Ah, yes. Now that you've abandoned IE for Firefox, you can finally browse the internet more safely than ever before. As long as you don't download anything suspicious, you should be fine.

Active X is probably one of the worst things IE ever created. It was originally designed to help streamline multimedia content, but it ended up becoming an easy way for people to download spyware and trojans onto other people's computers. Other browsers like Firefox and Opera don't utilize Active X, which should tell you something.

Of course, I can understand why Firefox isn't compatible with some sites. The browser was designed to be a basic browser without the bells and whistles. To get all the good stuff that'll make most sites work, you should try the Extentions page for Firefox. A lot of the extensions are really fancy stuff that most people won't need, but some of them are a good idea to have: Java and the basic media players.

Once you've gotten all the necessary plugins, the only page you can view just with IE will be the Windows Update page and those poorly made Angelfire sites. :)

I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner. (Like you said! Ha ha) I'll take a look at the extentions page and get some of the stuff you mentioned this week. As for being able to view the Windows Update page for IE and what not, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, considering I can't get to any page for Microsoft (updates, help pages, hotmail, messenger,etc.). Nor can I get those free online virus scans to work...*sigh*

Is there a particular virus scanner that works best with Firefox? Or does it matter? I thought about reinstalling Norton, but I'm sick of it crashing all the time (this is where I get an "Active X error", wierd, huh?), and perhaps I should try something else. I get error messages on McAffree and Panda when I use Firefox, saying the browser isn't compativble and I need to be running IE or something else (can't remember, and I'm at work right now)...so I suppose this is where I need to download some different componants of Firefox, right?

I'm such a doofus when it comes to this stuff, but if mishaps like this keep up, I bet I'll be an expert by the end of the year...*Laughs*

Thanks for the tips, I really appriciate the help! :-)

A virus scanner that need to be compatible with the browser? That's the first time I've heard of such a thing. I'm not exactly sure how to help you make virus scanners compatible with your browser, but I do know of a good free virus scanner: AVG Anti-Virus. The free version can be found here:

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php

You may also, if you haven't already, want to invest in a good firewall, which blocks unprotected ports in your computer from drive-by hackers and browser viruses. The free firewall from Zone Alarm can be found at:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp

I must tell you, however, that Zone Alarm will ask initially whether certain programs can access the internet. This is to protect your computer from spyware and hacked data sending out information onto the web. Initially it's annoying, but once you've gotten all your basic programs like Firefox and Instant Message allowed through Firefox, just watch how many attempts are made to enter your computer (you won't believe how many attempts were blocked on my laptop once I installed Zone Alarm).

Hope that helps.

*Laughs* Yeah, you're right about the anti-virus/browser compatibility thing...I'm horrible at trying to explain what I'm thinking, and normally screw up what I'm trying to say right off the bat (the reason I'd never, ever be a good school teacher). Norton and IE usually crash together, so I was assuming one is responsible for the other, which is probably wrong...Needless to say, that made me worried about installing a new browser and new anti-virus...I'm pretty dumb when it comes to computer programs and things like that...

However, thanks to the links you've given me, I now have an anitvirus program again and a firewall!!! I can't tell you how much I appriciate your help! I had Zone Alarm a long time ago (with my first computer), and it worked well, but when I got the new one, the person at the store told me not to bother...Now that I think about it, I may go pay him a visit this weekend *evil smile*. Oddly enough, a scan of my system has revealed no virus and I've used two programs to check (Stinger being the other one). *shrug* I thought about taking it back in to the shop, but I think I'll wait and see if anything else goes wrong first (don't you love my 'lazy person' approach?). If it's just IE and MSN Messenger, I'm not going to sweat it (the last time it was worse, I lost all sorts of programs).

This really has me leaning to buying a Mac in the near future...I've been wanting a laptop and perhaps that's what I'll get next year. My best friend swears by them, so maybe I'll think about it. I honestly want nothing to do with Microsoft and it's software anymore...*sigh*

Anyhoo...thanks again for your help! (This time I took your advice! ha ha) Take care!

Oh, I would like to point out that I am really enjoying Firefox. I'm still working on getting the necessary plug-ins and stuff, but it's been great so far. I was especially surprised at how easy it was to set up my Japanese language tools! IE was a nightmare! The only issue I've had so far is that all my Japanese language bookmarks I had to manually import, since for some reason Firefox didn't recognize them when I has the rest imported...no big deal though! (^-^)