Preferred Browser?

[Mr. Anderson]

I used to use Avant, but hearing Scrubkings endless praise of Opera, I decided to give it a try. I like it, but I have to get used to it. I also don't like the mandatory ads. Urgh. What is your browser of choice?

[organicow]

i may be a lame-ass non-computer geek, but i just use regular ol' IE. Bor-ing!!

[ZForce915]

I've tried to change, but I'm still an Internet Exploder user.

[jeffreyjrose]

Safari all the way, the pop up blocker is champ! (Wait, did I just reveal that I am on a mac?)

[Scrubking]

If you have a firewall that blocks ads it will block the opera ads, but opera is worth every penny imo.

And I can't wait till Opera 7.5 hits. It is even faster and it has built in irc chat rooms among other features.

The best part about opera is that the devs actually listen to what their users want and then implement it into the browser.

[bignick]

IE for me, it works with every thing. I have tried others, but have foun IE to suit my needs better overall.

[starman9000]

Opera 7.21

[GundamFan]

netscape navigator

[FlipSide]

Mozilla Firebird

[hutno]

Mozilla firebird

[Wshakspear]

started using opera after hearing it on here a few times. For most everything it works fine. there are a couple of plug in type problems but otherwise cool. It also helps my laptop is set at 1600x1200 so the outer edges arnt much of the screen

[evilmax17]

IE with the Google toolbar works fine for me.

[jmcc]

Mozilla. Because there is none higher, sucker other browsers should call it sire.

[alongx]

Mozilla Firefox 0.8.
I never really liked Opera.

[defender]

Opera by far!

Firefox is a fine enough browser but considering its only a browser I think that it is limited. Sure you can get all the mail client, news client, and such extras but I believe just the firefox is an 8 meg download while Opera is 3 megs and it has EVERYTHING. Speed and ease of use are NOT matched by any other browser. It only takes maybe a week to get used to it.

I could go on and on about Opera and it totally deserves to be. I bought my version not to get rid of the ads but to support what I feel is the best piece of software on my computer.

btw-Opera 7.5 beta just hit ...try it

http://www.opera.com

btw-Opera has had a popup blocker built in since last version


anyone using IE for browsing at least 30% slower than I am and they are also at risk for whatever latest viruses the script kiddies come out with...

Opera Skins rule too...it has skins to LOOK just like IE if...most people have no idea looking at my screen that I am on an alternate browser.

OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA
OPERA OPERA OPERA

OPERA OPERA OPERA

[WhipSmartBanky]

IE with Google Toolbar. No problems.

[karmapolice]

Safari all the way, the pop up blocker is champ! (Wait, did I just reveal that I am on a mac?)

hell yeah! safari right here! I tried using opera...but when I get more than 10 or so windows tabbed it slows down...I get NO slowdown on Safari...It could be I upgraded to a dual 2 ghz G5!!!!

*edit* defender...how come my qoutes never work?

[spidey]

Firefox

Been using it since the beginning (Phoenix). It's the best thing since sliced bread.

[snotknocker]

IE with the Google toolbar works fine for me.

same here

[xzafixz]

I use Avant, would never consider anything else since i've had it, love it.

[PawnTakesKing]

Safari.

[Santorum X]

i used to use Mozilla, then Firebird, now Firefox. I enjoy the built-in pop-up blocker.

[JohnnyDrama]

I mainly use IE6, but I also have Opera just in case IE acts up on me.

[The Successful Dropout]

IE...works great with everything that I need

[spoo]

IE6 with a Google tool bar.

[defender]

you dont need the google toolbar in opera since it not only has google search built into the bar but also ebay, amazon, all the web, find in page(very useful), domain names, lycos, mp3s, and some others




also your quotes dont work because you are doing it incorrectly...

I see your quote= is not closed

[quote=this needs to be closed]test quote[/quote]

[defender]

also I notice everyone says...

"I use IE and its just fine..."

well...I use Opera AND I LOVE IT!

how many people say they LOVE IE? You just dont know the difference unless you give it a shot...and installing it doesnt count...use it for a week and you will NEVER go back to IE as your primary browser again

everyone always says how nice a popup blocker is or the google toolbar but these innovations have been in opera for quite some time...Mouse gestures are in Opera now...why wait to get innovation when you can have it NOW

I dare anyone to name a browser feature that opera doesnt have already built in! Also Opera is a SMALL program in comparison to the other browsers.

OPERA OPERA OPERA! YoU MusT SwItCH

[extremep]

I use lynx.

[SevereTireDamage]

True. In my complacence, I used to be one of those "IE is fine for me" people too, probably all those years of Netscape vs. IE and seeing NS' product go to crap with the 4.x versions.

I switched to Mozilla a few months ago though, and haven't looked back - the tabbed browsing and privacy/cookie features are vastly superior to IE. What's the main difference between Mozilla and Firebird?

[Scrubking]

Here are some of Operas features

- Download resume
- notepad
- built in email client
- history list
- list of all links on current page
- changeable skins
- popup blocker
- a ton of built in search engines
- ability to hide images with a simple click or only show loaded images
- completely customizable toolbars, navigation bars, etc
- ability to be identified as opera, IE6, mozilla, etc
- great support community at the opera forums
- a ton of other stuff

Also the new version of Opera will have built in irc chat and some other new features

[Mr. Anderson]

I tried out Opera, and while I loved for the 30 minutes I was browsing, it simply refused to start again once I had closed the browser window. Meh. I went to back to Avant after trying out a few others (Firefox, regular IE, etc.). Avant has always suited my needs and I'm used to the layout anyway. Ahhhh.

[Wet Ninja]

What's the main difference between Mozilla and Firebird?

Firefox is kind of the experimental, concept version of Mozilla. With that in mind, you'd think it would be buggy and crash a lot, but it doesn't crash that often; it's pretty stable overall. I'm using it and I really love how you can customize it with keywords. For example, I have it set to allow a quicksearch on Froogle; I just type in "froogle [name of game]" in the address bar and it returns the results of a Froogle search on that game. Same goes for Google, eBay, Amazon, or any other site you wish to search. You can set it up to use a keyword for that site. I also have set so that when I visit CAG, I don't have to type the full address; I just type "cag" and press enter, and it fills in the rest for me. It features the tabbed browsing of Mozilla, which is great, especially for loading links in the background while you continue to read the page you're reading. And like Mozilla, it has a bunch of add-ins you can download, as well as a built-in download manager. I still keep IE around for the 5% of sites that don't work with Firefox, but otherwise, I never go back to it.


Edit: accidentally clicked on the button to insert bold tags, but forgot to delete the trailing [/b] tag.

[Wshakspear]

opera had some cool things built in too. like you can right click-hold and move the mouse left and it goes back a page. Up and down you slose the window, and many other very easy to use motions.
When you highlight a typed in web address and right click, it actually gives you the option of just going there. Its really a whole lot of simple, but very helpful, things rolled into one.

[wubb]

I use Mozilla.

Though I have Opera, IE, and a few other browsers installed. Sad fact is that certain sites are created to work only work with IE so I have to keep it around for those.

[defender]

another AWESOME feature of opera!

When and IF the browser crashes...when you restart the browser you can choose to reopen where you were. So lets say your browser dies and you had 8 windows open...its a pain in the ass to open up where you were and get back to what you were doing...NOT IN OPERA. You can easily in seconds restart the browser at EXACTLY the same place it crashed. And it rarely crashes but sometimes you have too many programs open or some bad javascript causes some problems.

This is a true time saver for me.

Thats weird mr anderson that you had a problem...what version? Was it BETA or release? Try the latest 7.23 which is incredibly stable. What's your system specs?

[defender]

True. In my complacence, I used to be one of those "IE is fine for me" people too, probably all those years of Netscape vs. IE and seeing NS' product go to crap with the 4.x versions.

I switched to Mozilla a few months ago though, and haven't looked back - the tabbed browsing and privacy/cookie features are vastly superior to IE. What's the main difference between Mozilla and Firebird?

Opera allows you to choose TAB browsing or not.

[basketkase543]

Ever since i used firefox, I've been hooked on it. But i might consider giving opera a shot. It sounds pretty good.

[WildWop]

I hate browsers. Specifically, I hate having to code for the different little quirks each of them have. Netscape should burn for what it did to web developers with it's horrendous 4.x series. Microsoft needs to be more standards-compliant, and stop dicking around and adding functionality that does not work for other browsers (though I must say that the ability to add width-and-height attributes to an anchor tag is quite nice). Opera needs to be bought out so that I don't have to pay for their browser. I won't even get into the opensource community, since developing for them would be an exercise in frustration.

And screw you Apple for coming out with yet ANOTHER browser. I will not code for you.

All that said, I usually like to work with Opera, because it is very strict and promotes clean code. By the same token, forcing me to use JavaScript workarounds to get a full cell to change color on hover pisses me off.

Winner: IE (promotes laziness)
Runner-up: Opera (promotes clean code and W3C compliance)
Dung-heap: Netscape/Apple (tie)

[shadd01]

I mainly use safari, but i also have IE installed for any pages that dont work right.
--

[shadd01]

I mainly use safari, but i also have IE as back for pagess that wont load right. I love tabbed browsing and the pop up blocker.
--Shadd

[defender]

You dont HAVE to pay for Opera. The ads are barely noticable as they are built into the top header. It rarely changes and they dont allow flashy ads.its actually rather subtle.

For those wishing to hear more about Opera I suggest you read this great site.

http://tntluoma.com/opera/lover/7/

[SneakyPenguin]

msn here, put through ie.

[defender]

Here is a GREAT page of OPERA vs MOZILLA

http://tntluoma.com/opera/beyond30/2003/08/opera_vs_mozilla.html

the comparison is excellent and its easy to see why people LOVE opera once they understand whats really there

[Mr. Anderson]

Wow, defender, quite the Opera fanboy, lol. Just wanted to say, Avant has most of those features, and it doesn't have ads. At all. And it has most, if not all, of those features, and I find it much faster than Opera. I like Opera, but I guess my computer hates it. It wouldn't open at all. Oh well.

[argyle]

Avant here as well. I haven't seen a feature named yet that Avant doesn't have. The pop-up blocker works great and is super easy to toggle on & off. You can choose what opens a new tab (typing in a new address, doing a search, etc). It runs super fast, rarely crashes but on the off chance that it does has the same "open all the tabs you were working in" option.

I absolutely love it, as does everyone I've had try it. Oh, and it's free, which appeals to the cheapass in me. :)

[Grave_Addiction]

Opera by far!

anyone using IE for browsing at least 30% slower than I am and they are also at risk for whatever latest viruses the script kiddies come out with...


When you say that it's 30 percent faster than IE, what do you actually mean by that? Is it time saved from having to click buttons or search through menus in IE as opposed to one-button clicks with Opera?

Or do you mean it can actually speed up how fast pages load?

[defender]

my browsing is faster in general between the mouse gestures, tabs, and faster downloading of pages

[Gunslinger5577]

Once you use TAB'd browsing, you can never go back to anything else. The built in pop-up blocker, and it's ad-free. www.mozilla.com check it out, really Tab'd browsing (having multiple browser windws open within the same browser) really kicks some serious a$$.

GS

[Engineer_J]

Read about firebird (now firefox) in Maximum PC and have been using it ever since, can't beat the tabbed feature for web surfing

[defender]

looking at the avant site is appears to just be an IE addon that makes IE mimic Opera

If I open IE once a week its too often...I HATE IE

[defender]

Operas Tabbed browsing is better...go read the pages I linked to to find out why.

[argyle]

Last time I used Opera, it wasn't compatible with all pages. Nothing drives me crazy faster than a page not loading correctly due to some weird browser. I don't care if it's only one page, that's one too many. Avant being based on IE just means it's gonna be compatible w/ everything.

[defender]

thats true...avant is definitely compatible with everything...including any holes or viruses that are plentiful with IE

[argyle]

thats true...avant is definitely compatible with everything...including any holes or viruses that are plentiful with IE

Which is why I also run Norton Antivirus. :)

[GuilewasNK]

I have used Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, and Lynx (just a text browser, no grpahics) in the past but my preferred browser is Mozilla Firebird.

I have used Firefox but I HATE the way you save files in it (that download "manager" is worthless IMO).

I still use IE 6 for making web purchases and viewing sites that don't show up correctly in Mozilla Firebird.

[Gunslinger5577]

Once you use TAB'd browsing, you can never go back to anything else. The built in pop-up blocker, and it's ad-free. www.mozilla.com check it out, really Tab'd browsing (having multiple browser windws open within the same browser) really kicks some serious a$$.

GS

[WildWop]

Last time I used Opera, it wasn't compatible with all pages. Nothing drives me crazy faster than a page not loading correctly due to some weird browser. I don't care if it's only one page, that's one too many. Avant being based on IE just means it's gonna be compatible w/ everything.

Generally this is not the fault of the browser, but of a lazy developer that does not feel like creating a workaround to get the same functionality across all browsers (like me :lol: ). Opera is very strict in the W3C standards area, meaning that everything works exactly as it _should_. IE and the like take certain liberties with the W3C standard, making some things easier and other things harder, as well as occasionally adding functionality that is compltely out-of-bounds (like the Netscape "blink" option for text, which should be banned and stricken from every page on the internet for its horrible appearance).

[defender]

why did you make a repost gunslinger?

and dont get me started on that norton crap...symantec software are some of worst...also its NOT free

you can get a very good free AV program from AVG..works excellent

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

[argyle]

:roll: Ever notice how whatever someone else uses is the ONLY thing that's acceptable?

Use what you like, that's all that counts.

[Mr. Anderson]

thats true...avant is definitely compatible with everything...including any holes or viruses that are plentiful with IE

Which is why I also run Norton Antivirus. :)

SHAZAM!!! You and I have like the exact same brain, I was just about to say that.

[wubb]

I gotta second the notion that tabbed browsing kicks ass. I think pretty much every modern browser (besides IE that is) supports this feature out of the box.

I would consider switching to Opera if it were free, but it's not and Mozilla is a really great free browser. Can't go wrong with that choice IMO. If there weren't a great free alternative I'm sure I could put up with Opera's ads, but luckily I don't need to.

Back when I used IE pretty much exclusively I would just have 15+ IE windows open at a time and thought that was just fine, why would tabs be any better? But once I tried a browser with tabs it is just so much nicer. Right now I have ~20 tabs open, which is probably about average. Unfortunately not many sites use the favicon feature - ones that do get their icon on the tab, but that's not Mozilla's fault. (Cheapy has it on the front page but not in the forum directories.)

And of course built in pop up blocking is the icing on the cake. I have never had one pop up slip through Mozilla. And since it lets through pop up windows that are a result of you clicking a link (Say a site pops up the result of a form you fill-in in another window for example) you don't have to keep switching it on and off.

I would like it to have Opera's reopen all the tabs on a crash feature though. That would be very nice.

[Mr. Anderson]

^^ If your talking about the little CAG icon, it does show up in the forums AND on the tab in Avant. Just so you know.

[wubb]

I think IE won't show a favicon unless the page is bookmarked does Avant work the same way? I might check it out.

Mozilla is a little quirky with how it handles the icon. As far as I can tell the webmaster must put the favicon file in every directory where s/he wants the icon to show up throughout the entire site, not just in the root / directory.

Just downloaded avant. Seems nice not sure if I'll like it as much as Mozilla, but I do like having the favicon on the CAG boards tab LOL

So opening in a new window is basically opening in a new tab, right? And there is no way to actually have two avant browser windows open, each with their own set of tabs?

I also like the little arrows for cycling through the open tabs in order. Mozilla doesn't have that as far as I'm aware.

[Mr. Anderson]

I think IE won't show a favicon unless the page is bookmarked does Avant work the same way? I might check it out.

Mozilla is a little quirky with how it handles the icon. As far as I can tell the webmaster must put the favicon file in every directory where s/he wants the icon to show up throughout the entire site, not just in the root / directory.

Just downloaded avant. Seems nice not sure if I'll like it as much as Mozilla, but I do like having the favicon on the CAG boards tab LOL

So opening in a new window is basically opening in a new tab, right? And there is no way to actually have two avant browser windows open, each with their own set of tabs?

Right, a new page is a new tab, and right, no other Avant browsers open. Just the way I like it. I love how it handles icons.

[Scrubking]

Just to let you people know, there is a ongoing campaign to sabotage Opera. Certain pages purposfully won't work if you are using opera like some M$ sites, etc.

Also people are LAZY and don't code their sites properly so that opera will work right.

I have had Opera crash on me, but it is always because of bad code on the page, and even then I just recover where I left off with no problem.

And the whole "no ads" excuse is lame because the opera ad is barely noticeable and can be blocked with an ad blocker.

[captainfrizo]

I use Mozilla and Internet Explorer. Since Mozilla has a hard time for some reason dialing up I launch Explorer to get online and usually switch to Mozilla. Tabbed browsing is awesome.

I've tried Mozilla Firefox and the web pages shift up and down constantly. It's highly annoying and hopefully later versions will fix the problem since the browser itself is pretty cool.

I've also got Netscape (it's alright), and Real's browser that comes with their player. I haven't tried Opera yet but after hearing a lot of people say such positive things I think I'm going to test it out.

[wubb]

Well, I've been using Avant for a while now.

Seems to perform just as well as Mozilla. Maybe a tad worse, but that is probably just perception.

* I love having the icons on the tabs.
* I like being able to open all links in a folder, or set multiple sites to open at startup easily. In Moz you can bookmark a group of tabs, but I think I prefer Avant's system.
* I would like to have the option to open a new window with a 2nd set of tabs. Not a real big deal, though.
* You can't right click and view a picture? In Mozilla you can do this with any inline image and it will open it up in the current tab. So you don't have to fool with viewing source or looking at the image properties to figure out what server an image is coming from for example. That's a feature in Moz I really like. I guess because Avant is built off IE and IE doesn't do this, Avant can't either?

So far #4 is the main feature Avant lacks that I'll miss. But I'll probably stick with it for the time being.

[defender]

* You can't right click and view a picture? In Mozilla you can do this with any inline image and it will open it up in the current tab. So you don't have to fool with viewing source or looking at the image properties to figure out what server an image is coming from for example. That's a feature in Moz I really like. I guess because Avant is built off IE and IE doesn't do this, Avant can't either?

In opera you can do one better...just simply drag an image or link a half inch and let go...BAM it automatically opens in a new window.

[WildWop]

I started using opera again (first time since... 6.2 I think) and it's pretty sweet. I think my problems with it back at 6.2 were partially rooted in the 800x600 resolution my shitty laptop displayed at back then. The ads took up a good 1/5 of the total viewable area, and all the tabs and other toolbars took up another 1/4 or so, so there was next to no room for me to see anything.

Now at 1900x1280 and 1280x1024, I have a bunch of extra space and can now appreciate the extra functionality in Opera 7.5b. Though I do not see a marked improvement in speed over IE6.0SP1. Tabs have now become a priority for me in selecting a browser, much like DeadAim did for me and AIM.