opinions on web browsers please...

[joko]

my computer has offered me a choice of browsers, that i had no idea existed...

i have used firefox, chrome and IE....

it is now offering me -
opera
safari
greenbrowser
sleipnir
flock
k-meleon
maxton
avant
flashpeak slimbrowser

has anyone ever used any of these? and are they any good?

i am probably going to just go through them and try them all, just for the hell of it, but any recommendations or warnings?

thanks

[woofgang]

safari is good.

[bibblebub]

I've downloaded most of them to try them out, and they all seem fairly basic browsers for which the only question of interest is: are they quick at displaying webpages? Safari is the latest one to claim that its latest version is the fastest of all; but they all come out with new versions every few months claiming that they are much faster than before.

For me, I stick to Firefox because I have installed so many add-ons which expedite how I use the internet.

[VHG]

>only question of interest is: are they quick at displaying webpages

I am not sure that is the only question of interest.

Do they display web pages accurately. Many web sites are only tested on IE and may not display correctly on other browers.

I know that may not be the browers fault, but it does have to be considered when using a browser.

[squarebear]

Indeed. If you are going to use something as obscure as "k-meleon" or "maxton" as your browser, don't be surprised when many websites don't work correctly.

[AB Editor]

I can vouch that K-Meleon is one of the fastest browsers I've ever used. Using it for quick surfing is great. It is very light-weight.

Flock is very much a "nice idea" - and if you're someone who needs to connected to skynet all the time via twitter, Facebook, myspace, youtube and millions of rss feeds - it is superb. A little slow on the page load. I did use it for a short time, but I found myself constantly distracted by all the social elements.

I would suggest sticking with Firefox and having a look at the extensions (like Morning Coffee or Echofon) and this way you can customize the browser to your needs.

All the best

Spare Ed

[AB Editor]

Check out the FF extensions here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

All the best

Spare Ed

[squarebear]

"if you're someone who needs to connected to skynet all the time"

I'll be BAAAAAACK!!!

[Wak]

I found a Browser Choice icon on my desktop which I didn't invite or download and it seemed to cause a lot of problems when booting up. It was a browserchoice.exe file in Windows/system32.
Can anyone tell me where or who it came from, please??
I have sorted it out but am interested to know how it got there.

[ChuckFickens]

Wak,

It came from Microsoft.

They were forced by a European ruling to give all users a choice of which browser they want to use, it should only load at startup until you select what browser you want it will then just stick the icon on your desktop and shuldn't interfere with anything.

If you just closed it and didn't select which browser you want to use then it will keep loading at startup.

[jno]

I'm fine with Firefox but as mentioned IE is still in effect the world's default browser and many websites are configured for it. A couple of friends' blogs look fine on IE but fly apart a bit when seen on Firefox; so I keep IE on hand to look at them.

[joko]

im trying opera at the moment, and so far had no problems...but then i've only really used a few sites...i'm going to try stumbleipon later and see how i go with that...

anyone tried any others? - dont forget, firefox was new and unknown once...one of these could be utterly brilliant

[squarebear]

I'm sure they could. Betamax was better than VHS but if it's not supported by enough people, it won't take off.

[RATTER15]

I will just plod along with IE for time being, I've tried others but cant be bothered learning about them to be honest, i just go back to IE each time. When IE becomes problematic I will look at alternatives.

[snags]

Up until last year I always used Apple's Safari as it came with my various Macs. I then switched to Firefox: not for any particular reason, just to try it, and use it now. Speed-wise I notice no difference between the two...

[Wak]

Thanks for the info, Chuck, I assumed it was MS but couldn't be sure as I couldn't understand why they should advertise other browsers.
I found the .exe file and just renamed it with an "X" at the front so that it can't be found now. I haven't seen the Choice Panel since and the problems I had have also disappeared.
Thanks again, Chuck
Wak.

[bibblebub]

(from the earlier part of the thread)... do you people look at each site in numerous browsers just to see what the differences are? I suspect not.

You (the generic you) stick with the browser you're happiest with, and if the occasional page doesn't display properly you just say pah or something equally dismissive, unless the page is totally screwed at which point you might consider viewing it in a different browser. So I still maintain that the most important factor for most people is speed.

[Everhelpful]

Chrome everytime for me.

[AlBags]

Firefox has great support with many custom add-ons
Regular updates
Universally popular
Pretty fast as a browser

[fiesata]

Firefox for me by for the best IMHO IE is still poor,clunky,awkward and not user friendly that's why they have those awful ads on TV showing you all the 'new' features ( which Firefox has had for years) like private browsing and warnings of attack sites

Without Mozilla who produce Firefox, Internet Explorer would still be on Version 6 as MS were only spurred on by the Success of the Firefox browser taking it's market share

Go Mozilla !