I live in a rural area and don't have a ton of money so I'm stuck with dial up. The best connection I get is 26400 whatever. I use aol as isp for now. Which works better under these circumstances Firefox or Ie?
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As between these two, Firefox, without doubt. IE has been, and continues to be, riddled with security problems. So safety goes to Firefox (properly configured). Make sure you've gone through every menu and setting under Tools, and made good choices, before you use it. Poorly configured Firefox is not all that secure. Of course, even optimally configured IE has lots of problems, so there isn't much choice. \n\nOn the faster front, things are less clear. some have reported IE (one version or another) to be faster than Firefox (one version or another). Let's look at some details. Firefox allows you to adjust your settings more easily than IE. And so you can tell Firefox not to download popup or popunder windows (makes things faster, less garbage traffic) and you can tell Firefox not to download images unless you ask (less data unless needed, so faster).  And so on. There's a Firefox extension called FasterFox which automatically loads stuff in the background when you're inactive for a moment, and it can speed things up a good bit. It also requires configuration and probably  experimentation to find the fastest settings in your situation. And there are several other firefox extensions which filter out other detritus and trash and so don;t use the limited bandwidth you have. Things will seem to load faster. So for the faster question, I think it's Firefox, properly configured, and perhaps with the right extensions. \n\nAs for better, if it's safer and faster, where's the doubt?\n\n======\n\ncaveats\n\nMicrosoft is in the midst of rewriting substantial parts of IE, so it is said. if so, the next version of IE may be better than past version have been. But Firefox sets a high standard, so IE has a considerable ways to go. Due out sometime early next year, and only for Windows, naturally.
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Get and use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ ), that itself will improve your internet speed. Ounce you have the browser get a plugin called Fasterfox(http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/ ) which will also increase your speed.\n\nWhile the size of Firefox is small compared to Internet Explorer, you still may want to download it at a freinds house, or some other place that has high speed internet.
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Intriguing indeed. I know what you mean about speed--I have dial-up (my only option due to location) and after I used Firefox, IE suddenly seemed prohibitively slow. It seems that I have become a kind of walking advertisement for Firefox. I've been using FF for a year or two now and I love it more every day.  In that time I have picked up a few extensions and tricks that make my browsing experience much faster and easier.\n\nMy favorite extension is definitely Tab Mix Plus. This extension has an almost overwhelming number of settings and features, so I’ll list a few of my favorites. Tab Mix Plus let’s you merge windows, duplicate tabs (very useful), highlight tabs you haven’t seen yet (great for keeping track of a large number of tabs--I have it highlight the text blue), highlight the currently selected tab (which can make it easier to see which one you’re looking at--I have it bold the text),  and display a progress bar on each tab (since I have dial-up, this is a great feature to let me know how far a tab has left to load without having to leave the tab I’m on--I have it use a progress bar with a white background so I can still read the text). Tab Mix Plus also has an undo close tab feature and a session restore feature; both of which are newly included in FF 2, but I still prefer to use Tab Mix Plus for these (the session restore gives you the option to restore the previous to last session in addition to the last). Any or all of these features can be used, and I am excluding quite a few of them.\n\nI also use and recommend the following extensions:\n\nAdblock Plus; which--when you sign up to a filter subscription (which is absolutely free and doesn’t require giving any information about yourself [in case you’re wondering])--stops most ads on the internet from loading (this is especially important to me since ads take up so much precious bandwidth).\n\nGoogle Notebook; a tool from Google that makes it easier to add notes to your Google Notebook account (which you can get for free and access from any computer with an internet connection).\n\nIE Tab; which--since not every webpage supports FF--can embed IE in a tab in FF. The pages load just as slowly and you are just as insecure as if you were using IE in its own window--but it can make things easier when you’re forced to use IE. IE Tab also lets you easily open the page you are currently viewing in FF in a real IE window\n\nCustomizeGoogle; which can change the way different Google sites are displayed. I use it mostly to remove the ads from Gmail, but it can do a lot more.\n\nDownload Statusbar; which puts a list of your current downloads on a bar at the bottom of the screen.\n\nAnd finally Image Zoom; with which you can easily zoom pictures on websites in and out by holding down the right mouse button and scrolling up and down (most pictures become too pixilated for this to be of too much use, but I still like it).\n\nDon’t forget the search bar! I use it much more often that I thought I would at first. My most often used search engines are: Google (which is included), Wikipedia, FILExt (which tells you what the file extension [such as .exe or .txt] you searched for is used for), and, of course, Yahoo! Answers. \n\nI use the find bar (shortcut: Ctrl + F) all the time; it lets you find a string of text in the page you are viewing very easily. This is especially great when you come across one of those webpages that seem to have no end or means of organization--but really, I tend to use it everywhere.\n\nI love the page source viewer (shortcut: Ctrl + U)--which also has the find bar. If you know HTML you’ll probably agree that it is much better that IE’s page source viewing system (open in notepad). \n\nThe new spell-check-as-you-type feature is nice. If you want FF to spell check a field that it isn’t checking, right-click the text field and select ‘Spell check this field’.\n\nYou can also drag and drop the tabs to reposition them (if find this
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I tried using IE7 and found that pages were loading slowly.\nOpera I found a bit difficult to customise and use although it is the fastest browser I have ever used.\nI am currently trying  Firefox2.
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Personally, I would go to Mozilla.com and download FireFox browser.  It is better by far than IE.
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They're all pretty much the same, though AOL is junk IMHO.  I'd probably pick Earthlink out of the rest.  They are more expensive but you get what you pay for.  The others (aside from AOL) keep their price low by cramming far more connections onto a single back-haul connection to the internet.  This reduces performance which is already agonizingly slow for dial-up service anyway.\n\nFor broadband, I wouldn't choose any of them.  Go with the local cable company if it's available.  Very fast and very reliable.  Next, I'd go with DSL from the local telco if it's available.  DSL has very limited coverage because of its technical limitations but if you're within less than 3 wire miles of the telco's central office it's OK.  Another option is wireless.  It's availability is limited, usually to rural and semi-rural areas.  It can get funky in bad weather and the antennas are vulnerable to lightning strikes because they are often mounted on water towers or cell towers in order to get a decent coverage area for the provider.
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graham said everything i wud have said... except u shud also download firefox for ur primary browser instead of internet explorer. http://www.mozilla.com it works waaaaaaaaaay better than internet explorer and is faster. and safer. but to  defragment ur pc. click start/all programs/accessories/system tools/defragment.
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Don't we all...\n\nAnyway, Mozilla Firefox (free, mozilla.com) is the best in my opinion. For a few of the reasons, go to the link below.\n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aoun9wubq3MFVDYCzh.Qc6jsy6IX?qid=1006041319281\n\nUnfortunately, littleturtleboy is right; there are still a few websites that only work with IE, but they are increasingly rare. Still, it would be a good idea to have IE ready to go just in case. Have you tried reinstalling? (If you do get IE working, Firefox is still completely worth using as you main browser.)\n\nBy the way, an internet access program is more commonly referred to as a web browser.
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I would suggest dial up using AOL or some other web based isp that uses dial up so you can connect to any phone line.  There are usually free local numbers for dialing in each area. \nE
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Use the settings provided by your internet provider, (ISP). Enter that in Firefox. It should work. If you don't know, do call your cable admin...\n\nIf ever your Internet Explorer does work, just copy the proxy settings and transfer it to Firefox.
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I am using Firefox and had no problems loading the page, perhaps you should think about downloading it and using that instead of IE.
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Firefox is much better...minus the not having certain ActiveX control support.  IE7 is closer to Firefox but I still prefer Firefox for general surfing.
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yes  I have Firefox and it works  in my browser. I have noticed though that the Firefox version doesn't  search  as many definitions as the IE  version. but that is the only difference I have noticed..I would make sure that Firefox is updated before downloading it,  and you may need to turn off your pop up blocker to do the download. If you want to really protect the PC  you need antispy programs and anti ad programs as well as a virus program..Free software is available..SpyBot Search and Destroy  is a good one, and AdAware SE is too.. you  can also get AVG Free, a great anti-virus program..You can get these at www.download.com
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Because it's dial-up. Dial-up will always be slow, no matter what your provider tells you. AOL sucks period. Sorry. \n\nModern dial-up modems typically have a maximum theoretical speed of 56 kbit/s (using the V.92 protocol), although in most cases only up to 53 kbit/s is possible due to overhead and FCC regulation. These speeds are currently considered the maximum possible; in many cases transfer speeds will be lower, averaging anywhere between 33-43 kbit/s. Factors such as phone line noise and conditions, as well as the quality of the modem itself, play a large part in determining connection speeds.\n\nDial-up connections usually have high latency that can be as high as 200 ms or even more, which can make online gaming or videoconferencing difficult, if not impossible. Some games, such as Star Wars: Galaxies and The Sims Online are capable of running on 56 K dial-up. Gamers with dial-up connections are often disconnected from game servers due to the "lag", or high latency, of the connection. Despite being the way people have connected to the internet for many years, it is being steadily replaced by Broadband internet connections, and nowadays DSL subscription plans cost the equivalent of slower dial-up access. Until recently it was the cheapest method of internet access, but is slowly losing that distinction.
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Not really. If your ISP has a proxy server that could make it faster. What a proxy server does is cache (keep a copy) of all web pages people visit, so then if you visit those same pages you only have to connect to your ISP rather than the actual page itself, making it quite a bit faster. In internet explorer Tools->Connections->Lan settings allows you to set your proxy server. But its not a common thing these days as most people who care about such things are using broadband, and ISP's don't offer a proxy.\n\n\nBTW Google Web Accelerator is no help - "3. Can I use Google Web Accelerator with a dial-up connection?\n\nDial-up users may not see much improvement, as Google Web Accelerator is currently optimized to speed up web page loading for broadband connections."
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I have both..... but I like Firefox because of the TABS. They are the best!\n\nI still use Explorer because a lot of things will not work in firefox yet.
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The fundamental difference between dialup and broadband Internet connections is the manner in which the connection is made from your PC to the Internet. A dialup service connects to the Internet through your phone line. The modem in your PC "calls" an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and connects with a maximum speed of 56,000 bytes per second, better known as a 56K speed connection. Each time your PC dials into the ISP, it is assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address, which you can think of as an "Internet address." A different, unique IP address is assigned at the beginning of each visit so that the ISP can recognize your PC and make sure you can send and receive email, surf the Internet, and so on; basically, this address lets your ISP know where to send the information you are requesting through your modem. In terms of hackers, in order for someone to gain access to your computer, it would be necessary for them to know your IP to successfully do so. The fact that your IP address constantly changes essentially makes your Internet connection more secure.\n\nIn contrast, when you connect to the Internet via a broadband Internet connection, the process is slightly different. Once your PC is connected to the ISP through a cable or DSL connection, it remains connected until the cable box or DSL line is disconnected or physically unplugged. A DSL connection runs through unused wires in your existing phone line without disruption and can translate data at 5 million bytes per second, or 5Mbps. Broadband services are often referred to as "always on" services because it is not necessary to make a setup call to your ISP each time you wish to access the Internet; this means that once you are assigned an IP address, you keep it until you request it to be changed. We'll learn how to do this in a later newsletter.\n\nConnection speed and price are two important considerations when choosing between dialup and broadband. Dialup connection speeds make it more difficult to view certain types of media, such as video, and it can take much longer to download and open email attachments, play online games, and so on. Although the slower connection speed is a disadvantage for dialup users, there are also a few advantages to using this type of connection, which include lower monthly charges and a higher level of security. The cost difference is obvious when comparing the $20-30 per month subscription fee for dialup and the $50-60 per month subscription fee for most broadband services. In terms of security, because the connection is not "always on" and because you are assigned a different IP address each time, it is slightly more difficult to be attacked over the Internet, although nothing is ever fool proof and risks still do exist.\n\nThe advantages of a broadband connection can sometimes outweigh some of the disadvantages. The increased connection speed allows for ease in initial connection, duration of connection, no additional phone charges that may apply in dialing into an ISP, and variability of Internet use, such as an increase in allowable file viewing size. However, if you do choose a broadband connection, you'll need to purchase a firewall-which we'll learn more about later-to keep your computer "invisible" to the outside world.\n\nIn the ongoing debate of which is better dialup or broadband, there isn't really a clearly correct answer. This question can only be answered by looking at your needs and resources and comparing them to what each option has to offer. If you use the Internet to check email, stock quotes, and visit the occasional website, dialup will be sufficient. But if you frequently download large media files, play games over the Internet, and view sites that are high in image content then you may be more satisfied with broadband service.