Since I have to abandon Internet Explorer 6 I've been trying all the alternatives. I don't like Internet Explorer 7 and 8 is even worse.
As well as IE 7 and 8 I also tried Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Of those the only usable one in my opinion is Firefox, but it's still not quite right.
The one I tried last seems to be the best one of all and that is Opera.
It defaults to the font sizes that IE6 used (more or less) and in any case allows all that (and lots of other things) to be customized.
It's still a tabbed browser like all the new ones, but I am getting used to that and it's generally neater even before you customize it to remove all the bits at the top you don't need.
It also handles email though I've not tested that properly yet. The layout seemed odd, but since Windows 7 doesn't have Outlook Express or even Windows Mail I'll be needing a replacement. I was considering Thunderbird, but will give Opera's one a chance first.
It does IRC too in a fairly limited way. Also BitTorrent though again quite limited. Good enough for casual and occasional use though.
It has something called Mouse Gestureswhich I'm finding quite handy and a spelling checker too (which I need more than most 
It makes entering urls in posts by clicking the button above a little less convenient. This is a java thing which I will try and sort out, but will miss if I can't 
I still can't get used to the tabbing thing. 
What does Windows 7 expect people to do for their email? Although it doesn't really matter to me as email providers have removed the option to use Outlook Express or any download of email , so I suppose Windows 7 may as well keep up with the times. The default person is expected to use webmail.
I have Opera already for emergencies but it was a much older version so I will try the 10 and at least get it working for that day I get cut off from the internet when sites finally say you are not using 6 here. Oh no you are not. Be gone.
It is the whole awfulness of everything in having to learn all the options and all the settings that puts me off.
Panikos, you can use windows mail with Windows 7 you just have to download it as an add on
Chrissie, Thank you. I will try that next then. I bet it will be different though to Outlook Express and I will have to (As Furby says) go through learning all the differences.
Furby, you can turn off tabbed browsing in Opera. I've not done so because I want to give it a fair chance. It seems like tabs should be a better system if I can ever grow accustomed to them.
I've decided I love some of the Mouse Gestures. When turned on if I hold down the right mouse button and do a little flick to the left or right it's the same as clicking the Back/Forward buttons. This becomes natural quite quickly and seems like you are flipping back/forward a page. There are other gestures, but that's the one I'm likely to use a lot.
I'm liking Opera, especially Speed Dial, but then I quickly took to IE7 over IE6 because I love tabs.
A few annoying things - I don't like the way you can't highlight a phrase in a post I'm making and either make t a link or bold or Italic. Quite trying... but doesn't so far make me want to give up on it.
Oh and I like the Personal Info list. so you can quickly and easily add name, address, phone number etc into forms. Much quicker and easier than copy and paste from a text file and makes my competition-habit easier to support. 
I have done about 10 competitions a night for the last 3 months. And only won one prize! But it was a good one - tickets to the Men's Gymnastics Final at the O2 Dome, which STPD greatly enjoyed, having VIP seats and rubbing shoulders with famous gymnasts. (STPD is an ex-gymnast of some considerable talent. I thought Jay might inherit it and started her off on gym lessons but it was shortlived as she broke the Vaulting Horse on the first session.)
Well I'm still happy with Opera despite the problem with the posts on here that Merry mentions and one other thing. Opera does not do autocomplete in forms.
It has the Personal Data thing that Merry likes which is very handy. It's also better at handling remembered passwords/usernames than IE is. It even lets you make notes in the browser which are stored and easily accessible. Those notes can also be easily copied to a form. The autocomplete though is an annoying omission.
When searching shopping sites or other forums for example I will keep editing the keywords until I get it right. With opera it means typing them in over and over since it doesn't remember them from just now.
The developers must have thought that their Personal Data replaced that, but it's something else entirely.
Well the default person isn't interested in something else entirely are they. This is what is always comes back to, you not being the default person as decided by people who invent things. Inventors are Evil .
What are these competitions then and are there any to win free pensions, televisions or toasters? I wouldn't want the free tickets of course as I couldn't face such things.
I am very impressed with the cleverness of Merrys children.
Music, Gymnastics, Horses, Chemists , they have a very long list between them don't they.
Competitions!
Ooh yes Furby, LOTS to win - free toasters, televisions etc! (the only thing is, I haven't actually won any of those things yet despite three months of trying but ... 
As they say You Have to be In It to Win It and Someone Has To and all that.) I started doing them because many people on Jay's Horse Forum do them daily and report regular wins of everything from boxes of cereal to the odd TV or car!
If you want a peek go to Prizefinder and click on Closing Soon on the left-hand side of the page. (Doing only the Closing Soon ones every day, for the day two days ahead, is a good way to organise yourself and make it manageable or you will quickly drown in links and in remembering which ones you've done already.)
I do register if you have to register on a site to enter, and I won't touch anything which involves doing a survey, or anything which I actually don't want to win (like rock concert tickets), I never input my mobile number if it insists on one (most don't) and I use a special email address for competitions that I can ditch if it gets spammed, though that hasn't happened so far (you do have to accept some email Newsletters and things for some of the competitions but I just unsubscribe if I get fed up with them.)
Be sure to UNtick (or tick, as the case may be) anything that says 'oh just tick here to "receive offers of interest we have carefully selected for you from third parties" haha 
If you don't want to hand out your home address then you would have to stick to ones that request email ad. only, though that cuts out quite a lot of (oddly enough) the more obviously reputable and trustworthy comps (the Times, Telegraph etc.) I haven't noticed any increase of junk mail though and handing out my address has never caused me any probs - I think of it like entering one on the side of a cereal packet as we used to do when kids.)
I'll breathlessly report back on any more prizes won and I'll stick to it for a year to give it a fair test. It takes me roughly twenty minutes a night to do all the Closing Soons of interest so if I won a mere toaster,say, in week 52 I am not even sure that would be worth the 100 hours of my time...
As for the 'cleverness' of my girls, yes they are an able pair... it may sound like a cliche but all I want is for them to be happy and high ability and happiness don't always go hand in hand.. do they?
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Back to Opera
Wandered off topic a bit there. IN Opera News.... I am really quite annoyed with the way I highlight a word in a post and go to bold it or colour it, and the word vanishes. Really been frustrating me this morning. Not a deal breaker I guess for I am sure to get used to it and the other perks of Opera are so good, but I wrote the whole banner painstakingly with colours and so on and kept losing it when I forgot, and then lost the whole thing when I Bolded it right at the end... grrrrr
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