Re: News Reader

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:20:32 GMT, "JerryD\(upstateNY\)"
<jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>production-quality releases of code derived from the application
>>formerly known as "Mozilla Application Suite". Whereas the main focus
>>of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla
>>Thunderbird, our group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that
>>you can have "everything but the kitchen sink"
>
>
>I am curious.
>I just use Outlook Express and have no problems posting or reading messages.
>Why do you use Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, ect, ect, that seem to have
>problems for many people ?

Two or three people here don't constitute "many". Given how many
millions of people are using each of the alternatives, one cannot say
that "many" are having problems.

I use Thunderbird/Firefox/Opera/Agent because it isn't microsoft, for
one reason. Love/hate of microsoft aside, their software is better
known as a virus transport mechanism. Even if they had competent
programmers and a corporate attitude toward plugging security holes in
the same year they're found, as the ubiquitous software out there,
it's the target of all the virus writers and script kiddies.

Beyond that, all of these alternative packages are user-oriented
rather than content-provider oriented and that makes a big difference.
The above packages enable you to prowl the net as YOU want to and not
as some developer or advertiser wants you to.

I support open source whenever I can which is why I'm moving to
Firefox (done) and Thunderbird (in progress).

The open architecture of these two products enable others to add
features that no one company could ever do. Consider some of the
features that Foxfire extensions have added to my system:

Adblock: NO ads get through. If one happens to, I can add it to my
local database. It can kill ads by URL or entire domains. Worried
about doubleclick web bugs, persistent cookies and the like? I'm not,
I don't have to.

Filter Set G: Adblock database, one of several. This one is
automatically updated as new ad servers come online.

Scrapbook with Autosave: Allows me to save pages or whole web sites
to my local system. What the various commercial web strippers should
be. AutoSave saves each page I visit as I visit it.

AutoCopy: When I highlight something on the web page, when I release
the mouse button, those objects are copied to the clipboard. Saves me
the right click, save as.

Dictionary Search. Highlight a word, right click, send the word to
your choice of online dictionary for a definition.

Info RSS: RSS client

Mouse Gestures: Duplicates Opera's mouse gestures. Hold right key,
sweep left for "back a page", etc.

NoScript: Allows me to approve any javascript or java before it
executes. Has a whitelist for sites that are OK.

Faster Fox: Tuning of IP parameters for various types of connections.

Print Image: Adds "Print Image" to the right click menu even when the
web site tries to prevent it.

QuickJava: Puts icons on the toolbar to let me quickly toggle
javascript and java on and off.

Stumble Upon built-in client. If you haven't experienced
http://www.stumbleupon.com, you need to. This extension puts the
client right into the browser.

Customize Google. Enables the removal of paid ads, adds a line above
the first result to submit the search string to other search engines
and several other nice things.

Paste and go: Adds a right click option to paste a URl and go. Saves
an extra click or so.

ImageLikeOpera: Adds the Opera functionality of specifying whether or
not to load graphics. Very nice on slow dialup. Set graphics load
OFF and use the "show images" to load individual images as needed.

Plain Text links. Treats text strings that look like URLs as URLs
even if they don't have the "http://"; in front. Saves having to
highlight, copy, paste and go.

ViewCookies: view and control cookies on a site by site basis.

Session Saver: Adds the Opera ability to save all the open tabs when
the browser is closed and then restore them when the browser is
restarted. Better than opera, it allows saving multiple sessions by
name.

NukeAnything: Allows the hiding of any object on a web page. Say you
want to print a page without all the ads and extraneous links. Nuke
those objects and print.

File Title: Duplicates IE's auto-filling of the file name when saving
a file to disk.

Tab X: Adds a close button to each tab that is open. Nothing MS has
even permits multiple tabs.

Image Zoom - Allows any graphic to be zoomed in or out.

Restart Firefox: Functions like the windows "restart" command.

Show IP - Displays the IP address of the website on the bottom
taskbar. Right click on the address to look it up in whois or a
geographic database.

Reload Every - Reloads a page automatically at a specified interval.
Nice for weather and news pages. Duplicates Opera's feature.

Open Source in Tab: Allows the page's source HTML to be opened in a
tab instead of an editor.

FlashBlock - one of the best of the extensions. Blocks all Flash
crap. It puts a placeholder on the screen with a button. If you want
to see the flash, press the button. Otherwise, no more flashing,
screaming, strobing ads. Very nice for slow dialup.

AniDisable - Duplicates Opera's control of animated GIFs. Allow,
once, disable are the options.

Form History Manager. Saves form entries for later reply. Do you get
tired of typing your name and address and so on with every e-merchant?
This extension handles that.

Paste Quote: Provides the same quoting function for forums and such
as we have here on usenet with most readers. Puts the ">" in front of
each line of quoted text.

Edit Config Files - Many Foxfire advanced config variables are
somewhat hidden from the casual user. This extension makes them
easier to edit.

RefControl: lets you control what is transmitted in the "Referrer"
line. Your browser sends this out which reports which page you came
from. It's nice to block this information from nosey and potential
spam origination sites. Also handy if you don't want your URL to show
up on pron sites, controversial sites and the like. I show the
referrer as "http://www.whitehouse.gov"; in those instances. :-)

ShowImage: lets you force the (re)load of any image. Handy when some
images don't load on a graphics rich site.

Work offline: Puts a button on the bottom taskbar to allow you to
quickly go on or offline. this is particularly handy when you have 10
or 15 tabs open and need to restart Firefox. Going offline first
prevents all 15 pages trying to reload when Firefox restarts.

AntiPagination: Let's you convert sites that present info in small
page snippets into one long page. Nice for broadband. Saves all that
clicking "next" and all the page load delays.

FireFTP: Installs a nice download manager right inside FireFox.

These are in addition to all the good features built in to Firefox.
Things like the ability to save any sort of object, even streaming
media, even when the originator tries to keep you from doing it.


There is a similar list of extensions for Thunderbird that I'm now
familiarizing myself with.

I view MS net software as the low end stripper version. Almost
anything is better. Couple that with the virus/trojan/malware
vulnerabilities and it becomes a no-brainer to switch.

I should add that Opera and Agent are entirely competent packages,
ones that I've used for years. I am making the change mainly because
of open source and the open architecture. I know that I can modify
the behavior of either package by simply changing the source code and
re-compiling. So far I haven't needed to but I can if I ever do.

John






---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
.