Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Plug & Play Hardware RAID up to 8.0TB. High Performance, Data Redundant Solutions. FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB2, or eSATA. Hot Swappable Bays, Data Rates over 200MB/s. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Apple Archive

Firefox at 2.0: A Very Good Browser Gets Even Better

- 2006.10.26

Earlier this week, Mozilla released its upgraded version of Firefox. Interestingly enough, Firefox 2.0 comes just after Microsoft upgraded Internet Explorer to version 7.0. While the new version of Internet Explorer doesn't run on the Mac, it's important in the overall context of the browser marketplace.

Internet Explorer 7 includes "innovations" such as tabbed browsing, which Firefox and Safari have had for some time. IE 7 now includes protection against phishing attacks by directing you away from websites that are on a list of known malicious sites, as well as - finally - an RSS reader.

However, IE 7's main issue is that it only runs on Windows XP SP2. While many Windows users run XP, there are a significant number of corporate customers who still use Windows 2000 (I run 2000 on my ThinkPad, so no IE 7 for me).

Microsoft also requires you to go through a "validation" process before you can even install the browser - to make sure that your copy of Windows is "genuine". In my opinion, it's not a very respectful way to treat customers, assuming that they're criminals just because they're running the software and want to download a so-called "free" update.

Anyway, this brings me to Firefox 2.0. Version 2 has much improved handling of tabs (each tab has a close box, as in Safari), a better RSS reader (which lets you subscribe to feeds right from a link on a page), built-in spell checking, and protection against phishing, just like IE 7. Firefox is also truly cross-platform - it's compatible with Windows 98/Me, 2000, and XP, as well as Linux and Mac OS X 10.2 and later - and there's no software validation to go through.

I don't know how I lived without the spell checking is something. It's bringing Web-based applications closer to practicality by integrating a central feature of desktop applications (such as Microsoft Word and Apple's Mail) into website text boxes. At the same time, it's making life much easier for those of us who post on forums, blogs, or even just to send an email using a Web-based email service. Instead of relying on Gmail's spelling tools, I can automatically see misspelled words underlined in red when using Firefox 2.0.

Phishing protection in Firefox is interesting. There are two different options, one of which is to use a central list to check the site you're on, to make sure it doesn't correspond with a list of known phishing sites. The other option is where Firefox sends all of the URLs that you visit to Google, to have them verify that it's not a phishing site. While I would imagine that Google's list may be more up-to-date, I also find it a bit scary sending such personal information and essentially asking Google's permission whether I can visit a given site. That's putting a lot of trust in a large company.

How does Firefox 2.0 run on the Mac? On my dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5, it seems to load sites slightly faster than Firefox 1.5. However, it still eats up RAM as badly as all previous versions.

If you open too many tabs at once, the whole computer slows down, and the only way to regain system performance is to quit Firefox and reopen it. Given that Firefox 2.0 gives you the option of reopening all the tabs you previously had open, that may not be too bad. Still, keeping tabs to a minimum is probably the best idea.

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 is still relatively un-Mac-like. The radio buttons and dialogue boxes look like those on a Windows machine, though Firefoxy, an application that adds Mac-like "widgets", can help fix that problem. As for the appearance of the application, I like the "pinstripe" theme, though there are several others that attempt to be Mac-like.

Don't forget that there's still support for extensions in Firefox, such as AdBlock Plus, Viamatic foXpose (Exposé for Firefox tabs), and Forecastfox. Neither IE 7 nor Safari have the capability for such add-ons.

I still like Firefox. It's not perfect, but it's a solid browser with a lot of nice features. Version 2.0 isn't a huge upgrade, but it's a nice one that, in my opinion, still lets it keep its edge over Internet Explorer.

Whether you're using Windows, Linux, or a Mac, it's worth a try.

Link: Firefox 2.0
Link: Firefox 2.0 builds optimized for G4, G5, and Intel Macs

Recent Apple Archive articles

iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
More in the Apple Archive index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Apple Archive articles copyright ©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.