The big two in web browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox. Opera stands in the wings, but has yet to come to the fore with comptetition tools to make a mark.

What has always tended to happen is that most people use the browser which comes with the new PC software and are quite happy to go along with that, sometimes not realising that it may not actually be the best for you.

From the ‘Down the Lane’ statistics, I can say that of all vistors, 84% use Internet Explorer (6 or 7), 13% use Firefox and 3% use Opera or others.
The ‘browser battle’ has led to major improvements in them all, albeit a nightmare sometimes for the website builder who finds out that because of differences in their make up, the website never looks exactly the same on them all !

However, here’s the breakdown of the major two…..

Internet Explorer
This usually comes with the PC and alongside the email programme ‘Outlook Express’ and is quite efficient in many ways. It has a nice clean ‘dashboard’ and easy to navigate plus organise your favourites etc.
Where it lacks is in some security issues and stopping annoying pop-ups etc.
Most spammers and spyware people design their software to go up against Internet Explorer, solely on the grounds that it’s the most widely used.
You can download tools to help in many things, but this is usually done from ‘outside’ the programme rather than within.

Firefox
At present, this is deemed by the vast majority as being the best browser out there.
It’s quick and gives you loads of ‘plugins’ which make navigation a lot easier.
Included in the basic setup is an anti-popup programme and if in doubt over entering a website, it will ask you first.

If you use Google as your search engine, you have a search tool integrated into the top dashboard and / or, you can use the Google toolbar which comes with it.

There are over 1,000 extensions plus many skins which will help you personalize it even more.

I only recently installed Firefox myself and I must say I’ve been really impressed with the things I can do with it plus I’ve noticed that my spyware has gone down as well.

There is no need to change from Outlook Express or any other email programme you have. Firefox will work alongside them with no problem.

Finally, you should be aware that you can have as many browsers as you wish on your PC, which one is your default doesn’t matter.
By doing this, you can choose the right one for you and may find that certain things are better in one than the other.

But overall, Firefox is winning the day!