Switching...

Well, it's official: I'm switching from using Outbreak (Outlook) and Internet Exploiter/Exploder (Explorer) to using something more secure and/or faster...namely, the Mozilla family of programs.

For email, I'm using Thunderbird. So far, it seems to be working very well! I like the automated Junk filters, which I can fine-tune very easily, as well as the fact that T-bird also allows me to import all my folders and addresses from Outlook quite painlessly! There is something that I have gotten used to in Outlook that I haven't seen yet in T-bird, however: custom view settings per folder (preview pane open on trusted filtered folders, but not on Inbox proper or Junk/Spam or otherwise suspect folders). On the other hand, I like how T-bird handles HTML in email, blocking the downloading of images/etc in messages until I authorize it, or even sanitizing it completely if I desire. Mostly, however, it will be a process of getting used to something different for a while.

The same thing applies to the browser side of the equation. I had been using the Crazy Browser overlay for IE, which gives me tabbed browsing, bookmark groups, and a few other things. I am now using Firefox 1.0, which is a nice little program! Again, however, there are a few things that I have grown accustomed to that I no longer have. In particular, I miss the ability to re-organize the tabs, which I could do in Crazy Browser (and, I will also note, in Mozilla proper). I think I'll also miss the tab navigation technique in CB, as well, which consists of sets of buttons onscreen which either scroll the tab bar, take you to the first/last tab, or step you sequentially through the tabs in either direction. However, with Firefox's ability to use plugins, perhaps someone could build this functionality into it!

I have also installed the latest version of Mozilla itself, and will be experimenting with that from time to time as well.

As far as Outlook and IE are concerned at this point, I say "NO MORE!"

Knightsabre