h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have been using Netscape 4.7x for a long time now because, being a software engineer, I'm pretty much anti-Micros**t. I've been reluctant to change my browser because most things work with Netscape 4.7x. However, I've recently come across a few websites that state up-front that they will not work with old versions of Netscape. So I took the plunge yesterday and downloaded Netscape 6.2. And that's where the problems started.

Since downloading the new version of Netscape, my computer has locked up repeatedly when I try to access certain sites that were fine with the old version. My profile from the old version has *supposedly* been transferred across, but the new version doesn't seem to be accessing my email properly. And sites that *should* work with the new version, don't. And then there's the fact that the new version was a 27Mbyte download.

I *know* that version 7.0 is out but, being a software engineer, I don't trust anything with a '0' at the end of the version number. So can anybody recommend a *free* browser (and it *must* be free) that can access everything that IE5 can access. Please provide an appropriate URL!

I have always had the same dilemma as you CD. I try to avoid everything MS. I have always found rather frustratingly that IE is about the best browser around.

I take it you are using a PC? I have dabled with others that do a fairly decent job but can crash when asked to do more than normal.

Mozilla used to always be good but usually suffers the same problems as Netscape as they are based on the same architecture.

Opera is also an OK alternative.

All I can recommend is that you go to download.com and check out all the browsers they have available and see what works best for you.

I would highly recommend Internet Explorer 5 or 6 WITH the Google Toolbar installed - http://toolbar.google.com/

It makes browsing a pleasure and finding what you want very, very easy. IE6 hasn't crashed on me once either.



Ste

Opera has the same feature with just an F8 and an tab button I can do a google serch. Also you can get a vast amount of skins from it, and it's so fast I could use GOO when my connection consisted of a proxy server (my housemates computer) an a dial up connection from that so very very slow. also you can highlight a word and right click to search with it in google and a large number of other search engines.

Opera's available free to download so you can just give you a go for free.

Oh dear the almost sounds like advertising,, I'll have to mention that it can be a bit fussy with JAVA script and some websites don't work with it... but that's quiet rare..

Get Mozilla. It's unsupported, but it's what Netscape 6+ are based on, and is always more up-to-date code than Netscape itself. I've never had any problems with it, on WinXP or Linux (well, I have had a few on Linux, but they were my fault). http://www.mozilla.org for that. And Opera is definitely worth a try. I don't get on with it very well myself, but lots of people love it.

If your looking for cool google add-ons you should try the keyboard shortcuts.....http://labs.google.com
Started using them only a week ago but now they are essential.

I've been using Opera since 5.0 - it's not perfect, but getting better all the time.

You could give Phoenix a try - also Mozilla-based. Still in the early stages, but the 0.4 works fine. Found at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/

Netscape 6.x is a dog and IE is like wearing nothing but torn underwear in public.

I'd recomend Netscape 7 or Mozilla 1.1, both keep your logins and passwords encrypted and one you browse for a few hours with tabs, you'll never go back.

In most cases. The way to quality is the opposite direction from M$

Personally, I recommend opera. Mozilla may be worth a shot though...

My recommendation is to use Phoenix. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/ It is a Mozilla derivitive that is thinner than the Moz mail line and very good.

Mozilla is a development platform and really should only be used to test new features etc. Phoenix is an enduser browser based off of the moz code that is stable, fast and is become better equipped with features. It is a standards compliant browser as well. It conforms with the WC3 web standards.

Netscape 6+, while based on moz code, has too much junk installed with it to make it a good choice. I used NS communicator for a very long time and was sad to see that website developers would not make their page work with it. While it is not standards compliant, it is a common choice for web users. The fault is with website designers than it is with the browser.

I've been using Opera http://www.opera.com for about 6 months, and I hate IE even more now than I did when I switched. Opera is generally about twice as fast as IE, doesn't have a bunch of useless features which I never use, but does have a load of useful features I use all the time - like automatic page refresh (great for my postings page, set it to refresh as often as you like), as many pages as you want within one window, skins, a popup killer, mouse gestures (great if you're using a laptop with a pad instead of a mouse)... the list goes on. And there's an h2g2 Opera users group for help and tech support A665381

The only disadvantage I've found so far is that cookies aren't stored individually, they're stored in one big file, which means you can't selectively delete them (I believe there may be some freeware or shareware programs out there which you can download for Opera cookie management).

I haven't used Mozilla myself, but I'm supportive of any open source software.

Oh yeah - and each new window opens maximised. Can't do that IE, can you

I recommend Opera, too. I am using the version 6.05 since a few months and find it very comfortable to work with - and it's so fast comparing it to IE. I had a try with Mozilla as well, but for the very few things I used it was a bit oversized - fine thing it is, anyway.

"Mozilla is just a dev platform" - no it's not! Sure, it's unstable on my Linux box, but that's my fault, I'm playing with the cutting-edge stuff that's switched off on the default builds, because I like to do stuff like that. On Windows it hasn't crashed on me in ages, and I'm using very recent nightly builds. I highly recommend it, just get Mozilla 1.1 or above.

Opera!
V7.0 to be out soon!

MaW, the point I was trying to make is that Moz is designed to develope new ideas and technologies. It was never intended for end user use. Beonx and Phoenix (of which the .4 release of Pho is better IMHO) are designed to be used by end users. Moz has everything in it, but that makes it a bit buggy and slow. Pho is getting more features, but it is also trimming down unneeded code. I completely support the Mozilla project, but I choose to use Phoenix.

I disagree. Mozilla is designed for real-world use, and *also* as an example of what can be done with the development framework.

I have to agree with MaW about mozilla.

while it was initially very buggy, it has been from the beginning, designed to be an open source re-implimentation of netscape doen with the cooperation of netscape.

the recent versions seem fairly stable as well. just don't download the cutting edge "beta" versions without expecting problems.

if you can use linux, then some of the other browsers listed on my website might be of interest.

it's on the page http://www.xyroth-enterprises.co.uk/wbrowser.htm

I've found dillo to be rather nice for browsing with.

I recommend Mozilla too. Since converting from Netscape ages ago, I haven't had a single crash. It's also nice and easy to use coming from a Netscape background.

I like Opera! I haven't tried Mozilla, so I can't compare...

I especially like the button for turning off pictures - makes it almost bearable to check my yahoo e-groups mails online...