Is internet explorer a bad internet browser?

Yes.

It is like cars, some like Ford, some like a real car. ;)

It has a number of problems, but it works. I find it to be bloated, slow and resource hungry. It is at the bottom of my list for browser “efficiency”. Firefox and Safari are at the top.

I feel that Firefox is a superior product.

laziness is the only excuse for using IE

Internet Explorer is nor a terrible piece of software, but Microsoft has a history of publishing less-than-adequate web browsers, and many people reflexively prefer certain alternatives. One quite popular alternative is FireFox. Others are Opera 10.0 which may have one of the fastest rendering engines, Google Chrome, which is connected to an OS project that Google has begun, and is rather interesting for that and other reasons, and then there is, of course Safari which I happen to think is a resource hog, but others swear by it.

Yes. Go to Firefox.

I stopped using Internet Explorer, because Firefox seems/is faster. I still use IE, though[sometimes] just to copy and paste documents or phrases into my word document because Firefox won’t let me do that. ):

IE 8 isn’t horrible, but I can’t live with it day in and day out. I prefer Firefox on both WIndows and OS X.

I personally don’t like it. Firefox is what I use.

I design websites for a living, and personally, i hate internet explorer so much that if the site i am making is not for a client and is for personal use i will block internet explorer from even seeing my site. they just get redirected to a page where they are told to download a proper browser.

it is slow, it is not secure and does indeed help viruses to spread. and on top of that it does not even know how to align HTML properly, so the site you are seeing may not look like what you see.

there is even a special conditional command, called [if IE]> ... it is a command that website designers have to use to make things show up properly if the user is using internet explorer. basically, it is so bad that special exceptions need to be made for it for even the simplest things.

fire fox 3 or googlechrome will be much better for you.

I cannot stand Flash. So I use Firefox to eliminate most Flash, and it makes my browsing experiences a lot better. There is no way to do that with Internet Explorer.

I used to use IE8 but then my older brother said to use Firefox, so I started using that and now I can’t stand IE.

Bad? Nah.
Holy fuckin horrible? Yes.

I use chrome because its amazingly fast. Firefox is a bit slower, but there are plenty of great add ons.

Yes

I also use Firefox & wouldn’t go back to IE.

IE. like many other software programs, browsers, etc, is garbage. Another garbage product to avoid is anything under the name Symantec. That would be Norton and McAfee, for starters. They aren’t worth the CD they are burned onto.

IE is the reason for everything bad in the world.

IE always seems to gradually get slower and slower and then starts getting buggy, so I switched to Firefox. I love the add-ons. I only have a few, but they are great. Lazarus is terrific for when Fluther dies right when I have perfected a beautiful answer. Adblock Plus makes Facebook actually enjoyable because the ads are all gone. And Colorful Tabs makes it easy to spot which tab I want without having to actually read the fine print.

Firefox.

Safari is sub-par in performance and Chrome is boring.

Yes. IE is nothing but a bundled piece of software.. therefore there is no reason to make it competitive. It is only there to be the explorer should the person not have
anything else.

Fuck internet explorer.

I also design websites for a living, and IE is the worst browser to design for. There is a set of standards that browsers are encouraged to meet in order to make the web a bigger, better, more accessible place, and IE, in typical microsoft fashion, summarily shits on those standards. Furthermore, it starts slow, has incredibly limited extensibility and tabbing options, mines your data, and presents significant security risks. The only reason it is still the most widely used browser is because of archaic businesses and public institutions like public libraries who are too lazy to switch to something free and superior.

What browser you use instead will depend on your browsing style, but only the most ignorant user will continue to use Internet Explorer. I use chrome for general browsing because it is very fast and has a lot of nice features for opening and managing lots of tabs. For instance, there is only one bar that serves as both your address and search bar. It knows when you have typed in a search or a url. Furthermore, when you open a new tab, the cursor automatically goes to the address/search bar so you can get where you wanted to immediately. It also has a clean interface that leaves almost the entire window free for viewing web pages. I use Firefox for the add-ons and for web de-bugging.

I hope you will help make the internet a better place by NEVER USING INTERNET EXPLORER EVER AGAIN! And if you can, get your friends and parents to switch to something that actually works too.

Also a web designer here, Internet Explorer is nothing but garbage. IE has many security weaknesses, it is not standards compliant which forces us web designers and developers to write stupid hacks for it, special fixes so our websites display properly. ESPECIALLY IE6 biggest pile of shit ever.

however, none of that is a problem for Firefox, Safari or Opera because they make things right. Microsoft makes things based on money, so as long as the numbers look good they don’t give a shit if it works properly.

If you have any shred of intelligence, do not use IE

@erikaVT Sub-par in what way? Safari 4 is faster and more robust than FF 3.5. I used FF3 devoutly over Safari 3, but then Safari 4 released and I never looked back.

A personal site in IE 6. Pic

I don’t like Internet Explorer partly because it’s slow, partly because it’s a resource hog, and partly because there have been no new releases for Mac in several years. (At least 5, but I’m thinking closer to 10. Anyone know?)

Also, it’s very nice to use Firefox on Windows, then switch to Mac, and have the browsers change not a whit. (I also like that it’s green. :D)

I tried Safari for a while, but found that I missed one specific plugin from FF (del.icio.us). So I went back to FF. And Safari 4 doesn’t really work on my (old?) Tiger OS.

I use Opera when I’m watching something in FF and want to check something in Wikipedia or on IMDb. Opera’s great, too, I’m just not as familiar with it.

Oh. And for personal stuff I don’t even try to get it to work with IE. Arrrrghhh. Keep in mind that when IE had 90% of the browser market Microsoft stopped development outside of security updates. Then Firefox got popular and the started working on it again.

Surfing the web with Internet Explorer is like driving without a seat belt; most likely nothing traumatic will happen, but I’d rather not take the chance. So, I roll with Firefox with the no script extension.

Works like a charm.

Cheers.

I had “upgraded” to IE8. What a disaster! It wouldn’t let me open pictures in my email. I went back to IE7. Other problems started showing up. I was talking to Ben on here about it & he suggested Firefox. What a difference! It’s like night & day. It’s so much faster & I love the features it offers. I’ll forever be hugging his neck for that one!

def not a great browser. Microsoft spent too much time ignoring web standards and because of their victory-less battle we are now saddled with “compatibility view”

http://www.bringdownie6.com//

another web guy voting for anything but IE.

Come on google, when do we get Chrome for Mac? It’s not out fault they pulled your Google Voice app…

No, but Microsoft is a bad company. Plus we can expect the open source community to outrun the corporate dinosaur.

@wenn I’ve never liked Safari. I even prefer Firefox on the Mac.

@erikaVT so it’s personal preference, not really that Safari is sub-par.

I prefer Firefox to Safari because, unfortunately, certain web sites I frequent a lot do not open in Safari but will do so in Firefox. Otherwise Safari is quite functional.

notice how no one is debating between a real browser and internet explorer, just between real browsers

That’s because almost all of us here have either given up on IE or actively dislike it.

@Darwin count me in the second category. The actively dislike one
@drClaw fantastic link. It is being spread around the Facebook as we speak.

@wenn No, I have always had problems with it-is why I have never liked it and it is sub-par.

@erikaVT sub-par for then I guess. I have more issues with Firefox than Safari.

Wow, not one even remotely positive comment about IE. I am not surprised. I think this question has been pretty clearly answered.

May IE rest in hell.

I changed my browser to firefox.. Now
my download speed-62.23 mbps
upload speed-2.88mbps