the more you surf the more you crash....
i use netscape4.75 almost exclusively, so i really can not account for the stability of internet explorer. but i can say that if you surf around the net a long time with netscape, eventually your browser will crash.
there are a ton of suggestions on what to do about these invalid page faults netscape always causes. i'd say that IPF's are the number one topic of user complaints on the netscape newsgroups.
of all the remedial steps i've taken to keep my browser 'troubles' to a minimum, i've found the following two to be the most productive, as far as fixes that stick around for awhile. nothing i've found so far is permanent, and browser crashes seem to come and go with virtually no rhyme or reason.
here are the two fixes i like best (used in conjunction with keeping cache and cookies cleaned out frequently)....
often described as 'the usual first aid': Close NetScape. Then use your file manager to delete NETSCAPE.HST and the CACHE directory (or all files therein). They will be built anew as you surf.
my personal favorite: Rebuild the NetScape REGISTRY. Back up all USERS directories (folders). Close NetScape. Rename NSREG.DAT to NSREG.BAK in c:\windows, then restart NetScape. It will prompt for a new Profile. Give it the exact name of your old Profile and it should recognize it.
in the registry rebuild fix above, i just back up the entire user folder to a jaz disk. on my system it's an 86mb file and it takes 1-2 minutes to back up. i've never had to use the backup, but we all know that that's no reason for not making them! <g3> also, be sure you know exactly what your old profile name is. you may think you know, but if you're not sure, you'll wish you'd remembered. of course, the beauty of the above rebuild is that you can undo the whole darn thing (and not even have to call on the user folder backup) simply by changing the renamed NSREG.BAK file back to NSREG.DAT.
i have a feeling that internet explorer does not crash as often as netscape. maybe someone can address that for us. but as long as i have what i consider to be fairly effective remedies on hand such as the above mentioned, i just like netscape too much to switch.
:)
mark |
