Browsers forum: Poll: What browser do you mainly use and why?

Been using Opera for 13 years and just recently also use Chrome. I have tried most of the others, but always came back to Opera. I am liking Chrome a lot also.

I have been using Maxthon for several years (8) and have been very pleased with the results. Maxthon3 has two engines, both the Google and the IE and has many alternatives. It is fast and improving all the time and when complete will provide all the needs I have in computing.

If I were a pro techie I guess I'd find some obscure perfect browser and tweak it so it was even more perfect. But I'm stuck following the crowd and using Firefox, doing all the daily annoying "new improved version" installs to make sure I don't fall prey to some scumbag hacker or whatever else the Firefox developers seem hellbent on protecting us from.

I miss the golden age of the 90s when computers had matured enough to be fast and powerful and any software upgrade was good for at least a year or two. Now it's like musical chairs. Upgrade this and lose that plug-in until it catches up and then you need to upgrade again and lose something else and on and on it goes...

When my browser slows to a crawl I'm never quite sure if it's a bug or incompatibility in the last upgrade and I'm just happy that running macjanitor or installing another "fix" actually clears up the problem.

I'm starting to think the open source programming is a little too open and maybe all the developers should just take a breather and only release new updates when there are real security concerns.

The same goes for OS upgrades. They seem nothing more than tools to trick everyone into having to purchase new versions of software. It's more about corporate scamming than progress.

I use Chrome first, then rarely have to use IE9 if Chrome won't work right with a particular web page.

Chrome seems quick to me, and I know that it's the most secure browser around...each tab is in a sandbox, for one thing, which means if a web page does bad things it can't do as much damage to your system if you're using Chrome.

I stopped using Firefox when they went to their "release of the month" model, without having the "auto-install" that Chrome does. Just got tired of installing new releases...at work, where the scrolling tab bar is useful, I'm trying the Firefox ESR version 10 to see if that is any better...but I still seldom use it, just Chrome and IE9.

Sorry Firefox, you blew it as far as I'm concerning...tired of updating, tired of getting new versions of extensions.

Im using Netscape Navigator 9.
Netscape ruulezz.

It has everything that i need.
Naviagor 9 got Tabs 3 years before Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox got it.

Because I'm too lazy to change.

Never heard of it? It's essentially Netscape Navigator, which I used from the start. I like the integrated mail client that allows me to directly bookmark links into the browser or go to sites from my email. There is also the Composer page on which I can edit webpages before saving them. Tried Opera, which also has integrated email, but doesn't have the color coding option. Also use Firefox for sites that don't work well with SeaMonkey.

I mainly use Chrome.

Plus-- Simple, Clean,Quick, Fast & Light. Easy to use. No unnecessary toolbar's which makes it more faster to start.

Minus-- Adobe Flash Plug-in Crash Problem most of the times.

I'm sick and #&*% tired of "Internet Suites" with sooooo many bells and whistles you can't find the browser...

I tried FF years ago, one.point.something I remember. Now THAT was a disaster greater than Netscape 4!

I stumbled upon KM. The browser, the whole browser, and nothing BUT the browser. It's Gecko, so no ActiveX. It's a fork, so no XUL. It's Open Source, so no corporate heavies. And it's fast. We're not talking fast as in some people claim for FF or whatever. We're talking fast as in stripped-down-for-action like a greyhound out of the blocks, or a cheetah overhauling a gazelle.

Oh, did I mention configurable? I have an IE toolbar! I have IE Favourites! (I could have Opera Hotlist or FF Bookmarks if I wanted them...)

And unlike a major Gecko browser, there is no need EVER to clear the cache to try and fix some annoying problem, and it ALWAYS goes to the site you want, WHEN you want.

And it uses standard plugins for the usual after-market accessories -- PDF, Java, etc.

I do have other browsers -- Opera 11.51, IE6 SP1, Sleipnir 2.9.7 to get true tabbed browsing in IE6. I used to have QtWeb, but that barely had a pulse and didn't support Java, so I pushed it.

BTW, I use Eudora 3.0.6 Lite as my email client, for most of the above reasons, but mostly because it does not understand HTML 3, 4 or 5; and does not understand JS or ECMAScript; and does NOT use MS Access to store messages and attachments.

Gordon.

It works and I like the way it works. I have tried the others listed above (Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome) and do not like the way they work. The subtle differences are highly irritating. IE 9 has options and it will do things my way. The others seem to missing some of the options and thus force you to do things their way -- since it is not the way I work, it is inefficient and irritating.

I also keep Chrome for backup but do not use it.

Onmy iPhone, I appear to be stuck with Safari -- I tried another and its integrration with the phone left something to be desired. Thus, back to Safari even though I do not like the way it works -- kind of klutzy.