Though Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) is the best known and still the most widely-used Internet browser — after all, it comes bundled with practically every PC sold — it is anything but the favorite for many users. Earlier versions were plagued by well documented security and usability shortfalls, providing an opening for competitors. Today, Windows users (and Mac users to a lesser degree) can choose from several alternative browsers, several of which have advantages over IE.

1. Firefox 3 – Firefox remains the most-recommended web browser for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux users. Reviews say Firefox 3 and (and its 3.1 beta) are even better, using less memory than earlier versions and incorporating other… improvements as well. It’s by far the most customizable web browser, with thousands of add-ons available. For speed, Firefox rivals the new Google Chrome browser.
2. Flock 2 – Reviews recommend Flock 2 for people who ‘live on the web’ since it has all the speed, security and options of Firefox 3, but builds in a blog editor, photo-up-loader and big sidebar to keep current with social networking… friends, RSS feeds and photo-sharing sites.
3. Google Chrome Beta – The new Google Chrome browser is stripped down for fast browsing, with superb built-in search features, private browsing and a task manager to help prevent crashes. Chrome also makes it possible to use Google desktop… applications offline. However, it’s still a work in progress with few add-ons available, and since it’s so new, some sites won’t display properly. Chrome is Windows-only.
4. Opera 9.5 – Reviews and tests recommend the free Opera web browser as fast and lean, especially for older or underpowered PC and Mac computers apt to bog down on more resource-hungry browsers. Despite its small file size, Opera beats… the other browsers in compliance with web standards, and builds in loads of convenient features. It runs on Windows, Mac or Linux, and excels in synchronization. Reviews also praise its mobile version.
5. Internet Explorer 8 – Reviews say that if you don’t want to switch from Internet Explorer, upgrading to version 8 over version 7 is a good choice. Although IE8 is now more resistant to crashes and offers private browsing, it’s still much… slower and uses more resources than Firefox, Chrome and Opera. But reviewers do agree that Internet Explorer 8 is a big improvement over version 7.

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