Internet Explorer

[unsavedtrash]

Anybody else having problems getting on line? Chat programs are working but can barely get pages to load in. :grr:

[Carolab]

1. Yes. LOTS of trouble lately.

But then Comcast is my provider and they've been having DNS trouble lately.

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Thanks for the info.

I've been having a lot of trouble with Comcast last night and tonight, and I thought it looked like DNS problems.

[WillowTree]

9. I talked to them tonight.

The fella said that tonight they had everybody in working on getting the DNS server functioning again once and for all. From what he was saying, the problem is with one of the servers that they inherited when they bought out ATTBI (and they had nothing but problems the whole time I was with them). Anyway, all of their programmers, techs, analysts ts, a bunch of people from their hardware manufacturer, everyone they could think of were supposedly brought in and told that nobody was going home until it's fixed right.

Nice story and we can hope that it turns out that way, but they won't really know when the problem is solved until it stops going down all the time. So we wait and hope, I guess.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. I use Firefox and have been having trouble

My brother was pissy when I came to get on after the "Daily Show" saying how the explorer wasn't working. :shrug: I've been having trouble off and on lately connecting. I use comcast.

[MisterP]

3. might be the modem: Motorola, I believe, can't handle a massive update

of data transfer that's going on: my Cox did that, and now we have a new modem.
Have fun with Internets Explorer! It's what I'm looking at my Internets with (shut up, George!)
"One-take Georgie." www.dnext.com

[ancient_nomad]

4. Yes...

And I switched to Firefox, now have no problems...knock on
wood.
Try Firefox, it is so much better.

[Garbo 2004]

5. Don't know your ISP but Comcast DNS servers are having a problem

again tonight. (Yesterday they were out too for some time.) Comcast service was out for me tonight until I switched DNS servers. So for sure Comcast customers are having a hard time tonight with internet surfing.

[unsavedtrash]

8. comcast

[TOhioLiberal]

12. Sucks!

Thought I'd finish the sentence. I used to work for the company that Comcast outsourced their tech support to. The service sucks period.

[Berserker]

28. Don't you mean COMCRASH

We have been having trouble for over a week. I use FireFox and my room mate uses IE (the knothead). We both go off line at the same time so it's not the Browsers fault.

[Garbo 2004]

17. Yeah, that's it. DNS servers translate site urls into IP's.

So when Comcast's DNS servers are funky, as they have been lately,either you have a real hard time surfing to sites or can't surf at all. I figure that's why you can chat ok but have problems surfing.

[XOKCowboy]

7. Firefox and Windows Update...

I don't know if it has anything to do with your problem but yesterday Microsoft came out with some very important Security Updates. If you haven't downloaded them, do so very soon.

I too am using Firefox and just love it.

[Stephanie]

26. thanks for the info

why so important? I should update now?

[Sapphire Blue]

10. Yes, problems here, there, then EVERYWHERE, couldn't connect, period

Called Comcast, got looped around on 'hold' because they were 'experiencing a high volume of calls', but the damn recording suggested going on line for troubleshooting help, looped me around some more, beeped at me a lot, then hung up on me! So I called again... repeat of the previous. Repeat again. Now, if I could go online, why the devil would I be calling those idiots who are probably answering (or at least supposed to be answering) my call from some other country thanks to the steady outsourcing of jobs??

Finally got back online, but I'm still pissed. Seem to be pissed a lot lately.

[Garbo 2004]

18. Whenever something's funky going on with internet svs I first check

this site for info: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/comcast That's the Comcast forum at broadband reports.

When something major is going on in a region or nationally, as this event has been, users (and sometimes some insiders) will be posting info there. In my experience it's frequently a much better source of timely info than Comcast itself.

In situations like this, if it's an issue experienced by a lot of folks, you'll see it discussed at BBR. And at least you'll know it's not just you. And in this case where it's a DNS servers issue, remedies are supplied like how to switch your DNS server(s) and there's a list of DNS servers to choose from. Better than waiting to talk to Comcast and having a CSR tell you to reboot your PC and modem. ;)

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Not having any problems - I use Verizon DSL and the Mac "Safari" browser

which is wonderful, so much better than Internet Explorer. Features are very similar to those of Firefox, but it's not availalble for Windows computers - nyah, nyah! (Firefox is available for Macs, but I don't see a clear advantage over Safari.) Here's a Wall Street Journal article comparing Firefox and IE for Windows - looks like it's day and night:

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20041230.html
Title: "Security, Cool Features Of Firefox Web Browser Beat Microsoft's IE"

Here's Mozilla's free download site for Firefox and their mail program, Thunderbird:
http://www.mozilla.org

(note the security updates to Firefox available on that page as well.)

[XOKCowboy]

13. I use Firefox and Eudora

As I said above I really like Firefox. One reason is I've noticed a marked decrease in spyware and viruses since I switched. I've used Eudora for years and missed out on all the viruses that target Outlook. For that reason I didn't check out Thunderbird.

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. Yes, even though I use a Mac, I won't touch Outlook because of the virus

targeting. I use the Mac Mail program and it's great - interfaces seamlessly with the calendar program and everything else. (I'm running a 20" iMac G5 under System 10.3.8.) From what I have heard, the Thunderbird email program is fine too. And of course Eudora is a classic - all of these are better bets than Outlook.

There are a few rare websites that are so tightly tailored to Explorer that other programs don't do well there. For those, I have two options: either using Explorer itself for them or - and this is so clever - Safari includes a feature with which you can reconfigure to fool these sites into thinking it's Explorer. I haven't bothered to do that and just open Explorer on those rare occasions. It's always a relief to get back home to Safari. (And its features are very similar to those of Firefox, so I imagine that would be equally satisfying to come back to.)

[alfredo]

14. Konqueror code is being ported to Windows. KHTML the

core of Safari and Konqueror now has a sourceforge page.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/khtml-win32/

If this works, then FireFox will have some competition.

Jobs looked at the Gecko engine, but liked KHTML much better.

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. I'm not a programmer, but this sounds fascinating

From the link you cited:

KHTML on Win32 Native. This will create a Win32 native port of KHTML. It is a port of the KWQ abstraction layer to Win32. This will create a small, fast, standards-compilant, cross-platform, open-soruce HTML component. This HTML engine will ROCK!

Development Status: 2 - Pre-Alpha
Intended Audience: Developers
License: Apple Public Source License
Operating System: 32-bit MS Windows (95/98), 32-bit MS Windows (NT/2000/XP), All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP), WinCE, Win2K, WinXP
Programming Language: C++
Translations: English
User Interface: Handheld/Mobile/PDA, Win32 (MS Windows)


Project UNIX name: khtml-win32
Registered: 2003-01-13 05:24

It's amazing that Internet Explorer went so long without a major upgrading except for mostly security fixes of gaping vulnerabilities. Even I know THAT much.

For anyone interested here are some excerpts from the Wall Street Journal review of browsers I mentioned in another post in this threadi:

Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser is one of the most important, and most often used, programs on the world's personal computers, relied upon by more than 90% of Windows users. But Microsoft hasn't made any important functional improvements in Internet Explorer for years.

(snip)

Meanwhile, other people have been building much better browsers, just as Microsoft itself did in the 1990s, when it challenged and eventually bested the then-dominant browser, Netscape Navigator. The most significant of these challengers is Firefox, a free product of an open-source organization called Mozilla, available for download at www.mozilla.org. Firefox is both more secure and more modern than IE, and it comes packed with user-friendly features the Microsoft browser can't touch.

(snip)

There are some other browsers that put IE to shame. Apple's elegant Safari browser, included free on every Mac, is one. But it isn't available for Windows. The Opera browser is loaded with bells and whistles, but I find it pretty complicated. And NetCaptor, my former favorite, is very nice. But since it's based on the IE Web-browsing engine, it's vulnerable to most of IE's security problems.

Firefox, which uses a different underlying browsing engine called "Gecko," also has a couple of close cousins based on the same engine. One is Netscape, now owned by America Online. The other is a browser called Mozilla, from the same group that created Firefox. But Firefox is smaller, sleeker and newer than either of its relatives, although a new Netscape version is in the works.

(snip)

[alfredo]

22. when the KHTML version hits W32 it will cause rapid advances

for all browsers based on KHTML. I use Safari all the time. If in Linux, Konqueror is my choice. That was the first browser I used with the Tabs feature.

I was not a big fan of KDE until recently. Konqueror played a big part in swaying my opinion in favor of the KDE project.

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. Thanks for this - I've learned a lot from this thread

and I appreciate these knowledgable posts. Goes to show - visit DU and you're bound to come away with new knowledge. No telling what it will be, but it's always welcome.

[alfredo]

27. what good is knowlege if you don't pass on what you

find or know.

I really find that FireFox and the Khtml based browsers are the first real threat to IE. FireFox is just one of the great things out of the Mozilla project. Thunderbird and NVU are very good and easy to use.

[Nothing Without Hope]

30. What I don't understand is why Microsoft didn't try to upgrade IE

except for the various security patches all this time. Did they really think everyone else would stand still and their 90% plus browser market share was unassailable? Did they fail to anticipate these other engines like Khtml? Is the hubris level really slowing them down enough to be overtaken at last?

[alfredo]

31. I think integration of the browser into the OS took

precedence over upgrading. If and when Longhorn comes out we will see if there are any meaningful changes to IE.

[fleabert]

19. make the switch to Firefox!

I was wary, but did it several months ago...no spyware or pop-ups since! No other browser problems either, I can chalk up any problem i have with either a sites server, or fucking Comcast.

I love firefox and mozilla! do it! :-)

[buckup]

20. If...

you're running Windows, using FireFox is a definite improvement over Internet Explorer, with a built-in pop up blocker and more security...

If you're using a Mac, try both Safari, which comes with your Mac, as well as FireFox. It's a matter of preference.

btw, there's new code where pop-up code is embeded into a Flash project on a web page, thus bypassing all the pop-up blockers.... let's hope Macromedia fixes this bug soon.

[Goodfella12]

21. Use mozilla firefox. Too much spam and viruses on IE

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. And also, they are FAR more functional and user-friendly

no comparison.

[AlCzervik]

25. i have comcast and have had major problems using ie

i switched over to safari yesterday after being offline for almost 2 days.

[kineneb]

29. no problems here - Linux w/Konqueror

usually problems occur from our cable connection, like the time the cable burned through from a forest fire...talk about withdrawal...

[Chovexani]

32. Why on earth do people still use IE for everyday browsing?

Masochistic tendencies? :shrug:

I use IE for testing purposes and that's it. I haven't had a single problem with Firefox, except maybe getting spoiled by it. :)

[buckup]

33. The REALLY annoying thing is...

the "e" icon has become nearly synonimous with "the internet." People who don't know much about computers will think there's no internet access if that little blue "e" is not on the desktop... point to an orange fox on a globe, and proceed to get looks of confusion.

And it's just because the browser COMES with the damn Operating System.

P.S. I'm a Mac user, and I switch between Safari and FireFox all the time. Depends on my mood.