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[DiscipleforChrist]

What is advantage and disadvantage........with each of the following navigators.

Internet Explorer............and..............Netscape

Any opinions would be helpful.

[AwARe]

Hello DiscipleforChrist,

For me personally I used to prefer Netscape over IE
For the most part the debate over this has always been one of personal preference.......

Other then "minor" problems viewing a few things on "certain" web sites did I ever have any problems with either.....

Some people may have other "specific" reasons why they prefer Netscape, but I personally always believed it was more simply just a matter of people wanting to "Rebel" against the "Almighty MicroSoft"..........

Recently for me (Almost an exclusive Netscape user for years) all this has changed. I didnt really keep up on it that much but I think something changed at Netscape, I heard a rumor AOL bought them or something...... Maybe someone else can elaborate on anything in this area, if they know what the current situation is at Netscape?

At any rate from personal experience I have found that the new Netscape that has allot of java going on in it, well to put it simply it caused me allot of trouble and I didnt like it. It seems to be full of too many bugs for my taste. I also more and more as time has gone by been having more and more trouble with the "classic" or older style of Netscape if you prefer, 4.7 I believe is the version ( I stopped using it a few months ago ) I Loved the new Netscape as far as all the things they "tried" to put in it, but it never seemed to work correctly.

The problems I had with Netscape 4.7 were mostly related to it crashing all the time and locking up etc etc...I read somewhere (Im not 100% sure this is correct) that netscape installs some "older" system files over your existing files and this is the source of those types of problems. The source where I read this suggested "Never" installing Netscape on your system because after you do and your system files are overwritten, its not so easy to get things back right again. (This may or may not be true I really don't know, but it would explain some of the problems "I" have experienced with Netscape")

In the past few months since I have started using IE exclusively, and I am running on a system that has "never" had Netscape installed on it, everything has been working great. I don't even recall so much as a single error from IE "ever". It took me a good while to get used to using it and it was very difficult for me to accept. I have however changed my email client from the Netscape client to Outlook and use IE instead of Netscape and Im "very" happy that I did this.

So for me the advantages and disadvantages are as follows
I like Netscape for the way it was designed, and I felt more at home using it....
I like IE because it actually seems to work.........
Since I "absolutely" refuse to use programs that crash all the time etc, and much rather like my system the way it is. (Rarely crashes/locks up if "ever") I had no choice other then using IE..........

One more thing to think about is that there are "other" web browsers that you can use.........
I dont have any real experience with any of them so I wont recommend any but maybe someone else here can be of help in that area......

Hopeful this has been useful and helpful to you
Good Luck ! and Have A Great Day!

[Paleo Pete]

I think it's true that Netscape was purchased by AOL. Don't have a lot of time to look up links at the moment, but a quick search will turn up something if you really want documented proof. Anyway, I believe you're right.

What Netscape changes is more the registry than system files. It may also install some older system files, I'm not sure about that one. Netscape makes something like 200 changes to the Windows registry and uninstalling does not change those entries back.

Another problem is that Netscape, the company, did not design their browser to fully integrate with Windows the way IE does. Most software designers try to make their software "mesh" as well as possible with Windows, since it's the most popular OS out there. Netscape simply refuses to do so. It also wants to set itself as default everything, so if you want to use another browser, it's not easy to do so unless you know how to reconfigure everything, or tell it during the installation not to be default browser. Uninstalling will sometimes get you more problems, like an error message saying netscape.exe is not found when you try to open a JPG picture file. Netscape sets itself as default JPG viewer.

Netscape's download accelerator, (Smart Download is it?) was also found to be spyware, last time I checked. It sends a cookie back to Netscape telling them what file you downloaded, when, where, etc, and gives you an ID so it knows exactly what and who downloaded the file. Not a good thing...you can disable it during the installation, but you have to know about it, and know what to disable...

All that aside, I don't want this to turn into a "bash Netscape" topic, so please just post intelligent facts and opinions, not the usual "Netscape sucks" stuff this often drags out...so far we've had several posts of this nature, and none have gotten nasty, so let's keep it that way.

IE has always worked well for me, I've used versions 3.0-5.1, and had trouble now and then, but usually due to hardware drivers that didn't completely cooperate or bad memory. Since I use my machine for internet usage more than anything else, that's where it shows up. IE itself has always worked well. I just wish MS didn't force it on people...they should actually have a choice.

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So many idiots, and only six bullets...
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

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[Rick]

When netscape was first released it was Shareware. ( try it before you Buy ) with no limitations.
This was also Before Internet explorer was Free? (Integrated into the O/s) I don't know how much M$ charged for IE in the past I never bought it.
Like may other programs at the time. It was allowed a lot of freedom in it's own system files and their use.

It was not a rebellion against M$ . It was a choice. One that you could try out.
If It worked for you and you liked it. You could buy it.
If it didn't you just removed it and moved on.

Today It is In-fact OWNED by AOL. (The browser is.)
Netscape is not the only program that is unable to remove everything from the register.
Sorry Pete but some of those Uninstall problems are caused By the O/S. ( registry entries not removed)

It does set itself as the default Browser, News, and Mail program during install.
If you allow it to.
You can also allow it to set itself as the default Viewer for graphics and the default for java.

Just Like Internet explorer Does But at least the install program gives you the Option.
Something IE doesn't do.
After a Clean install of Win98. Clicking on a Graphic file name it will be displayed in IE,
After installing netscape and clicking on a graphic file. It will be displayed in Netscape.
IF you selected that File association during the install.
If you removed the Check mark next to the Graphic Viewer option. The file will be displayed using IE.
So this is Not a Fault of Netscape it is a feature.
Also even if you do not remove the check for viewer option. And you later install an alternate file viewer the association with netscape is removed.


All that out of the way.
The major advantage to Netscape is the Choice .
It's easy to use. No need for Additional Programs. ( IE, Out Look , and what ever else )
It supports all the major plugins and you can add or remove the plugins as you like.

You can use one file association in netscape and Not have it be the association system wide.
Like you must do with IE
The menu's are quick clean and easy. all are only One layer deep. And can be viewed or hidden .

Also I use Netscape 4.7 . Not the New AOL version.
It's my opinion that the newest version is AOL's way of moving away from IE.
Allowing them (AOL) to keep their proprietary interface without the MS people having anything to say about it. ( I Never did Like AOL)

To date the only real problems I have had with Netscape were caused by Script calls from web sites.
Mostly those scripts that call IE dirrectly

[sea69]

hey

I used to use Netscrape (exclusively), and loved it. I didn't like IE at all !!

These days however, I have both, but use IE by default. This was my choice,.

I still will use Netscape now and then and it opens faster, and looks better (prettier),..hehe

but unfortunately, it has MUCH more of a tendency to CRASH, not only itself, but my entire OS. I have also found that Netcape does not like it if IE is also open at the same time. (this somehow seems to make a difference)

I'm using version 4.72, and if it was even HALF as stable as IE 5.01 I would still be using it as default. I like Netscape much better (period).

But there is this matter of s t a b i l i t y I have to have something that allows my system to NOT crash at all.. and as it is without using Netscape the only time I experience problems is if I try to have too much going on at the same time.

Have not tried 'Opera', but have heard almost all good things about it.



my 2 ¢

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[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 05-14-2001).]

[JesH]

I used Netscape for the longest time, but a few weeks ago I had to move and when I called my ISP/DSL provider I was told they upgraded the network and that my old Cisco router/modem no longer worked so I had to get the Intel 3200 modem.

After installing this my Netscape 4.77 has frozen the computer everytime I launched Netscape. I downloaded Netscape 6.01 which I found very slow and heavy to work with. Then I downloaded Netscape 4.51 which crashes all the time on this comp (I run Win2000). Since I don't really like IE I decided to look for another browser and found CipherNet which is based on IE but much smaller and, at least on my computer, significantly faster.

It doesn't have as many features as Netscape or IE, especially the email client is poor, but I like the browser and just use another email client (Incredimail). Oh yeah it's free too.

(If someone decide to try out CipherNet, be aware that some has complained it has crashed their Win98 OS and they had to do a complete reinstall. I dunno if they fixed that bug, but it works fine with Win2000).