How many programs do you have open?

[BicycleTree]

Right now my Start bar contains 29 windows, most of them Internet Explorer, but also a couple for ZoneAlarm, a Paint program, my ISP, Norton antivirus, two My Computer windows, an image viewer, Eclipse, Calculator, and Notepad.

 

[Moonbear]

I couldn't imagine trying to keep track of that many windows on IE. I stop opening new web pages when the tabs start stretching all the way across the top of my browswer window. But I also keep my task bar hidden so I don't have it distracting me or getting in the way of what I want to read (small screen, no room for clutter).

Right now, I'm not doing any work (though will be heading there soon), so I just have Safari and Mail open. I should report back on a day when I'm working on a manuscript or grant and have everything in Office open, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Safari, Mail, EndNote, Calculator, Calendar, iTunes (essential for writing grants), Print Center, sometimes Image Capture, and usually Netware. Once in a while, I add ImageJ to that, but do more of my image analysis on the dept PCs that run MetaMorph, and usually that's all completed before I get into doing something that would require juggling files in all those other applications. Sometimes it's just easier to print everything so I can see it all at the same time.

 

[BobG]

Right now, I only have one window open, but that's a rarity. When I'm actually working on something, I usually have so many open I don't even want to count. I like my toolbar at work - each one may get really small, but it's still right where you can click on it (believe it or not, I can usually remember which is which even when they're too skinny to read). At home, they tend to get layered, which can be kind of a pain, but I don't get that many open at one time nearly as often, either.

 

[JamesU]

Right now my Start bar contains 29 windows, most of them Internet Explorer, but also a couple for ZoneAlarm, a Paint program, my ISP, Norton antivirus, two My Computer windows, an image viewer, Eclipse, Calculator, and Notepad.

A few minutes ago I had 2 internet explorer bars, jasc paint shop pro9, microsoft word, an a norton antivirus notification. But my internet browser stopped working, so I had to restart my computer.

Even though I put a , yours still deserves one

 

[cronxeh]

12.

CAD (solidedge), 2 calculators, matlab, steam, 4 firefox (including this one), 2 aim windows, ssh (putty)

 

[mattmns]

I rarely have more than 5 open. Currently I have 2 open: Opera and Winamp.

 

[JamesU]

12.

CAD (solidedge), 2 calculators, matlab, steam, 4 firefox (including this one), 2 aim windows, ssh (putty)

firefox sucks go IE!

 

[Artman]

Right now my Start bar contains 29 windows, most of them Internet Explorer, but also a couple for ZoneAlarm, a Paint program, my ISP, Norton antivirus, two My Computer windows, an image viewer, Eclipse, Calculator, and Notepad.

I use netscape. It has tabs for each new internet path so the program is only open once.

I currently don't have any others open.

 

[JamesU]

I use netscape. It has tabs for each new internet path so the program is only open once.

I currently don't have any others open.

Does netscape have sound?

 

[Someone502]

firefox sucks go IE!

Firefox is the BEST. i don't know what your thinking.

 

[Evo]

If I'm working, I usually have too many IE windows open to count because I access most of what I need through the company intranet. I will always have Outlook, Word and Excel open, and sometimes Power Point.

 

[wasteofo2]

WMP, IE, Trillian

 

[motai]

I usually try to keep the taskbar as little cluttered as possible, but there have been times when it just overflows to two or three levels. It is a combination of explorer, winamp, IM boxes, random software, and lots and lots of IE windows all over the place.

 

[BicycleTree]

I actually keep my Start bar at a default of 2 levels high, because I don't like to scroll.

 

[hypatia]

I have windows, my shop invoice program and Excel

 

[Smurf]

iTunes, MSN, Norton Anti-Virus, Norton Password manager, Answers, Paintshop pro, daemon tools, ares, winrar, regedit, and 2 openoffice programs.

Edit: And IE

 

[dextercioby]

IE,Yahoo Messenger,WinDjvu,Ghostview (and sometimes Acrobat Reader,too),Windows Explorer.More than that and Windows dies...

Daniel.

 

[Data]

Once you start using Firefox, it's essentially impossible to bring yourself to use a computer with only IE, so I advise not to get it

Anyway, usually a few dozen Firefox windows, at least one instance of Maple, possibly a TeX IDE, and winamp.

 

[cronxeh]

IE.. HAHHA you are funny (or is it not-so-smart?)

I have winamp running on my second computer (as well as AverTV and SETI@Home)

 

[franznietzsche]

I rarely have more than five open. No reason too. Of course, if you count Firefox tabs as individual windows, sometimes i have as many as 30. Currently, only 3.

 

[franznietzsche]

Once you start using Firefox, it's essentially impossible to bring yourself to use a computer with only IE, so I advise not to get it

Anyway, usually a few dozen Firefox windows, at least one instance of Maple, possibly a TeX IDE, and winamp.

What kind of advice is that??

What you're suppsoed to do is then get everyone who's computer you use to switch over.

 

[mattmns]

It is amazing how many people here use IE. I would have thought, this being a science community, that there would be very few people who use IE.

 

[BicycleTree]

Personally I use IE because I don't care so much about what particular software I use so long as it does the job. Once your software is functional, unless there's a truly dramatic improvement to be had, there's no reason to upgrade.

 

[franznietzsche]

Personally I use IE because I don't care so much about what particular software I use so long as it does the job. Once your software is functional, unless there's a truly dramatic improvement to be had, there's no reason to upgrade.

IE--Allows a website to take control of your computer.

Firefox--doesn't

Is that a dramatic enough improvement?

I'll never forget the look on my mother's eyes when her cd-drive started opening and closing itself while she was browsing the web. Good times, good times.

 

[BicycleTree]

Well, I never had that happen to me, and anyway I have ZoneAlarm to block unauthorized traffic. I have gotten computer viruses (and still have them) but through Messenger Service, not IE, and that bug has been fixed, although since I have ZoneAlarm I have yet to download the fix.

 

[franznietzsche]

Well, I never had that happen to me, and anyway I have ZoneAlarm to block unauthorized traffic. I have gotten computer viruses (and still have them) but through Messenger Service, not IE, and that bug has been fixed, although since I have ZoneAlarm I have yet to download the fix.

Zone Alarm can't stop the browser from taking over the computer, because zone Alarm only blocks ports your programs aren't using(as any firewall is supposed to). But when a website uses IE to take control, it uses the port allowed by ZoneAlarm.

 

[BicycleTree]

Well, it has not happened to me. Maybe you're talking about an old version of IE.

 

[mattmns]

Well IE has been version 6 for almost 4 years, so I doubt it.

Here is secunia's securit report on IE 6 (the current version with all security patches, iirc): http://secunia.com/product/11/

 

[BicycleTree]

Two speculative severe problems. In both cases the wording is that it "may" allow arbitrary code execution; they did not say they had confirmed this. They had confirmed that there is a problem but not that it definitely can be used for arbitrary code execution.
http://secunia.com/advisories/14820/
Firefox isn't perfect either.

 

[mattmns]

That bug has already been fixed, scroll down a bit.

Solution:
Update to version 1.0.3.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Firefox's report from secunia: http://secunia.com/product/4227/

However, you are right, firefox is not perfect either. I personally do not use firefox, but I do think that firefox is much better than IE.

 

[franznietzsche]

They had confirmed that there is a problem but not that it definitely can be used for arbitrary code execution.

I can tell you from experience, it can definitely be used for arbitrary code execution.

Of course, i no longer run IE (hardly run Windows for that matter) so its not an issue.

 

[Danger]

I have no bloody idea what Firefox is, other than a great book and movie. Same for IE, except for the book and movie part.
My system memory is extremely low, so I keep it to a minimum. I'm currently on Explorer, Photoshop 6, Finder, and PictureViewer. Sometimes Illustrator, when I'm working on one of the cartoons or a diagram to make it postable.

 

[Huckleberry]

Huck at your 6 again. I think IE is an acronym for Internet Explorer. I don't know what Firefox is though. I don't think it's anything I've ever used.

I keep two or three IE windows open. Hardly have a need for anything else. Those damn popups accumulate in my task bar if I don't keep on top of them.
oh, there's one now!

 

[BicycleTree]

Franz, you're a security expert who is positive exactly which flaw was causing the problems you described?

 

[Danger]

Huck at your 6 again. I think IE is an acronym for Internet Explorer.

Thanks again. I try to keep those windows to a minimum as well. I've had up to about 15 or so, but then it tells me I don't have enough memory to go farther.

 

[Moonbear]

Thanks again. I try to keep those windows to a minimum as well. I've had up to about 15 or so, but then it tells me I don't have enough memory to go farther.

You don't have as much to worry about, between running a Mac, and using such an old OS on that Mac, it's highly unlikely anyone is bothering to write viruses for it anymore or that there are enough other users left with that OS to spread around any existing viruses. Sometimes it's good to be behind the times.

Firefox is another browser. I've been warned that the version for Macs is not very good (and I don't know if it would run on anything earlier than OS X anyway), so either stick with explorer or when you upgrade someday, you'll get Safari with newer operating systems. That's not perfect either, but I've grown to like it better than explorer.

 

[Danger]

either stick with explorer or when you upgrade someday, you'll get Safari with newer operating systems. That's not perfect either, but I've grown to like it better than explorer.

Thanks for the info. I also have Netscape Navigator 4.7 on here, but I didn't like it any time I tried it.