And Edelweiss, I sure agree with what you said. When I ask a true tech person a question, I always get, "Well...." but not a whole answer. I have asked several to let me pay them to give me lessons, but no takers. The most I get is one piece of an answer, which doesn't always help.

I'm lucky in that two of my best friends are serious tech nerds, on computers for over 20 years. One of them is an elite level programmer who knows pretty much everything. If I have questions I go to one of them, although I try not to abuse the privilege and have them do it for me. Rather I ask them to steer me in the right direction, and I'll ask more if necessary. I've also spent a lot of computer time self-educating.

I have 3 browsers on my computer. (yahoo came with DSL but I only use it to play games *ahem.*) When I boot up, all browsers are on my desktop but none is active.

I click and open whichever browser I want. Yes, it's possible to have all 3 running at once. Each browser operates in its own window(s) and does not interact with the others.

Pat, Outlook is a proprietary program of Microsoft which also owns IE. So if you click on a link in an email in Outlook, it immediately goes to IE because that's how it's programmed.

Oh, and whoever asked (I'm in editing box so can't see prior posts) -- you need a good anti-virus program, because your BROWSER isn't the only part of your computer. Firefox may not have the bugs of IE but it can't protect your hard drive.

Pat, minimize the applications you have open
and get to your desktop.
Below is an image of my desktop where you can see the icons for IE and Firefox.
You can also see (barely) the two icons on the task bar.

What icons do you have on your desktop and in your task bar?

Lest I sound ungrateful, and I probably did, tech people have been more than generous to me, and it's certainly not their fault that I lack the background necessary to put their wise words to best use.

Meredithbead (love that name) I get what you're saying! Thank you.

And gims, I see what you mean! The only browser icon I have right now is IE, but when I download Firefox, it will make a desktop icon to use. Thank you.

You know, I feel like Helen Keller, when Annie Sullivan kept running the water over her hands. "Browser, browser!" If I ever get another dog, I think I'll name him/her Browser.

Just as soon as I work up the nerve to do it, I'll download Firefox.

Pat, I have used Firefox since it first came out, and I use it all the time. There are lots of neat things on the Mozilla page you can use to dress it up (or down) such as themes and other wondrous items. Their help section is also great - I used it a lot at first and still do sometimes.

Yes, you can have it create an icon for your desktop and you can drag a copy of the icon to your task bar... then you can open IE and/or Firefox from either icon.

Downloading Firefox is up to you. I will not encourage or discourage it. But, it is more secure than IE, in many ways, even though IE is catching up. When you have an IE window open, click on HELP, then "About Internet Explorer," last item on the drop down menu. A small window should pop open, giving you the version of IE on you computer. You want to have version 7, at least.

Meredith, I also have three browsers. I have AOL, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. I almost always use IE. I only use AOL when I check an occasional email on that. And I use Firefox when I'm working iwth my Web master because she's an Apple gal and encourages me to look at her changes to my site on the browser she's using at the time.

I have heard that playing online games and browsing music download sites is horrible for your computer. At one time, before the kids all went to college and had their own lap tops, we had a family pc. We were forever having issues. Our computer geek told us we needed to keep the kids off the music and games sites. I don't do any music or game sites and I never have a problem. I run my virus scan nightly so that helps.

Hey gims,
I have a lot of those slipper-dropping days!

You guys were right - my Internet Explorer was a few versions behind! Got it updated, and it does seem to work a lot better (imagine that). xoxo