Nescape 6 Issues

All of us are dissatisfied with a sloppy performance and instabilty of the Netscape browser (4.xx). We have been expecting a next version based on the Open Code Project Mozilla. Now Netscape/AOL has announced the Version 6.0 this November.

This official release is still very raw and its interface is not quite completed. More advanced versions of Netscape will result from the ongoing effort of the Open Code Project Mozilla where the new builds of the browser appear almost every night

The email client in NS 6.0 allows multiple email accounts.

It has been noticed that when you install NS 6.0, it frequently crashes forcing repeated download connections. When the install crashes, it may delete the file NETSCAPE.EXE of NS 4.x that still exists on the computer. It is better to take the NS 6.0 installation from our local file (24 MB).

NS 6.0 peacefully coexists with NS 4.x on your computer and you may leave the older version, particularly because you may get dissatisfied with NS 6.0. If you use Netscape Calendar then you must retain NS 4.7 on your computer because the new version of Netscape does not integrate the Calendar.

The browser is somewhat faster than NS 4.x but much slower than it was in NS 3.x. You still have to wait quite some time after hitting the BACK button. NS 6.0 loads a very long time and takes a big chunk of RAM. Crashes and freezes occur.

VCU Academic Technology does not recommend installing and using Netscape 6

Frequently Asked Questions about NS 6.0.

Netscape Unofficial FAQ

Netscape 6 Tips

NETSCAPE SOLUTIONS - VERSIONS 4.x & 6.x

How to uninstall NS 6 (not an easy job)

The bottom line: do not install Netscape 6.x

If you want a really fast Internet browser, try Opera.

Opera 6 is the current version now, it is freeware with ads or you can get rid of ads after paying registration. The ads are said to be very inobtrusive.

Opera's design principle is strict compliance with standards. But first, many web sites are developed with outraging violation of the Web Standards. Second, the web browsers, in their turn, do not completely support these standards. Microsoft "rules" by violation of many rules. Mozilla -- the base of Netscape 6.0 -- is recognized to be the best standard-compliant. Netscape 4.x lags far behind the current standards. Opera 6.0 still does not support the complete DOM (Document Object Module). My observations show that these two standard-compliant browsers fail on the same improperly designed pages.

Many of the existing problems have been fixed in Opera 6.01. VACU and many other banks may be accessed with Opera.

Opera is quite different from the other browsers. It feels like a Ferrari sporting car compared to a 1930's station wagon. Although you will need to learn how to shift gears in a sporting car!

Opera 6 may be recommended to be used as a primary browser while keeping Netscape 4.79 for browsing web sites containig poorly programmed forms or guilty in minorities discrimination.

Here is a fragment of correspondence at Opera newsgroups:

        Bernie Bildman  wrote:
>Hi everyone, been using Netscape for eons now, I like it, it works
>for me. But yesterday I installed Opera 5.02, and it is truly a
>cosmic program...it's fast efficient and VERY stable. It can
>co-exist with Netscape, and as there are a few issues still
>unresolved for me, I can always boot up NS and go with it.
>
>Thanks to the developers, and the community!

Welcome Bernie.  It seems, netscape 6 has done a great deal of
good... for opera. ;)
  Brett Tabke

        

Worldwide downloads statistics shows that there are more downloads of Opera than of Netscape 6.0

I will expand this section with getting more experience on Opera 5.

The bottom line: it will be the end of Netscape.

Do not think that Internet Explorer is freeware -- you pay for it when you buy the license for Windows Operating System. Internet Explorer loads with your operating system, and is always present in you RAM. It slows down your computer operation. Microsoft made it appear to be impossible to uninstall Internet Expolorer because of this integration with the operating system. This "integration" is one of the main reasons of the US Court judgement against Microsoft.

Everybody is advised to remove Internet Explorer to make the computer work faster -- use 98Lite!  Internet Explorer Eradicator from this site, a very small download (~300 kB), will regain you dozens of Megabytes on your hard drive and the computer will become appreatively faster.

VCU Academic Technology does not recommend using MS Internet Explorer because of the security issues.

If you wish to see what a malicious web server may do with your computer when you touch it with MS Internet Explorer, click here to download a listing of the security holes that you may try yourself. This test will do you no harm, you will only ascertain yourself that the bad guys can erase all your files or replace your administrative password thus locking you out from your computer forever.

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