Some of you as probably wondering what exactly I mean by this new title. For those of you who aren’t then you’re one step ahead of the game. That big blue “E” that you use to get to the internet, also known as Internet Explorer, is what we call an Internet browser or more commonly known as just a browser.
The best thing for you to do when you go looking for any kind of software that you plan to use a lot is make sure you read reviews. The better the reviews are for a certain program, the better the chances that you will enjoy using the program yourself.
You’re probably wondering, “What’s wrong with Internet Explorer that’s already on my computer?”. Well it’s fine for the most part if you use it just once in a while. The problem is over the past few years there have been several security holes that always get found in Internet Explorer because it’s incredibly easy for PCs to get viruses. I would say that 99.99% of all viruses ever created are targeted at PCs; specifically Windows users.
If you read my last blog about spy-ware and found out that you have been the victim of this kind of violation of privacy, then you know why people are really careful about what they use to look at pages on the Internet.
There are several FREE browsers floating around the Internet that are better than the one that comes with Windows. You can use this link to Downloads.com to view the ones they’ve tested and like. Most of these will have reviews by users that have been using them for years and like them.
Download.com's list of browsers
Over the past few years I’ve used a couple of browsers. One that I used for a really long time that I absolutely loved was a browser from a company called Flashpeak named SlimBrowser. I downloaded it based on a suggestion from a TechTV show called The Screen Savers. SlimBrowser was my browser until just the latter part of last year.
At first glance, this browser looks a like Internet Explorer. Infact, it’s built right off of Internet Explorer in the sense that their creators wanted it to be incredibly user friendly, keep the same ideas as I.E., but fight the power that is the Microsoft Corp. The thing I loved most about it were the tabs. Tabs can be your best friend while viewing the Internet if you know how to use them the right way. SlimBrowser would open a new tab if you typed in a new address in the address bar and also if you were to click on a link that took you to a completely new website. That was really helpful.
My only problem with it was that because it was so much like I.E. it still kept some of I.Es problems. I was constantly having to make sure I wasn’t getting infected with spy-ware that got past me somehow. SpyBot came in handy during those years and I never did mind doing a little clean up since that’s what most people should do anyway from time to time.
But when Mozilla released FireFox 3 last year, I slowly started to feel the power. I was a little hesitant at first, but slowly started to accept it more and more. It didn’t have the same functionality with the tabs that I had grown used to from all those years using SlimBrowser, but I would eventually get over it since that was basically my only complaint about it.
Mozilla is one of the best browsers when it comes to customization. If you’ve always wanted your browser to be able to do certain things for you and not anything you didn’t want it to, there is basically an add-on for you. Add-ons add to the functionality of FireFox. From themes, to being able to capture YouTube videos, to better organization of your favorites, Firefox can do it all. As a writer, I love dark colors on my screen because bright light hurts after a while of looking at an ultra-bright monitor all day. I love the darker themes for Firefox and it helps my eyes just a little more.
If you’re asking for a recommendation from me about which browser you should get and start using on your computer, I would have to say, hands down, Firefox 3. Functionality, security, and price (free) give it all the great things a browser should have. It’s definitely something you should try out and keep spy-ware at bay.
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