Genealogy Chat

My tip for anyone still using Microsoft Explorer as their browser is to download Mozilla Firefox and try using that instead. It's a much more secure nad powerful browser than Exlorer which hasn't been updated for several years now. You will find doing anything intensive on the net such as geneology research much easier with a modern browser such as Firefox. One feature that you will find indespensible when you get used to it is tabbed browsing which allowsyou to open multiple web sites in different easily accessable tabs of the same browser window. Another feature that is a real boon for geneology researchers is the find text option. When you open a document such as for example a census list you can hit '/' and then type in the name of phrase you are looking for and it will scroll down to the first instance of that name , then just press next and it'll go to the next. It really takes the effort out of searching for a name in non indexed census pages for example. You can download Firefox for free: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Should only take a few minutes even with a slow connection, then run the setup file and it's pretty self explanatory. Wade

Teresa: Outlook is an email prgram. The equivalent Mozilla product is Thunderbird, which is also a better product than the Microsoft equivalent. I use both Firefox and Thunderbird and have had no problems with pdf files. If you can explain what you are trying to do with what program, maybe I can help. Wade

Hi Wade i downloaded firefox a few days ago after getting the tip from the gen board and its fantastic, i would recommend to eveyone. it make life so much easier and is alot quicker. Annie x

P.s i'm downloading thunderbird now, thanks for the tip Annie x

Everyone should have Firefox. It DOES NOT REPLACE IE so there is no reason not to try it. You can have as many browsers as you want. Even use them both at the same time. You will have far less problems with SPYWARE You can block annoying flashing adds. For the few badly written sites a simple add on allows you to right click and view in IE. If you have problems with IE or your PC you have an alternative browser to get help. The last one is reason enough to have it downloaded. Bob

If you are using IE there is an easy way to find text, Press ctrl and f together and a box will pop up type in the word you want to search for and hit find. Steve.

Just downloaded and I can't believe how quick it is . Can you transfer all stuff from outlook express to Thunderbird? I'might try that too? KIM

I have been using Firefox as my main browser for over a year now and wouldn't change back. It is far more secure and in particular spyware and other malicious nasties are laregely eliminated. I occasionally use MSN explorer, but only as a strandby. It is a good idea to have at least two browsers in case one get corrupted and you can't get on to the internet. I downloaded Opera the other day but have really had time to try it yet. Does anyone recommend it as an alternative?

Peter I have tried it but was a bit cluttered compared to FF. Has a lot of reccomendations though. Kim, Yes, Thunderbird imports address books etc. Again it is more secure than OE which you can stiil use. One of the first things you might want to do is add the 'read mail' or 'print' icons to your toolbar. Just right click and drag them. Firefox is by default a clean looking browser but is highly customisable and has thousands of extensions. Bob

Just FYI I work for a software company and as a Microsoft Developer we get alpha and beta versions of their operating systems so we can develop our products to work with them. Microsoft have been working on a replacement to XP which was called Longhorn for a while but is now called Vista and should be out this time next year We've had a copy of the latest version of Vista and you want to see how many Firefox and Thunderbird idea's Microsoft have nicked.

Wade, forgive my dimness, but if you install firefox toolbar do you lose your windows one, and if you do not like can you revert back to windows easy enough;;; Thanks Babs

Babs, Firefox is not a toolbar, it is an alternative website browser which you can use instead of Internet Explorer. It has a number of advantages, mainly that it is less prone to spyware and some of us think it has better features as well.

YES YEs ,,, I think this is great will have to play about abit to find out how to work things but deffo much better than windows one ;;; Thanks for pointing this out Wade Babs

Teresa, there is discussion about this on the Mozilla help forum site. With various suggestions to try to get pdf files to work..... Kim