Okay by now most of us are familiar with Mozilla Firefox, and a lot of us prefer it over the pre-installed Internet Explorer, and the ancient Netscape, but there are several other browsers out there definitely worth a mention, and could possibly have you guys wanting to make a switch. Here are the top ten web browsers for 2009 according to several PC magazines ranked by features set, speed, security, ease of use, and help & support.
| Software Research |
The rankings and ratings:
| 1 | Firefox (3.5 out of 4.0) |
| 2 | Google Chrome (3.5 out of 4.0) |
| 3 | IE (3.5 out of 4.0) |
| 4 | Opera (3.0 out of 4.0) |
| 5 | Safari (3.0 out of 4.0) |
| 6 | Maxthon (3.0 out of 4.0) |
| 7 | Flock (3.0 out of 4.0) |
| 8 | Avant Browser (3.0 out of 4.0) |
| 9 | Deepnet Explorer (2.5 out of 4.0) |
| 10 | Phaseout (2.0 out of 4.0) |
So which secondary web browser do the PC Pitstop users prefer?
So which secondary web browser do the PC Pitstop users prefer? For the sake of research we are not going to include Internet Explorer, Netscape, or Mozilla Firefox in our comparison because we consider these to be main browsers. We are considering the aforementioned three as main browsers because of market share, name recognition, and number of years since release. Now let us define our secondary browser. A secondary browser is one that is not preinstalled, is fairly new to the market, and is typically used alongside one of the main browsers. Although Deepnet Explorer and Phaseout are good secondary browsers, they have little to no prevalence amongst Pitstop users, so we have fazed them out of the analysis. Now we are only left with Safari, Opera, Google Chrome, Maxthon, Flock, and Avant Browser. Below are the prevalence comparisons for each browser, first for all users and then for each region:
Pitstop Users Rank Safari # 1, Google #2, and Opera third.
Go on a Middle Eastern Safari.
Maxthon may be in the feeling-out process.
The Avant Browser more popular in the Row Region.
No one is flocking to this browser.
Latin America likes to surf with Chrome.
Everyone enjoys the Opera about the same.
I personally like Google Chrome, but if I was more of a Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter type of guy I would go with Opera or Flock. However, at the end of the day the best secondary web browser is the one that meets your individual needs. All these browsers offer great features, but personally I just look for speed, and Google Chrome is fast. Check-out a brief description of each browser below:
Opera and Flock are both social web browsers, but Opera does a better job of combining Internet-related task such as displaying websites, page zooming, and protecting against malware with the social environment.
Google Chrome is a free web browser that was created to make the web faster, easier, and safer. Another alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the public stable version of Chrome was just released in December 2008, and by the end of January 2009 it had a share of 1.12% of the web browser market.
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc first released on the company’s Mac OS X operating system; it became Apple’s default browser beginning with Mac OS X Panther. When Apple released the iPhone, Safari was also made the native browser for the iPhone OS. Finally a version of Safari for the Microsoft Windows operating system was released in 2007.
Deepnet Explorer is a web browser that is unique in the fact that it allows users to browse the web while simultaneously sharing files using P2P technology. Sure it also offers the cool browser features like Pop-up blocking, auto login/auto fill, and tab browsing, but the P2P technology and built-in RSS/Atom News Reader make it stand-out.
Phaseout is a browser that does not do much to differentiate itself from other web browsers, but it does apply advanced tools and new skin graphics to your internet experience.
Offering many rich features, 1,400 plug-ins, and a highly customizable interface, Maxthon makes it mark in the web browser market by allowing each user to create a web browser that will fit their individual needs.
Usability is the best word to describe Avant Browser; it is extremely light, fast, and easy to use. The tabbed browsing feature is amazing, allowing you to open all your favorites with just one click, instead of one at a time. The popup blocker is very effective, you can create keyboard shortcuts to favorite sites, and it also features a RSS reader. The only thing negative about this browser is that the security features are not as good as other popular browsers like Firefox or Chrome.
A Mozilla-based browser that is very similar to Firefox. However, this browser has a few new features that help separate it from Firefox. Basically removing all the trouble of adding “add-ons”, Flock builds all the features you will need right into the browser. Offering web service within the browser, flock users can get to the favorites they have created even when using another browser, as well as share their favorites with other Del.icio.us users. Also use Flock’s blog editor with Blogger, WordPress, or Flickr when you want to blog about pictures that you have taken.
