Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

I have long recommended Mozilla Firefox as the web browser of choice. But for those foolish sites requiring Internet Explorer to work properly, you will want IEView to have Firefox automatically open IE for you so you can use bookmarks, etc in Firefox and not have to remember which sites need IE to work properly.

This short video shows how to install and use IEView:

I do hope you are not still using Internet Explorer.

I use Firefox, now up to version 3.5, with a lot of cool, free, add-ons. Google Chrome receives a lot of great reviews also.

Watch this short video see what I just “don’t get” about Microsoft’s bugs.

Microsoft, with regards to computer security, reminds me of that 7-Up guy (the one from the Bond movie) saying, about caffeine, that 7-Up “never had it, never will”.

(and Not Trust Microsoft)

I have NOT been installing .Net framework 3.5 on the windows computers that I manage.

Why? Because of documented problems with it, another behemoth program to download and bloatware to install, AND, now we find out they are automatically installing an extension in Firefox that CANNOT be easily uninstalled – without telling us about it.

It’s called ClickOnce support for Firefox and it’s supposed to make one’s life easier. But that’s beside the point.

If Microsoft wants to mess up their own software on our PC’s there isn’t much we can do about it, but DON’T mess with Firefox without our permission and then send us to the registry editor to undo it.

You can find a better explanation of it all here.

You can also find the Microsoft .NET ClickOnce Support for Firefox uninstall instructions here.

FireFox has been my recommended browser going way back to version 1.5, I think. Now Mozilla has released FireFox 3. I think it’s going to be great.

But I’m not upgrading yet, I don’t think you should either.

Unless:

• You want to help Mozilla set a record for downloads
• Your browsing isn’t critical to your daily activities
• You backup your FireFox profile first
• You like being on the “bleeding” edge
• You don’t rely on a lot of add-ons that may not have new versions ready for FireFox 3 yet

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect big problems. But goofballs like banks who half the time don’t allow FireFox in the first place may have problems dealing with the new browser.

I rely heavily on FireFox add-ons. While I haven’t checked, I’m betting some of the ones I use are not FireFox 3 ready yet.

With my schedule, I just don’t have time to deal with new program bugs or nuances; I need my stuff to work.

FireFox 3 will be a definite upgrade for me and my clients, but not until I know everything is rock solid and ready to roll, possibly with version, say, 3.0.0.2.

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If you use Firefox (as I recommend) and use Outlook, then at some time you will probably start clicking on links in emails and get a “Locate Link Browser” dialog even though Firefox is opening the link.

Here is the solution:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Select Tools and then Folder Options
3. Select the File Types tab
4. Select Extension: (NONE), File Type: HyperText Transfer Protocol
5. Click Advanced toward the bottom of the window
6. In the Edit File Type window, select open and click Edit
7. Clear the DDE message box (which should contain “%1″)
8. Click OK, Click OK
9. Repeat for File Type: HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy
Step 10: Repeat when it happens again, because it will