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The contenders: IE, FireFox, and Opera! The champ: ??? This guide compares some of the biggest major web browsers out there. Although there are very many other greats out there, we have to stick with the mainstream ones simply because they are mainstream. There are benefits to using a browser that everyone else uses. The most obvious would be support. It’s much easier to research up a solution to a problem, error, or how to use a feature if there were many other people who used the same software. DISHONORABLE MENTION – AOL.
Microsoft Internet Explorer – Everyone uses it. It is the web browser standard for users and also for websites. Every website created has to be compatible with Internet Explorer. Everybody uses Internet Explorer which means there is a great support base for it. If you run across a problem with Internet Explorer, chances are somebody else has too and that there’s probably a fix for it already and easy to find if you look it up on Google. Internet Explorer is also backed up by one of the biggest companies in the world – Microsoft. System updates automatically secure and update Internet Explorer. So what’s the problem with IE? Honestly, before there was FireFox, all I ever knew was IE and Netscape. I used IE because that’s what my computer came with. It was far better, cleaner, and less clunky than the built-in crappy AOL or MSN browsers that came with my system. Another problem with IE is that there are so many security flaws. I should’ve expected that from Microsoft. Microsoft tries to add so many features to their browser like ActiveX but they don’t secure the flaws. In the end, there have been so many catastrophes over the Microsoft web browser because of hackers finding ways to attack IE users. Little did I know, I could’ve had a much easier life with another browser… Mozilla FireFox – One of the products of the Mozilla Suite. This great award winning company has been churning out great alternative software to the Microsoft Office Suite and at a great price, too! – FREE! The included web browser is called FireFox. I don’t even know where to begin. There are so many plusses and the cons are getting smaller and smaller every day. The only con about this website is that not all websites support FireFox but in fact it is quickly and already a standard for websites. Web developers today are forced to create FireFox-friendly websites to appease the rapidly growing FireFox user base. FireFox has tabs built-in so that you can surf 10 different websites all in one window and click on a tab to navigate between each one. The tabs look like those at the bottom in Excel, except they are at the top in FireFox. These tabs keep you from opening up 15 windows and filling up your entire taskbar like IE does. This makes your web-surfing so much easier and faster because your mouse is running up and down the screen while you look for the correct window to click on. Another great feature to FireFox is the add-ons. There are TONS of add-ons or plug-ins that you can download and install in FireFox. These add-ons allow innovative ideas from 3rd-party programmers to give you more features in FireFox. Some add-ins make your web-surfing faster, other plug-ins allow you to quickly translate your pages into different languages, or even security features like auto pop-up blocking or automatically disabling scripts. These add-ins can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/ FireFox makes life so much more secure than IE which has very many flaws that allow hackers or spyware to get into your computer and install itself. Do you grandma that clicks “YES” on everything? Install FireFox for her and you’ll never have to pay for a virus-repair again! FireFox also actually WORKS FASTER than IE! The way it reads webpages and spits back the code is more efficient and your webpages will download faster in FireFox. So there you have it – FAST, FLEXIBLE, SECURE, AND FREE! Opera www.opera.com – Very clean, fast, and anti-clutter. It also includes a Google Search Bar. Like FireFox, Opera is also free. Opera shares many of the same features as with FireFox, except that it doesn’t have a big user base and also not very many add-ons. Some people love it but I find FireFox to be better in every aspect. THE CONCLUSION: the clear winner is FireFox. Fast, tons of free add-ons, very safe and secure against attacks and automatic scripts and Active X hacks, and FREE. Don’t let me tell you what’s great. Take it from Microsoft, they’re coming out with the new Internet Explorer 7, and guess what features it now has…and guess what browser they’re copying the features from!
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