A Review Of The Different Internet Browsers Available

There are many internet browsers and each person has a favorite. However the most popular internet browser is Internet Explorer or IE. This comes pre-installed along with the Windows package on the computer.

Internet Explorer

IE is an excellent browser, but the problem one has always faced with IE is that it was vulnerable to hackers who used this as a platform to release nasty viruses and spyware. These days’ people are simply switching to others. The reason of course is that users want to surf the net, without the fear in their minds that their computer will not be hacked into

Firefox

The main competitor of Internet Explorer is Firefox. It is a much faster browser. It has always been the favorite of many who love tabbed browsing. It has many other features that are user friendly and not given with IE

The design is simple, the browsing is fast and it is safe. This internet browser blocks pop ups, and protects against viruses and other nasties that trawl the internet. Moreover Firefox does not get hijacked. Problems that arise are quickly solved as patches are released. Since it blocks spyware, your computer runs faster and smoother. Firefox, has other neat features like live bookmarks, automatic software updates, and you can even customize your browser.

The only downside is that certain web pages can not be opened since Firefox does not have ActiveX

Opera

Opera is one of the more popular browsers. It offers faster uploads, and so it is preferred by people who are still working on dial up connections. This makes browsing faster and smoother. Internet Explorer’s slow speed makes web surfing test the patience of a saint! Opera is sleek and comes with lots of features like tabbed browsing and a pop up blocker. You can choose whether you want to run Java applets or not. For faster browsing you can turn these off. It does disable certain JavaScript functions but it’s a small sacrifice for that valuable internet speed. If you want fast browsing, you must go with Opera. Now Opera is free and that is a big plus. Another thing is that it has never been breached, so you can feel safe. However opera may not be able to display certain web pages.

Google Chrome

Again this internet browser offers a huge improvement in speed and browsing. It has a huge screen and the tabs are arranged so as to save space. It comes with a pop up blocker, you can surf in an incognito mode. The time saving idea of showing snap shots of pages you visit whenever you open a new tab is great. It also has a integrated search bar. It is a winner in terms of speed and versatile too.

Safari

Safari comes with the Mac. It has tabbed browsing and a Google search box, and an automatic pop up blocker. It is sleek and fast.

These days the demand is for faster browsing experience and these alternative internet browsers offer a more satisfying browsing experience.

Internet Browser: The New IE8

Internet Explorer 8 has taken on its closest rival Firefox 3 head on with its nifty features. It has better tab handling, a smarter search bar and address bar and many new tools. It has also got a nifty feature for anonymous surfing (often called Porn mode) and security tools. However, I can almost sense cynicism from those who abandoned IE for Firefox, Opera or Chrome.

Yes the older IE was clunkier and it inundated your computer with spyware and popups. I can remember the browser hijacks that happened! But the new IE8 is much better.

Tabbed Browsing The tabs are a huge improvement for people accustomed to the alternate browsers like Firefox and Opera. IE handles the tabs well, the new one opening right next to the one you are working on, and in the same color. The color coding saves a lot of time if you require referencing. You can also move a tab by simply dragging it.

You can re-open tabs by pressing Ctrl-Shift-T and see the recently closed tabs by right clicking any tab and pick the one you want reopened. Moreover if a tab crashes it does not affect the others.

Like Chrome and Firefox, it has an integrated search box that searches the Web, RSS feeds, Favorites and your browsing history.

New Features This internet browser has Accelerators and Web Slices. Accelerators display feeds from other websites as a popup on your page or in another tab. All you need to do is highlight that link.

Security Finally makers of this internet browser have heard the cries of people who were suffering. Microsoft has installed something it calls SmartScreen Filter that has anti phishing capabilities and issues malware warnings. It blocks cross scripting attacks and protects against malicious ActiveX. Microsoft has claimed that it IE8 offers protection against clickjacking. Clickjacking is when hackers put an invisible code under a legitimate one. Once you click it, spyware gets installed.

Of course what has got people talking is the InPrivate browsing or the porn mode. When you browse the net in this mode, no browsing history, cookies or passwords are stored by the browser.

You can select the cookies you want deleted. This is innovative and convenient. You have an option where you can select to preserve the favorite websites data, so that when you delete your browsing history, certain data is preserved.

Search Bar It actually previews the website. When the IE8 gives you the initial results of your search, if the provider has any special graphics added, it shows up as a thumbnail which makes the search easy.

As far as internet browsers go, IE8 is smoother and faster than the IE7. However, it is just at par with Firefox. For simple browsing IE8 is a great option, it has better tab systems and a great search box and niftier features that Firefox doesn’t have, the accelerator, malware protection and of course the porn mode.

However, what it does not have is the add ons that Firefox users are accustomed to. However for basic browsing, this internet browser is far better.