I used to worry about trying anything but IE.  I mean Bill Gates does actually know what is best for my computer, right?  (listen closely to the tone of my voice when I say that).  But seriously, I was a little apprehensive to try anything else.  Then a friend convinced me to try something else and I realized that just because I had Windows didn't mean programs from someone besides MicroSoft weren't good programs.

How long ago?  Does Netscape ring a bell?  Darn I'm getting old.

Anyway, back on topic, You need to look at other browsers.  It won't hurt, you might even enjoy it.  Definitely you want to try FireFox. One you learn how to right click and open a new tab you'll kick yourself for sticking with that old version of IE for so long.

Let me pause and explain that.  You open up Machinery Talk to a list of various discussions.  Scroll to the first on that interests you, right click it to open a little box that says "Open Link in New Tab" and left click it. You have the original list in one tab and the discussion in a different tab.  Up at the top of the page are tabs saying things like "Viewing a forum..." "Viewing a thread..." etc and you just click between them to change pages.

Firefox does this, Opera does this, well, I think all the new versions of everything do this.

Try FireFox and Opera and Chrome and even the latest and greatest IE if you want.  But take a deep breath and jump, because  it won't hurt your computer and you will probably find something you like.

edit: Here is what it looks like with various tabs in use.   I clicked on a few sites to demonstrate the differences. Once you get used to using tabs you'll kick yourself for waiting so long to change.

(ScreenShot020.jpg)

ScreenShot020.jpg (44KB - 83 downloads)