I don’t use Microsoft Windows. The bugs, viruses and pop-up ads that plague Windows users would drive me crazy. Actually, they drive me crazy anyway, because being my family’s only techie means that I am often asked to act as a surrogate customer service representative for Microsoft.

Recently, my neighbors started having problems with their Windows machines. Then my girlfriend started having similar problems. The system would slow down, refuse to connect to the Internet, and would generally behave unpredictably. My solution was to install Mozilla Firefox, a web browser that traces its lineage back to Netscape. (Remember them?)

Since replacing Internet Explorer with Firefox, the problems have gone away. (Note, however, that viruses can also be transmitted by e-mail, so don’t open any attachments unless you know exactly what you’re doing.)

Apparently, I’m not alone in recommending that people stop using flawed Microsoft products like Internet Explorer: today, I read that the Department of Homeland Security is suggesting that people avoid using IE:

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team touched off a storm this week when it recommended for security reasons using browsers other than Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer.

The Microsoft browser, the government warned, cannot protect against vulnerabilities in its Internet Information Services (IIS) 5 server programs, which a team of hackers allegedly based in Russia has exploited with a Java script that is appended to Web sites.

The particular virus initiated this week inserts Java script into certain Web sites. When users visit those sites, it initiates pop-up ads on home and office computers, and allows keystroke analysis of user information. The target is believed to be credit card numbers. CERT estimated that as many as tens of thousands of Web sites may be affected.

If you have to use Microsoft Windows, I would very strongly recommend against Internet Explorer. And, if you have the luxury of choosing which operating system you use, try Apple’s Macintosh OS X, and you’ll see what computing is like when you don’t have to constantly fight your computer. Apple’s Safari web browser—included with Mac OS X—is excellent.