Firefox Question

[crockett]

Based on past experiences I'm very paranoid about any software that is free.

On the other hand, I went through a bit of a "bad" time with my computer (security wise) and through the help of this site I have almost brought up my machine to a level that makes me feel secure. I have done this using some wonderful free software and so far so good. My next two steps are ZoneAlarm firewall and Firefox.

Questions (in order of importance):

1. Can I install and run Firefox with IE still residing on my machine and run them side by side? For example, if Firefox blips or gives me a problem can I just shut it down and open IE to get to a site that has previously worked on IE in the past? Or must I first remove IE?

2. I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP1. Anyone have any difficulties running ZoneAlarm Firewall? Finally, should I leave the IE built-in firewall enabled and run both ZA and it or disable the built-in firewall and just use ZA (this of course assumes I don't start using Firefox).

3. Which makes me think of another question...Currently I have IE but I hardly ever open it up. I just click on an icon which "wakes-up" my modem (I have dial-up), connect and then open my particul Poker client. I never even open up IE. Doing it this way is the IE built-in firewall even active?

[cold_cash]

I run both IE and Firefox and haven't had any problems.

I think it's probably a good idea to have a firewall other than the built in Windows one. I have Norton's, but I've heard only good things about ZoneAlarm. If it was me I would disable the Windows firewall and just run ZoneAlarm alone.

There are a few different websites you can go to test your computers security, and see if your firewall is doing the job, etc.. Sorry I don't have any links, but maybe someone else can recommend a few good ones.

* I'm by NO means a computer security expert, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

[playersare]

I am on a Mac and I can have IE, Firefox and Safari all open at the same time. certain sites work and/or look better on certain browsers I guess.

as a general rule, applications for internet related activities (WWW, e-mail, FTP etc) tend to play nice with each other. even the poker games themselves, are pretty much fancy internet clients as well.

[richrf]

Hi crockett,

Here are my answers based upon my own experiences and from what I know by researching the topics:

1) I have Firefox and IE on two XP computers. There is no problem running them side-by-side. Sometimes I will open up an IE window when I feel I am having trouble using a site. It may happen once a month - or even less so nowadays since the release of 1.0. There are ways to add extensions to Firefox to make it more compatible, but so far I have done this. When I do open IE, I only use it for very trusted sites and my security options are on maximum.

2) I am using ZoneAlarm with Windows firewall turned off. It is not advised to have two firewalls or two resident anti-viruses running at the same time. They can step on each other and cause problems.

3) The windows firewall becomes active at startup as does ZoneAlarm's. The firewalls are active long before you actually see your startup screen and icons. They better be. There are automated intruders that are trying to randomly hit IP addresses all of the time. You should see what my screen looks like when I turn off my netgear router. All kinds of random sites trying to get in. It's spooky.

Hope this helps,
Rich

[Yads]

1. You have to have IE on your machine (there's no way to get rid of it since it's part of the OS.) BTW IE is free as well. I might also suggest getting the following firefox extension:
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/ex...5&vid=1179

2. I'm assuming you have XP SP2, since there is no windows firewall in XP SP1, but anyway. I'd suggest actually running the windows firewall, it's very custumizable and not as annoying as ZoneAlarm. Also I'd actually suggest getting a router with a built in firewall. Hardware firewalls are much better than software ones.

3. The firewall is always active, unless you turn it off.

[richrf]

Hi all,

Yes, every XP user should be on SP2 at this point if they are not. It has lots of very important security upgrades, though the firewall is very lackluster in my opinion.

The reason I would recommend ZoneAlarm (or similar) is because ZoneAlarm will alert on both incoming _and_ outgoing traffic. Therefore, it is possible to detect spyware/trojans that have seeped through the firewall and are trying to transmit from your PC to an outside site. FireFox will alert when any program, that has not been given Internet access permission, is trying to initiate outgoing transmissions. ZoneAlarm Pro will give additional information such as the hacker ID.

Other than getting good firewall protection (I agree that router firewalls are very good - I have one in my router in addition to FireFox), and using FireFox, I would recommend that you have a very good anti-virus program. I recommend either Kaspersky 4.5 or McAfee for XP machines. Both have very broad protection for viruses, trojans, and spyware. But even these programs have problems detecting certain types o malware (e.g. keyloggers), so I have also installed ProcessGuard 3.0, which really makes the computer airtight. What you install largely depends upon surfing habits and how much peace-of-mind you want.

Rich

[crockett]

O.k. you guys got me using this...
Can you fix this one.

The install of Firefox was easy and so far everything is O.K.

Bug #1

I'm playing on Empire, any button I hit that requires a browser to open (for example Bonus Account) opens the window in IE. I want it to open in Firefox.

I have "use Firefox as my default browser" checked.

[RollaJ]

somewhere in IE there is probably a checkbox that says make sure this is the default browser/ check each time IE is opened...... uncheck that box

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
O.k. you guys got me using this...
Can you fix this one.

The install of Firefox was easy and so far everything is O.K.

Bug #1

I'm playing on Empire, any button I hit that requires a browser to open (for example Bonus Account) opens the window in IE. I want it to open in Firefox.

I have "use Firefox as my default browser" checked.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can't be done. All poker programs have been programmed to open up their website with IE regardless of which browser have been installed.

[crockett]

Are you serious?

So I've read probably at least a dozen recommendations to switch from IE to Firefox for security reasons right here in this forum and not one of them mentioned. "And oh yeah by the way all your Poker sites will not link correctly to Firefox w/o some work around."

That's a bummer but nothing is perfect I guess.

Also, I'm assumming you meant there is no easy fix to this problem. Anything is possible with computers. I'm sure some nerd has figured out how to make each and every single request to open ie.exe be re-directed to firefox.