Firefox/Chrome/Opera or Explorer?

WhosAlice

Hi,
Is there any reason why I shouldnt be using Microsoft Explorer as my web browser...I have had friends now telling me to use something else as its apparently slow.

People have suggested firefox and also opera.

Is there a best choice of the bunch, someone else has suggested google chrome, but Im sure I have read some reviews for this which doesnt sound so good.

swampgas

WhosAlice wrote: »

Hi,
Is there any reason why I shouldnt be using Microsoft Explorer as my web browser...I have had friends now telling me to use something else as its apparently slow.

People have suggested firefox and also opera.

Is there a best choice of the bunch, someone else has suggested google chrome, but Im sure I have read some reviews for this which doesnt sound so good.

They're all free - why not install them all and try them out? My personal choice would be Chrome then Firefox.

mossy2390

yup explorer is rubbish in comparison to chrome and fire fox, they are both much faster browsers and much better interface i think anyway.

used firefox for a while but im onto chrome now for a good while, i prefer not having all the crap in the tool bar and what not.
either way there both a hell of a lot better than explorer

tricky D

It's a matter of opinion mainly:

Explorer - not much good
Chrome - nice but forget privacy re Google
Firefox - great add-ons, can get a bit bloaty
Opera - good but not so familiar

If you're running slow, a run of ccleaner is a good idea (crap cleaner).

PogMoThoin

Torqay

tricky D wrote: »

Chrome - nice but forget privacy re Google

The remedy for that is SRWare Iron.

chin_grin

Torqay wrote: »

The remedy for that is SRWare Iron.

:eek:

Was about to post the same thing!

http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php

Torqay

Of course, it's all about personal preferences and the interwebs are flowing over with threads dealing with the question which is the best of them all.

If you want to test a browser, they all offer portable versions which don't require to be installed. To be sure to be sure, you should "sandbox" the browser, which is good policy anyway.

But if Internet Explorer is "apparently slow", installing just another web browser may not address the real problem(s). There could be malicious software at work or IE is suffering from toolbar galore.

fionny

Chrome gets my vote, fastest cleanest browser. The full syncing is pretty nifty too.

Nothingbetter2d

firefox 10 for me.... i just dont like chrome's back button bug that still after 3 years hasnt been fixed

fionny

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

firefox 10 for me.... i just dont like chrome's back button bug that still after 3 years hasnt been fixed

Curious as to what that is, I have not encountered anything? Been using chrome a long time now.

theflash800

Chrome is by far the best... if you are concerned about privacy, then try chromium!

Free and it's what chrome is based on, so it's just as good.

Chrome is really fast and if you have a Gmail account, you can bookmark something on one PC, then it auto-bookmarks on other PCs that you log into. So handy for saving passwords and links.

Torqay

theflash800 wrote: »

Chrome is by far the best... if you are concerned about privacy, then try chromium!

Free and it's what chrome is based on, so it's just as good.

And Chrome is what Apple's Safari is based on... so maybe it's not so good?

There's a whole rake of browsers derived from or based on Apple's webkit engine:

Safari, Chrome, Chromium, Iron, CoolNovo (formerly known as ChromePlus), Comodo Dragon... to name but a few.

johneire31

I don't know way internet explorer is so bad, its horrendous to look at and has this stupid popup at the start which makes no sense.

Chrome is fresh and runs fast, i personally like it

I like firefox too, but it seems to us a lot of memory on my systems so for that I tend to give it a miss.

yoyo

Cannot stand Chrome or understand the love for it. Not great addons (compared to FF), horrible download manager, the spyware bits and also didn't find it much faster if at all to ff. So yep Firefox here .
Fwiw IE9 supports HTML5 quite well, bit old but Here you go

Nick

theflash800

Torqay wrote: »

And Chrome is what Apple's Safari is based on... so maybe it's not so good?

There's a whole rake of browsers derived from or based on Apple's webkit engine:

Safari, Chrome, Chromium, Iron, CoolNovo (formerly known as ChromePlus), Comodo Dragon... to name but a few.

Oh yeah there's loads... rockmelt and a few others too. But the chomium project is the original and is used as a base for the rest. So use Chromium, because it doesn't come with all the other crap that the others do.

Torqay

theflash800 wrote: »

Oh yeah there's loads... rockmelt and a few others too. But the chomium project is the original and is used as a base for the rest. So use Chromium, because it doesn't come with all the other crap that the others do.

They all have their advantages, depending on what the developers focus upon: Chromium for the barebones, Iron for privacy, Dragon for added security features, ChromePlus (CoolNovo now) for lotsa bells 'n' whistles out of the box.

Razzuh

You have to consider versions here. IE8 and before were very slow and generally inferior to the other options. IE9 is very much on a par with the others in terms of out of the box speed.

Opera is very good and one of the most innovative, a lot of features that are now common started there. It has its own engine though and since market share is so low sometimes you'll find a page won't quite work the way its supposed to because few sites test on Opera.

I am also as baffled as others by the rush to Chrome. Google just took an open source browser and added "User tracking features" (i.e. spyware), flash plugin and an always-run auto-updater that slows down you computer even when chrome is closed. Iron and others give you the same browser without the crap.

Firefox is what I use, and I think it's still the best (there was a rough patch over versions 4-8 with major changes but all good now). The range of add-ons is one of the reasons. Don't load it up with extensions though and then compare the speed to a fresh install of chrome (which is what most people do) and then conclude 'chrome is faster'. It's not. It's also what most sites are tested on first, so it gives the best web experience.

If you're on IE8 OP, I'd suggest you move to Firefox. If you have IE9, you can stay put, it's a good browser.

EDIT: http://lifehacker.com/5844150/browser-speed-tests-firefox-7-chrome-14-internet-explorer-9-and-more

Some recent results. Opera has best performance, Chrome worst. Firefox has been gaining ground, and IE9 is doing ok.

Vic Vinegar

It's an old one but i think it sums it up nicely!

denballs

WhosAlice wrote: »

Hi,
Is there any reason why I shouldnt be using Microsoft Explorer as my web browser...I have had friends now telling me to use something else as its apparently slow.

People have suggested firefox and also opera.

Is there a best choice of the bunch, someone else has suggested google chrome, but Im sure I have read some reviews for this which doesnt sound so good.

after using each over long periods.......testing every pro and con......i can tell you that

internet explorer is basically a joke
opera is ok
firefox is usually fast but can have bugs ...its really meant for the advanced user
CHROME is the fastest and most user friendly


Basically.....if your not a coder/hacker you,ll want to be useing chrome ...it loads things like webpages youtube videos and online games much faster then any other

The Internet Explorer

VenomIreland

I've tried Opera, Chrome and Firefox and I honestly cannot tell a difference in how fast a page loads between either of them, I use Aurora now (Firefox build that's between Beta and Nightly) simply for adblock and a few other add-ons Firefox has and because I can customise a lot of the browser.

Before that I used Opera for a long time, swapped because the adblock doesn't work very well for it (at least when I was using it, I'd definitely go back to it if it has improved), I still use it on my netbook though.

Before Opera, I used Chrome, didn't like the interface much, and although it doesn't really affect me much, it seemed to use the most memory out of all 3 of them with about 20-30 tabs open, with about 3-4 tabs it seems to use the least.

Basically, give all 3 a go for about a week each, see which one you like most and stick with it.

gbee

I have, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, IE Explorer and Safari installed.

They all have slight differences as to how they handle video and movies, it's also handy if following the same story, like weather reports and get two different feeds from two different browsers and they won't interfere with each other.

My default is Chrome.

vider12

I use Chrome and i think its great, I live in the country so internet can be slow but found when I changed my browser it helped abit with speed. I also work with Firefox as it is the best for viewing websites.

Torqay

vider12 wrote: »

I use Chrome and i think its great, I live in the country so internet can be slow but found when I changed my browser it helped abit with speed. I also work with Firefox as it is the best for viewing websites.

That has to be an illusion, the only browser that can improve the "internet speed" out-of-the box would be Opera, if you turn on the Turbo feature.

When Opera Turbo is enabled, webpages are compressed via Opera's servers so that they use much less data than the originals. This means that there is less to download, so you can see your webpages more quickly.

Of course, with a poor connection, it helps a great deal if you make use of ad and flash blockers. Flash blockers are built into Opera (which also has ad block built-in) and Internet Explorer, for Firefox and Chrome you'll need to install add-ons.

eirman

The huge number of free addons available for firefox make it a winner for me.
NoScript and tab utilities(try the multi-row option) are particularly useful.

GreenWolfe

I was a bit turned off by the newer UI in Firefox so I'm using Seamonkey as default instead. I use IE9 sometimes, and I also have Chrome installed but I rarely use it.

fionny

Its all highly personal to be honest, the arguments could rage all day the only one people generally agree on is IE being poop.

unkel

Switched from FF to Opera about 6-7 years ago. Speed is the most important factor for me and Opera is and has always been faster than anything else

I have few requirements in terms of extensions, the most important being some ad blockers and mouse gestures and Opera covers that well

FF is naturally the most versatile with a huge range of extensions

Chrome / Safari have never appealed to me, although I have tried and keep trying both from time to time

IE is a necessary evil to have when you normally only use Opera. Not everything works on Opera IE has come a long way though in the last few versions...

WhosAlice

Impressed with the many helpful posts, thanks. I didnt expect so many replies.

Whilst my general experience has not been that bad on IE over the years, I was currently IE8, its probably because I have never compared it with anything else. The main reason for me asking the question was really due to friends etc, turning their noses up when I mention I am using IE.

One friend swears Chrome as the must have, but I must admit I have used it briefly on another computer and remember not liking the interface much, maybe I am just too used to IE. I also note the thoughts on privacy//spyware regarding chrome, whilst it doesnt bother me, the fact that people on here have mentioned it does give it another black mark so to speak.

Today at work and now on my home computer, I have downloaded firefox. If I am being honest I can already see a difference, Google maps for example which I use a lot for work, loading and paning around, its definatly much faster, the interface or what there is of it is not disimular to IE too.

I am also interested in this Iron which has been quoted although right now Firefox is doing the trick.

Thanks again

WA.

downwithpeace

Comodo Dragon (Chromium) is currently my main browser, it's fast, clean and has some added protection. Downside is plugins can be lacking and images don't always load so Firefox is installed as well for backup.

fionny

For all you worriers about chrome:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/24/google-tests-the-do-not-track-waters-with-a-chrome-extension/

danjo-xx

Does FF not send any update 'alerts' seem as how they reinvent themselves so often now.:)

kilianmanning

Internet explorer 8 is dirt. So slow, absolutely terrible. Majorly improved in internet explorer 9, it's actually quite snappy now. Firefox gets my first choice though, dont like chrome

Defiler Of The Coffin

I find it hard to imagine using anything other than Chrome at the moment, although every now and again I like to change browser and see what the others have to offer.

Stevolende

I used Firefox for years until sometime toward the end of last year I found the top of the screen unresponsive. It suddenly became pretty much impossible to use search engines because I couldn't get the cursor recognised.
Seemed to be about the top 1/3rd of the screen below the toolbars just wasn't interacting.
I wound up swapping to Chrome but do miss some of the applications from Firefox.
Now that I'm seeing that other people are using Firefox without problem. I'm assuming that the problem I had is a lot more individual. Maybe I should ask a separate thread question about it?

Screen on Firefox looks exactly as it did when it worked. Or at least as far as I can see.

gbee

Stevolende wrote: »

Screen on Firefox looks exactly as it did when it worked. Or at least as far as I can see.

I have forgotten my own problems. But like you I switched to Chrome, I had tried Chrome and thought it OK but I preferred Firefox, then FF developed a fault so I switched over to Chrome and by this time Chrome had been updated so I was as pleased as I was with FF.

kevmol88

OPERA ....by a mile

PogMoThoin

Stevolende wrote: »

I used Firefox for years until sometime toward the end of last year I found the top of the screen unresponsive. It suddenly became pretty much impossible to use search engines because I couldn't get the cursor recognised.
Seemed to be about the top 1/3rd of the screen below the toolbars just wasn't interacting.
I wound up swapping to Chrome but do miss some of the applications from Firefox.
Now that I'm seeing that other people are using Firefox without problem. I'm assuming that the problem I had is a lot more individual. Maybe I should ask a separate thread question about it?

Screen on Firefox looks exactly as it did when it worked. Or at least as far as I can see.

Get rid of the toolbars, they are all evil. They serve no real purpose, all they do is hijack your browser and spy on you, redirecting all your traffic through their servers so they know what you've clicked.

Note, Xing them is no good, it just hides them, you need to fully uninstall them

Beagslife

I'm using Opera now for about a year as my main browser. Once you get used to it and configure it to your liking, it's great. I particularly like the Speed Dial feature. I also use Opera mobile on my Nokia.

ps. I've just made DuckDuckGo my default search engine on it. Good riddance Google!

johneire31

IE 9 is a massive improvement on its predecessor. Today is the day that the new Google privacy policy kicks in or should I say unprivacy policy. Google does what Google wants, same as facebook.

j

fionny

I dont get why people are getting their knickers in a twist over the google change, they HAD all that information before all they are doing is amalgamating it...

Beagslife

fionny wrote: »

I don't get why people are getting their knickers in a twist over the google change, they HAD all that information before all they are doing is amalgamating it...

I guess it's just scary when you read it in full. Google's new privacy policy.
Fair play to them though. They haven't tried to hide it in waffle.

But please read it in full. Then decide for yourself.

fionny

Again its nothing different to what they had before only Gmail didnt talk to google.ie and google+ didnt talk to youtube... but the information was still being collected and was sitting on servers.

tfitzgerald

Had firefox for a while but found it got slow so I went back to explorer and so far it's being good enough for me . Because of this change of policy with google I am going to Chang my search engine but dont know what to use . Anyone any ideas.

Beagslife

Have a look at DuckDuckGo. They don't store any info.

To add it as your default search engine, use http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s as the address. Once installed make sure to change the settings re location, colours etc.

tfitzgerald

Beagslife wrote: »

Have a look at DuckDuckGo. They don't store any info.

To add it as your default search engine, use http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s as the address. Once installed make sure to change the settings re location, colours etc.

Thanks a million . I will give it a go . I think google are becoming to much like bib brother and I want to try something else

mike65

I switched to Opera when it was in v4 and IE was v5, haven't been back to IE since, I also use FF as one or two sites like the Guardian work better in that.

johneire31

tfitzgerald wrote: »

Had firefox for a while but found it got slow so I went back to explorer and so far it's being good enough for me . Because of this change of policy with google I am going to Chang my search engine but dont know what to use . Anyone any ideas.

You don't need to change your search engine, policy changes apply to those that are using their services by signing up to them, such as gmail or webmaster tools etc.

Although Google does extract a lot of analysis and who knows what else from Chrome and your searches and location/s. so change your browser and you will be fine. You could use the Chromium browser, which in principle is the same as Chrome but without Google having doctored it.

j

gbee

johneire31 wrote: »

You could use the Chromium browser, which in principle is the same as Chrome but without Google having doctored it.
j

OK, that's a news for me, Good Tip.

freakystreak

Chrome is the fastest, Firefox seems to be getting bogged down with too many plug-ins and IE is just on a downslide. IE is too slow.