chrome safari firefox etc are examples of

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8 Different Types of Web Browsers (and Their Purposes)

Web browsers allow you to open websites to get information, order food and check your messages. In a nutshell, web browsing has become an integral part of our daily life, and web browsers make it possible.

In this article, we are going to discuss the most popular web browsers and the purpose they serve, so you can choose one that suits you best.

But before we dive into the features and functions of web browsers, let’s understand what web browsers are, and how they work.

What is a Web Browser?

Back in History: The first web browser, developed in 1990, was named WorldWideWeb, and it had very basic features for web surfing compared to modern browsers.

A web browser is a software application that fetches and interprets the code written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS, and Javascript to display a webpage that you request. Some web browser examples are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari.

Web browsers let users locate, view, and use websites. Not to be confused with search engines that rank websites and are accessible via web browsers.

For example, Google is a search engine that has a database of websites that it maintains and ranks. In contrast, Google Chrome is a web browser that uses search engines such as Google to find information, which it displays to the user after interpreting the code.

How Do Web Browsers Work?

When a user types a URL into the address bar and clicks on the link to access a particular website, the browser sends a request to the web servers of the website web host.

The web server responds to the request by sending the requested data back to the web browser. The requested data is sent in computer code . The code contains HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and any other files required to display the requested web page.

The web browser renders the page by applying CSS and Javascript rules to display the web page to the user. It renders the entire web page, including text, images, animations, and other media files embedded in HTML.

A web browser is one of the most important applications on your computer, tablet, or phone. It displays websites and web pages on your device. But displaying a website is not the only function of a web browser.

Other than displaying web pages, web browsers can also execute scripts, run plug-ins, and interact with other web technologies, such as cookies and cache for web storage. Most web browsers offer features like bookmarks, history, and tabbed browsing. Different types of web browsers allow users to manage their browsing experience and access website pages later quickly (pocket).

Different Types of Web Browsers

Here is a breakdown of the different types of web browsers that you can choose from:

1. Google Chrome

Google Chrome, launched in 2008, has become the most popular browser mainly because of its fast speed. It can load several pages instantaneously with just a single click. The web browser is also constantly updated with the latest security features to ensure safe web browsing. It is the default web browser for all google devices.

It is also compatible with other devices, operating systems, and web technologies. Google’s streamlined design focuses on a minimalistic user interface that is clutter-free. You can also customize your browsing experience with extensions. Its incognito mode will not save the browsing history and site cookies.

Key Features

Google Chrome is the only browser well-known for its fast-loading speed and stability. Even with multiple tabs running and extensions enabled, Chrome is designed to prevent crashes.

Google pays millions of dollars to hackers every year to find vulnerabilities in its system and fix them, making Chrome the most secure browser on the internet. It protects users from websites that steal passwords and infect computers with malware.

Clean User Interface

Google Chrome has an easy-to-use and intuitive interface that allows people of all ages to find what they need on Chrome without much effort. Its Omnibox combines a search bar and web address bar and works like a search engine. The users can type in math equations and unit conversion queries to find answers with just one click.

Google Chrome has the biggest library of extensions, which makes the web browser highly customizable.

Google Services Integration

A list of Google services can be accessed from the Chrome browser, such as Google Meet, Google Classroom, and Google Translate, that make working and studying on Chrome seamless.

Google Chrome can be synced on all your devices so you can access its browsing data and preferences everywhere, such as a bookmark that can be checked on your phone.

Developer Tools

Google Chrome also includes a suite of developer tools that developers can use to optimize or debug their websites.

Pros and Cons

Final verdict.

Google Chrome is the right browser for you if you want to switch to fast web browsing and better security. If you want to always have your information synchronized on your phone, tablet, laptop, or any other device, all you have to do is simply turn on the sync feature on Google Chrome.

Apple Safari, or simply Safari, is a popular browser invented by Apple and is therefore preinstalled and set as the default web browser on all Apple iOS devices.

Safari has cross-site tracking prevention, which protects you from third-party web trackers when you surf the web. It is a free browser for all iOS devices, and you can sync and access your browsing history on any of your Apple devices.

Intelligent Tracking Prevention

This Safari feature blocks third-party trackers from following you across the web for private browsing.

Reader View

To make reading easier and uninterrupted, the web browser has a reader view that blocks ads and popups. This makes Safari one of the most popular browsers for reading.

iCloud Keychain

Safari's iCloud Keychain feature lets users store passwords and payment information across all Mac OS and iOS devices. This makes online payments and ordering quick and convenient.

Picture-in-Picture

With the Picture-in-Picture feature, you can watch videos in a floating window and browse the web simultaneously.

With the AirPlay feature, Apple users can stream videos and audio from their Safari browser opened on any of their devices to an Apple TV or AirPlay-compatible speaker.

Safari browser also has its own developer tools to debug websites.

Energy Efficient

It does not drain your battery like most popular browsers.

Overall, Apple Safari offers a few features that make it a great browser for users. But it lacks openness and is suitable for Apple Users.

It is known for being one of the most popular browsers for security, as it protects your privacy and supports a wide range of extensions that make web browsing manageable.

3. Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is an open-source web browser built by software giant Microsoft in 2015. It comes as a default browser on Windows 10. It is also available on macOS, iOS, and Android. Microsoft Edge has replaced Internet Explorer, its older and slower ancestor.

This web browser is designed to be compatible with all web standards and is capable of rendering modern websites and applications. Unlike its predecessor, Internet Explorer, it is faster and more secure.

Cortana Integration

Microsoft's virtual assistant, Cortana, is integrated into Edge and can provide users with quick access to information and assistance.

Users can annotate web pages within the browser window with digital inks, highlights, and text notes using Edge's Web Note feature.

Collections

Edge's Collections feature allows users to organize and save web content into easily shareable collections.

Built-in PDF Reader

It can directly open PDFs from the web and your PC in a new tab.

Reading View

Edge has a reading mode that strips away ads and other distractions, making articles and other content easier to read.

Microsoft Edge has built-in security features that protect you from online phishing and malware.

Microsoft Edge is the right browser for you if you like to read web pages without distractions, view PDFs, and doodle on web pages. It is the new and improved version of Internet Explorer that offers immaculate security and is relatively faster than other browsers.

4. Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox, launched in 2004 by Mozilla Foundation, is a web browser well-known for its security and performance. Its cross-platform compatibility and support for web standards make it a popular choice among users and web developers alike.

Its Gecko layout engine seamlessly renders websites and implements the most modern and current web standards. Mozilla Firefox is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

It is designed to be fast and efficient, with a streamlined interface and optimized performance.

Mozilla Firefox allows you to use multiple applications on your PC without draining much of your device’s battery.

Web Standards Support

Firefox is known for its support of web standards, making it a reliable browser for accessing modern websites and applications.

Smart Search Suggestion

Mozilla Firefox provides users with search suggestions based on their browsing history and search queries, making it easier to find what they are looking for.

Its readers view blocks ads so you can read without any distractions.

Mozilla Firefox is a good web browser for users and developers who are looking for a web browser that is not resource hungry. Also, Mozilla Firefox has better performance than Chrome as it uses less RAM.

Opera is a web browser developed by Opera Software and is one of the best battery-saving browsers. It has a customizable interface that allows you to personalize your browsing experience.

Opera browser is on the list of popular web browsers because of its exceptional features, such as integration for messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram. And its speed dial allows you to quickly open your favorite or most-visited websites.

Built-in Ad Blocker

Opera comes with an ad blocker, so users can load websites quickly and without ads.

Personalized News Feed

Opera has a personalized news feed feature that displays news stories based on your interests.

Battery Saver

Opera has a battery saver feature that can extend your laptop or mobile device's battery life by reducing the amount of power used by the browser.

You can turn on the turbo mode for faster browsing even on a poor internet connection.

Opera’s ad blocker and messaging app integrations make it a great choice for users who like to socialize. Its built-in news feed lets you know what is happening in the world.

If you often face network problems, you should switch to Opera browser to benefit from its Turbo mode.

6. Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer, also known as Microsoft Internet Explorer, was a web browser developed by Microsoft and launched on the World Wide Web in 1995. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out 11 versions of Internet Explorer.

Support for Internet Explorer 11 ended on June 15, 2022. It has now been replaced with Microsoft Edge.

Some problems that led to the demise of Internet Explorer include:

• Slow browsing
• Lack of active updates
• Limited Customization
• Lack of essential browser features

Brave is a relatively new web browser that is open-source. The Chromium-based web browser was launched by Brave Software, Inc. in 2016. Brave offers an exceptionally secure and efficient web browsing experience. It is light on the system resources, and even with multiple pages open, it consumes little RAM, which ultimately offers fast and smooth browsing.

Brave blocks trackers and ads by default, which helps protect your privacy and security while browsing the web.

Brave is known to be one of the fastest web browsers available on the World Wide Web, thanks to its lightweight design and efficient use of resources.

Brave is designed to protect your privacy with features like private browsing, fingerprint protection, and script & tracker blocking.

Rewards Program

Brave web browser has a rewards program that allows users to earn cryptocurrency in exchange for viewing ads.

The Brave browser works for you if you are tired of malicious websites infecting your PC. Brave provides an incredibly secure and efficient browsing experience. It is also very fast and efficient, just like other more popular web browsers.

Launched in 2008 by the Tor Project, the Tor browser lets users access restricted websites and the dark web.

It defends you against traffic analysis through multi-layered encryption so that you can browse freely. Tor makes it very hard for websites to trace back your data and location.

The primary advantage of the Tor Browser is that it provides anonymity to users. It uses a complex system of encryption and routing to conceal users' IP addresses and make their online activities untraceable.

Privacy & Security

The Tor Browser also provides security to users by encrypting their data and protecting them from hackers and surveillance. It is especially useful for people who use public Wi-Fi networks or access the internet from countries with poor internet privacy laws.

Access Blocked Content

Tor allows users to access different websites that may be blocked or restricted in their country. This can be useful for people living in countries with censorship or those who want to access content that may be restricted in their region.

Tor Browser is one of the best browsers for users who want anonymity and security, but it can be slow and may not be able to handle all types of websites.

Which Browser is Right For Me?

You can choose your browser based on features that will make web browsing manageable for you.

Explore Further

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• 7 Best VPN Services with Free Trial

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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The best web browsers for 2024

All web browsers have the same basic function, and yet, the choice between them has always been one of the most contentious in tech history. You have more options these days than ever before, whether you’re looking for the best web browser for privacy , the best for speed, or perhaps something a bit more adventurous.

To help you decide on the best web browser, we grabbed the latest browsers and put them through their paces. Even if some could use a complete overhaul, these options are your best chance for a great online experience.

The best web browser: Google Chrome

Chrome is ubiquitous — and for good reason. With a robust feature set, full Google Account integration, a thriving extension ecosystem (available through the Chrome Web Store), and a reliable suite of mobile apps, it’s easy to see why Chrome is the most popular and the best web browser.

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Chrome boasts some of the most extensive mobile integration available. Served up on every major platform, keeping data in sync is easy, making browsing between multiple devices a breeze. Sign in to your Google account on one device, and all Chrome bookmarks, saved data, and preferences come right along. Even active extensions stay synchronized across devices.

Chrome’s Password Manager can automatically generate and recommend strong passwords when a user creates a new account on a webpage. Managing saved passwords and adding notes to passwords is even easier. The search bar, or Omnibox, provides “rich results” comprised of useful answers, and it now supports generative AI capabilities. Favorites are more accessible as well, and they’re manageable on the New Tab page. And it’s now easier to mute tabs to avoid unwanted sounds.

Other updates have included a Dark Mode for Windows and macOS , better New Tab customization and tab group creation, tab hover cards, and an in-browser warning if your password was discovered in a data breach. There’s a price tracking feature that can help locate the best deals. Android users will appreciate the Phone Hub for linking and monitoring their phones. There’s also the ability to quiet notifications, so websites don’t bombard you with requests to enable in-browser notifications.

What’s the bottom line? The Google Chrome browser is fast, free, and even better looking than before. With a thriving extension ecosystem, it’s as fully featured or as pared-down as you want it to be. Everything is right where it belongs, privacy and security controls are laid out in plain English, and the browser just gets out of your way. While it can be a little RAM-hungry at times , Google is working to make it more efficient — like Microsoft’s Edge, Google can now hibernate tabs in the background to stop them from using too many resources.

Overall, Chrome remains the best web browser download for the average user.

And, things are looking to get even better. Google announced some significant upgrades to the browser that haven’t gone live yet, to celebrate Chrome’s 15th birthday . A Material You design language will allow users to customize Chrome’s look and feel and attach themes to profiles to make it easy to tell them apart. The menu system will be revamped to provide easier access to a variety of settings and features including Extensions, Password Manager, Translate, and others. The Chrome Web Store will be redesigned using Material You to be easier to use, and AI will help identify useful extensions. And finally, Safe Browsing will now work in real time to protect against threats.

The best Chrome alternative: Microsoft Edge

In response to the market’s rejection of its original home-grown Edge browser, Microsoft rewrote Edge using the open-source Chromium web browser engine. The new Edge launched on February 5, 2020 , as a separate, stand-alone browser that replaced the integrated version. It became part of Windows 10 with the May 2020 update, although you can still download it for Windows 10 builds prior to version 2004. Of course, it’s the default web browser for Windows 11.

At first glance, the new Edge browser looks and feels like Google Chrome. It prompts you to import Chrome’s bookmarks toolbar and other settings. This is great if you hated the old Edge browser and want to give Microsoft’s new browser another shot. It also supports Chrome extensions , though the browser leads you to the Microsoft Store for add-ons. You must manually load the Chrome Web Store to install anything not listed in Microsoft’s repository.

However, it’s not Chrome with a Windows 11 theme. Microsoft reportedly disabled many features, including Google’s Safe Browsing API, ad blocking, speech input, Google-centric services, and more. In return, the company worked to optimize Edge and reduce its footprint while continuing to add new, Microsoft-oriented features. As of January 2023, Edge is the most efficient browser in terms of memory usage. It also allows sleeping tabs, to let tabs release their resources when they haven’t been used for some time.

Features launched since its release have included the new Edge Sidebar that provides easy access to various tools, more flexibility in managing how Edge starts up, Citations to make it easier for students to cite sources, and various other updates to make the browser more productive. Edge Workspaces lets users organize tasks into dedicated windows, and Microsoft has continuously tweaked various features, like the Edge Sidebar, to make them more user-friendly.

Microsoft Edge also provides simpler privacy settings and security updates. Microsoft Edge uses a graphically friendly interface that displays three security levels: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. With Balanced set as the default, many sites request you to disable your pop-up blocker even though one isn’t manually installed. All in all, we’re very optimistic that Edge is on its way to challenging Chrome as the best web browser.

The best Chromium alternative: Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is the best browser that’s not based on the Chromium browser engine. Mozilla has taken real strides to make its browser a truly modern way to surf from site to site, thanks to efforts like its upgrade to Firefox Quantum , its VR alternative Firefox Reality , and password-free browsing .

It wasn’t too long ago that Mozilla rebuilt the browser’s interface, offering a cleaner, more modern take on what a web browser should be. The changes weren’t just skin-deep, however. There’s some impressive engineering going on behind the scenes.

For example, Firefox Quantum is designed to leverage multicore processors in ways that its competitors just aren’t doing. It was not designed to make a huge difference in your day-to-day browsing, but Mozilla hopes this design will give Firefox Quantum an edge moving forward. By engineering for the future now, Firefox Quantum is in a better position to take advantage of quicker processors as they emerge.

Some Firefox strengths include privacy protections with SmartBlock anti-tracker support, improved password syncing across devices, enhanced readability, integrated breach alerts, and a Protections Dashboard that provides a summary of how Firefox protects your privacy behind the scenes. WebRender improves the graphics performance on Windows PCs with Intel and AMD CPUs.

Recent updates include easier download management, captions, and subtitle support on YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix videos watched in picture-in-picture mode, HDR support in macOS, and the ability to edit PDFs with text, drawings, and signatures. Firefox can also recognize text from an image, which is copied to the clipboard when selected. Finally, Firefox Colorways provides new options for optimizing how Firefox looks on-screen.

Beneath those changes, Firefox remains a comfortable, familiar standby. It’s a capable browser with a deep catalog of extensions and user interface customization. While managing settings across platforms isn’t as seamless as Google Chrome , the mobile browser app lets you share bookmarks between devices when using a free Firefox account.

There’s a bit of a fringe benefit, too. Since it’s been around longer than Chrome, some older web apps — the likes of which you might encounter at your university or workplace — work better on Firefox than they do on Chrome. For that reason, it never hurts to keep it around.

Overall, Firefox is more privacy-centric than Chrome and comparably fast, but its feature set isn’t quite as expansive elsewhere. If you like the sound of this, download the Firefox browser today.

The most innovative web browser: Opera

Another venerable browser and popular alternative, the Opera browser shares much of Chrome’s DNA and deserves its place as one of the best web browsers. Like both Edge and Chrome, Opera is built on Google’s open-source Chromium engine and, as a result, they all have a very similar user experience. Both feature a hybrid URL/search bar, and both are relatively light and fast.

The differences appear when you look at Opera’s built-in features. Where Chrome relies on an extension ecosystem to provide functionality users might want, Opera has a few more features baked right into the browser itself. It introduced a predictive website preload ability, and an Instant Search feature isolates search results in their separate window while the current page fades into the background, letting users more easily focus on the research task at hand.

You can install extensions from the Opera Add-ons store , which are just like Chrome extensions. Similar to Google’s browser, you’ll find useful tools like Giphy, Amazon Assistant, Avast Online Security, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more. If Chrome’s wide variety of extensions is important to you, then Opera becomes an intriguing alternative. It might just be one of the best browsers for quickly navigating web pages.

Opera also features a built-in “Stash” for saving pages to read later. There’s no need to sign up for a Pocket or Evernote account to save a page for later reading. Similarly, Opera features a speed-dial menu that puts all your most frequently visited pages in one place. Google Chrome also does this, but only on a blank new tab. Finally, Opera has a built-in unlimited VPN service, making it a more secure browser option.

The biggest changes came with Opera 60 and Reborn 3, a complete revamp that brought a new borderless design, Web 3 support, and a Crypto Wallet, allowing users to prepare for blockchain-based sites. With version 69, Opera became the first browser with a built-in Twitter tool, and the company has added others as well including Instagram and TikTok. Just click the icon on the toolbar, log in to your account, and tweet away right from within the slide-out menu.

Other recent advancements include Lucid Mode, which sharpens video playing on a variety of platforms, supports emojis instead of web links, and other enhancements. The Opera Sidebar adds new functionality much like Edge’s Sidebar, allowing quick access to various Opera features. And Opera Aria adds new generative AI capabilities built right into the browser.

You can see that we’re well into hair-splitting territory, which is why it’s important to remember that your choice of browser is, more than any other service or app you use each day, entirely dependent on your personal preferences — what feels most right for you. The Opera web browser has a unique look and feel, and it combines some of the best features of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Alternative browsers

While the preceding browsers will meet most users’ needs, other alternatives exist for anyone looking for something different. This section is for those who have a more niche preference in web browsers  or want to try something new.

Apple Safari

If you use Apple devices exclusively, Safari is already your default browser. It’s also significantly faster than in the past, surpassing Chrome in its quickness. It’s integrated into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, and you’ll likely get better battery life thanks to Apple’s in-house optimizations and the underlying hardware.

Safari also focuses a great deal on privacy and security. If you want to minimize how you’re tracked and whether Big Brother is looking over your shoulder, then Safari is a good choice. If you also use an iPhone and/or an iPad, then using Safari on your Mac will make for the most seamless transition between platforms. Open websites on an iPad or iPhone are carried over to macOS.

Safari is not offered outside the Apple ecosystem.

Vivaldi Browser

The Vivaldi browser is truly unique. No two Vivaldi users will have the same setup. When you run it for the first time, you’re guided through a setup process that lays out your browser in a way that makes sense for you. You choose where your tabs and address bar go and whether you want browser tabs displayed at the top of the page or in a separate side panel. This is a browser built from the ground up to deliver a unique user experience, and for the most part, it succeeds. Vivaldi 2.0 enhanced the customization features and made them easier to access.

This browser excels at customization, and you can choose from a variety of tasteful themes that don’t feel dated or out of place on a modern PC, in addition to the aforementioned UI choices. It also has some standout privacy-enhancing features, like its team-up with DuckDuckGo to make the non-tracking search tool the default option when in privacy mode.

Finally, recent updates added more powerful tab management, enhancements like Web Panels that make for smarter browsing, and (as mentioned) even more powerful customization options. Other new updates include a built-in ad blocker, a built-in tracker blocker, a clock in the Status Bar, a new Notes Manager, and a Break Mode for pausing the internet while keeping the browser open.

Brave Browser

One of the most unusual browsers around is Brave — or, perhaps, it’s Brave’s business model that’s the strangest. Brave blocks all ads on all web pages by default, which makes it arguably the fastest browser around. Ads are a huge portion of how many websites make money — block these ads, and suddenly the most important web financial tool is eliminated.

That’s where the Brave Rewards program comes in. Users receive Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) when they view alternative ads that Brave places in the browsing stream. Users can pass along a portion of their tokens to publishers. As of January 2021, there were over 70,000 websites that supported BAT-based transactions through the Brave browser, including Wikipedia, The Guardian, WikiHow, MacRumors, and more.

What’s in it for users? Simply put, if you’re not waiting for ads to download along with website content, then your web experience will feel much faster. Brave performs no user tracking, making it ideal for private browsing as well.

Tor Browser

The Tor Browser is a version of Firefox that serves one very specific purpose: A simple entry point for The Onion Router, or Tor .

Tor is software combined with an open network aimed at making you invisible by routing your traffic through several anonymous servers. While it’s not foolproof, it’s very difficult for someone to identify you when you’re properly configured and using something like the Tor Browser to surf the web — especially if combined with a VPN .

There are many legitimate uses of the Tor Browser and the Tor network. It’s a good choice for people who live in countries with repressive governments, as well as journalists and activists. The dark web is also one of the destinations for people using Tor, which includes many nefarious and illegal sites.

In any event, if you want to remain completely anonymous while surfing the web, the Tor Browser and network are for you. If you want a more mainstream alternative, Opera includes a VPN component, but it’s far less private.

Avast Secure Browser

Avast Secure Browser first arrived as the Opera-based Avast Safezone Browser in 2016 as part of the Avast Antivirus paid bundle. It was revised and rebranded in 2018 as a free stand-alone product based on Chromium. Originally the “SafeZone” aspect kicked in when users visited websites to make purchases or manage money.

Avast Secure Browser provides several built-in tools to protect your data and privacy. These include an anti-phishing module, fingerprinting and online tracking prevention, an ad blocker, and a Webcam Guard tool to control which websites can access your camera. The Hack Check tool will determine if your info was leaked in a data breach.

Avast Secure Browser is a stand-alone download for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. The desktop version doesn’t include an integrated VPN but instead directs users to download the company’s separate SecureLine VPN software. The listed Bank Mode — part of the Avast Free Antivirus client — flips on when users load a banking website.

Best web browser features — what to look for

Benchmark tests.

Notice we don’t include Safari in our main comparison. Apple’s Safari web browser is unavailable on Windows, Android, or Chrome OS, so we removed it from our primary list.

Most browsers are compatible with web standards and handle performance with relative ease. A casual user probably won’t notice a difference in the rendering speed between today’s modern browsers, as all six are much faster and leaner than those of a few years ago.

We ran the following benchmarks on a desktop with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid-state drive, and Windows 11. All browsers were clean installs of the most current production versions as of January 2023, and all were run at their default settings.

First, JetStream 2 is a JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmark. It tests how quickly a web browser can start and execute code, and how smoothly it runs. Higher numbers are better.

Notice how all three Chromium-based browsers outperform Firefox. In fact, there’s very little difference between them, while Firefox’s performance is quite poor by comparison.

The next test we ran was Speedometer 2.0 . It measures how responsive a browser is to web applications by repeatedly adding a large number of items to a to-do list. Higher numbers are better.

Here, Opera led the pack, with Chrome and Edge running nearly neck to neck. Firefox came in last here with a relatively low score.

Finally, we tested how much RAM each browser uses, both with no tabs open and then with 10 tabs open accessing the same popular sites. We made sure that each browser had no extensions running, and we let each browser settle in before looking at its memory use. For the test with 10 tabs open, we averaged memory use when all the tabs were opened and then five minutes later to account for any variability.

It’s not a scientific test, but it should be sound enough to give you an idea of which browsers are the most and least efficient in terms of taking up your RAM. We found Opera to use the least amount of RAM when first opened, barely ahead of Edge, while Chrome used the most. Edge used the least with all 10 tabs loaded by a significant margin, a third or less than the other browsers. Chrome used the most with all 10 tabs open, and Firefox and Opera weren’t far behind.

Security and privacy

The most valuable tool for secure and private browsing is user discretion, especially when you consider that every web browser has encountered security breaches in the past. In particular, Internet Explorer and Chrome’s reputations for protecting users’ security and privacy credentials are spotty at best.

Chrome, Safari, Vivaldi, Opera, and Firefox all rely on Google’s Safe Browsing API to detect potentially dangerous sites. Thanks to constant updates, Mozilla, Chrome, and Opera all make constant security improvements. Microsoft disabled this API in Edge.

All browsers offer a private session option, too. Private sessions prevent the storage of browsing history, temporary internet files, and cookies. Browser support for Do Not Track remains spotty.

Mozilla made some strides in differentiating itself from others with a real focus on privacy in recent years. It even debuted a Facebook Container  in 2018 to make it harder for the social network to harvest user information.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to use a VPN when browsing the web? 

You do not have to use a VPN when browsing the internet. However, a VPN can be a good tool to use as it protects your privacy and data by creating a secure and encrypted data tunnel between your browser and a VPN server. In turn, that server creates a secure and encrypted connection between it and the target website.

As a result, the website can’t identify you personally, nor can it see your true geological location or internet address. Not even your ISP knows where you’re surfing or the device you use with a VPN enabled. Some VPN services are free while others require a subscription. We have a list of the current best VPN services .

Which browser is most used in the world? 

Google Chrome leads the web browser market with a 64.68% share, according to Statcounter . Apple Safari follows with 18.29%, Edge at 4.23%, Mozilla Firefox at 3.01%%, and Opera at 2.25%. Internet Explorer is still in use with 0.81%, while Microsoft Edge “Legacy” is fading out at 0.32%.

What are the best ad blockers to use for your browser? 

We have a guide on the best ad blockers for Google Chrome , but here’s a short list:

• AdBlock and AdBlock Plus
• AdGuard (Chrome only)
• CyberSec by NordVPN
• Poper Blocker (Chrome only)
• Stands Fair AdBlocker (Chrome only)
• uBlock Origin (Chrome and Firefox only)

What is browser fingerprinting and how can you prevent it? 

Websites want to know everything about you: Your tastes, your habits, and where you like to surf. When you load a website, it quietly runs scripts in the background that collect information about you and your device. The operating system, the web browser, all installed extensions, your time zone — all of this information is strung together to create a “fingerprint,” which in turn can be used to trace you across the internet via cross-site tracking.

Avast provides a detailed explanation and outlines various forms of fingerprinting. For example, the “canvas” method forces the browser to draw an image or text in the background, without the user knowing, to determine the operating system, web browser, graphics card, installed drivers, and the current font style. Device fingerprinting determines all internal and external device components.

As your fingerprint is tracked across the internet, this “profile” can be sold to data brokers, who then resell the data to advertisers. It’s a more silent means of gathering information about you versus using cookies that require your consent. The problem is, browser fingerprinting is still perfectly legal.

The best way to prevent browser fingerprinting is by randomizing and generalizing data. Third-party software like Avast AntiTrack does this by inserting “fake” data when website scripts try to collect your information. However, this tool allows scripts to continue running in the background so the website doesn’t “break.”

Many browsers offer some type of anti-fingerprinting protection. These include Avast Secure Browser (see above), Brave Browser (randomization), Mozilla Firefox (blocks fingerprinting scripts), and Tor Browser (generalization).

Editors’ Recommendations

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Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for technology into a marketing, consulting, and freelance writing career aimed at helping people use technology to enhance their lives. At Digital Trends, he reviews laptops and desktops, including the latest from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple, and more, and writes news and easy to understand how-to articles about the computing industry as a whole.

When he’s not writing, you’ll find him reading and watching science fiction, taking photos with his family, and obsessing over Indiana University basketball.

Laptop Reviews

Best Budget Laptops Best 2-in-1 Laptops Best Business Laptops Best Laptops Under $1,000

If you’re completely new to Microsoft Word, you’re probably wondering where to begin. You’ve come to the right place because we’ll get you started. From what you see in the Word window to how to save a document, this Word Tutorial for Beginners is for you.

Note: The information in this tutorial applies to Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows. While you may see varying terms, tool locations, or available options, most Word versions have the same basic features. Once you have whatever version of Word you downloaded and installed, you can jump right in. How to create a new document When you open Microsoft Word, you can create a new empty document or use a built-in template. To best get familiar with the application and the features we explain here, select a Blank document on the Home screen and follow along!

It looks like future gaming handhelds might have quite a lot of GPU power -- at least if this new AMD Strix Halo leak is to be believed. The upcoming APU lineup is said to come with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units (CUs), which marks a massive upgrade from the last-gen Strix Point. They're also said to support up to 96GB of video memory.

By the looks of it, the Strix Halo might be more of a mobile workstation solution than a gaming product -- but with these specs, gaming on laptops equipped with these APUs should be entirely possible even without a dedicated graphics card. The specs sound really promising for gaming handhelds, though, including next-gen versions of the Asus ROG Ally X or the Steam Deck. Let's dig into what's said to be coming in 2025, as per the latest leak from Weibo.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is just a couple of months away from release, and developer Asobo Studio has released the system requirements for the game. For the most part, there isn't much to talk about. The game can scale down to an aging GTX 970 and up to a recent RTX 4080, but one requirement has players scratching their heads -- 64GB of RAM to meet the "ideal" system requirements.

That's an unheard of amount of memory for a game, even in 2024. For some context, I have a PC packing an RTX 4090 and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which is just about the most powerful gaming PC you can buy right now. Even with all of that hardware, I still only have 32GB of RAM. Why would you need more? Even the most demanding games can never hope to saturate 32GB of RAM, and there's a strong argument that 16GB is enough for most titles. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is changing that narrative.

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Browser comparison: How the five leaders stack up in speed, ease of use and more

The best browser for your desktop could be one you’re not using. Whether Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, or Safari is your current choice, our tests found distinct differences in speed and ease of use. We also compared how each browser uses system resources, a near-invisible trait that could be discreetly bogging down your PC. For the online lifestyle, the right browser could save you time and frustration.

See how they run

Browsers largely look and act the same: They render HTML in multiple tabs or separate windows, let you bookmark pages, support HTTP and FTP file transfer, or offer private browsing (no data is stored). Deep inside each one, however, are operational differences that may or may not fulfill your needs.

Opera had a long-standing and well-deserved reputation for being fast, but not rendering all pages correctly. A switch from a proprietary HTML layout engine to free and widely-used WebKit (currently version 537 as with Chrome) has made that a thing of the past.

Internet Explorer has a history of being exploited by bad guys, both because of its immense popularity and its ActiveX technology. Give Microsoft credit: It’s doggedly improved the Trident layout engine, adopted standards, and improved security. IE is no longer something I advise users to avoid.

Firefox is a longtime worthy IE competitor, and Chrome’s a strong newcomer. As Safari was installed with iTunes for years, many Windows users have it, but have never tried it—possibly because Apple has never given it a truly Windows-like look.

I’ll be comparing browser performance and resource usage as well as features and ease of use.

Chrome 36 (WebKit 537): Stable and speedy

Google’s Chrome browser has gained traction quickly against longstanding competitors like Internet Explorer.

A lot of people use Google’s Chrome browser, because lots of people use Google’s search engine. Chrome is fast and generally reliable. It was my go-to for a couple of years, partly because of a great text-to-speech add-on called SpeakIt! that I used to proofread articles. Recently, however, it revealed a propensity for playing the video and audio portion of some popup windows without actually showing the popup. This is an interaction with Adobe’s Flash player that also currently affects Firefox.

Chrome posted the fastest Browsermark score in our browser comparison tests.

There’s no denying that Chrome is fast: It scored 5773 on Browsermark, took 150.4ms to complete Sunspider, and scored 5627 on Peacekeeper. That’s two first places and a third. To achieve those results, however, it uses a lot of memory and separate processes: 775MB and 14 processes in my hands-on, nine tab test. And there was nothing special going on in any of the tabs.

Chrome is one of the fastest browsers for rendering HTML, but it spawns a lot of processes to achieve that.

Additionally, relatively simple options such as changing your homepage are distinctly unintuitive. You might even get the feeling that Google doesn’t want you to change things. Another issue with Chrome, as well as Opera and IE, is that it spawns a number of processes, making it harder to shut down when things go bad.

Minor issues aside, Chrome is still a top browser option because of its stability and speed.

Firefox 31 (Gecko): Looking good, running fast

Mozilla Firefox just got an interface makeover and offers many useful add-ons. 

Firefox is the long-time competitor to IE that staved off a Microsoft browser monopoly for years until Chrome showed up to “help.” It’s fast and very reliable. Despite a longstanding memory leak that forced the occasional restart, it was the browser I recommended for many users to avoid the malware attacks that once plagued IE.

The memory leak in its Gecko rendering engine seems to be gone and Firefox has recently received an upgrade that was radical enough to rile a few longtime users. (There is a way to bring back the old-style menus.)

I prefer the new look and find it the most intuitive of all the browsers for bookmarking and changing options. Firefox also has a vast array of add-ons, including one of the best video downloaders out there, the aptly-named DownloadHelper.

Firefox was the slowest among the browsers we compared in Browsermark, though its score was still decent. 

In our performance texts, Firefox tucked neatly into third place overall: It scored 4540 in BrowserMark; took 134.4ms to complete Sunspider (better than Chrome or Opera); and scored 3956 in Peacekeeper.

The feel is slightly slower than Chrome or Opera, but not enough that it should irritate you. It uses fewer resources than Chrome or Opera, spawning only a single process, and using only 510MB of memory. Only the super-thrifty Safari used less memory.

Keep reading for details on Internet Explorer 11 and more …

Internet Explorer 11 (Trident)

Internet Explorer remains the most widely distributed browser, and the one most targeted by malware.

IE remains extremely popular and useful—if for nothing else that downloading your browser of choice with a fresh install of Windows. It’s decently fast with HTML, exceptionally fast with Javascript, and renders pages reliably.

Also, because of its ActiveX technology, IE is sometimes easier to use with business-related sites such as Webex and HTML IT consoles such as Kaseya. These sites can seamlessly integrate their functionality into IE. With other browsers you must sometimes download and install an extension or background app. Windows User Account Control can prolong that process, so in a pinch I often simply switch to IE.

Internet Explorer 11 can be easier to use with business sites because of its ActiveX technology.

IE was unable to complete BrowserMark, a problem noted only after a recent update, but it did score 3670 on Peacekeeper. More notably, it took a mere 74.1ms to complete Sunspider, making it easily the fastest browser for running Javascript.

Sadly, it’s every bit the memory hog that Chrome and Opera are, using 714MB in my nine-tab test. On the other hand, it used “only” 7 processes, half that of the WebKit-based Chrome and Opera.

Opera 23 (WebKit 537)

Among the browsers we compared, Opera is worth a look for its easy configuration.

After a long, dark age of badly rendered pages, Opera’s now near-perfect in that regard. I say this even after uninstalling it just a few months ago due to its incompatibility with PCWorld’s own web tools. Updates have smoothed out those kinks, and it’s only a hair slower than Chrome.

Unlike Chrome and Firefox, Opera 23 doesn’t suffer invisible popups. It does use the same Webkit engine and run as multiple processes, and it’s more difficult to shut down. It also lacks a home button, instead relying solely on a launch page of oft-used sites (Speed Dial).

In our browser comparison running Browsermark, Opera was nearly as fast as Chrome.

Speed Dial is great if you work off of multiple sites, but it adds another step for those who work from a single page. My minor complaint: There’s no native feature for emailing a link to a page. You must install an extension for this functionality.

For HTML rendering, Opera was only a hair slower than first-place Chrome, scoring 5625 on BrowserMark and 5447 in Peacekeeper. It was a hair faster with Javascript, completing the Sunspider test in 150.1ms. Overall, you’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference between the two WekKit 537-based browsers in a hands-on.

Despite the list of minor complaints, Opera is currently my main work browser because it’s nearly as fast as Chrome, but easier to configure.

Safari 5.1.17 (WebKit 534)

Among the browsers we compared, Safari is easy to use and runs with very low processing overhead. 

Though king on the Mac, Safari is probably the least popular of the top browsers under Windows—a bit sad as it’s competent, easy to use, and light on the memory profile. Apple apparently ceased supporting Windows as of version 5.1.17, but we tested it anyway because of its thrifty use of memory.

And ‘thrifty’ is understating the case. It spawns only a single process and in my nine-tab hands-on test, required only 115MB of memory to display it. What happened between the WebKit 534 that Safari uses, and WebKit 537, the current choice of Chrome and Opera is quite amazing. The latter offers way more speed but sucks up a lot of resources.

Safari posted a slower score in Browsermark than most of the competition, but it’s still reasonably peppy. 

Safari could be very handy on older systems with only 512MB or 1GB of memory. It has all the standard features found in the others, so you’re not giving away anything.

Performance in BrowserMark and Peacekeeper was decent: 4831 and 3062, respectively. It lagged in the Sunspider Javascript test, with a score of 179.9ms.

In our browser comparison, the Browsermark test showed pretty close performance by all products (except IE, which Browsermark could not run).

Test Results

To gauge each browser’s rendering performance, we ran Rightware’s Browsermark and FutureMark’s Peacekeeper HTML5 tests, as well as the Sunspider Javascript benchmark.

If you want the fastest browser for rendering HTML—by far the majority of the actions that a browser performs—you have a choice between Chrome and Opera. They both spawn a lot of processes and memory to accomplish it. Of the two, I’d pick Opera for overall easier configuration.

In our browser roundup, Chrome 36 posted the fastest time on Peacekeeper, while Safari was almost twice as slow.

If Javascript is a priority, Internet Explorer is easily the fastest running it. IE uses a lot of memory as well, if about half the processes of Chrome and Opera.

A big shout-out to Safari which used by far the least amount of memory to present the same nine tabs. If you’re working on a computer with only 512MB or 1GB of system memory, its spend-thrift ways might come in handy.

However, if I had to pick just one to keep on my system, it would be Firefox. It’s fast enough, it has the slickest interface, it uses considerably less memory than Chrome, IE, and Opera, and it’s just generally the easiest to use.

 Internet Explorer emerged as the fastest browsers running the Sunspider Javascript test, with Safari limping in at more than twice as slow.

Performance and memory usage may be moot if your needs extend beyond the ordinary, in which case the browser you choose as your mainstay may come down to add-ons.

Fortunately, as all the browsers we tested are competent, free and export and import bookmarks, you can use any, or all of them. Yes, life is good in the browser world.

Which of the big five Web Browsers is the Best? (Review)

With Firefox 8's early arrival , and new major updates to three of the other major Web browsers, Chrome 15 ; Opera 11.5 , and Safari 5.1.1 it's high time to take another look at our current generation of Internet Web browsers and see what's what. Only Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) 9 hasn't seen a significant improvement in the last few months.

Why did I choose these browsers? The answer is simple. These are the most popular Web browsers out there. While Internet Explorer has dropped below 50% of the total Web browser market , it's still the most popular Web browser. In most of the world, IE is followed by Mozilla Firefox , although in some places, such as much of Latin America, number three, Google's Chrome, has already moved up to second place . After that Apple's Safari, which owns the mobile Web browser market, comes in number four, and Opera hangs out to the fifth spot.

As time has gone on, Web browsers have been improving. For example, it wasn't that long ago that Microsoft's Internet Explorer was a major security problem in and of itself. True, the pre-historic IE 6 is still an infamous security hole, but only a fool would run it. Today, IE 9 is probably as secure as Google Chrome and they don't come any safer. But, in all honesty, all the 2011 Web browsers are far more secure than their predecessors.

Instead, what I look for in a Web browser today is JavaScript speed. But even here it should be kept in mind that all of the current generation of Web browsers are far faster than they were just in March 2011 . The one exception to this is the 64-bit version of IE 9. 64-bit IE 9 is, in a word, "dreadful ".

That said, JavaScript speed is important. Web 2.0 sites, which include most of today's popular sites, rely on JavaScript to render their increasingly complex pages. If you're running multiple tabs at once, you'll appreciate every bit of speed a browser's JavaScript rendering engine can give you.

You need mote than just speed though. You also need to look at what features come with a browser and what additional features its software developers can bring to it. Chrome and Firefox, for example, have large independent software vendor (ISV) ecosystems, while Opera includes more features in its basic browser than do the others.

So, which really is the best? Well, let's start with performance and then look at each browser in turn.

Page 2: [Twice around the track, Web browser performance.] »

Twice around the track, Web browser performance.

For my performance tests, I used a Gateway PC with 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. This system runs Windows 7 SP1. It's hooked to the Internet via a Netgear Gigabit Ethernet switch, which, in turn, is hooked up to a 60Mbps (Megabit per second) cable Internet connection.

Kraken November 2011 Web Browser Benchmarks

For my first benchmark, I used Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 benchmark. In Kraken, which like most Web browser benchmarks measures JavaScript performance, lower scores are better. The winner here, and it wasn't even close, was Chrome 15. Firefox came in a distant second, followed a long way back by Opera, Safari and IE.

V8 November 2011 Web Browser Benchmarks

In Google's JavaScript V8 Benchmark Suite , where higher scores are better, Chrome left the others eating its dust. Firefox, once more, came in second but it wasn't close to being competitive. Opera took third, Safari was fourth, and IE was in last place.

Sunspider November 2011 Web Browser Benchmarks

On the oldest JavaScript test, SunSpider 0.9.1 , where lower results are better, IE finally won one. In this round, Firefox took second, with Opera edging just ahead of Chrome and Safari.

PeaceKeeper November 2011 Web Browser Benchmarks

The beta Peacekeeper Web browser test suite looks not only at JavaScript performance but at HTML5 compatibility, video codec support and other Web browser features as well. With Peacekeeper, higher is better and this time Opera edged ahead of Chrome. Safari, Firefox and, finally, IE came well behind Opera and Chrome.

These results pretty much agreed with Adrian Kingsley-Hughes' overview of Web browsers, he found that IE 9 32-bit topped one test, and Chrome 15 topped the other three .

I've used all these browsers, with the exception of IE 9, which is Windows 7 and Vista specific, on Mint Linux, Mac OS X Lion, and Windows XP and 7. In my hand-on experience, Chrome not only tends to win, or at least be competitive on the benchmarks, Chrome simply feels faster. Therefore, if speed was your only consideration, I'd heartily recommend Chrome. But, there are other factors to consider.

Basic compatibility with older HTML standards, as measured by the Acid3 test isn't an issue anymore. All the browsers, for the first time in my experience, scored 100.

It's another story though when it comes to HTML5. On the HTML5 compatibility test , where higher is better and 450 is perfect. Chrome 15 took first place with a score of 343. It was followed by the new Firefox with 314, Safari at 293, Opera with 286, and IE at the bottom of the pack with 141.

While HTML5 still isn't a finalized standard, HTML5 compatibility is becoming increasingly important. If I were an IE user, I'd be getting worried about how Microsoft talks up HTML5 compatibility but can't deliver the goods .

The performance numbers out of the way, let's take a closer look at each browser.

Page 3: [Web Browser Reviews] »

Web Browser Reviews

Chrome 15 New Tab System

I like Chrome 15 for more than its sheer speed. I like it because of its clean design, its sandboxed security system, and its Chrome Web Store and the ISVs behind it.

Among other new features, the latest Chrome features a redesign of its "new" page. Now, at the bottom of this page, you can jump to either your Chrome Apps or a page with your most often visited sites. Besides giving you easier navigation between online apps and your favorite Web sites, you can also organize apps by dragging and dropping them into new sections. You do this by dragging a program to the bottom of the page until a new apps section appears. You can then name the section to something useful by double-clicking on its label. For example, you can make one called "Office" to place Google Docs and Gmail in.

As Google continues to integrate more and more of its services, such as Google+ , into one whole, it becomes clearer and clearer that Google wants Chrome to not just be a Web browser, but your universal interface to everything you might want to do. This works hand-in-glove with Google's Linux-based operating system with a Chrome Web browser interface, Chrome OS , and even PCs that use nothing but Chrome OS such as Samsung's ChromeBook .

Even if you don't like the idea of an all-Google, all the time, computing world, Chrome itself if an exceptional browser. Download Chrome and see for yourself .

Firefox 8 Setup Screen

Firefox 8 is better than Firefox 7, which I had found to be disappointing . Its performance, I'm sorry to say hasn't gotten any better though. It is, however, even in the brief time I've had it, noticeably more stable.

That last part is important. I have to say I'd gotten to the point where I was going to give up using Firefox on any kind of regular basis. Firefox 6 and 7 just kept locking up over and over again. I'd loved Firefox from its very first days, but the way it was breaking every time I looked at it in recent months had gotten me to the point where I was going to toss in the trash. Firefox 8 seems to have fixed whatever it was that kept it crashing on a regular basis on both my Linux and Windows systems. Thank God.

This latest version also gives users more control over its add-on programs. Firefox, even now, has more extensions and add-ons than any other browser. Unfortunately, many of them weren't that good. Now, you must specifically opt-in before an add-on can be installed to Firefox. Better still, when you start Firefox for the first time, you're presented with a list of the add-ons you already have. Firefox automatically disables any that in the past you didn't explicitly give permission to run. You can also choose to disable extensions and add-on programs that you're no longer using. Both features are really handy.

So, if you're still a Firefox user, run, do not walk, to the Firefox ftp site and get the latest version. There may be better choices, but if you're a Firefox fan, Firefox 8 is the version you want.

Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft is offering gifts if you switch to IE 9.

I've never been a fan of the IE family, but IE 9 is easily the best of the bunch. It's a pity that Microsoft won't let XP users have it. If you're running XP, IE 8 is still the best choice Microsoft will give you.

If you can get it, what IE 9 gives you is reasonably good performance, far better security than any of its predecessors, and a cleaner interface. It's easily the best browser Microsoft has ever produced.

That said, even on Windows 7, IE 9 doesn't compare that well with the other Web browsers. It's telling that Windows SuperSite's Paul Thurrott, TWiT's Leo Laporte and ZDNet's own ace Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley all use Chrome on Windows 7 . If even Windows experts aren't using IE, you might want to think about making another choice as well.

Opera's app. store sadly lacks engaging programs.

Opera wants to be more than just a Web browser. It includes its own mail client, and file, message, and music-sharing service, and a built-in BitTorrent client. On top of that it includes Speed Dial, a page that lets you access live Web pages and widgets. That sounds good, but like many similar schemes I've seen over the years, in practice it doesn't work that well.

Opera also, like most of the other Web browsers, includes automatic bookmarks, passwords, and settings synchronization via its Opera Link cloud. It sounds great, but it didn't work that well for me. It would take minutes before it would successfully sync between systems. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all do a better job at this.

Taken all-in-all, I have to say I see why Opera's always been an also-run in Web browsers. Simply put, you can do better.

Safari in full-screen mode.

Safari is very pretty, especially on Mac OS X Lion. The Top Sites' new-tab page view of your most-visited sites and Cover Flow history are lovely, but once you get past its pretty looks you're left with a pretty ordinary Web browser.

The one feature it has, that the others don't have, which I think is noteworthy is "Safari Reader." In this mode, Safari removes all the images, ads, and other junk and just leaves you with the text. There are extensions that give you this power to clean up Web pages in other browsers, but Safari has it baked in. , If, like me, you want the text and nothing but the text on some pages, it's a really attractive feature.

Now in the mobile world, Safari is the best Web browser around. But, on PCs, well, you can just do better. The one possible extension is on Mac OS X Lion systems. There, where Safari can be displayed in full screen and you get swiping, pinching, and tapping gestures support, Safari is a worthwhile choice.

The Final Choice

There is no one size fits all solution when it comes to Web browsers. I know Opera fans who will never leave Opera and some people who are remain convinced that IE or Firefox will always be the best browser. All that said, if you're open to a new browser, or you just want the best of the best, Chrome is the clear winner.

Don't take my word for it. Try it yourself and you'll see what I mean.

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What’s the Difference Between the Web Browsers? (Edge, Firefox, Chrome, etc.)

Ron Cervantes | Posted on December 15, 2020 |

How do you know which web browser is the right one to use? There are multiple browsers to choose from, and beyond the most popular options, there are other less well-known options out there like Brave.

People spend a lot of their online time in a web browser searching online or using cloud solutions , which means the one you choose can have a big impact on your overall online experience.

Which browser is most popular?

As of October 2020, Chrome was far out ahead of the pack with 48.29% of the U.S. browser market share. Safari is next with 35.55%, followed by Edge with 4.97%, and Firefox with 3.81%.

But just because a browser is the most popular, doesn’t mean it’s the one that you’re going to find the most productive and secure for your needs.

We’ll go through a rundown below of several different types of browser and what they offer.

Internet Browser Comparison

Below, we’ll review the main features of several different browsers, including their strengths and weaknesses, to help you make an informed decision.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome has become the most popular browser used globally. It doesn’t hurt that Google will recommend it when you land on its search engine (also the most used globally).

Many people like the multiple extensions and ease of use. Chrome is simple and uncomplicated.

Pros of Chrome:

• Speed: Chrome is fairly fast and has been sped up over the years.
• Lots of Extensions: Because Chrome is the most popular browser, you won’t have any trouble finding it supported and it offers tons of browser extensions.
• Developer Tools: Developers appreciate the tools they have available for troubleshooting websites.
• Regular Automatic Updates: Chrome updates regularly about every 6-8 weeks.

Cons of Chrome:

• Memory Hog: Chrome is known to be a memory hog, which can cause a computer with low RAM to slow down and experience freezing issues.
• Privacy Concerns: Because Google’s main business is selling advertising based upon user behavior, may people worry about the tracking and privacy of the browser.

Apple Safari

Safari is the second most popular browser because it’s the default on Apple devices. The same streamlined simplicity you find in Apple products, you also find in its browser.

Pros of Safari:

• Clean Layout: The browser has a clean layout, which is a benefit to many business users who just want to work undistracted.
• Security: Safari has an Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature that makes it hard for advertisers to target you with tracking.
• Very Fast: Safari is very fast, especially when used on Apple devices.

Cons of Safari:

• Not Always Supported: You can often run into websites or forms not working properly in Safari.
• Fewer Extensions: Because Apple doesn’t always like to openly share its product details, there are fewer developed 3 rd party extensions  

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft has been working hard to improve Microsoft Edge ever since it came out, and recently upgraded the platform to a much faster Chromium-based version.

The company is transitioning Internet Explorer users to the newer Edge browser, which comes as the default on Windows devices.

Pros of Microsoft Edge:

• Fast and Responsive: The Chromium upgrade made Edge much faster to use and it’s not nearly as much of a memory hog as Chrome.
• Collections Feature: Edge has a handy Collections feature which makes it easier to save a group of websites on a certain topic than using bookmarks.
• Security: Edge has multiple security features including a main setting that allow you to choose “Basic,” “Balanced,” or “Strict” tracking controls.

Cons of Microsoft Edge:

• Not Always Supported: Because this browser is still fairly young, you will still run across applications that don’t support it.
• You Need to Be Upgraded: Earlier versions of Edge were missing important features (like “reopen last tab”), so you need to make sure you’re updated to the latest version to have the best features.

Mozilla Firefox

For a while a few years back, Firefox was giving Chrome a run for its money, but lately the browser has lagged behind. Mozilla is now trying to recapture some of the market share and is still a recognizable name.

Pros of Firefox:

• Great Default Security: Firefox is one of the more secure browsers from installation because it defaults to several protective features.
• Healthy Extension Choices: Firefox has several 3 rd party extension options to choose from.
• Simple Interface: Many people like Firefox because it has a low learning curve.

Cons of Firefox:

• Memory Hog: Like Chrome, Firefox is also a memory hog and can take up a lot of resources, which can freeze low RAM computers.
• Issues with HTML 5: Firefox has some web compatibility issues and one of these is with reading HTML 5. This can cause page loading problems.

Brave is a newer contender in the browser market and is trying to beat everyone by combining both privacy and speed. On the browser’s website it claims to be “three times faster than Chrome” and to have better default privacy than Firefox.

Pros of Brave:

• Very Secure: Brave is one of the most secure of the browsers and defaults to highly secure settings.
• Fast Speeds: The browser does come through on its claim of being faster than Chrome, with pages loading faster on both desktop and mobile.

Cons of Brave:

• Lack of Extensions: You won’t find many extensions yet for Brave because it’s so new.
• Site Problems: You can run across problems with not having site features work correctly when using the browser.

Are Your Computers Using the Most Productive Browsers?

The browser that’s best for you can have a lot to do with the workflows you have and the apps you use. C Solutions do a browser need evaluation for your central Florida business to ensure your browsing is fully optimized.

Schedule a free consultation today! Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online .

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Battle of the browsers: Edge vs. Chrome vs. Firefox vs. Safari vs. Opera vs. IE vs. Vivaldi

Google Chrome used to clearly be the best browser, with its speed advantage and extension ecosystem, but that’s changing. We’re living in the golden age of web browsers, and users are spoiled when it comes to choice.

After decades of criticism, Microsoft is replacing Internet Explorer with Edge, a lean browser designed for Windows 10. Mozilla Firefox and Opera, meanwhile, continue to optimize features and add new tools, while Safari’s focus on power usage gives Mac users a serious reason to consider using the default. And then there’s the new kid in town, Vivaldi, with a minimalist design and near-total customization.

You can’t really go wrong with any of the popular browsers, but there are a few things here and there that give each its own competitive edge.

Installation, updates, and compatibility

Installation across the browsers is basically the same. Users can download them from their respective websites if they aren’t built into your operating system already — i.e. Safari, Edge, IE — and each will typically download in under 30 seconds.

Below is a list of browser compatibility.

• Google Chrome :  Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
• Mozilla Firefox  :  Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
• Internet Explorer   (32 and 64-bit): Windows
• Safari : Mac OS X (Windows version no longer supported)
• Opera :  Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
• Edge : Available with Windows 10, not available for older versions of Windows.
• Vivaldi : Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

When it comes to updates, most of the browsers are now more or less equivalent. Background updating is the default practice. In the case of Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi, and Opera, it’s handled through the app. Edge and Safari are updated through Microsoft and Apple’s respective update utilities. Internet Explorer is the only browser that’s no longer receiving updates, as it’s been put out to pasture in favor of Edge. However, it’s still available for use on Windows machines for compatibility reasons.

Design and ease of use

The current trend in browser design is for the browser to nearly disappear. IE, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome all attempt to be as minimal as possible, offering next to no actual text and small, monochromatic buttons that discretely blend with the aesthetic design of operating systems such as Windows 8 and Mac OS X. Vivaldi fights back against this somewhat, offering a splash of color and bringing back the statusbar, but it’s still largely governed by the minimalist ethos. Overall, all the browsers stay out of your way and let you focus on the site you’re looking at. Below we compare and contrast the design of each browser.

Google Chrome

Chrome was the first browser to radically simplify the user interface, offering users little more than an address bar and just a few other buttons. It’s a clean look, and though installing enough extensions can clutter things up, for most users, this won’t be confusing. Like most browsers, the window can get incredibly cramped with 15 ore more tabs open, but it still does a fantastic job of delivering content whether the window is expanded or slightly minimized for the sake of space.

Adjacent to the omnibox are standard navigational features (i.e. back, forward, refresh, home), but you can easily slim down the window by customizing the toolbar and deleting any buttons you deem useless. Chrome’s single-click bookmarking method, done by simply clicking the star located on the right side of the address bar, also makes bookmarking your favorite webpages a breeze.

Mozilla Firefox

This browser features a similar, yet more useful layout when compared to its competitors, and places the tab bar above the address bar. The URL and search boxes are still separate by default, a unique feature among current browsers, despite the fact that searching from the address bar works fine. Recently added buttons for Pocket and Hello also take up space while other browsers are slimming things down. But if you want to, you can remove any of these elements in just a couple of clicks. Firefox is nothing if not customizable.

The browser offers the same kind of single-click bookmarking that Chrome does — all you have to do is click the star located to the right of the search bar — but there’s little else that separates it from the rest of the pack. The settings menu is accessible in a similar fashion to that of Google Chrome, allowing you to access various options by clicking a simple button depicting three horizontal bars located in the upper-right corner of the window. Unfortunately, it also takes up a bit of space that could otherwise be used by the tab bar.

Internet Explorer

In terms of screen space, Internet Explorer is minimalist, with less “chrome” than Chrome itself. IE 11 features a single bar that simultaneously functions as the browser’s address and search bar. The space at the top places your open tabs to the right of the address-search bar, making it somewhat more cluttered than some of our other picks given the amount of space the search field takes up, but it typically isn’t worrisome unless you’re really stacking up a high volume of tabs. Other notable design features include the single-click bookmarking star now widely adopted by almost all other prominent browsers.

However, the 20-year-old browser is being phased out to make way for Microsoft’s newest browser, Edge. IE is still available in Windows 10, but is no longer the default and will not receive new features.

This long mediocre browser is now a serious competitor when compared to the likes of Google and Firefox. The newest version of Apple’s browser is fairly minimalist in design, but retains enough familiarity for old users of the browser to feel at home. Like its peers, Safari offers the address-search bar hybrid. Recent features include a share icon embedded to the right of the search field, which serves as a way to bookmark pages, post to social networks, and share via native Apple platforms like iMessage and Mail. An optional sidebar also give you quick access to your bookmarks, social media shares, and a reading list that syncs with iOS and works offline.

This browser uses Google’s chromium Web engine while retaining a set of signature features that distinguish the browser from the rest. Opera has a single hybrid address-search bar like Chrome, but the alternative browser also sports Opera’s signature features,  stash  and  speed dial.   S peed dial  allows for easy bookmarking and functions like “the most visited page” on Safari.  Stash  is similar to  P ocket,  and thus allows you to quickly store pages for future browsing. The bottom line? Opera sports a clean design with innovative features that hold their own against the rest of the competition.

Edge resembles IE 11, though with even smaller borders, fewer icons, and a streamlined toolbar designed to take up more real estate on your display than IE 11. A solitary, address-search bar also runs the width of the page, along with a trio of headline features that include markups, reading view, and Microsoft’s equivalent to Siri (aka Cortana). It is the standard web browser for Windows 10, and has integration with many of the OS’s features and apps, including Outlook and the aforementioned Cortana. The latest update even gives it the ability to cast video, audio, and pictures to Miracast and DLAN devices.

This browser doesn’t just offer customization, it actually asks you to choose where things like the tabs and address bar should go when you first launch it. If you want your tabs in a panel to the left of your window, you can do that, or you can leave them above the address bar. Bucking recent trends, Vivaldi also brings back the status bar at the bottom of the window, giving you a quick place to zoom in and out and preview URLs from. The current tab also takes on the primary color of whatever site you’re visiting, making the browser chrome seem like a natural extension of the site you’re visiting and adding some visual flair.

Benchmark tests

Most browsers are compatible with web standards and handle speed with relative ease. A casual user probably won’t notice a difference in the rendering speed between today’s modern browsers, but all six browsers are much faster and leaner than those of a few years ago — and become even more so with each new build. Below are our benchmark results for the six browsers, with bold text indicating the winner for each category.

Google Chrome has long dominated the HTML5 compliance benchmark, but it has some competition at the top now: Vivaldi. The two browsers support the same number of standards, meaning both should be able to perfectly render just about anything you can find.

The Jetstream benchmark, which focuses on modern web applications, has a surprising winner: Edge. Microsoft’s been working hard on optimizing its new browser, and it shows. Safari, Chrome, and Vivaldi aren’t too far behind, though.

Two Javascript benchmarks, Mozilla’s Kraken benchmark and Google’s Octane 2.0, give us more split results. Edge just barely beat Chrome on Octane 2.0, while Chrome came out ahead on the Kraken test. The results suggest most modern browsers are pretty fast, however, with the exception of Internet Explorer 11.

This suggests that Microsoft’s Edge is a huge leap forward from its old browser, and that competition in the browser market is pretty tight overall.

Extensions and extra features

Features are what truly separate one browser from the next given that speed and compatibility are no longer the defining issue. That being said, each browser has its own slate of unique features, from expansive app stores and add-ons to various extensions and tools, that makes it shine in its own light.

Chrome has become the starting point for browser extension developers, and it shows. If an extension exists, you can probably get it for Chrome before you can get it for any other browser. There’s also Apps, which blur the line between web and local apps in some unique ways. We like the idea, and Chrome remains the most integrated software for accessing anything Google-related (i.e. Gmail, Google Drive). If web apps and seamless dashboard features are important to you, check out what Google has to offer.

Download now

Like Chrome, Firefox is on a six-week update schedule, and sports a strong catalog of extensions. Some older extensions have broken with recent Firefox releases, and at this point, cutting-edge extensions tend to be offered first on Chrome and show up on Firefox later. Having said that, a few power-user extensions are exclusive to Firefox, making this hard to call definitively. The built-in PDF viewer is incredibly handy, as is the browser’s support for Macbook Retina displays and grouped tabs. Firefox also remains one of the most customizable in terms of interface and display out of the five on our list, though Vivaldi is a legitimate threat on the horizon.

Safari’s extension ecosystem isn’t massive, but Apple’s default browser has come a long way since its initial beginning. Most major extensions are available at this point, even if the collection is nowhere close to competing with Chrome or Firefox. Other awesome built-in extras include the ad-free Safari Reader, which lets you read any article without all the unnecessary clutter, and comprehensive iCloud integration for syncing pages across all your devices. There’s also built-in RSS support, and a reading list that syncs with your mobile devices.

Safari’s mobile version comes pre-installed on iOS devices, but isn’t available on other mobile platforms.

Internet Explorer 11

IE11 sports heavy integration and optimization for Windows 7 and 8. Many functions, like turning tabs into new windows, are much easier with Microsoft’s stalwart browser. It retains some of the unique features introduced in IE 10, like individual tab previewing from the task bar and a new feature called site pinning, which lets you ‘pin’ a website to the Windows 8 task bar like you would a normal application. However, unlike an ordinary taskbar shortcut, pinned websites can offer customized “right click” menus. For example, pinning the Facebook toolbar will let you right click and auto browse to different sections of the Facebook site like News, Messages, Events, and Friends. In addition, when you open a pinned site, the IE 11 browser customizes itself to resemble the site you’re viewing. Currently, this only means the icon in the upper-left corner will change along with the colors for the back and forward buttons, but we like the idea.

IE’s mobile version comes pre-installed on Windows devices. There’s currently no mobile version, though.

Opera has always stood out in part by bundling features that other browsers offer as add-ons. The inclusion of both ad blocking and a VPN in recent builds of Opera are prime examples, and make this a go-to browser for the privacy set. But it’s not just about the included features: Opera’s  add-on library  is fairly complete. The extensive web-app store offers a variety of free and premium apps, but Opera’s extensions are centered around the browser’s signature tool,  Speed Dial —  a touchscreen-optimized homepage. Each extension can be tacked to Opera’s  Speed Dial  homepage. The simplicity of having your Gmail account stored next to a dependable news aggregatior on your homepage is hard to pass up.

At this point, Edge doesn’t offer any extensions (unless you are a Windows Insider and have the preview version). However, extensions have proven to be more than just a niche feature given their wide-spread adoption in other browsers. Microsoft has confirmed that Edge will support extensions in one capacity or another down the line, but there’s no word on when they’ll be enabled for regular users. For now, Edge does offer an attractive and easy-to-use reader mode, one that removes clutter and formatting from webpages and articles to make for a more comfortable reading experience on the web.

As the newest browser in this list, Vivaldi doesn’t have an extension ecosystem, and extensions aren’t supported by default. Extensions are planned, however, and some users have even managed to get a few Opera extensions working in the browser (though the method isn’t straight-forward). Outside of the robust customization options, the sidebar offers a lot of compelling features. You can write notes about any URL, for future reference, or add any site as a side panel. This isn’t the most feature-filled browser as of right now, but it’s clearly an ambitious one.

Security and privacy

The most valuable tool for secure browsing is user discretion, especially when you consider that every web browser has encountered security breaches in the past. And Internet Explorer and Chrome’s reputation for protecting users’ security and privacy credentials is spotty at best.

Chrome, Safari, Vivaldi, Opera, and Firefox all rely on Google’s Safe Browsing API to detect potentially dangerous sites. Thanks to constant updates, Mozilla, Chrome, and Opera all make constant security updates. But Chrome takes security a bit further by also scanning for potentially harmful downloads. There’s also  encryption add-ons currently in the works at Google .

All browsers offer a private session option, too. Private sessions prevent the storage of history, temporary Internet files, and cookies. For example, Internet Explorer 11 features a security measure called Do Not Track. Only Internet Explorer goes so far as to to block trackers completely from communicating with your browser. What’s more, according to a 2013 NSS study , only Internet Explorer blocks trackers used on more than 90 percent of potentially hazardous sites.

Nonetheless,  Microsoft has stated that Edge won’t offer IE’s Do Not Track feature , though you will be able to enable some tracking protection. This change of heart is because Do Not Track isn’t really honored by many websites, making it largely pointless in 2016.

Popularity & Verdict

Internet Explorer has been the number one browser for decades, but that’s changing right now, according to  NetMarketShare’s latest numbers . They show Chrome as edging out Microsoft’s default for this first time this year, with 41.71 percent of the market. The closest competitor to these two browsers is Firefox, with a distant 10.06 percent of the market. Safari, the default browser on the Mac platform, captures a respectable 4.47 percent of the market, while Opera sits at 2.1 percent. Vivaldi doesn’t show up in these numbers.

StatCounter provides a much different view. According to its data, Chrome is by far the most popular desktop browser, with more than 56.75 percent of all Internet traffic. Firefox is up next, at a distant 14.24 percent, and a declining Internet Explorer sees 12.14 percent of the market share. Safari nets 9.47 percent of traffic, while Opera captures about 1.87 percent.

Why the big difference between these reports? It’s because NetMarketShare counts unique visitors, while StatCounter tallies all visits. In other words, NetMarketShare’s numbers reflect how many people are using a browser, while StatCounter reflects how much a browser is used.

Once you know that, the numbers make sense. A lot of people default to Internet Explorer because they don’t know any better, and only visit a few websites each day. Chrome is often preferred by people who browse heavily and might visit hundreds of sites in a day. And Firefox, despite being used by fewer people than Internet Explorer, generates more web traffic because of its power-user base.

Chrome is still king

It’s getting closer every month, but it still seems like Chrome is the best browser overall. It’s still a top-performing browser, and its extension eco-system is the best. There’s a reason why it’s the most popular browser ever made, and while specific users might prefer something different, most people can safely default to Chrome.

Source :  https://www.yahoo.com/tech/battle-best-browsers-edge-vs-190732036.html

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Information Technology Services

How to clear the cache and cookies in your web browser, why clear cache and cookies.

Clearing the cache and cookies from a web browser is an important first-step for almost any troubleshooting for internet browsing. The 'cache' is a tool used by your internet browser to speed up the page loading process. However, sometimes it can cause a problem when websites are updated and developed as files saved in the cache may conflict with what's actually coded into the website. Clearing cache and cookies is a way we can be sure that any issues you may come across are actually something wrong with the website, rather than inconsistencies caused by using different browsers.

Keyboard Shortcut for Most Browsers

If you are using Internet Explorer, Edge, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox you can quickly clear cache with a keyboard shortcut. While in your browser, press Ctrl + Shift + Delete simultaneously on the keyboard to open the appropriate window.

IMPORTANT: Be sure and close/quit the browser and restart it after clearing the cache and cookies.

Google Chrome

• Click the  Tools menu  (three dotted lines in the upper-right corner).

• If on a Windows computer, close and re-open Chrome to save your changes. If on an Apple computer, go to the Chrome menu on the top menu bar and select Quit for the changes to take effect.

Mozilla Firefox

• Click on the Tools  bar (three bars in the top-right corner).
• Click History .

     3. On the menu to the right, select Clear Recent History.

     4. In the Clear All History menu, select the time range to Everything .      5. Select the options, Cookies, Cache, Active Logins, Site settings, and Offline website data .

    6. Click OK .     7. If on a Windows computer, close and re-open Firefox to save your changes. If on an Apple computer, go to the Firefox menu on the top menu bar and select Quit for the changes to take effect.

Safari for macOS

• Click on Safari on the top menu bar.

• Click the Privacy tab.

• Click Remove All .

• Go to the Safari menu on the top menu bar.
• Select Quit to close Safari and save your changes.

Microsoft Edge for Windows 10

• Click Privacy, search, and services on the left-side menu.

• Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files .

• Close Microsoft Edge completely for your changes to take effect.

Internet Explorer for Windows

• Click on the Settings menu in the upper-right corner.

• Under the General tab on the upper-left-hand side, scroll down to Browsing history .

• Check the Temporary Internet files and website files , Cookies and website data , History , and Download History boxes.

• Close Internet Explorer and reopen it for changes to take effect. 

Safari for iOS

• Go to the Settings app on your device.
• Scroll down to the Safari menu.

• The button for Clear History and Website Data will turn gray when cache and cookies have been successfully cleared.

Google Chrome for iOS

• Open Google Chrome on your iOS device.

• Click Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen.

Case-insensitive CSS attribute selectors

Including an `i` before the `]` in a CSS attribute selector causes the attribute value to be matched in an ASCII-case-insensitive manner. For example, `[b="xyz" i]` would match both `<a b="xyz">` and `<a b="XYZ">`.

:is() CSS pseudo-class

The `:is()` (formerly `:matches()`, formerly `:any()`) pseudo-class checks whether the element at its position in the outer selector matches any of the selectors in its selector list. It's useful syntactic sugar that allows you to avoid writing out all the combinations manually as separate selectors. The effect is similar to nesting in Sass and most other CSS preprocessors.

CSS :read-only and :read-write selectors

:read-only and :read-write pseudo-classes to match elements which are considered user-alterable

CSS 2.1 selectors

Basic CSS selectors including: `*` (universal selector), `>` (child selector), `:first-child`, `:link`, `:visited`, `:active`, `:hover`, `:focus`, `:lang()`, `+` (adjacent sibling selector), `[attr]`, `[attr="val"]`, `[attr~="val"]`, `[attr|="bar"]`, `.foo` (class selector), `#foo` (id selector)

CSS3 selectors

Advanced element selection using selectors including: `[foo^="bar"]`, `[foo$="bar"]`, `[foo*="bar"]`, `:root`, `:nth-child()`, `:nth-last-child()`, `:nth-of-type()`, `:nth-last-of-type()`, `:last-child`, `:first-of-type`, `:last-of-type`, `:only-child`, `:only-of-type`, `:empty`, `:target`, `:enabled`, `:disabled`, `:checked`, `:not()`, `~` (general sibling)

css at-rule: `@keyframes`: named timeline range keyframe selectors

Css selector: `:active`, css selector: `:autofill`, css selector: `::backdrop`, css selector: `:blank`, css selector: `:buffering`, css selector: `:checked`, css selector: `:closed`, css selector: `::cue`, css selector: `:defined`, css selector: `:disabled`, css selector: `:empty`, css selector: `:enabled`, css selector: `:first-child`, css selector: `:focus`, css selector: `:fullscreen`, css selector: `:future`, css selector: `:host`, css selector: `:host()`, css selector: `:hover`, css selector: `:in-range`, css selector: `:invalid`, css selector: `:lang()`, css selector: `:last-child`, css selector: `:link`, css selector: `:modal`, css selector: `:muted`, css selector: `:only-child`, css selector: `:open`, css selector: `::part`, css selector: `:past`, css selector: `:paused`, css selector: `:playing`, css selector: `:read-write`, css selector: `:required`, css selector: `:root`, css selector: `:scope`, css selector: `:seeking`, css selector: `::slotted`, css selector: `:stalled`, css selector: `:target`, css selector: `:user-valid`, css selector: `:valid`, css selector: `:visited`, css selector: `:where()`.

Firefox is no longer supported on Windows 8.1 and below.

Please download Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) to use Firefox.

Download Firefox ESR 64-bit

Download Firefox ESR 32-bit

Firefox is no longer supported on macOS 10.14 and below.

Firefox vs Apple Safari

Safari and Firefox both have good privacy and security features.

But Firefox also has built-in tools such as:

• Edit PDFs on the go within your Firefox browser window - no extra software needed.
• Translate a web page locally and privately.

Firefox offers a wide range of customization options, including the ability to move menus and toolbars to different locations on the browser window. Safari’s interface is less customizable.

Since we don’t have to make shareholders happy, we can focus on making you happy and always put your privacy and convenience first.

It’s easy to switch

Switching to Firefox is easy and fast - import your Safari bookmarks, your passwords, history and preferences with one click and immediately be ready to use Firefox. Here’s how to import your Safari data .

Do more with Firefox

Get the fast, lightweight, privacy-focused browser that’s backed by a non-profit and works across all your devices.