Here is Part 2 on the browser information from DISConsulting IT in Basingstoke:
Google Chrome
Chrome is Google’s offering to the internet browser market. Chrome is a fairly new browser compared to IE and Firefox, but Google’s marketing has driven its popularity to become the third most used Web Browser. If speed and simplicity is your ideal, then Chrome is the browser for you. Chrome is built with a minimalistic user interface, adding to the sleek look and feel of Google Chrome.
Everything about Chrome has been designed with speed in mind, fitted with the V8 JavaScript engine it loads pages and web applications at lightning speed. Consequently, the trade off for a lightning fast browser is that it lacks some of the features that come as basic in other browsers. Whilst it doesn’t tick as many boxes on the feature list as Firefox, it’s certainly not as basic as it first appears. Chrome offers tab-specific crash protection, so that if one tab crashes it won’t affect the other tabs you are viewing. There is also a full library of extensions in the Chrome Web Store so although the browser may not be as feature rich as others, the ability to add extensions means that that might not matter so much.
In terms of security, Chrome offers a great deal of protection. The key security feature is “Sandboxing” which offers an additional layer of protection that prevents malware from installing itself easily on your computer, or re-directing and affecting other open tabs. If you do happen to click on a well known malicious website, Google will display its Safe Browsing webpage, warning you the site is malicious.
Main Features:
- Built for Speed
- Simple and Clean UI
- Hardware Acceleration
- Sandboxing security
- Chrome Web Store – Add ons
Pros:
The pros of Chrome are that it’s a fast and simple to use web browser, with an emphasis on speed. This is without too much of a trade off between useful features and speed. Whilst Chrome is certainly not feature rich like other browsers, a large library of Extensions offer the ability to add extra features.
The sandboxing security measure is an excellent feature; greatly reducing the risk to the user from drive-by downloads, and the Safe Browsing page with a built in blacklist of malicious websites reduces the risks even further.
Chrome offers easy integration with existing Google tools, such as Gmailand Google Docs.
Cons:
This browser lacks some of the features of other browsers. Compared to Firefox and Opera, this browser may appear somewhat basic.
Sandboxing is an excellent security feature, but it lacks some of the additional protection methods that Firefox and IE use.
It’s not apparently obvious you can add extensions and when using Chrome it’s hard to find the correct place to download and install them.
Opera
If Firefox can be described as being feature rich, Opera is in a league of its own. Opera, if anything, is an internet suite rather than a basic browser. As well as standard browsing functions, Opera also has a built in email client, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), BitTorrent support and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, as well as some useful features of Opera’s own invention.
Opera has long been the secret leader of web-technology, and what they are lacking in market share they make up for in features. One of the most recent major additions to the Opera browser, is something known as Opera unite.
With this, you can easily share content with others using your own personalised “web page”, hosted locally on your own machine. You and your friends are able to effectively log into this area, and stream music, videos and pictures direct to your current location.
Opera also has some great features as standard, including crash protection, tab stacking and a built in spell checker as well as a feature called Opera Turbo – which can be set to automatically load lower quality versions of images on a webpage when your connection is slow.
Main Features:
- Simple UI
- Easy to Customize
- IRC
- Built in Mail
- BitTorrent support
- Add-ons
- Opera Unite and Turbo
Pros:
This browser is packed full of useful features without swamping the browser in unneeded features that do nothing except reduce overall performance. This browser still performs admirably in terms of speed, and Opera Turbo is an interesting feature that can help to improve performance on slower networks – admittedly at the cost of lower quality images.
Cons:
Although most features can be disabled from starting, you might accuse Opera of going too far in the direction of features. Unnecessary functions that are not used may increase the amount of RAM needed by the browser; Opera is not the best performing browser in terms of memory usage. Whilst I’ve never experienced any problem with this, on low spec computers Opera may not be the best option.
Opera also lacks some of the more modern security features of other browsers; more recent updates of Chrome and Firefox may provide more advanced security, but likewise both browsers are more commonly targeted than Opera.
Opera has a low market share; as such many Web Developers will not test their pages in Opera. I’ve never found compatibility to be a major issue, but potentially not all sites will work correctly in Opera.
The Overall Verdict?
Ultimately, I can’t tell you which Web Browser is best. Which browser you use is a mixture of personal preference, as well as which performs best on your own PC.
If you are thinking about changing your web browser, or just want to try out a different option, download a different one and try using it for a few days. The web browser “debate” can get rather heated, but ultimately my own surfing habits are different from yours, and the best browser for me will reflect that.
I hope this article has been useful for you – Mark Cotton - DISConsulting IT