The first big mistake of Chrome is making people unable to search the bookmarks like we can do in Firefox. We have to manually scroll them down all one by one and when you have thousands of bookmarks it's just not practical. Firefox on the other hand searches all the bookmars in real time in a side bar inside the browser so you don't have to leave the page you are on and that makes surfing between tabs fast like lightening.

Another huge problem of Google Chrome is you don't get a warn when you are downloading something and you close the browser by mistake. Google just stops the download and if you want to resume it you have to go to the website again and start downloading it again from the very beginning. To make this issue even worse, you can't open a closed window from the recently closed windows like you can with Firefox so you you close anything and you want it back again, good luck searching for it in the history.

Google Chrome does not support extensions like Firefox does! This is a critical issue for all the people that depend on extensions to work faster and better. Google must take care of this as fast as they can or they risk user interest loss...

Chrome options are still very incomplete. All you can do is to tell the browser whether you want your passwords stored or not and some other minor tweaks... Firefox on the other hand has a huge portfolio of options you can change at your will.

If you are decising which browser you should take with you all the time, Firefox is the ONLY choice now more than ever for all the cool features and extensions people keep adding all the time.

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.

The Microsoft Internet Explorer is the most commonly used web browsers for surfing the web. All Microsoft Windows operating systems come with Internet Explorer. A quick search on the internet and you will find that Internet Explorer, because it is the most widely used, is the target of most malicious hackers. Who knows why people make it a point to create harmful applications. The fact remains that a lot of malicious hackers are out there to slow down or even destroy your internet experience.

The Internet Explorer web browser has been known to have a large risk of contracting these harmful viruses. The reason for this is that Internet Explorer has a major design flaw which contains much vulnerability. Any hacker who knows what they are doing can take temporary or permanent remote control of your browser or computer. You may not know it but when your surfing a topic, your favorite music for example, and a pop up advertisement comes up about hair care products your browser had just been remotely controlled by someone else to bring that pop up add to you. Through hidden codes and scripts on that page someone just opened up another internet explorer with the web address of the advertisement you see.

Microsoft offers a few ways to prevent such things from happening. Staying current with Microsoft Automatic Updates is one such way. However, it still will not be enough. Anti-Virus applications may be needed to help reduce the possibility against unwelcome intruders in your computer.

However, more and more people are finding out that no matter how secure you think you are; Internet Explorer is just too much a risk to use. Many other web browsing applications have sprung up all across the internet. Mozilla Firefox is possibly the most popular, offering built in pop-up protection, and it will not allow certain code or scripts to be executed and will even let you know when a site is trying to execute a code or script that may be harmful to your computer. This option is there for users who are not incredibly computer savvy. Through the option panel that is in Internet Explorer you can set up your browser to run much like that of any other web browser that is thought to be more secure.

No internet browser is completely safe from malicious attacks. The choice in which course of action you want to take is completely up to you. An aggressive stance on internet security will help keep your computer clean and safe. Stay on top of it before it gets out of control!