Some for fun, others for serious....
This article is meant for PC/MAC "beginners"
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We all use them, every single day! They are all FREE, and that's something unusual, FREE things for daily use!There are those for serious work, and those just for the fun.
There are those that work well, permanently, and those that just seem to be there to annoy!
I'm talking "Browsers" - "Navigators". Necessary to do anything on the web, people are often frightened to touch at their Browser, for fear it will take revenge! You needn't be scared, nothing bad is going to happen, and you'll understand your PC/MAC better afterwards!
Constant complaints about the most well known one, "Internet Explorer" from Windows. Of course it is the most virus attacked one, because it's the most installed!
Why...? Because it's sold with all Windows systems, and you have to physically change it if you want something else, and people are too scared to do just that!
Well - I'm happy with that, I use "Chrome", "Firefox", sometimes "Opera", occasionally "Safari" depending on what I want to do, and I'm happy that IE stays the most popular - the bugs might just go there and leave me in peace!
I don't use IE simply because I don't like various features about it, and - of course because of the bugs, even if the latest version is supposed to be ultra, ultra safe. It is the genuine article, but they can keep it!
Firefox from Mozilla is now my 2nd choice - works very well, has lots of good extensions (extensions are little programmes you can install to go places and do things quicker and easier) but, like a lot of people who work on the Web, or spend a lot of time there, the favourite is more and more "Google Chrome", which also now has many extensions:
Without doubt the fastest at the moment and it is intended to be the base of an operating system offered by Google in the future.My only problem with "Chrome" is that it is not a "lightweight" installation, and is very "greedy" on resources and disk space. Not a problem really these days, when 1To or more space is available, but my PC's, like me, are OLD and very, very small. Of course this makes "clearing the cache" even more important, easily done under "options-under the bonnet-clear cache" (use the "work tool spanner" logo)
Another advantage of "Chrome" is that it is available in versions for other operating systems such as:
Mac, Linux and others - so is Firefox.
Mac, Linux and others - so is Firefox.Of course, all these "browsers" or "Navigators" need to be downloaded and installed on your PC/Mac, but in the main, they are simple to install. Yes - like anything new, you'll need a few hours or so to set it up as you want it, to understand the basic functions, but the possibility of returning to your old browser is always there. All the Browsers will be shown on the "All Programmes" list, and can be opened from there. Generally you will always be asked if you want to make a Browser your default Browser (if it isn't already) but you can allow access to all Browsers by simply going to "Start - Set programme access and defaults" and following the instructions.
Occasionally I go looking for "Alternative Browsers" and some of these are extremely amusing.
They are available, as novelty items, in all sorts of designs. I once had one which played a noise every time a mail came in, and a Butler Jeeves type chappie opened up and delivered, on a tray, the mail addressed to mr le marquis. He then said "Your mail, Sir", and walked off in a very dignified manner.
It was amusing until I figured out that he did this for EVERY mail, and when you receive over a hundred mails every day - well.......!
He disappeared!
If you go to the link at the start of this article, you'll find lots of free browsers, try one or two. just for fun! If you don't place it as "default" there's no problem, and you can easily uninstall it afterwards.
Here is another link to some really "for fun" browsers:
and here is a link to "Theme Browsers" (Browsers which have particular themes in one way or another) - this one concentrates on "Kids & Teens" and allows parents to choose Browsers for their kids, safely...
The idea of this article is to try to take the "mystery" and fears out of Browsers - albeit very important things on the Web, since without them - you ain't goin' nowhere....!
Just choose wisely and for yourself, just for fun or for the serious work.
Good Surfing.....!
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