What Brower or Browsers Do You Use & Why?

[KILROY]

So I've used Internet Explorer since it came out, but obviously need to make a change now due to it not being supported anymore by Microsoft and websites now blocking it with a pop-up message relaying this to you when you try to connect to it's site.

I've done a little bit of research on other browsers, and it seems they each have their own specialties it can do which others can't, but it seems that all of them use Chrome's programming as an application aid for it's search engine.

With all the different choices available, I'm not too sure on which one or one's I would want to switch to for a permanent use.

What browser or browsers do you use and why?

[DaRk]

You pretty much have 2 options for the most part.

1. Firefox
2. Chrome or a browser based on Chromium (Edge, Opera)

- Firefox is better on the privacy of things and has sync. Less resource heavy.

- Chrome is great in that when you sync, you're already logged into all the Google Apps, if you use them often. However, it is resource heavy. For example, often times when I start my computer, chrome is already using 1.2 gigs of RAM without having a visible window open.

- Opera is based on Chromium, but in my opinion, runs smoother. It also has a built in proxy to help with privacy.

- I haven't had much time with the Chromium version of Edge, but it appears pretty smooth and runs better than IE or the original edge ever did.

That being said, I personally use chrome as my school has invested deeply in Google, and it's just easier. Either browser you choose, make sure you have Adblock Plus installed.

One does have to wonder why you continued to use IE this long with it's continue lack of support from MS and the community.

[KILROY]

I'm just an old fart Dark the big 50 now. IE was just installed and a continued use and due to most businesses in my industry I work in use it. Haven't really been fond of Google. Can't remember why now, but it's been decades since I looked at it again, but I don't have a problem giving a company another chance, but yeah, I see it's resource heavy from all the complaints about it so far online. Google has become a pretty big monopoly now and is continuing to grow into that. Most of their revenue comes from companies paying for ads on one of the parent companies they own...You Tube. To disable ads on You Tube, your suppose to sign up for their premium account and pay for it, but with these different types of ad blocking programs, it will do the same thing for free. It won't surprise me if they are working on something right now to try to put a stop to this in order to continue their path for income revenue. It wouldn't surprise me if they made it where you had to sign up, give all your information so they can sell it off to marketers, in order to use You Tube. That way if you use some type of hack to gain access to You Tube, they could block you from doing so. Kind of like the way I have access to shut down internet communications for major companies with the company I work with. A lot who are providers to the consumer, like yourself.

This is how I see it...you are paying a company for access to the internet monthly. By doing so, this should allow you to connect to a site or sites without ads being shown all the time. Your monthly payment should cover this. Even if it's just a few cents out of your payment that goes to that company a month to opt out of seeing it's ad's online. You add this up with all the different people paying for this service and the company has it's income revenue. This should be done by your internet provider, not you.

Has anyone ever used Vivaldi? I just saw this and checking it out now. So far it looks promising. Some neat things it can do. But after looking into all the different types of browsers you can choose from, it seems each has it's own special thing it can do which another cannot. This makes it difficult to choose if you like what one can do and another cannot.

EDIT: I just checked out Edge. Don't think I would switch to it due to it's still in it's beta stages. Kind of like Microsoft needed to get something on the market quickly and released it in order to keep it's fan base ongoing. Now I'm seeing that fan base submitting complaint issue's about this and that on the browser. It would be awhile before I would consider looking into it again.

[DaRk]

I would personally look into Firefox or Opera. They are both pretty good browsers with a good set of features.

An interesting add-on to use is Lightbeam. It shows you how the websites you visit track you and how they are interconnected. I use it to help teach my digital citizenship class.

[KILROY]

Yeah, think I'll try out Lightbeam. I use Firefox on a few iPad's that I use, and this looks promising. Thanks for the suggestion!

EDIT: Maybe not....I just checked Mozilla's site and it showed this:

Mozilla ended official support of the Lightbeam extension in October 2019 and has no plans to resume maintenance of it in the future.

[BeCool]

I Use opera cuz have all from beginn adblocker, vpn, and i can watch youtube without advertising
and more stuff on addons site also i can use googlechrome addons ^_^

[KILROY]

I have Opera downloaded, but haven't used it yet. When you mention BeCool an adblocker, and vpn. Is this something that is already installed for use in Opera? If so, maybe I need to look into this further.

[Erowid]

Might want to checkout Brave Browser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)

[KILROY]

Ah....thanks big E! I've seen that Lion icon, but could never figure out what it represented. Now I know. Will definitely check it out! Thanks again!

[BeCool]

I have Opera downloaded, but haven't used it yet. When you mention BeCool an adblocker, and vpn. Is this something that is already installed for use in Opera? If so, maybe I need to look into this further.

yes is all standard in Opera