Have you always used Microsoft’s Internet Explorer just because it’s there?
If you’ve followed my blog for a while you’ll know I’m a fan of the Google browser ‘Chrome’, but there is a wide choice out there, you may even have another browser on your PC without knowing? Or you maybe using a different browser, if so please share your views on your browser of choice.

So, you may have an alternate browser without even knowing? How come? Well many thousands if not millions of PC users have iTunes installed for managing their music and iPods, Apple use an updating program for all their software which includes iTunes but without taking a deeper look at the updater and ticking or un-ticking the right boxes you may find an icon on your desktop by the name of Safari, I know many people who blatantly know it’s there, they just don’t know what it is? How it got there? and more worryingly don’t particularly care!!! Although for some if it doesn’t flash, scream, abuse, irritate,crash your PC or block your internet browsing, then it’s not a problem! I wish I could think like that sometimes!

And so if it’s there, why not take a look and see if you like it……
It has a sleek uncluttered grey interface in keeping with the Apple look, and the latest version 4 brings tabbed browsing and a curved wall of recent activity as pictured above.
If you’re not an iTunes user but would like to try Safari head over to:
http://www.apple.com/safari/

The most popular browser behind IE is Firefox, now in version 3.5, the first browser offering tabbed browsing where other browsers have now followed, and a separate download manager still not offered in IE. View all the features here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features/
 
Another sleek interface with integrated search from the top right corner, and major support for toolbars and plug-ins alike.

A new browser for me to try out is Opera, now in version 10 and well known for it’s light browser found on mobile phones. Opera is famed for kicking up a stink to Microsoft’s dominance in the browser market and has been pioneering the offensive, Opera wants a larger market share and would like to see Microsoft Windows installed without Internet Explorer giving the end user the choice to install the browser of their choice, this has caused the upgrade problems with the launch of Windows 7 reported earlier and some report the issue is still going on. While this is going on in Europe, the US and other continents have escaped with IE8 installed with Windows 7 as expected.
I thought I’d see what all the fuss is about and installed Opera with a quick download and minimal installation.
  Not having had the time to explore the browser, my only initial comments are some images have appeared pixelated and Adobe Flash elements don’t automatically play, these maybe something I can fix from within the preferences but I’d really expect these things to work out of the box? The interface looks polished and the two tone grey colour visually appeal but I think the other browsers are certainly a choice before Opera.
Give it a try at: http://www.opera.com/

Chrome is my browser of choice, I won’t talk about it too much here as there’s lots of info, tips & tricks in the blog. I believe the latest stable version is now v.3 with themes available to download, here’s my chrome with the baseball field theme:
 
The new testing Beta version 4 has been released today, and I’ll report shortly on its new features, if you’d like to try Chrome head over to:
http://www.google.co.uk/chrome?hl=en&brand=CHMI

If you’re still using Internet Explorer and are happy with it, just make sure it’s up to date, now in version 8, head over to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx to download the latest version or use Windows Update from your Programs list in both XP and Vista.

Related posts:

1. Chrome FTP support
2. Windows 7 – Upgrade or not???
3. Now you’ve got all those browsers…
4. Software Updates