don't click on the blue e!

Has your computer ever been infected by viruses, trojans, and nasty advertising? Of course it has - for the same reason as almost everybody else's has been infected. Internet Explorer leaves the back door open for all these problems to infect you machine.

Would you like a superior and more powerful browser which is safer, faster, and completely free? It's called Firefox. This book is designed to help people make the not-so-painful transition from IE to Firefox . It's a product of the Open Source Software movement whereby developers write programs collectively, then publish the source code for anyone to use free of charge. Scott Granneman's first chapter is a history of web browsers from 1900 to the present. This leads into a critique of IE.



There's also a tremendous webliography of articles related to browser history and development which will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the technical details. It is simply amazing how much has happened in only fifteen years.

The next chapters offer a step-by-step guide to installing and configuring Firefox. There's plenty of reassurance for people like me who are still very cautious after all the incompatibilities of the IE-Netscape browser wars era.

In fact there are two versions of the configuration guidance. One is a quick tour to get you up and running. The other (put in an appendix) is a detailed explanation of all the more advanced settings.

He takes you through all the menu options, concentrating most of his attention on all the features where Firefox offers novelties and advantages. These turn out to be tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, favourites management, and of course watertight security. But the best feature I have noticed since installing it is that it updates itself automatically on a regular basis - and you don't even need to re-boot your machine for the upgrade to take effect.

He finishes, curiously enough with a survey of all the major alternative web browsers - Amaya, Netscape, Opera, Konqueror, and Safari. I know that many people take their browser for granted (which is one reason why IE has become so much a default) but for anyone who is interested in browsers and their development, this is an interesting resource. It certainly makes the case for Firefox, but it has a lot more to offer as well.

This is the sort of book which at one time would have come with a CD bearing a copy of the software. There's no point in this any more. The software would be out of date by the time the book hit the shelves. The latest version is available free at www.mozilla.org