Doing my best!! Just installed Firefox. Yesterday I asked advice.

[Paper Roses]

Thank you for the help. Today my computer seems to be running better. The printer did die, however. We'll see how the day goes.

Yesterday my daughter said to me, "Mom, I swear most of your problems are with Internet Explorer. Switch to Firefox. Sometimes your kids give you good advice. I have followed all the posts where you all have recommended Firefox to lots of people. The deed is done. I must say, it was simple. I was afraid I'd be required to do something I don't understand. This format will take a little getting used to but it seems simple enough. Sent all my favorites etc. over to Firefox too.

Should this browser be any faster than IE? It used to take forever to load a page.

Any advice for this old Granny so she does not mess this up?
New feature on DU? Little red line under misspelled words or is that gift from Firefox?

[struggle4progress]

1. You might want to install add-ons NoScript and AdBlockPlus

Load speeds for webpages may reflect various things, like the speed of the domain name server (DNS) you're using

A DNS is a big online dictionary that converts your webpage name to numbers the machines use: when you type in "http://democraticunderground.com" that name gets looked-up in a dictionary and converted to an intertubes address like "216.158.28.195"

Sometimes people get better speeds from a public DNS, other than the default DNS used by their internet service provider. OpenDNS has been popular, and some people like Google's DNS:

... Important: Before you start
Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS, be sure to write down the current server addresses or settings on a piece of paper. It is very important that you keep these numbers for backup purposes, in case you need to revert to them at any time ...

Example: Changing DNS server settings on Microsoft Windows Vista

Go the Control Panel.
Click Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center, then Manage network connections.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection, and click Properties.
To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and click Properties.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties.
Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
Click OK.
Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
Restart the connection you selected in step 3.
Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change ...

Testing your new settings
To test that the Google DNS resolver is working:
From your browser, type in a hostname, such as http://www.google.com. If it resolves correctly, bookmark the page, and try accessing the page from the bookmark. If both of these tests work, everything is working correctly. If not, go to step 2.
From your browser, type in a fixed IP address. You can use http://18.62.0.96/ (which points to the website http://www.eecs.mit.edu/) as the URL*. If this works correctly, bookmark the page, and try accessing the page from the bookmark. If these tests work (but step 1 fails), then there is a problem with your DNS configuration; check the steps above to make sure you have configured everything correctly. If these tests do not work, go to step 3.
Roll back the DNS changes you made and run the tests again. If the tests still do not work, then there is a problem with your network settings; contact your ISP or network administrator for assistance ...

Using Google Public DNS
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

[ConsAreLiars]

2. When you first begin Firefox it must load all the content from the net.

This then gets cached (saved) on your hard drive, so that when a page or site is viewed a second time, some of what is there is already in the browser's cache, on your computer, and doesn't need to be downloaded again. Firefox will become faster as the unchanging images and such on sites you visit become already stored on your computer.

There is a "check spelling" option in DU, but Firefox also includes a dictionary and spell-checking, with the red line you noticed. You can right-click and select a better alternative or add the word or name to your dictionary.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

3. Here's a few good guides to understanding, tweaking & optimizing Firefox:

Firefox Tweak Guide http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_1.html

Basic Troubleshooting http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting#To_fix_the_problem_in_the_original_profile

FF support: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/