome in Linux for nearly all of my browsing. Some sites still prefer Firefox over Chrome in Linux. If you are using a MS Windows OS, then I would use Chrome.

 

[Overmind One]

I know a lot of you guys are much more knowledgeable about tech than I am. I do have my own website, but I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without the help of my son. I barely know how to turn on my computer and use the minimal programs I have.

Do you mainly use PCs, or are there Mac users here? What browser do the majority of you use?

I normally use Firefox for most everything, but lately they've been blocking Flash Player, and I'm ignorant enough about such things that I never knew there was a problem with it. Almost every place on the 'net uses Flash, and if it's obsolete, what is the alternative?

Should I switch to Chrome, or should I go back to IE now that I have 11?

Well, Bluce and I and Tripler (maybe Ape?) use both Linux and Windows. My profession requires that I know all of them. Personally at home Im mostly in Linux Mint, and I use mostly Firefox for everyday surfing, banking and going to sites I would not want to go to in Chrome. I use Chrome in Linux to watch Netflix because it requires no additional software or plugins. I use my Mac for video work, to update my websites and my client websites, and I have Parallels in it running Android and Windows 7 Professional.

What are your goals and requirements when you use your computer? Don't think Windows or Mac or Linux, just think "how do I need to use my computer?"

EDIT:

Regarding Flash, it is basically dead. Apple and Mozilla Firefox no longer support Flash at all. The replacement is HTML5. Sites like YouTube will try to play Flash first, but will play HTML5 if it cannot. Within 2 years, Flash will be dead. Websites relying on it will need to change their code.

 

[ecgordon]

What I mainly use my computer for is general internet surfing, editing and uploading pages to my site, for which I use the free HTML-Kit program. I use WinAmp for playing music, the DivX player for video. I get all my account statements and pay my bills online. Why do you not trust Chrome for online financial transactions?

Most people I know say they use Chrome most of the time, but I've never cared for it myself. Firefox seems to me to be superior, but then what do I know?

 

[Overmind One]

What I mainly use my computer for is general internet surfing, editing and uploading pages to my site, for which I use the free HTML-Kit program. I use WinAmp for playing music, the DivX player for video. I get all my account statements and pay my bills online. Why do you not trust Chrome for online financial transactions?

Most people I know say they use Chrome most of the time, but I've never cared for it myself. Firefox seems to me to be superior, but then what do I know?

Because Google can and does track your history and it stores it offsite from your computer whether you want it to or not. You can go back and delete it from your browser, but not from Google. Their End User Licensing Agreement and Privacy Policy allow them to do it. They can then sell that data to advertisers, the government or whomever (provided they do not give the unique identifying info). Google is not to be trusted with data or your surfing history, even if their browser is currently the most capable.

The reason Google keeps losing lawsuits in Europe and Asia is because their court systems and infrastructure cannot be bribed like the US counterparts can.

About your rig...what are the specs?

 

[ecgordon]

About your rig...what are the specs?

Since I'm practically computer illiterate, I'll refer you to the company I bought it from - http://www.altex.com/Altex-Veria-A6...-Windows-7-Home-Premium-AEH-VA63-P155258.aspx .

I'm not the sort to go into a computer and try to change or augment anything, so that's what I got right out of the box. I have not added any programs to it that weren't free. I use Windows Security Essentials rather than anything else I'd have to buy. Correction, I did buy a media editing program called Roxio Creator to replace the one that came with my turntable, which wouldn't work on 7.

It doesn't seem that long, but I've had this for nearly a year, got it mid-September last year. I went with Alltex because they were still offering Windows 7. Best Buy said they could not uninstall 8 and add 7 because they had abandoned that and didn't have a copy of it in the store. What I had before was running XP, and it didn't have enough memory for 7, plus it was over 8 years old.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Most people I know say they use Chrome most of the time, but I've never cared for it myself. Firefox seems to me to be superior, but then what do I know?

Firefox has become too bloated and slow. Chrome, in spite of the tracking stigma, performs much better. Both have excellent support of standards.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Because Google can and does track your history and it stores it offsite from your computer whether you want it to or not. You can go back and delete it from your browser, but not from Google.

This is true of any browser if you search using Google. Google tracks you either by your login credentials, if you're logged into a Google service, or by your IP or by your browser's unique ID. This is neither tied to nor exclusive to Chrome.

This is easily observable if you're browsing the net from more than one device on the same Internet connection and neither has been logged into any Google services.

 

[Joelist]

That's why the first thing I do on any browser is change the search engine to DuckDuckGo.

BTW Google just had ANOTHER privacy boondoggle where they actually installed without permission audio software that turned automatically on and listened on your PCs microphone not only in Chrome but also Chromium.

http://arstechnica.com/security/201...voice-extension-pulled-after-spying-concerns/

They promised to pull it after the detection of it and their original response triggered a firestorm.

Here's an interesting experiment: change Chrome's search engine from Google then type in the address bar and check if it is phoning anywhere and where. If I can get my hands on a packet sniffer I may try it. The logic is if it still goes to Google something is very fishy.

 

[Overmind One]

This is true of any browser if you search using Google. Google tracks you either by your login credentials, if you're logged into a Google service, or by your IP or by your browser's unique ID. This is neither tied to nor exclusive to Chrome.

This is easily observable if you're browsing the net from more than one device on the same Internet connection and neither has been logged into any Google services.

Google is Skynet. Google alone is collecting and using the massive data it gets from users and selling it to advertisers or using it to direct advertising to end users. Mozilla is not doing this because they have no massive infrastructure they have to support, and no advertising revenue to get. They have not implemented the DRM standards by default, but many of the add-ons in Firefox are not allowed on Chrome (like Netvideohunter which allows one-click recording of YouTube videos or any videos embedded in webpages).

Having said that, I agree that Chrome is the smoothest browser out there at the moment (until Edge comes out ). Firefox has become bloated and it hangs on many web pages I go ti...but I still prefer to use it over Chrome for everyday browsing. Have you tried the beta of W10?

 

[Bluce Ree]

Google is Skynet. Google alone is collecting and using the massive data it gets from users and selling it to advertisers or using it to direct advertising to end users.

Google doesn't sell its data to anyone, as far as I know. They use the data themselves to sell their own targeted ads. Why would a chef sell off his recipes and kill his own restaurant?

Mozilla is not doing this because they have no massive infrastructure they have to support, and no advertising revenue to get.

What Mozilla does, instead, is whore itself out to the highest bidder. Google paid them a billion to be the default search engine. Now that they've sold their ass to Yahoo!, Google is nowhere to be found. We covered this in a thread a while back.

They have not implemented the DRM standards by default,

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/05/12/update-on-digital-rights-management-and-firefox/

but many of the add-ons in Firefox are not allowed on Chrome (like Netvideohunter which allows one-click recording of YouTube videos or any videos embedded in webpages).

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...ofessi/elicpjhcidhpjomhibiffojpinpmmpil?hl=en

All major browsers have sold out. Regardless, all search engines collect data on you to target ads. The only way around this is to use a search proxy in between you and your favorite search engine.

Having said that, I agree that Chrome is the smoothest browser out there at the moment (until Edge comes out ). Firefox has become bloated and it hangs on many web pages I go ti...but I still prefer to use it over Chrome for everyday browsing.

I got tired of Firefox's laggy behavior and clunky architecture. Loading large amounts of data into a simple control, like a list box or a large table, brings it to its knees. Even IE didn't freeze up loading large amounts of data into a table.

Furthermore, they're still stuck in 32-bit land and don't seem very hard-pressed to get out. To get FF in 64 bit, you either download one of their "development" editions that blows harder than a hungry goat or with a fork like Waterfox, which is bugged to hell and back.

Have you tried the beta of W10?

Not yet but I am looking forward to it. I like everything I've read on it so far but I'm looking to acquire a new notebook to run it on.

 

[Joelist]

I use Maxthon when not using Edge. Maxthon is smoother and faster than Chrome (and unlike Chrome it does not chew up your system resources).

http://www.maxthon.com/?lang