Why Do We Use Internet Explorer?

I use Internet Explorer as do more than 90% of all
internet users. With all it's problems we all still use
it because it's what came on our computers. But after
getting so frustrated with it tonight I am seriously
considering a change.

Here's what happened...

I wanted to pay a bill online, something I do fairly
often. So I went to the sight just like I have done
several times in the past. But tonight I couldn't get
logged in. I kept getting that silly "page won't display"
error page.

I called tech support and after checking their records
they said I didn't have an online account and needed
to register. I tried to explain that I was registered but
they insisted that I really wasn't. (Wonder how I managed
to pay my bill the last several months without being
registered - don't you?)

So I went to the site and tried to register. Well I did
finally get to the page that told me my account was
already registered but only after I got the "page won't
display" error several times.

Ok, so now I figure I must be using the wrong password
and that's why the site doesn't like me. Wrong! When I
go through the exercise of filling out the form to get my
password I get ... you guessed it... PAGE WON'T DISPLAY.

It's now been more than 30 minutes and I still have not
done a task that should have taken less than 5. Feeling
a little upset I decided to do something else and see if
the problem would fix itself. (Hey, I still believe that things
that are broken one minute on the internet sometimes get
magically fixed and start working again.)

After giving the problem about 15 minutes to fix itself I
I go back to the site and am now able to log in with no
problem. Great! I go through the pages to make my
payment and click the final "submit" button only to end
up at ... do I really have to tell you ... "page won't display."

So I call tech support again. This time they tell me that
my problems are all because I have Service Pack 1
installed and there is now a patch I need. Security on this
site is so tight that IE with SP 1 won't work unless you
install the MS patch. (Hope you understood all the initials
in the last sentence.)

Now I don't remember installing SP 1 but then I don't
remember a lot of things so what the heck I get the
information so I can get the patch. I then go to the page
to download the answer to my problem only my
browser window hangs (you know - "program is
not responding").

After trying the front door approach to getting the
patch and having my browser hang several times
I manage to find a backdoor into the download page
so I download the patch. Unfortunately I get a
message that tells me that the patch can't be installed
unless I download SP 1.

Now I won't tell you how many times I tried to
get to the page to download SP 1 because I lost
count. I will tell you that after awhile I started sending
error reports to Microsoft because I was so frustrated
with my browser hanging on their site.

I tested my browser on other sites and was having no
problems - just the Microsoft site.

Well to make this long story short, I never did get SP 1
downloaded - never could get to the page to do it.

But ... I did pay my bill paid online and here's how.

I used my FireFox browser.

I can't tell you much about this browser since I
recently downloaded it and haven't been using it
because I don't have InstantBuzz installed on it.
What I can tell you is that when I used it to go to
the site, I logged in and paid my bill with no problem.

This is not a personal recommendation for FireFox,
at least not right now. This is a personal piece of
advice to have a second browser loaded on your
computer so you can use it when the first one fails you.

To Your Success,
Susan

I Am Starting A Test

Background for test:

I'm a big user of start page exchanges.
In fact, that's how I gained a lot of
my subscribers - both by using them and
giving away an e-book with 30 of them
along with a way to use them efficiently.

And while I no longer give the e-book
away or advertise the way to surf several
at the same time, I still do use my
method to surf 5 of them every week.

Reason for test:

Unfortunately over the last several
months I have noticed that my PC is loaded
with spyware after surfing on the start
page programs I use. I don't know if
some of it comes from all of them or
if some of it comes from some of them or
if all of it comes from one of them.

The test:

This week I am going to start a test
where I surf each of the 5 seperately
without the use of the tool that allows
me to surf multiple exchanges at the
same time. If I can identify which ones
run clean and which ones give me "crap"
I'll share the results. If I find they
all run clean that means that the tool
I use is loading the "junk" and I'll
share that info also.

To Your Success,
Susan