How to make IE suck even more

Let's face it, IE isn't the best-loved browser in the world. You wouldn't fund a two-page spread in the Times advertising IE by asking for donations - you'd barely get a "Use IE" in the local free advertising rag.

But people should appreciate what they've got. So if you're an IE user, or know somebody who is, then I thought you would like to know that, no matter how bad it may be, there are always people who have it worse.

To start with, let's take bookmarks. Let's imagine an IT department that finds out that there's a handy feature that hides bookmarks that aren't used for more than a few days. Then let's imagine that their users have many bookmarks for things like the monthly timesheet, and helpful information resources that are also used regularly, but infrequently. Let's imagine how much these users appreciate all their bookmarks vanishing because they don't use them every day.

Next, for security reasons, let's make it impossible for our users to install *any* plugins or toolbars on their PCs. Imagine how happy the users will be, secure in the knowledge that they can't install anything that will block pop-ups and pop-unders, or give them a searchbar.

For further security, let's switch off IE's ability to remember passwords for the user, so they have to remember dozens of passwords for all the different web interfaces they need to use to do their job.

Let's make the default start page the company intranet, a page that nobody ever actually looks at.

And then, lastly, let's make it impossible for the users to change *any* of these settings. For security, of course.

Ahh, the thrill I used to get every time I browsed the Web at work. The surge of adrenalin as fury ate away at my job satisfaction.

The joy of discovering the Portable Firefox project and finding out that it worked perfectly.

You can't imagine the relief. Bookmarks that stay where they're put. Popups that never appear. Adverts erased from the web. Navigation through mouse gestures. Passwords without typing. It was like going from night into day.

And that's the biggest reason that I love Firefox!