Focus On: Browsers

Windows partisans often rant that Linux aficionados are the driving force behind Firefox's rapid ascent. Although the concept offers a certain amount of solace to Internet Explorer fans, the truth may be more ominous for Microsoft. Email Battles analyzes its web traffic and concludes that the biggest block of Firefox adopters come from the Windows camp. Looks like Redmond has its work cut out for it.

The nineties in a nutshell: First, Mosaic begat Mozilla which begat Netscape. Next, Mosaic begat Internet Explorer. The resulting donneybrook looked to the outside world like a championship battle royale. But Microsoft chief pugilist Bill Gates saw it as a knockout. And Netscape did it to itself. As Internet Explorer 7 nears completion, a veteran Microsoftie is asking if history's about to repeat itself, this time with Microsoft facedown on the mat.

Wresting US$90 million from Google's steely grip took Dallas attorney Joel Fineberg little more than twelve months. The Texas lawyer obviously chose the right target, as Google's AdWords has been broadly reported as easy prey for pay-per-click fraud. After reading the terms of the settlement, some are left wondering if it accomplished anything at all, beyond enriching a few and limiting Google's future liabilities.

Still fighting Firefox memory leaks? Once you've exhausted all the programmatic options, you may want to cast a sharp eye toward your hardware. Question is, which changes give you the most bang for the buck? Email Battles steps you through the reasoning for each decision, then comes to a gratifying conclusion. And the best part, you won't have to move all your software and settings to a new machine.

Firefox's memory problems have been called bugs, nuisances... even features. No matter what you call it, you can manage Firefox memory enough to make the browsing platform more livable. The power users who crank out Email Battles share the extensions and tricks they deploy to keep Firefox running with 20+ over-active tabs loaded, at least 23 hours and 55 minutes per day, seven days a week.