The default option has the start page http://google.atcomet.com/c/. The page contains a Google Search Bar and links to other interesting sites, all neatly classified. The last of the links is customizable - you can add your favorites by clicking on this link. You can even add new categories by clicking this link - and do not forget to save your changes, else you will need to set it all up again! You may also delete them later. The option to edit these links would have been nice too! In the first screenshot to the right, we have added two sites to our Favorites...

If you plan to use CometBird's default start page - http://google.atcomet.com/c/, you will want to create all your Favorites so that it is accessible from this page, along with the built-in Google Search Bar. If you do not want to use CometBird's default Home Page, you may add your Favorites to the Favorites Menu, like with other Browsers. Interestingly, while installing CometBird, the options available to import Bookmarks does not include Bookmarks from Firefox, though Internet Explorer Favorites (Microsoft calls it Favorites instead of Bookmarks) is included! This is surprising - even more so since both CometBird and Firefox are based on the same Mozilla Browser engine, while Internet Explorer is not! Perhaps this is deliberate and the CometBird guys do not want Firefox users to convert to CometBird!

CometBird does not have issues running Java code or with rendering website layouts. WellOiledPC displays just perfectly on it, as shown to the left in the second screenshot. Standard features like Tabbed Browsing, Passwords saving, Pop-up Blocking, etc., are all present too.

CometBird has a number of Add-ons for different functions and features. Most of the Firefox Extensions and add-ons will run on CometBird as well, since the common denominator is the Mozilla Browser Engine. We were quick to install SEOQuake, FireFTP and the Alexa Sparky add-on, our favorite Plugins for the Mozilla Browser Engine!

Of the greatest importance for a software today - specially for Browsers, since it is hotly-contested territory currently - is the necessity to possess a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Unlike Flock, CometBird does not have a clear USP. Flock squarely targets Social Networking site hounds. Web Developers and Online Marketers are not going to be swayed from Firefox (which has a stranglehold on this niche) to CometBird, for CometBird does not offer anything extra over Firefox, apart from the much lesser time it needs to start up, in comparison with Firefox! This is something that the CometBird guys need to focus upon, in our opinion.

The list of credits for CometBird is huge. With Version 3.0.3, CometBird too seems to have the memory leakage problem that Firefox too faced. Version 3.0.4 shows no signs of this irritating issue too. When the problem happened in earlier versions of CometBird, it wiped out your Saved Favorites under the default Home Page, http://google.atcomet.com/c/. The work-around was to press Ctrl-Alt-Del and kill CometBird.Exe. Only, everything would then work as before, except that your Favorites, saved under the default Home Page http://google.atcomet.com/c/, would be lost forever... 

In our opinion, CometBird has everything that you could want from a Browser: lightning-quick start-up, beautiful interface and the other features found in the other Browsers (tabbed browsing, passwords management etc.) and the ability to run most Plug-ins for the Mozilla Browser engine. Although both Google Chrome and SeaMonkey are based on the Mozilla Engine, neither of them work with most of these add-ins. A number of plug-ins do not work with Flock, yet another Browser based on the Mozilla Browser engine! However with CometBird, we have so far discovered just one Mozilla Browser plug-in that does not work - ColorfulTabs. But then, its no loss to us, its not exactly skin off our nose!

Here is the link that tracks Browser usage and publishes Browser Statistics: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

CometBird is a good option for anyone who wants one or more of the following features from their Browser:

1. Lightning-quick start up

2. Clean, uncluttered interface

3. Built-in links for Social networking sites

4. Ability to easily download media files (audio/ video) from sites such as YouTube

5. Safety and security while browsing

So far, we've had a whale of a time with CometBird - not a single crash so far and no memory leak issue as well, with the latest version. We have also not faced any security breaches using CometBird. A relatively new security plug-in called Web of Trust (WOT) works closely and inside CometBird, providing security against threats. WOT works with Mozilla Firefox as well, though it does not work with the other Mozilla-based Browsers Chrome or SeaMonkey.

The motto at CometBird apparently is, "If you like Firefox, you'll like CometBird more!" We certainly have not seen any signs that make it less admirable in comparison with Firefox. Why, it has every single feature that matters in Firefox - including the ability to re-open closed Tabs and the ability to retrieve entire URLs from your Bookmarks, even when a  SINGLE alphabet is pressed in the URL Bar! The race to market share will be difficult, but CometBird has definitely begun on the right note - we wish CometBird the very best!

Despite good security features built in to CometBird, we wish third-party Security products - such as Norton 360 - to plug in to CometBird as well. We are NOT saying that CometBird is insecure, what we ARE saying is that Browsers need multiple levels of security in today's computing environment and visual confirmation of this, which is what a top-notch Security product like Norton 360 does. This is absent in CometBird for now and it is for this reason alone that CometBird narrowly misses our "Thumbs Up"... We trust a later edition corrects this, for, the moment this is done, CometBird earns our "Thumbs Up"!

Click for larger image

Click for larger image