The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

So it's a convoluted death to celebrate, but I'm glad it's gone: Internet Explorer is kicking the bucket (moving out of support) in a few months:

While it obviously improved a lot since it's worst days ("how did I get all these toolbars?"), this program was very influential for me. In many ways it was the catalyst for my involvement here on the site and underlined so many things I try to remember about technology:

• Encourage other people to get out of their comfort zone and try something that's not default on Windows (which is more or less the goal of TPFC)
• Avoid stuff that "integrates" with your computer (again, part of my interest in portability)
• Don't rely on a single entity for using the web (now an issue with Google Chrome / Chromium)
• Don't go with the default settings -- take additional steps to protect your security
• Where possible, try to aim for open and cross-platform tools

I was a staunch user of IE for quite a long time -- starting with v3 and up to v6, spanning more than a decade.

Some time after that, I switched to Gecko based browsers like K-Melon, PaleMoon and current day SeaMonkey and I never looked back.

Considering the amount of mischief IE has enabled unto the open Internet, I'm sure very few people will mourn its demise.