Review of Browsers

A Browser is a software that lets you browse the Internet, perform searches over search engines like Google/ Yahoo/ MSN, etc., as well as do other online tasks. Today, all Browsers are free software but there was a time when you had to purchase a Browser, much like you still purchase AntiVirus and AntiSpyware software. Today, every Computer is connected to the Internet and therefore, it is a must for Computers to have a Browser installed on it, just like every Computer has to have an Operating System installed on it.

Why is the Browser so important, where Computer Security is concerned?

Today, it is almost impossible to find a Computer that is not connected to the Internet. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to state that the Browser is now almost as important as the Operating System! Moreover, it is your Browser that interfaces your Computer to the wild, wicked Internet, which is home to viruses, spyware and other dangerous and not-dangerous-flotsam. If these get past your Browser, you would be dependant on your Operating System, AntiVirus and AntiSpyware to stop the malignant code from executing on your Computer and ruining it! Some of these malignant code could ruin your personal finances too! Thus, your Browser is extremely important, where your Computer's security and your peace of mind are concerned!

Will taking care of the Browser take care of all Security issues?

No, though that would have been wonderful! As it turns out, it is important to take care of each of the following, so as to ensure maximum-possible security:

Note that you need to do ALL THE ABOVE - not just one or more of the above, to ensure a healthy, safe and trouble-free computing experience at all times!

Currently, what are the features that a 'Great' Browser should have?

One issue above all has lead to the development and refining of Browsers in the past ten years or so. We have talked about security threats such as Phishing in other pages as well. Phishing is when a popular website's URL is 'hijacked', so that when a visitor types in the site's URL, (s)he is taken to the hijacked site instead! Usually, the hijacked site looks and feels exactly like the original, genuine site. Therefore, visitors may be easily lured into parting with their personal information, which would then be put to use by the developers of the phished site for misusing the visitor's Bank account, Credit Card and/ or Paypal and other online payment accounts! Browsers today need to protect users from Phishing, Hacking and other modern-day nightmares.

Building security into the Browser has in turn caused them to bloat in size: today's Browsers are two to three times as large in size as their early versions! The fall-out of large-sized Browsers is the extra time it takes to start up. While the issue of Computer Security cannot be compromised today, it is also important for users that their Browser loads up reasonably fast!

But then, larger-sized Browsers lead to greater complexity, potentially causing frequent crashes/ freezes. Needless to state, no one really relishes a piece of software that crashes/ freezes time and again! Therefore, Browsers need to be rock-steady in terms of their performance as well.

As an Internet surfer, you would be visiting some sites a lot more frequently than others. Today's Browsers therefore need to manage your "Favorite sites" with aplomb! Browsers today tackle this by incorporating different features: the earlier method of creating a list of "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" is definitely passé!

Today, Browsers also need to block advertisements (Pop-ups, Pop-unders and others of their ilk), for, most users find them not merely distracting, but downright annoying! Browsers therefore need to provide the option for viewing/ hiding advertisements from users, as they surf the Internet.

Browsers today also need to do a lot more than safely take you to the sites you want to visit: there are websites/ e-Mail Accounts/ Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Newsletter subscriptions that users opt for, apart from membership to sites that let you log in only after you type in your username and password - for example, Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, etc. Remembering tens (maybe even hundreds) of passwords and usernames is something that the Browser of today needs to be perfectly capable of handling!

You have different kinds of visitors using the Internet today, each set with different requirements from their Browser. This is not really a recent phenomena, though Browser developers have only recently begun to develop Browsers for segmented niches. For example, students, academicians and researchers would naturally need a robust Search feature from their choice of Browser, while Web Developers would want that their Browser correctly display the web pages they create. On the other hand, an online marketing professional would want to know a site's standing (its Google Page Rank, Alexa Ranking, etc.) at the click of a button (perhaps without the click even!) Today's Browsers therefore need to segment the market and cater to the needs of the niche they intend catering to!

We at WellOiledPC are clearly not surprised at the burgeoning number of Browsers today, for the market is not merely segmenting quickly, each niche is also growing at exponential rates and demanding their favorite set of features from Browsers!

To summarize, here are the features that a 'Great' Browser needs to have, today:

What are the Browsers available today?

We at WellOiledPC have a special corner for Browsers. Maybe even an obsession. Would you believe us if we told you that we use all the following Windows-based Browsers - and use them all fairly regularly too? Do believe us, it is the truth...! It does help that today, all Browsers are free: we couldn't have checked, leave alone run TEN different Browsers at the same time, if they weren't all free! Well, here is the list of Browsers, along with the current versions that we use - all of them being the latest versions as on date:

Think us crazy? Well, our defense is that we do need to test our site (and the sites we build for our clients) on all Browsers... we also love reviewing software... and (here is the truth) frankly, we confess we're unable to make up our mind on the best Browser yet... :)

Which is the best Browser?

Honestly, all the above Browsers are very good. In fact, we wish there was a Browser that was distinctly superior to the others! So, instead of a traditional 'software shoot-out', we describe each Browser and let you decide what works best for you! We do it alphabetically: the Table below presents our summary analysis, while a click on each of the Browser logos will take you to our detailed analysis of the Browser concerned!

Browsers Comparison
Browser	Download Size	Setup Ease	Startup Speed	Crashes/ Freezes	Aesthetic Value	Features Innovation	Comments
	Setup file ~ 22.4 MB. Installed folder ~ 60 MB	Easy	Extremely fast	Very Stable. In terms of build, Safari is the best, we opine.	Simply the best, in the looks department!	Watch this space! We mean it!	Needs a bit of adjusting to, if you are an old hand at using Browsers. Great choice if you are changing over from the Mac. Great choice if you like experimenting too. And if you DO change over, you may not want to go back to your old Browser!
Apple Safari for Windows	Setup file ~ 22.4 MB. Installed folder ~ 60 MB	Easy	Extremely fast		Simply the best, in the looks department!	Watch this space! We mean it!
	Setup file size not known. Installed folder ~ 70 MB	Easy	Chrome and CometBird are easily the fastest of them all	So far, so good... extended testing is on, stay tuned for our verdict!	Very frugal looks that maximize screen area	Has all features of the other Browsers, including Opera's Speed Dial and Firefox/ Flock's URL AutoComplete feature	Needs zero adjusting to, has clean interface and a number of features. Lack of Plug-ins will, we hope, be compensated quickly, with Google behind this Browser!
Google Chrome	Setup file size not known. Installed folder ~ 70 MB	Easy	Chrome and CometBird are easily the fastest of them all		Very frugal looks that maximize screen area
	Setup file size ~ 5.4 MB. Installed folder ~ 17.5 MB	Easy	Impressively quick, even when it is not set up as the default Browser!	Extensive testing is on at our end; results so far are very impressive indeed, we are impressed!	Different and pleasing looks!	Seems to have almost everything the heart could desire for... stay tuned for updates!	Check this space for a detailed review of Maxthon!
	Setup file size ~ 5.4 MB. Installed folder ~ 17.5 MB	Easy			Different and pleasing looks!		Check this space for a detailed review of Maxthon!
	Setup file ~ 15 MB. Installed folder ~ 4 MB, with other files strewn across your hard disk!	Easy	Not the fastest, by any stretch of imagination!	Crashes & Freezes, thanks to unceasing targeting by hackers	Drab looks, long in the tooth now. Beta Version 8 too has the same looks...	Eh, what does Innovation mean, how is it spelt?	Stick with it if you aren’t tired of its looks. But ensure that your System Security Software, Anti-Phishing and Security software is always up-to-date!
Microsoft Internet Explorer		Easy	Not the fastest, by any stretch of imagination!	Crashes & Freezes, thanks to unceasing targeting by hackers		Eh, what does Innovation mean, how is it spelt?
	Setup file ~ 8 MB. Installed Folder ~ 30 MB	Easy	As fast as Chrome and that means, right at top speed!	Looks very good so far! Consumes less memory in comparison with Firefox, yet we faced memory leakage at least once!	Sooo-very similar to Firefox in terms of looks and features	Seems to have everything that Firefox has, except for Norton 360 support...	Dislike Internet Explorer, find Firefox too slow to start up, yet love Firefox for its Plug-ins? Then Comet Bird could be for you!
Mozilla CometBird	Setup file ~ 8 MB. Installed Folder ~ 30 MB	Easy	As fast as Chrome and that means, right at top speed!		Sooo-very similar to Firefox in terms of looks and features
	Setup file ~7 MB. Installed folder ~ 27 MB	Easy	Ought to be faster!	Unstable in the past. Version 3 onwards is rock-stable and Version 3.2 onwards appears to have corrected the memory leakage problem too. Earlier, shutting Firefox down and pressing Control-Alt-Delete found it running still, in the Windows Task Manager!	Pleasing to view and use	Excellent!	Check it out, you could get addicted to it!
Mozilla Firefox	Setup file ~7 MB. Installed folder ~ 27 MB	Easy	Ought to be faster!		Pleasing to view and use	Excellent!	Check it out, you could get addicted to it!
	Setup file ~11 MB. Installed folder ~ 31 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable	Beautiful looks, easy interface. Next best to Safari.	Social Networking features, links to popular social networking sites	Check it out - even if you aren't into Social Networking! If you have a GMail account though, you might need to tamper with the default settings, to get it to work with GMail! Beta version 2.0 has a few bugs which need correction, though Version 1.2 works just fine!
Mozilla Flock	Setup file ~11 MB. Installed folder ~ 31 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable	Beautiful looks, easy interface. Next best to Safari.
	Setup file ~ 13 MB. Installed folder ~ 39 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable	Beautiful looks, a few customization Plug-ins are available too	Separate Plug-ins, a-la Firefox. Much fewer Plug-ins, in comparison with Firefox	Check it out - its fast and is an all-in-one Internet Suite, that beginners as well as old hands could get to like!
Mozilla SeaMonkey	Setup file ~ 13 MB. Installed folder ~ 39 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable
	Setup file ~5.5 MB. Navigator is now discontinued	Easy	Fast	Very Stable	Preceded only by Safari and Flock	Very Innovative in the past, have lost it now... Have now discontinued the product	Product is now discontinued
Netscape Navigator	Setup file ~5.5 MB. Navigator is now discontinued	Easy	Fast	Very Stable	Preceded only by Safari and Flock		Product is now discontinued
	Setup file ~5.5 MB. Installed folder ~ 10 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable	Refreshing change	Working real hard at it & it shows. Surprisingly, haven't ironed out the problem with GMail, yet!	'Stricter' with HTML, than other Browsers - watch out for glitches while running Java code! And what about GMail???
Opera	Setup file ~5.5 MB. Installed folder ~ 10 MB	Easy	Very fast indeed!	Very Stable	Refreshing change

Phew - so are we any wiser now with respect to the best Browser? Each of the Browsers has it's good points, each has negatives too. This is quite natural when one tries to compare five extremely competent software in a closely-fought software niche, with each one determined to grab both eyeballs and market share from the others! However we trust you have a fair understanding of which ones you need to check out for your special requirements and thus, select the one for you! Firefox has already eaten into Internet Explorer's market share. We believe it is the best bet, to replace Internet Explorer, though it will be a while before it does so... Having said that, we are aware that there are die-hard Opera fans as well, who believe it is Opera that will one day replace Internet Explorer!

At WellOiledPC, we use Firefox most regularly: its Plug-ins let us check out the Alexa Ranking and Google Page Rank of sites very easily.

CometBird looks and feels so muck like Firefox, runs all the extensions and plug-ins and is, as a bonus, much faster starting up too! Our only crib with it is that it does not allow Third-party security solutions to add on to itself...

We love Safari too - its beauty keeps us from firing it up again and again, although its completely different interface puts all of us off just a little...

Next, we use Flock for its super-quick loading, lovely looks and easy-to-use features.

To continue, one of us was quite heart-broken, when Mozilla announced that they would be discontinuing Netscape...

We feel quite sheepish for not having discovered Maxthon a lot earlier. It has everything a choosy, opinionated user requires from a Browser, is super-fast and crash-free so far too. We are extensively testing Maxthon - stay tuned and re-visit for final verdict on Maxthon!

Finally, we are all quite comfortable with SeaMonkey as a Browser, though we messed up our website when we tried to compose HTML using its HTML editor! Not once, twice! We do not like its e-Mail feature too much too, but that is true about Flock, Opera and Maxthon's e-Mail feature too!

FAQs:

Contents:

(Click the above links for answers. To return, click Go Top links)

What is a Browser?

Why is the Browser so important, where Computer Security is concerned?

Will taking care of the Browser take care of all Security issues?

Currently, what are the features that a 'Great' Browser should have?

What are the Browsers available today?

Which is the best Browser?

Browsers Comparison