Web browsers In the late 1990s, when the internet first became accessible to the masses, there were only two web browsers to choose from. We have come a long way since then. Today there are a handful of excellent browsers to choose from, and each one is steadily gaining its own share of the browser market. To most people a Web browser is a Web browser, and they are happy with the version that ships with their operating system (usually Internet Explorer). To understand why this is not always a good thing, we need to briefly look at the infamous Browser Wars that took place during the 1990s. Back then, there were only two Web browsers that were used by consumers: Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. While the former had a significant market  share over Internet Explorer, this was soon to change. Because both companies wanted to have the majority market share in the Web browser arena, developers sacrificed browser stability for new features, just so that they could get ahead in the game. The Browser wars came to a slow end as Microsoft started to bundle Internet Explorer with its, already dominant, operating system. Users no longer had to download a Web browser, as one was already integrated into the operating system. Over time this led to the significant rise in market share for Microsoft's Web browser and the demise of Netscape Navigator. Netscape subsequently went open source, and back in 1998 it started the open source Mozilla project. While Internet Explorer gained market share after the Browser wars, Microsoft didn't invest much effort in its Web browser, and the last full version that was publicly made available was just before the launch of Windows XP back in 2001. Granted, there were numerous security patches for and minor improvements to IE, but these were not enough for power users. This allowed other Web browsers to capture the enthusiast market by incorporating user - requested features, of which tabbed browsing was right at the top of the list. Another major reason for the increase in popularity of alternative Web browsers is that Internet Explorer has always been the target of hackers, purely because it was the most commonly used Web browser. With the advent felt a lot more secure. Sadly, the fact of the matter is the Gecko engine, which means that Firefox users are also at risk of these hacking attempts. On the plus side, thanks to its open source license the Firefox community is usually very quick to release updates should a vulnerability in the source code be detected. Migrating to another Web browser doesn't mean you can get rid of the dated Internet Explorer 6 altogether. In our Windows-dominated world, many Websites have been developed using non-standard Microsoft Web technologies such as ActiveX, and Web browsers other than Internet Explorer, or those based on the Trident engine, have difficulties to display those websites properly. Windows's own Update feature that allows the operating system to detect which updates are available and which it requires, also needs Internet Explorer to function means that even though you will be able to use an alternative Web browser for most of the websites that you browse, you will still need Internet Explorer for a handful of websites and to update Windows. Even though Firefox has a plug-in to mimic Internet Explorer and some of the other Web  browsers can display websites using Trident engine, these are not always foolproof.

Opera 9 IN DETAIL File size: 6.3MB Open source: No Layout engine: Presto   MAIN FEATURES ■ Integrated BitTorrent client ■ Tabbed browsing ■ Content blocker ■ Widgets ■ Notes ■ Pop-up blocking   PLUS ■ Loads of features ■ You can save web sessions ■ Built-in BitTorrent client   MINUS ■ Issues with non-standard Web pages such as those that use ActiveX   IN SHORT Opera 9 is a superb Web browser. Not only does it sport loads of features, but it works like a charm. The built-in widgets feature is a nice add-on, and the fact is that this browser is fast compared to the other browsers in this roundup.   ■■■■■

Firefox 2.0 IN DETAIL File size: 4.9MB Open source: Yes Layout engine: Gecko   MAIN FEATURES ■ Tabbed browsing ■ Pop-up blocking ■ Live bookmarks ■ Customizability ■ Extensions   PLUS ■ Easy to use ■ Reliable ■ Loads of extensions   MINUS ■ Issues with non standard web pages     IN SHORT Firefox has gained a lot of market share, and rightfully so. It is a great all-round browser with many user requested features. It is reliable and its list of Extensions makes this one of our favorite browsers.   ■■■■■