I wonder what I am missing here?
I have been using Firefox since it was first released and have had no serious problems with it. Today, I am running version 29.0.1 and it is problem free. One caveat though; Adobe Flash Player can cause problems when I have multiple tabs open but this can be fixed whenever the mood takes me. In the meantime, Flash Player crashes can be dealt with by simply refreshing the affected tab.
Similarly with Thunderbird, I have used this for my emails since the year dot and have had no problems with it.
Capetonian: if you still haven't found your Google helper thing, have a look at the small window on the right of the toolbar. There will be a small arrow in there and if you click on that, you should see a list of search engine options available. Google is one of those.
ExSp33db1rd: Which particular section of HSBC were you talking to? I have used Internet Banking with HSBC for some years now, using the little button pressy thingy and have no problems. More to the point, I have always used Firefox for this and never Internet Explorer.
Finally, the best feature of Firefox, in my opinion, is the No Script add-on. Brilliant!