Computer Questions & Answers: Should I use Mozilla Firefox?

In this issue of my computer newsletter, I want to get to another of
the questions sent in by email. I'm a bit buried in emails and other
work, but I'll be getting to more questions soon.

This question comes from one of my Gold Club members, Ian in the UK,
who writes:

"Hi Worth;

I am ploughing through my bundle of CDs; not very quickly I may
say, but I find them to be very good and full of information and
useful hints and tips.

I wish to install Firefox as an addition to Safari and have gone to
your lessons which are within your Gold club site. Although I want
to have both progs at my disposal -- is there any benefit to me of
having them together on my Mac?

Am very interested to get your E.Mails which answer questions sent
in by others; a number hit on subjects which have come to me.
I save them all to a separate folder , and thus have the benefit of
referring back when necessary.

I note that you keep mentioning that the price of your CD's is about
to rise. This is, I believe not a concern to me as I have got the
Beginners Bundle -- am I right.

I would appreciate you views sometime in the near future.

Regards - keep up the good work

Ian Forsyth"

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First off, for those who don't know, the Gold Club member area is a
special password-protected area of my website where you can instantly
access a large & growing library of my easy, Plain English computer
lessons. These lessons come as both audio lessons (spoken word only) as
well as video lessons with step-by-step instructions on how to use your
computer, understand it better, and feel more confident using it.
You can find out more about my easy computer lessons by clicking the link
or sign up for my free newsletter using the form at the bottom of this article
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Well Ian, thanks for writing with your question, and to let me know about
your progress with my CDs. I'm glad they're interesting and helpful for
you.

You're not the only student who's told me they save my emails in a
special folder for reference -- I think it's a good idea and do something
similar myself.

What I do on my computer is I have "rules" (also known as "filters") set
up which sort my incoming email into different folders automatically.

You should take a look at the third of the three CDs covering email in the
bundle of 21 CDs you got recently. You'll find lessons on that disc that
show you exactly how to easily do this yourself if you want to try it out;
I think it's pretty handy.

Before I directly answer your question about using Firefox, let me give a
little brief basic background to make sure everyone is on the same page:

Mozilla Firefox and Safari are both "web browsers" which you can think of
as vehicles that take you to web pages on the Internet. Just as some cars
are safer than others, some web browsers are safer than others.

For those using a Windows PC, Mozilla Firefox is an absolute necessity, as
Internet Explorer (the blue E icon) is very unsafe to use, despite being the
most commonly used browser out there.

The only reason most people still use Internet Explorer is because they
include a copy of it with every copy of Windows, so most people just use
it without realizing that they have another option, or if they know there's
an alternative, they don't understand why they should switch right away.

Mozilla Firefox is just as easy to use (if not easier) and is *much* safer.
It's a free download from Mozilla.com, and if you're still using Internet
Explorer, I can't stress enough how important it is for you to switch.

Members will find a video lesson in the "Plain English Computer Dictionary
and Computer Concepts" area of the member site which goes into more
detail about the reasons to use Mozilla Firefox, as well as a step-by-step video
lessons that show you how to download and use it.

Now Ian on the other hand, uses one of Apple's Mac computers, which
generally are a *lot* safer and easier to use than their Windows
counterparts.

Ian is wondering if there is any benefit to him having both Safari (the web
browser made by Apple which is available for both Macs and Windows, but
which comes already installed on all Macs) as well as Mozilla Firefox.

Well, as I mentioned above, since Ian is a Mac user, he doesn't have the
compelling security reasons that Windows users do, so for most Mac
users, it's a matter of personal preference.

Personally, I have both Safari as well as Firefox installed on my Macs, and I
normally use Firefox since I prefer it to Safari. But that says more about
how I use my computer and my personal tastes than it does about which
one is the better browser.

Safari works great for most Mac users, although those who own older
Macs with OS 10.3.9 or earlier are stuck using an old version of Safari
that may not work with all websites, and so may want to get Firefox 2
since it is newer and so works better with some websites.

Safari is a very fast browser, you might find it loads pages quicker than
Firefox, but on the other hand, Firefox is much more customizable (but
this probably won't matter too much to the majority of users).

So I would say go ahead and download Firefox and see if you like it, Ian.
It's free and won't take up much room on your hard drive, and can be
used side-by-side with Safari without problems.

And the video in the Gold Club member area you had trouble with is fixed,
so you can see step-by-step instructions on how to download and install it
on your computer to give it a test drive.

Again, Windows users *really* should switch to Firefox to protect
themselves.

Finally, to answer Ian's last question, the prices have already gone up for
my lesson CDs, which of course won't affect Ian or anyone else who took
advantage of the 2008 prices while they still were in effect.

These bundles of easy lesson CDs are still a fraction of the price of hiring
a consultant to teach you the computer, and are designed to solve the
limitations of the traditional ways of learning computers, making them
much quicker and easier to learn.

Again, you can learn more about how they work, as well as read, listen to,
and watch genuine testimonials from people like yourself who they have
helped by using the form below to join my free computer newsletter & get
free sample lessons.

Gold Club members who want to get one of the bundles of CDs should use
the special member store in the Gold Club member area.

I'll be sending out my next newsletter in a couple of days so I can get
more caught up with the questions waiting for me before the next
monthly computer question and answer live event which will be happening
this coming weekend.

until next time, enjoy,

Worth Godwin


P.S. If you have your own computer question, feel free to reply to any of my
newsletter emails and ask and I'll do my best to answer it in a future newsletter
or during one of my live computer question & answer events.