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Most Common Browsers
Most of us use Microsoft's Internet Explorer simply because it's bundled with Windows. However, with a good selection of alternative browsers available, this needn't be the case. The four main alternatives to Explorer are listed below ,none of them cost a penny and they all offer features that Internet Explorer doesn't have.
INTERNET EXPLORER 7
Simple is good. A redesigned, streamlined interface gives you more of what you need and less of what you don't. The new look maximizes the area of the screen that displays the webpage.Open multiple websites in one Internet Explorer window with tabbed browsing. See thumbnail images of all open tabs in a single view. Organize multiple tabs into a single tab group and save it as a favorite. Print it right the first time.Internet Explorer 7 automatically shrinks text for improved printing , so all webpage content fits on your final printed page. Print options also include adjustable margins, customizable page layouts, removable headers and footers, and changeable print space. Get news delivered directly to you.Tired of looking for the latest news and information on the web? Internet Explorer 7 can deliver the latest updates from your favorite sites to you. Subscribe to RSS feeds through Internet Explorer 7, and get instant access to personalized sports, news, and shopping feeds that keep you up to date on the latest information online. Choose multiple search providers.Search the Internet directly from the browser frame using your favorite search provider with the instant search box. Put safety first.Robust new Internet Explorer 7 architecture and improved security features help protect you against malicious software, and help to keep your personal data safe from fraudulent websites and online phishing scams.
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR
Netscape Navigator is free for personal use and comes with an impressive
list of extras. As well as the Netscape Mail email application and instant
messaging software, you get the Winamp audio player, Viewpoint media player
and various plug-ins, such as Sun Java and Macromedia Flash, which you'll
need to view certain web pages.
At first glance, the browser itself looks pretty similar to Internet Explorer, with toolbars and a pane on the left of the browser called My Sidebar.
In here, you'll find different bookmarks marking your favourite web pages, a variety of search engines, Netscape Channels and, if you're signed up for instant messaging, your My Buddy List.
All of these links are logically organised into groups and filed away using tabs as if they were sheets of paper in a file separated by tabbed dividers. Just click on a tab to bring up a page of links. You can add and remove tabs for news, business or games websites and anything else you want.
The other big difference between Netscape and Internet Explorer is the
use of tabbed browser pages. This means you can have several web pages
open at the same time stacked on top of each other. Again, each web page
has a tab at the top that allows you to switch between them
quickly.
This all makes for much easier and tidier browsing, especially when you want to open several of the web pages a search engine has found for you. As with Internet Explorer, you can add links directly to the toolbar.
MOZILLA
Mozilla comes with far fewer features than Netscape. Although you get
the Chatzilla communications tool for instant messaging .
You can, however, change the appearance of both Mozilla and Navigator. If you select the Modern theme from the View menu in Mozilla, you'll find the browser almost indistinguishable from Netscape apart from the logo at the top right of the window.
One useful feature that Mozilla shares with Netscape is the ability to search your bookmarked sites for keywords.
Your search will return a list of the links containing that word in their website address, the name you've given them or the description, which can save a lot of time tracking things down if you have a large collection of bookmarks.
Look deeper, though, and you'll spot several differences from Navigator. Many of the default links in the Mozilla toolbar and Sidebar relate to the Mozilla development community.
As the browser is based on open source software, you'll find that there are regular updates and improvements to Mozilla that can be downloaded.
MOZILLA FIREFOX
While Mozilla and Navigator share many common features and were developed
using much of the same software, Mozilla Firefox has been created from
scratch by the Mozilla.org community. It's built for speed rather than
comfort and, officially, it's not yet finished.(Formerly Firebird)
In terms of appearance, Firefox bears more resemblance to Internet Explorer than it does Mozilla but, like its big brothers, you can customise its appearance according to theme.
It also offers tabbed browsing and a pop-up stopper, and features some other useful touches such as a Google search box on the main toolbar.
Firefox is certainly faster and more responsive than Explorer.
Thunderbird
Although Thunderbird is an email utility we thought it must be mentioned beside Firefox.Thunderbird makes emailing safer, faster, and easier than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, built-in RSS reader, quick search, and much more.
Smartest Way to Stop Junk Mail
Thunderbird provides the most effective tools for detecting junk mail.
Our tools analyze your e-mail and identify those that are most likely
to be junk. You can automatically have your junk mail deleted or you can
put it in a folder you specify, just in case you like reading junk mail.
Your Mail, Your Way
View your e-mail the way you want it. Access your e-mail with Thunderbird's
new three-column view. Customize your toolbar, change its look with themes,
and use Mail Views to quickly sort through your e-mail.
Safe and Secure
Thunderbird provides enterprise and government grade security features
such as S/MIME, digital signing, message encryption, support for certificates
and security devices.
Packed with Features
Thunderbird gives you IMAP/POP support, a built-in RSS reader, support
for HTML mail, powerful quick search, saved search folders, advanced message
filtering, message grouping, labels, return receipts, smart address book
LDAP address completion, import tools, and the ability to manage multiple
e-mail and newsgroup accounts.
Unlimited Features
Thunderbird lets you add additional features as you need them through
extensions. Extensions are a powerful tool to help you build a mail client
that meets your specific needs.
OPERA IS NOW FREE
Opera is totally unrelated to the other browsers on test here and best
of all is now FREE without using adverts to support it
Like some of the other browsers we've looked at, Opera features tabbed browsing (you can have the tabs top, bottom or at the side), a pop-up stopper and a sidebar with bookmarked websites called the Hotlist.
This is rather more densely populated than the sidebars in competing browsers, with extra buttons to launch the Help menu and the Opera email application that runs within the browser application.(Free email at operamail.com)
The Notes button is particularly clever. You can copy text from web pages to a blank note and add your own text, then use the note in emails if, for example, you want to send someone a snippet of a news story with your comments. Notes copied from web pages also double as links, so you can refer straight back to the source.
Another feature we liked was the search toolbar. This provides you with shortcut boxes to a variety of search tools, including search engines such as Google and AllTheWeb and the search facility on sites such as Amazon.com.
You can also search the page you're currently viewing. Again, it takes a little getting used to but it's a great timesaver and it's easy to customise so you can search Amazon.co.uk, for instance, rather than the American site.
Finally, we also liked the Quick Preferences. Press the F12 key on your keyboard and you are directed to a set of preferences that give you instant access to options such as switching off pop-ups and the more flashy animations you're likely to encounter online.This is simply the best browser we 've come across and its now FREE definetly worth down loading.
Internet Explorer may be the default web browser installed on the vast majority of PCs, but remember that it isn't your only option. the other browsers here beat it hands down.
As Navigator, Mozilla and Mozilla Firebird are all free to use, you have nothing to lose by taking them for a spin. However, Opera is our browser of choice.
As well as having an impressive list of features, it's user-friendly and fast
If you're using an alternative browser to Explorer you may find that certain sites such as the Microsoft Support search page aren't accessible or don't display properly and you may need to revert to Internet Explorer to download upgrades. For everyday web surfing, though, a different browser might better suit your needs.
Add-ons and plug-ins
All the browsers we've looked at here support plug-ins, which will allow
you to read PDF documents, watch QuickTime movies, view Flash animations
and so on without leaving the browser. Such plug-ins are free and you'll
usually get a link to download and install them when you first try to
view content on a web page that uses them.
If you are using Explorer or another browser that doesn't have a built-in pop-up stopper, you may want to download and install one, such as Popupstopper pro