Browser Wars

For the majority of internet users, they will click on the little IE icon that comes as the default on their computer and never think about what that means. Internet Explorer was the first, and official Microsoft browser that comes with every Windows based computer. It was fine for a while but with security risks associated with IE, some people wanted an alternative. So, other browsers started popping up over the years and now are a standard alternative to Internet Explorer. For Apple users, the default browser is Safari so that is what they will automatically be using with their Mac, Iphone or Ipad. Alternative browsers can still be downloaded and used with Apple products.

The question is, do you need an alternative for internet browsing? I have been a long-time user of Firefox for my web browsing. I had heard that is was less prone to security breaches so I wanted to protect my computer from evils such as "phishing, cyber attacks, bogus sites". I'm not saying that other browsers are immune to the same things, but because they are less used, the people who attack people through browsers are less inclined to worry about other, less used, browsers.

There are five browsers that are available to use: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera. According to statistics, IE still is used by about 50% of internet users. Firefox is the second most popular with about 30% with Google Chrome coming in third but is far behind at about 8%. Actually, that is pretty good considering that Chrome has only been available for about one year. Safari is far behind at around 4% and Opera is used by just about 2% of people. Opera has been around for along time but most people have never heard of them. I used them for a while but went back to Firefox for many reasons.

So, why would you want to use anything else besides IE? Besides the security issues, IE tends to run slower than other browsers. It's not just your computer, it has been proven through tests that IE is a slower browser overall. Google Chrome has been clocked as the fastest by some tests, so if speed is your number one criteria when browsing the internet, you might want to check out Chrome. I was using it for a long while and liked it quite a bit. What brought me back to Firefox is the fact that my Norton Internet Security only protected my browsing if I was using IE or Firefox. Since I was attacked last year through some internet site, I decided to return to "safe browsing" through Firefox and my Norton program.

The other thing that alternative browsers have done very well is offer "add ons". These are useful features that you can add to your browser to help make your browsing experience more enjoyable. Two of my favorite add ons with Firefox is right-click opening a link, and colored tabs. Firefox and Chrome were the first to offer tabs for opening more than one site. IE jumped on the bandwagon and has begun offering some of the same features that Firefox has offered for years. There are tons of add ons you can use, but be aware that the add ons can slow down the browsing. I overloaded my Firefox with add ons so it began running much slower. Now I am careful how many I choose to use. It is definitely something worth looking into to help you as your do internet searching.

If you are still using IE, look at the alternative browsers and try a few of them out. They are all free downloads and you can try them out for a while without changing your default browser. Of course, when you open a new browser, they will suggest that you make the current browser your default but you don't have to do that. But, in trying some out, you may just find one that you love. I will provide links to each of the alternative browsers in my links list. Enjoy!