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