Browser recommendations wanted

[Odd Job]

I've noticed since installing windows 7 that IE8 has become slower and more resource hungry (sometimes using up to 500Mb of memory).

What are your recommendations for an alternative browser. I have tried google chrome but wasn't too impressed, but would still welcome your suggestions.

I like the "In Private" browsing feature of IE so do any of the alternatives also have this feature ?

 

[yowanvista]

Use Opera Browser or Firefox 4 or use IE9

 

[Ciara]

Out of Opera and Firefox what one is the most customisable ?, I like bright colours

 

[yowanvista]

Out of Opera and Firefox what one is the most customisable ?, I like bright colours

Firefox is the most customizable but Opera also has themes and extensions

 

[Ciara]

OK and thanks yowanvista, I think I will try both

 

[kado897]

I use both Chrome and Firefox. Can't decide which is best but Chrome is edging it at the moment.

 

[pparks1]

Trying them out is really the only way to know which you prefer. Your big player alternatives are Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari for Windows (although I don't recommend Safari at all...it hasn't had a good security track record on Windows).

I use Firefox myself and it does support private browsing mode. I've tried to use Chrome over the years and for some reason, I just find that I don't stick with it. So, while tons of people love Chrome...I'm just not enamored with it.

 

[kado897]

chrome has improved a lot recently. I subscribe to the beta channel, which despite its name is very stable and gets regular updates ahead of the general release (Stable Channel). The most recent is GPU acceleration for some functions. Chrome also releases new Stable channel versions about every 6 weeks which update your browser automatically.

 

[richc46]

I use IE8, but for speed Chrome is the way to go.

 

[Odd Job]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Think I'll give Firefox a try to start with to see how I get on with that.

Thanks again.

 

[brummyfan]

I would say FF4 beta7 is doing fine in my lappy, speed, features and the looks are all very acceptable. IE9 developers cannot go on saying their product is still a beta and final release will be a beauty,I'm slightly disappointed with IE9, to say the least.

 

[richc46]

Can you tell me about the disappointments with IE9?

 

[metalmania31]

Google Chromes lack of a bookmarks sidebar is a major deal breaker for me. I can't stand not having a bookmarks sidebar. I love using FF so I'd use either of the big 3 IE8/9(beta), FireFox, or Chrome. Opera is too cluttered to me.

 

[brummyfan]

Can you tell me about the disappointments with IE9?

Though it's faster than IE8 the speed of IE9 is much slower than Chrome or the new FF4 beta7, IE9 crashes very often for no apparent reason.
I don't know, may be I'm expecting too much from poor old IE9 believing all the hype created by the developers.

 

[Kari]

Posted this over half a year ago: http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers...st-looking-securest-browser-2.html#post609963

Since that, I've used Lunascape almost exclusively. It's my browser. And the only browser I have ever used which has never crashed.

Lunascape Browser - Experience the world's only triple engine browser

Kari

 

[richc46]

Can you tell me about the disappointments with IE9?

Though it's faster than IE8 the speed of IE9 is much slower than Chrome or the new FF4 beta7, IE9 crashes very often for no apparent reason.
I don't know, may be I'm expecting too much from poor old IE9 believing all the hype created by the developers.

I am disappointed. By choice I do not try out Betas. I feel that the potential problems outweigh the benefits. That being said, I was hopeing that I would stay with IE when 9 came out. Possiblity, now that I may have to start looking for another browser.
Thanks for the information.

 

[kado897]

The thing about Chrome beta is that it is genuinely only a few weeks away from release. It is more like a release candidate, generally only a few fixes for minor problems are issued before the beta and stable channels merge. IE9 beta on the other hand is extremely buggy. I did try it and it looked quite nice but there were too many bugs. Its installation also caused my c: drive to be marked dirty.

 

[Odd Job]

OK I downloaded and installed firefox. Up to now I am impressed, especially with the memory use which is about a quarter of what IE was using. Also firefox only has one process running for ALL open tabs whereas IE had a seperate process running for each tab.

One problem though if anyone knows how to fix it. I use a lot of forums and am constantly using the back button to switch between threads and forums. IE used to refresh the page when the back button was pressed so that I could instantly see new posts and threads. However firefox does not do this and I am having to manually refresh the page each time.

Is there a setting to fix this please. (still finding my way around the program.)

 

[Trucidation]

Posted this over half a year ago: http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers...st-looking-securest-browser-2.html#post609963

Since that, I've used Lunascape almost exclusively. It's my browser. And the only browser I have ever used which has never crashed.

Downloaded that just now. First impressions were good, albeit with a few niggles in the interface which made looking for some options a bit of a search. Then I pressed ctrl+F to find some text. Ouch. It's so... primitive. No count of how many matches found and the ability to navigate forward/back to the next result. I go through a lot of sites with text, so this is a deal-breaker. Kind of a shame, looks like a nice browser otherwise (and I keep getting mental images of needing a bow and an axe, for some inexplicable reason).

 

[Kari]

Trucidation, I can understand your point. Lunascape is still young, early stages of development. For me it's the right browser, I like (and use it a lot!) the possibility to switch rendering engine on the fly.