- Firefox is customizable with add-ons and themes at addons.mozilla.com, but internet explorer only supports toolbars.

- Firefox is more secure, since it is not part of the operating system and anything stored in its cache will not directly affect your computer.

- Many people have criticized Firefox for not supporting windows update and that some websites run better on internet explorer. This problem has an easy solution: An add-on called IE-tab, which integrates Internet Explorer into firefox destroying the need to use Internet explorer.

- Some say that Internet explorer looks better than Firefox. There is an easy solution to this as well. There is a theme for firefox which makes Firefox look exactly like internet explorer.

- Firefox's address bar drop down menu is much nicer than Internet Explorer's because it shows the title in large font above the URL of the history.

- Are you scared about websites putting cookies on your computer that you don't want? There are plenty off add-ons that do this in firefox but Internet Explorer cannot do this.

- Firefox can save your opened tabs from your last browsing session. Internet explorer cannot.

- Firefox has a tool called "Fashion your firefox" which automatically installs the correct add-ons for your personality (Social butterfly, Rockstar, Shopaholic, etc.). Internet explorer doesn't have add-ons.

Still not convinced? Try Firefox and figure it out for yourself.

Everyone has used the Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer at some point in their life, and many have ended up trying/using Mozilla Firefox as a good alternative, but very few have used any other, except maby for Apple Safari which they accidently downloaded whilst updating Itunes.

Opera is a wonderful internet browser that at one time you used to have to pay to use. It has since been made available for free.

It's main version is for desktop/laptop computers, although they have recently made a version for mobile phones, but in this article we will just be covering the PC version.

Right From The Word Go

For a start Opera is very easy to download and install, going to the Opera homepage will point you towards the download section, or simply googling "Opera" will take you direct to the download page. From here you just click to download it and run it. Setup takes a few minutes and doesn't require a restart after it is finished.

After installing it, you can boot it straight up. The default homepage is a page about getting started with Opera, but it can easily be changed by going onto "Tools" then "Preferences" to change the homepage to whatever you want.

The Features

Tabs

Opera has tabs, much like Firefox and the latest Internet Explorer 7 (IE were really behind the times before Vista). This means that you can open up preety much as many pages as you want without having hundreds of windows cluttering your taskbar.

Mouse Gestures

Another great feature that seems to be very Opera specific (although once again add-ons for IE and Firefox will allow this), are mouse gestures. By holding down the right mouse button you can then move it in different directions to do cause different effects. Moving the mouse left with go back a page. Moving right will go forward to the next page on your browser. Moving down will open a new tab, etc. etc.

Although seemingly complecated at first, they are very simple and once mastered can save great amount of time and effort, and once you have started using them, there really is no way back. If you choose to start using Firefox, the first thing you will automatically do is download the mouse gestures add-on, purely due it's ease of use, and win over clicking the back button at the top of your browser.

Skins

These are available right from the start on both Opera and Firefox (but not available on IE), and both are very similar. Basically if you don't like the look of the browser when you first install it (the black is a little dull), you can apply a new "skin" which are created by other users, which will completly change the look of the browser. There are hundreds of skins, with something to suit everyone. Want everything bright blue? Done. Want a subtle vista matching colour scheme? Done. With a little searching you will find a skin that suits your taste.

Widgets

Widgets, despite their amusing name, can actually be very useful, and can be used for many different purposes. Widgets can do just about anything. There are widgets that show you maps of the world, widgets that allow you to play fun little games such as sim aquarium whilst browsing, some widgets can show you real time webcams from all over the world, others allow you to play radio stations or check the news, and some just tell you the time, or show weather forcasts.

Overall widgets are handy little extras that add that extra bit of entertainment or information whilst your surfing the web.

Torrent Downloader

Opera, unlike Firefox, IE, or any other browser I can find, has a built in torrent downloader. For the average person looking to have a nice looking browser that they can happily surf the net on, this won't effect them; but for those who know about downloading files through a torrent, this could be handy.

Rather than having to download a dedicated torrent program such as utorrent, all torrentsbei can be handled easily inside a seperate tab in Opera, which allows you to see all the usual information such as seeders and peers, aswell as being able to do all the standard tasks such as setting download limits etc.

This is probibly one of Opera's greatest achievements, as by having a built in torrent program, whilst it's competitors do not, it means it can appeal to a wider audience.

Easy To Navigate History

Ever looked at a really good news article, then crossed it down, then wanted to look at it but not been able to find it? Well Opera has it covered. All you have to do is type in whatever you want to find into the adress bar, and it will show you the websites/pages you have visited lately where the specific phrase has been used. A good example would be where I was looking at some motherboard upgrades earlier. If (for example) I couldn't remember the website that I was looking at that had them cheap, then I can just type "motherboard" into the address bar, and it will show that earlier I was looking at *whatever motherboard* on whichever page of ebuyer I was looking at it on. Overall this excellent way of browsing your history is just genious, and is great when you can't remember the exact thing you were looking at.

Conclusion

Many things included here are including in add-ons for firefox, or by downloading the popular IE Pro for Internet Explorer users, but the fact that they come built in, means that the creaters of the browser really are in touch with their users, and that is always a major thing when it comes to creating any sort of program, be it a game, an application, or a browser.

Opera really does set a new standard for web browsers, and i'm sure when IE finally gets an update, or when the next generation of Firefox comes out, things Opera has already done, such as including a torrent downloader, or having mouse gestures, will become the new standard for browsers.

Safari

Safari is one of the fastest web browsers on any platform. It loads pages up to 1.9 times and executes JavaScript up to 6 times faster than Internet Explorer 7. It has excellent features like tabbed web browsing, resizable text fields, snapback and easy book marks. As expected from any apple products, this web browser is designed for more security and easy usage.

Latest version: Safari 3.1

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is an excellent free web browser. With this browser you can view the pages faster and it requires less computer memory. You can avoid online scams with Instant Website ID. It offers a wide number of features like anti-malware, anti-virus and anti-phishing options. This web browser is available in more than 40 languages. Pop-up blocker, Spell checker and many more wonderful features are available with this browser. Whenever I get a problem with IE, I use this browser and personally felt that this is the best alternative to IE.

Mozilla web browser is faster in Java script processing when compared to other web browsers.

Latest version: Firefox 3.0 Beta 5

Opera

Opera is a superfast web browser. It is a free Web browser and can access web pages 30% faster than Internet Explorer and much faster than Firefox when using tabbed browsing. Moreover it offers lots of great tools for Web Developers. This is more secure and stable with fraud protection, cookie control and security bar.

Latest version: Opera 9.5

Maxthon

Maxthon is a powerful web browser with many interesting features like Tabbed Browsing, Feed Reader, Ad Hunter and Web Sniffer etc. The super Acceleration Mode improves your browser speed. URL Alias enables you to visit your favorite website by setting its name in the menu and typing just the name in the address bar than the whole web address. The Filter pack feature removes ads on a specified website and also gives you the possibility of modifying web page source code. Some excellent features include Anti-Freeze, Web Bar, Super Proxy, Screen Capture and Undo List. It offers Trusted Website Check by indicating with green color.

Latest version: 2.1.2.649

Avant

Avant is another web browser with many interesting features like Active X controls, Java Script, Real Player and Macromedia Flash. The Flash Animation Filter helps you to block the unwanted advertisements (which are mostly flash files). Additional mouse functions, multi window browsing, ATOM Reader and Pop-up Blocker are some of the important features of this.

Latest version: 11.6Build20

I have tested five of them, some of them because they are famous and many of them are using them or because they have some cool functions. I have tested Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Space time and Opera. I have downloaded the most recent version of the programs. They are all free except Microsoft Internet Explorer. It requires a legal version of Windows.

NOTE: I will not test the speed. I will test interface, how user friendly it is, the installation, functions and such. Not the hardest parts.

Let's start with Microsoft.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

I downloaded this immediately when it was released (not the beta versions, only the real one). But I have to say that I was disappointed. It was slower than the 6th version and I had some troubles with the installation. One good thing is the interface. Finally they have added the tab function. It was about time. But average it is not improved that much. It has become more user friendly. Even my grandmother can use it. It has a pop up blocker that really blocks. I couldn´t open any pop ups in the beginning. Microsoft hasn't added any special functions that are unique. If you press ctrl+ the number of your tab you get that one and you get an overview of all the open pages if you press ctrl+Q but this is not new. Opera have had it for years. Let´s hope the 8th version will be better.

Not impressed by Microsoft.

Mozilla Firefox

I´m not sure but I think that Firefox was the first one to use tabs, but I´m not sure at all. But I can say that it is the most popular web browser. Most people recommend uninstall Internet Explorer and install Firefox instead. And I can understand them. The burning fox is a really, really good browser. It is fast and reliable, easy to install and it has a lot of cool functions. You can skin it and download cool plug-ins like mouse gesture control and similar stuff. Firefox is awarded for best web browser several times at websites like cNet and PC magazine.

For being open source software this is really great. I use to say: “Either it is free and very good like Linux and open source or it is very expensive like Mac OS X. Then between these two things it come cheap a little bugging software like Microsoft.” Go open source!

Free and reliable software that you can reprogram however you want.

Apple Safari

This has been my primary web browser for a long time now. Mostly because I like Apple very much but can't afford a Mac. It has a very nice interface and tab control like I don´t know what. Everything floats around and there are animations for everything. The installation was very fast and easy. The browser it self is actually noticeable faster than Internet Explorer which I used before. It is user friendly but uses a total different technique than IE so you don´t have functions like scroll but you learn all that after a short time. Functions are very unique:

There is an auto fill function that automatically fills out the forms with your name and address. If you have entered a password that is stored too!

If you drag a tab out of the tab bar it will open as a new page.

The shortcut I mentioned when I was writing about Internet Explorer, Ctrl+Number, is also integrated in Safari. It will open the bookmark at that Number.

What´s not so good with Safari is that all web pages isn't compatible with it. Therefore you must have an option installed. Any of those I have written about here will work!

Very good browser but unfortunately it will require a second one too!

Space Time

This is just SO cool. If you like cool and new stuff you have to check this out. It is a new kind of version. There is no installation; the whole program is just one .exe file. But when you open it… You can browse and search in 3d! It´s so cool! You have a 3d landscape that you can play around with. Turn, zoom… The different searches and browser windows are organized in stacks that are showed either in your 3d landscape or a field at the bottom of the screen. This uses IE as browser and all your favorites and your history is loaded there. Settings are the usual IE settings. The interface is very similar to the interface in iPod Touch and iPhone.

Highly recommended browser, it is only to bad that they are using IE to surf!

Opera

Also very fast browser, it has a very easy interface. It was installed in less than 30 seconds, isn´t that something? What I noticed with Opera was that it didn´t slow my computer down that much. It was running fast all the time, even when I was loading heavy pages. Opera is very cool! You can download small games and small applications that run with opera. It is a good way to take a break from your work and just chill with a mind free game! It is also possible to skin this one too like Firefox. It is a very advanced browser and I am sure that I don´t even know half of them. I can't write much more.

Very, very good and easy, fast, reliable web browser.

My Ranking

1. Mozila Firefox, independent, free web browser that is very advanced and highly trusted, highly customizable.
2. Opera, also independent. It has a lot of cool features and is free of charge, skinning possibility.
3. Safari, independent but can´t show all web pages. Nice looking Apple interface, not possible to skin.
4. Space Time, cool application but not independent. Uses Internet Explorer to surf. But very cool!
5. Internet Explorer, pretty boring and standard. Nothing special except how slow it is. No skinning possibility.

But how really good Firefox is?

Firefox is actually slower than Internet Explorer. If you use a website to see the performance of your browser you can see that Internet Explorer performs better in most tests. The fastest browser in the world is Opera. I can't see why everyone is not using it?

Firefox is not the most secure browser in the world and is not bug free like Mozilla says. Firefox has a lot of bugs that virus and hackers exploit to infect computers. I removed Firefox from my computer in the day I installed a new update and Firefox stopped running forever and crashed y entire system! I had to remove it and the Firewall too. When you install a new update it install another Firefox in your computer, after some installations you realize you have about tne Firefoxes in your computer.

Opera is actually the most secure browser in the world. Now it's free and has on ads inside it. I really recommend you to download it!

The only advantage Firefox has over other browsers are the cool add ons you can install. But be careful!!! Some add ons are created by criminals who want to make some money out of you!

1. Pixel Display

   I have observed that there is always a difference on the amount of pixel being displayed - at least one pixel. Nothing can be perfect, and looking at the same website on each browser, you get to see no difference at all. But when you get a closer look at it (in between frames or image spaces), you will see that pixel difference.
   
   Sometimes, due to the browser's different pixel-fetching, arrangment of letters in a paragraph also differs. Some of the letters, especially if it contains hypernation, moves up-down as you shift from IE7 to FX.

   • 1.1. Font Display

     I guess this is probably due to the pixel display of the two different browsers. In Internet Explorer 7, you can see up-close the "emboss-styled" texts. You can easily spot the difference if you are using Firefox's IE Tab Add-On. Upon switching from one tab to another (from IE7 to FX), you can see how the font's display changes from "embossed" to "un-embossed" states.

   • 1.2. Horizontal and Vertical Spacing Display

     This is again, probably due to the pixel display of two different browsers. As I have mentioned above, opening same sites on two different browsers would only seem to display the same buttons, frames and image spaces. However, upon close inspection, you can easily spot the difference by using Firefox's IE Tab Add-On. For super-techies, you can see the difference by overlaying screenshots (e.g. Photoshop CS3) or by manual screenshot pixel measurment to measure the exact distance or pixel difference.

2. Loading Time

   There is definitely a difference between the two browsers in terms of loading time. Since loading time testing is included in our procedures, I was able to observe how Internet Explorer's loading time is much quicker than that of Firefox. On average, there is around 2 seconds per page difference - given that things or elements are on its usual or normal behaviour.

3. CMS Compatibility

   A Content Management System (or CMS) is a program used to create a framework for content of a website. Our company is one of those who are using this tool; and one thing I observed is that some of the functions created (specifically buttons), doesn't work well with Firefox. During one of my testing, I experienced non-functional buttons. I thought at first that this was one of our developers mistake - but later found out that it was due to the tool's incompatibility with Firefox. It was explained to me that some of the heavy-coded scripts embedded on the CMS cannot be properly read by Firefox. But so far in IE7, things worked out just fine.

I am not saying nor implying that one browser is much better than the other. My point here is to simply share my web tester experiences with the two browser giants.

Now my question is, why can't they just follow strict standards (or atleast in proximity)? I mean, I've read some articles in which these two browsers have corresponding or equivalent add-ons and other stuff, but how come in terms of the things I've mentioned above, there is really a difference? It would have been much easier on everyone else's part -- users, developers, designers, and as testers, as well.

Here are 5 reasons they still use an outdated, Swiss cheese security, painfully slow browser.

1. They Don't Know What a Browser Is

   I love it when someone comes to me and says, "My internet is broken. When I open it up I see something I've never seen before." Then you find out that all that happened is that their homepage changed. Many people think that the browser is the internet. Until they can fundamentally grasp what the internet is, they will never have an appreciation for the browser they use.

2. They Don't Know That There Are Alternative Browsers

   Like number one, if they are even capable of identifying what the browser is, most people are unaware that they have choices. The other caveat is the person (like my dad) who, once he finds out he does have a choice, he installs 10 different browsers. If one browser by one company is good, 10 browsers by 10 companies must be even better.

3. They Are Afraid Of Change

   People fear what they can't understand. They put so much effort into learning how to use a browser correctly that it's just too much work to switch to something different, even though it could be faster, easier, or safer.

4. They Thought The Upgrade Notice From Windows Was A Pop-Up Ad

   People are really paranoid out there. Going so far as to put multiple firewalls and virus scanning packages on their machines. If they do get a notice to upgrade, they are so distrusting of adware or spyware that they typically just ignore it.

5. They Don't Care About Having A "Good Internet Experience"

   Hey, they are just glad to be on the "internets". This makes me wonder if they even care that my CSS doesn't render properly when they look at my site. Unfortunately my boss uses IE6 and he does care if my CSS doesn't render properly for him.

Please, if you're viewing this with IE6, switch to a different browser. Even upgrading to IE7 is better than what you're using now. You'd be doing every web developer a favor by installing Firefox, but Opera and Safari are ok too.

Firefox is free for everyone. You might think that Internet Explorer is free, too. It isn't because it's part of Windows and when you bought your Windows, you paid for it. But always the product you pay isn't better than you can get legally for free.

Features

Internet Explorer is nowadays very near the feature list of Firefox and all other browsers. It had a lack of tabs and pop-up blocker before. Firefox is a little better with it's configuration tool because when you configure Firefox, you configure Firefox and when you configure Internet Explorer you might configure things that modifies also other Windows tools configuration like proxy servers.

Interface

Firefox has a little more original (and maybe old) look and interface. It's easier to use for beginners and easy for people moving from old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). The new interface of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is a little odd for older users and takes a little time to learn using it, I think.

Plug & Play

This might be a trademark of Microsoft but it's also a term meaning easily installable devices, software, plugins... etc. There's many plugins for Internet Explorer but they might modify your system a little deeper (or do I just think this way?) than Firefox plugins which can be disabled/enabled/installed/removed/configured using Firefox own plugin manager and any of these tasks often needs just a restart of Firefox not the whole system. Internet Explorer is also more "plug & play" with malware than Firefox is.

Standards and Scripts

Few sites requires or suggests Internet Explorer. Firefox can pretend being Internet Explorer if it's required. I have been thinking if this is caused by two standards. The standard syntaxes and the IE syntaxes which causes that sometimes "javascripts" have to be made for IE and non-IE browsers. Always the problem isn't either the development of two standards. Simply, all the sites might not work with Internet Explorer in the future.

Documentation

Internet Explorer has its own documentation included with Windows. Many plugin's installations has their own step-by-step tutorials and using Google, you will find many hits, more than for Firefox. But using Firefox, you might get better documentation and help from the developers or next to developers, people that do work with Firefox. If you contact Microsoft asking for help, you most commonly get a link to page in their own web documentation or you have to pay or you figure it out for yourself. Never tried but I see it this way.

Compatibility

If you once study your Firefox well, you will be able to use it on different platforms (often default graphic browser in Linux) and use different browsers that are the same kind because free and open software development goes often with the same line with same ideas to provide better compatibility between different applications.

IE users, please think about it.

Anti-Virus

With the number of viruses out there, Anti-Virus software is the most important thing you'll ever buy. Choosing Anti-Virus software is also more important than you'd think. Not all anti-virus software is good; some are excellent, some are mediocre.

I used to have McAfee anti-virus, but one day a virus got on my computer that McAfee never found, it dialled phone numbers using my computer [since I have dial-up]. We then got a phone bill costing just over $800 CDN.

I then sought for help from my friend's dad, and he recommended Kaspersky anti-virus. I got that, and the anti-virus immediately found and deleted these viruses. I've been using Kaspersky anti-virus for over 2 years now. My computer has never had a virus since and runs amazingly. It's an award winning anti-virus software, and is well worth the money.

Disk Defragmentation

Some of you have heard of it, some of you haven't; disk defragmentation is fast, easy, and will help your computer run fast. Every PC is equipped with a disk defragmenting program; this program is located at: Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter.

This program moves files around on your hard drive to free up space and make your computer run faster. Don't worry, disk defragmenting wont delete or change any of your files locations. Every thing will stay the same; the only difference is that your computer will run faster. It is best that you run this program once every month.

Anti-Spyware

Although Spy ware is not as bad viruses, it is still important to stay protected. Spy ware is basically a thing that finds out what you browse on the internet, etc. Some spy ware is dangerous, some is not; but to be safe, you should download an anti-spy ware program.

Most anti-spy ware programs are good, so finding a good one shouldn't be too hard. AVG is an example of a good anti-spy ware program. Keep in mind, there are free programs out there, but to make sure you are really safe, it's best to test out the free ones, and then buy the full version (most free anti-spy ware programs are a trial and have an optional full version if you pay, which, of course, are even better than the free ones).

Internet Browsing

Choosing an internet browser is important; there are several ones out there. Most computers come with Internet Explorer , however, Internet Explorer is known for not being a very safe inter browser.

Mozilla Firefox is the safest internet browser available, and is recommended to be used on many sites that Internet Explorer and other internet browsers have a hard time viewing. Firefox is safe, free, and updates itself frequently. Not only does it do all that, but Firefox also has many extra features, such as extensions (add-ons allowing you to do more with Firefox) and themes (allowing you to change the appearance of Firefox).

Passwords

No matter what, you should always ensure that your passwords are secure. Some people like to use simple passwords, some people even use password as their password. If you make easy to guess passwords, then it is your fault if your account for whatever gets hacked.

Passwords should be eight or more characters long, and contain symbols (*, =, %, etc.), numbers (7, 23, 8, etc.), and upper & lower case letters (H, P, g, F, s, etc.). Using names of pets, family members, loved ones, and so on, is a bad choice for a password. If your password is dog, Jane, password, etc. than you are lucky if you still have that account that you use that password on.

An example of a good password is this: $30K_CHEVelle. This password has symbols ($ and _), it has numbers (3 and 0), and it has a combination of uppercase (CHEV) and lowercase (elle) letters, and the password is 13 characters long, making it a great password. These combinations are nearly impossible to just guess, which makes sure your account stays safe.

So remember to keep your password safe by making is good like this. One last thing, never use the same password in many spots, as if someone hacks one account, they are bound to try the same password on all your other accounts. If you can't remember all these passwords, write them down on a piece of paper, and store it safely in your room.

RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) is important to run multiple programs at once. If you are the kind of person who likes to listen to music, read your emails, download stuff, do some paper work, and surf the internet all at the same time, then you need lots of RAM to do this all.

RAM allows you to run more programs at once. If you have around 125MB of RAM, then you will probably experience a slow computer that freezes if you try running more than one program at once. However, if you have 1000MB of RAM, you will notice that you can run many programs at once. The more RAM you have, the more your computer is able to do.

Think of it this way, RAM = arms; if you trying to cook, repair and engine, play piano, walk the dog, and write an email at the same time, you will need at least 8 arms for that, and at least 10 to do it at a decent speed. Imagine someone trying to do this with just 2 hands; that is how a computer feels when you try to listen to music, browse the internet, watch movies, etc. at the same time.

So if you get more RAM, your computer can do it for sure. Keep in mind, most new computers have more RAM than you need, so this applies most for older computers (2+ years older in most cases). RAM is hardware, so you can't download it, you'll have to buy it from a store that sells computers.

Thanks for reading; I hope this article has helped you learn a bit more about how to keep your computer safe. There are many ways to keep it safe, but I find that these are the most important ways. Stay safe.