At this point in time there are several great browsers to choose from. At one time it seemed Internet Explorer was set to rule alone. Firefox changed that. And Now Chrome is gaining popularity. And there are others, most notably Safari and Opera. So how do you choose the browser that is right for you?

What is a browser

The overwhelming majority of computer users are unaware of what a browser is. This video shows the general confusion on the topic:

If you are not entirely sure yourself, this short intro video explains what a browser is and why choosing a browser is important.

All of the people out there who don’t know what a browser is and what the right browser could do for you, stick with the browser that came with their computer: Internet Explorer for Windows PCs and Safari for Macs.

Others would perhaps like to change their browser but don’t know how. Here’s what you need to know about changing your browser:

It’s free and easy

All major web browsers are free. So once you have made your choice, all you have to do is download the browser and install it. This is as easy as clicking on a button and following some simple instructions.

Downloading any of the browsers in this article is safe and quick. In fact, it’s so easy I have five browsers installed on my computer.

The first time you run your new browser, it will ask if you want to use it as your default browser. Click Yes and start surfing with the browser of your choice.

Why change browser

The World’s most popular web browser, Internet Explorer (IE), used to have lots of security problems. Many people changed browser for that reason. Now IE is as safe as any other browser, but it insists on all kinds of security alerts that can be confusing and impede browsing. Some people change browser because of this.

Speed is another reason to change browser. IE is consistently the slowest browser. This is why many people changed to Firefox when it first became available.

Now, Firefox is becoming a more advanced and consequently slower. This is why I am considering choosing another browser: Chrome, Safari or Opera.

Some browsers have a quite advanced functionality (Firefox and Opera). People who spend a lot of time online and solve complicated tasks on the web tend to go for one of these. Firefox also offers a lot of third party add-ons. These are little programs that live in the browser and let you do things like block ads, grab screen shots or do advanced web searches. A lot of people choose Firefox because of the way add-ons let them customize their browser.

Internet Explorer

The numbers vary, but it seems IE has around 50% of the browser market. What are the reasons to choose Internet Explorer?

IE now offers some ways to customize your browser. The new IE8 is faster and safer than ever.

Take a tour or download IE8
Find answers to IE questions in the forums
Winhelponline Blog has IE tips and news

Firefox

Firefox is the second most popular browser, mainly because it’s safe, fast and easy to use. It is the most customizable browser, which is a bonus for every individualist online.

Get Firefox here
Get answers to Firefox questions

Lately we have noticed that Firefox tend to take up a lot of CPU resources, especially on the Mac. It may actually slow down the computer significantly if you open several tabs at once.

Safari

Safari is an Apple product, but comes in versions for both PC and Mac. It is a very fast browser, which is easy to use and looks good. Cover Flow offers a visual way of reviewing your site history and bookmarked sites, presenting full-page previews of the websites that look exactly as they did when you last visited them.

Take a tour of Safari
Download Safari
Find answers to Safari questions

Chrome

Chrome is a new browser and it is not yet available for the Mac.

Chrome is made by Google and shares the uncluttered, minimalistic design of many Google products. Yet it has some powerful and innovative features like powerful tab navigation: Pull a tab out into its own window and pop a tab into another window by clicking and dragging the tab out to the top of the new window. And it’s fast.

Chrome is also very stable. If one tab or window crashes, it will not take down the whole browser.

Take a tour of Chrome
Download Chrome
Chrome support
Read a comic book introduction to Chrome
Chrome news, forums and more

Opera

Opera, the smallest of the “large” browsers is developed in Pandia’s home country Norway. It has always been an innovative browser packed with features.

The latest version introduces tools for in-browser sharing of photos, music and other files. It also has a way to compress Web pages, boosting your browsing speed on crowded Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile phones or dial-up connections.

Power users will appreciate the possibility of using keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures to speed up browsing.

Take a tour of Opera
Download Opera
Opera tips
Opera wiki

Browsers and search

All browsers have their own search forms embedded in the browser window, and all of them lets you change the default search engine to the one of your choice.

In Chrome you just enter your search query in the URL field. This is also possible in Firefox, Opera and Explorer.

Firefox, Explorer and Opera has pull down menus beside the search field, letting you add a lot of search engines to the browser. In this way you do not have to visit the search engine home page to do a search. Google Chrome automatically saves a list of the search engines you’ve encountered while browsing the Web.