Add-On Incompatibility After Browser Upgrade
June 12, 2008
by Walter S. Mossberg
Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.
After reading your positive review, I downloaded Firefox 3.0, only to discover that some of my favorite add-ons, including a search toolbar, are incompatible. What can I do about this?
Wait. As I noted in the review, when major new versions of Firefox come out, it takes a while for some of the many add-ons for the browser to be updated so they are compatible with the new version. Because these are written by a very large number of different companies and individuals, the process will be gradual, and some will be updated more quickly than others.
As for search toolbars, like those from Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO), I doubt that most people still need them. When they first came out, these toolbars provided things the top browsers lacked: a permanent search box, pop-up blocking and a few other useful features. But all the major browsers now provide these things without requiring the installation of any external toolbar. The companies that make the toolbars can use them to sell advertising or attract you to their search engines. But, for many users today, they are redundant.
I don’t want to run antivirus software constantly, but I would like to periodically run a program that could scan my computer and remove viruses and the like. Does such a program exist?
Yes. Here’s one example. Microsoft (MSFT) makes a small, free program called the Malicious Software Removal Tool that looks for, and tries to remove, a limited number of the worst examples of malicious software. It can be downloaded at www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove.
However, this isn’t a comprehensive antivirus program. Microsoft says it detects and removes only “specific, prevalent malicious software,” and advises that “You should also use up-to-date antivirus software to help protect your computer from other malicious software.”
I am in the market for a laptop. I was considering a Dell (DELL) or an H-P (HPQ) but have learned that Apples now run Windows. I have financial (Quicken) and other business files (Excel, Word and PowerPoint) that would need to be transferred to the new computer. Would this be possible on an Apple (AAPL)?
Yes, in the same ways you could transfer files from one Windows PC to another. For example, you could burn them to a CD or DVD, copy them to an external USB drive, or transfer them over a network or via the Internet. In fact, if you buy your Mac at an Apple retail store, the store’s staff will move your files over free, or for a modest fee, depending on which folders, and how many, you want transferred.
Once the files are on the Mac, you can either use native Mac programs to read and/or modify them, or you can install Windows and run your usual Windows programs to handle the files.
For instance, even if you never installed Windows on an Apple, your Excel, Word and PowerPoint files could be used in the Mac version of Microsoft Office. However, the Mac version of Quicken isn’t as compatible with the Windows version’s files. So, for Quicken, I suggest installing Windows on the Mac and running the Windows version of Quicken.
- You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
Comments
To the second questioner:
What do you mean you don’t want it running “constantly”? On a Windows machine, at least, you SHOULD have an anti-virus program running in the background – one that will say “whoa” if you visit a malicious website or if you attempt to open a malicious email attachment. Free: AVG, Avast. BitDefender is an inexpensive highly rated anti-virus program. Allow it to update its files automatically and to run every few days at a time when you don’t use the computer.
Also, perhaps you don’t realize that once a virus has been executed on your computer, the DAMAGE done can be extensive and hard to reverse, sometimes requiring arcane, manual multi-step procedures that takes you to areas of your computer that you’ve never visited before.
Anti-virus programs don’t repair the damage done by virus once it has been executed. Get it?
Some say that once a virus has been run on your computer you can never trust it again…until you have formatted and reinstalled the OS and software.
Posted by David Prozzo at June 12th, 2008 at 8:22 pmOn FF3, it seems as if the Fox may be subject to the same problems as Vista, in that the extension writers, equivalent to 3rd party app writers for Vista, have had months and months to get ready, and yet, many extensions on which we dearly depend, will not be ready.
So. Is FF3 going to suffer the same fate as Vista? Becoming a whipping boy? Or will this darling of the digerati class be given a pass and we should all be patient?
I for one, a totally happy FF2 user, am readying IE7 by bringing my bookmarks-opps, Favorites- and my user ids and passwords via Roboform up to speed.
Posted by Richard Mitnick at June 13th, 2008 at 8:01 amDavid: I run Windows XP with no ant-virus at all, I run the occasional spyware check just to be sure. I’ve kept up this behavior now for 3 years and have never had a problem because I regularly update all my software, make sure to use a secure browser and have good behavior and practice over what links I click on and what I download, I have never had a problem. As someone who fixes computers in their spare time, I know the effectiveness of anti-virus software is dubious at best and the slow down and problems they cause on a computer can be quite prevalent.
Teaching users good behavior is a 100x more effective than a real-time anti-virus scanner.
Richard: The analogy between extension writers and dedicated hardware vendors is a bit of a stretch to be fair. A lot of extension writers do it in their spare time and just enjoy making them. Mozilla has, for the last 3 months, been pushing extensions to get compatible, it’s only been doing it so recently because Firefox could of potentially gone through changes which would of made extensions writers need to keep rewriting.
Mozilla has worked heavily on encouraging to get the most popular add-ons compatible. So the transition between Fx2 and Fx3 has been much much easier than the transition between Fx1.5 and Fx2. In fact I distinctly remember most people holding off for a month or 2 before jumping on to Fx2. The attitude seems to be quite different with Fx3.
Posted by Damian Shaw at June 14th, 2008 at 5:54 amDamian
Remember that malware and spyware aren’t the same as viruses.
A quality anti-virus program shouldn’t slow your computer down much, unless perhaps when it is doing a total scan of your computer – which can be scheduled when you aren’t using the computer. I have read though, that Norton and Macafee have become so complex and get their hooks in some many areas of the OS that some users have had problems. I wouldn’t know because I don’t use either. There are other choices.
That said, it certainly is true that safe surfing and caution about opening email attachments are critical.
Posted by David Prozzo at June 14th, 2008 at 8:18 pmi go back and forth hourly between Firefox and Safari (as a Mac user).
one of the things i’d love to see/find out how to do is a ‘print preview’ on Firefox like i have on Safari.
that way i can print only the pages of an article i want and save some paper.
is there a Firefox Preference or add-on that would do this?
thanks!
Posted by tom rusch at June 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm