Using Multiple Browsers and Disabling Automatic Browser Updates to Solve Website Issues

When is upgrading your browser a bad thing? Most of the time I’d say. Why? Because website, blogs, and plugins you use don’t get upgraded with the browser.

If you are using your browser to enter sweepstakes and you have a plugin such as Roboform or some other form filler installed that plugin will not get upgraded with your browser. A plugin or add-on is considered third party and you have to wait, months sometimes, for that third party company to figure out that their plugin won’t work with the new version of the browser and then make changes.

My suggestion? Don’t upgrade unless absolutely necessary. All of the cool features and changes the browser companies put into their new version aren’t tested to work with all of the website blogs, and plugins already out there so it is best to wait until the dust settles on that new browser version before upgrading.

I am so far behind in my browser upgrade that I am still using Firefox version 3.5.19 and Internet Explorer 8.0

My Motto? Don’t upgrade if you don’t have to. I don’t even upgrade Flash if I don’t have to. Some sweepstakes want you to upgrade to the latest and greatest Flash and I just switch to Internet Explorer and they work fine.

By default a browser is set to automatically upgrade or ask you if you want to upgrade. You can disable this feature with just a few clicks.

These instructions are for a Windows-based computer.

How to Disable Internet Explorer Automatic Updates:

1. Click the Start Menu
2. Click the Control Panel
3. Click the System and Security link (Windows 7)
4. Turn Automatic Updating on and off (Set to download and ask)

The next time your computer gets new updates for Windows you will get a notice about what to install. Click to view the options and deselect the next version of Internet Explorer they offer. This way it will not download and install automatically.

How to Disable Firefox Automatic Updates:

1. Open Firefox
2. Click the Tools Menu (top of the screen)
3. Click Options.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Click next to, Ask me what I want to do, under When updates to Firefox are found.
6. Click OK.

If you updated Internet Explorer or Firefox and a website won’t load properly try to use the Windows Restore feature to roll it back to the previous version that worked.

Next way to ensure you will also be able to enter sweepstakes even if the website or Facebook won’t corporate and load properly.

Install Multiple Browsers on your computer!

Currently I have Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari installed. If one doesn’t load a site properly I open up another and try it and it almost always solves the problem. The reason again is not every website or blog designer can spend the time making sure their site is compatible for all browsers. Flash sites are a huge problem and so is Facebook and I end up using Internet Explorer a lot of time because while Firefox used to be the best browser for all types of sites I found that it doesn’t work well with Flash.

Here are the links to download each of the browsers mentioned.

A couple of great places to get older version of any browser or free software is OldApps (Windows & Mac) and VersionDownload

• Mozilla Firefox: www.firefox.com
• Internet Explorer: www.microsoft.com/ie
• Google Chrome: www.google.com/chrome
• Apple Safari (PC and MAC): www.apple.com/safari
• Opera: www.opera.com