Although the world has plenty of browsers for all, yet another company has just released a brand new browser known as Epic Browser! The maker of this browser is Hidden Reflex, and anyone can download it here free of charge. Since Firefox is an open source browser, Hidden Reflex only has to improve Firefox by adding more features such as a built-in anti-virus program to scan downloads from the web. The anti-virus engine is from ESET, and CNET had highly rated ESET in 2009.
Epic Browser has so many skins to beautify the browser, but Americans who are unfamiliar with Indian culture probably won’t appreciate the skins that Epic Browser has to offer, because many skins are related to India. Skins are available in categories such as People, Art, Politics, Culture, Region, Sports, Film, Music, Religious, and Nature.
Even though Epic Browser is built to woo Indian users, Epic Browser by default has English as its language. English speakers will not have a problem of understanding the features that Epic Browser has to offer as everything is displaying in English. Epic Browser is supporting around 12 Indian languages.
Another main feature that is very different from Firefox is that Epic Browser has a slim sidebar on the very left of it. The sidebar features widgets such as India Content, Type in Any Indian Language, Skins, Anti-virus, Write (Create/Edit Documents), Snippets (Create/Edit Web Snippets), View Videos In Sidebar, My Computer Sidebar, Create a To Do List, Timer, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Maps, Travel, Jobs, Games, Backup Files, Website Collections, Bookmarks, History, Downloads, Add-ons, and Add Free Apps To Epic; all widgets fit nicely on the sidebar.
By testing out Epic Browser, I also discover that Add-ons for Firefox are working just fine on Epic Browser. This makes sense since Epic Browser is built on Firefox. So I have had my two favorite Add-ons active on Epic Browser just like I have them alive on my Firefox, and these are NoScript and Wot.
Private browsing mode can be done on Epic Browser in the same manner that one goes about private browsing on Firefox. You can go to Tools >> Options >> Privacy >> (under History section choose…) Never Remember History. Basically, Epic Browser has many similar features and functions to Firefox, but Firefox has no anti-virus and sidebar and unique widgets on the sidebar. I don’t think any browser besides Epic Browser has an anti-virus program.
How pretty Epic Browser compares to Firefox and other browsers? It’s depending on the eyes of a beholder! For your information, before the installing of Epic Browser, I had it scanned with Norton Internet Security, and to be extra careful, I also had it scanned with ClamWin, both anti-virus programs found Epic Browser has no virus and malware. You should give Epic Browser a try, and then report back to me by commenting below this post! Have fun with this browser, will you? Source.
Who says browsers besides IE don’t have security issues? Opera has just announced and rushed out a new patch to fix a security flaw that allow remote code execution attacks. Google’s Chrome had released two security patches to patch up few security flaws during the interim of April. You should be worried if you haven’t yet update with new patches for Opera and Chrome! More.
Users for iPhone and iPod Touch don’t have to stuck with Safari if they don’t want to! Apple’s App Store has approved Opera browser. Whether the claim of Opera on iPhone is far superior in speed and performance against Safari has any merit, it’s always better to have more browser choices, don’t you think? Although Opera may not be as popular as Safari on Apple’s gadgets, but it may do just as well thanks to the fact that many people have good experiences with Opera browsers on their computers. Don’t look for Opera, because Opera Mini is what it’s known as on mobile devices such as iPhone. Source. Image Is With Creative Commons License by Lex Grego On Flickr.com
Google’s latest stable Chrome browser is now supporting extensions! Just like any other computer geek who is constantly looking for a better browser as if one is seeking for a holy grail, I have had the pleasure of installing new extensions onto Chrome browser on my Windows 7 machine. I’m a little disappointing that I couldn’t find my most trusted extension that I’ve used constantly with Firefox which is Noscript in Google’s extension library. Luckily, I found WOT and installed this onto Chrome. WOT is also available on Firefox which I’ve also used it constantly on that browser.
Other extensions that I had also installed onto Chrome were Google Dictionary, Google Translate, Google Wave Notifier, Smooth Scroll, WOT, and Xmarks Thumbnails. Honestly, so far I haven’t yet seen any extension for Chrome that I think it’s a must install besides those ad-blocker extensions and WOT and Google Dictionary and Google Translate. Still, this whole extension capability is pretty brand new to Chrome; in due time, Chrome will be inundated with all types of extensions — by then it won’t be too hard to find the right extensions for your using of Chrome.
Another bad day for Microsoft. The fingers are pointing at China for recent attacks on Google’s network and other major networks, but the attacks were possible because all version of IE(s) were vulnerable to attacks. Microsoft is hard at work in patching up the browsers. Since the patch is not yet readily available for IE(s), German government warns the country’s citizens not to use IE(s) in fear of other hackers may try the same trick. Ain’t we glad we have alternative browsers? Here are few of them that you could try if you wish!
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
- Gnome
I know that there are more browsers than the ones that I listed above, but I’m not so sure about those browsers’ security measures. At the very least, Firefox and Opera and Safari and Gnome are browsers that are known for better security than Microsoft’s IE(s). To be fair, it’s a given that Microsoft IE(s) are less secured due to the fact that large portion of people in the world are using IE(s); this allows hackers to target IE(s) more than any other browser. Source.
OK, so I heard about Google’s Chrome browser that is now capable of incorporating cool extensions, but to my dismay I found out that you have to download Chrome’s beta version which is still in a developing stage in order for extensions to work. If you have been using Firefox and Safari and IE 8, then extensions probably aren’t new to you, but the current official Chrome browser doesn’t allow users to add extensions.
Extensions are like extra mini features (software) that third party developers released, and by adding extensions to a browser, a browser can do many more cool things besides the standard features that a particular browser has. Google promises that adding extensions on Chrome will be easy as changing themes for Chrome. There is a new extension that Google is really pushing to let people know about is known as Quick Scroll. It’s best to let Google explains to you what Quick Scroll is since I have not yet tried Quick Scroll myself.
Back to the point of Chrome and extensions, it’s the right move for Google to wholeheartedly working on pushing out the capability of Chrome which is to accept extensions; in my opinion it’s really hard to convince a Firefox’s users or other browsers’ users to switch to Chrome without the extensions that they have been accustomed to in their original browsers. For me personally, I like the appearance of Chrome best, but I like Firefox more as it has the extensions that I need, and in the end I’m still using Firefox.
One last thing I want to rant about the extensions is that security can also be an issue. Extension developers are coming from many walks of life, and you don’t know them personally, and by using the extensions, you are trusting the developers of the extensions; the issue here is that a black-hat hacker can create a malicious extension and release it into the extension directory, people who download a malicious extension is going to have a lot of headaches in relating to why my computer suddenly stops acting normal! This is why we all must be wary about the extensions that we don’t know about enough — this goes for all browsers.
Chrome was launched a year ago, but now Google has claimed that Chrome has 30 million users. Still, Chrome needs to multiply its 30 million users by 10 or more to be able to catch up with the number of people that are using Firefox. Yet, Firefox needs to multiply its huge number of users by three or more to be on a par with IE.
Some people say Chrome is the fastest browser out there, and I think it’s true. I do like Firefox better, because there are more plugins readily available for Firefox than Chrome. For an example, I cannot trust a browser that doesn’t have a Noscript plugin. This is why I won’t be using Chrome unless Noscript plugin is available on Chrome. I can make an exception if Chrome has a plugin that is equally as good as Noscript. For your information, Noscript is a plugin that block malicious Javascript, Java, and Flash, and only allow these to run from trusted websites of your choice.
IE 8 is claimed to be the best IE version, but it’s slower than most browsers. IE 8 could crash on you if you have installed a buggy plugin. Firefox has the same problem with buggy plugin, but it seems Firefox browser tends to crash less — maybe because Firefox does have many more stable plugins than IE 8.
Chrome definitely is a good alternative browser for Firefox. Perhaps, give enough time, Chrome may surpass Firefox, but that remains to be seen. I have not seen Chrome crashing on me yet, but that is not enough for me to say Chrome will not crash. I have to say Chrome is a very stable browser when comparing against many well known browsers. Let see how many more browsers’ users will switch to Chrome as Chrome turns two. How many more years you think that Chrome needs for it to be able to catch up to Firefox and IE?
Web designers know that it is tough to get a website to work with all browsers, and so it’s a daily procedure for web designers to test their newly designed websites with all browsers to see if things are in order. Instead of firing up different computers for different IE versions, or firing up different browsers(Firefox, Chrome, Safari) using different operating systems such as under Linux, Mac, and Vista, web designers can try one of those online services that provide the browser testing capability.
BrowserLab from Adobe is a new service that is not yet ready for everyone to use just yet, but they are accepting limited number of users to check the service out. But what is this? BrowserLab provides web designers with real time browser testing capability. This means web designers can use BrowserLab to see if their websites are working as they have intended with their targeted browsers.
Web designers can also check out Browsershots. Which one is better to use, BrowserLab or Browsershots? You can provide your answers by posting a comment. Have fun testing out BrowserLab and Browsershots!
There are so many web browsers out there that not too many people actually care. Why should they when IE6, IE7, and IE8 were installed as part of Windows, or were upgraded through Windows update, right? Some people even though they are sick of using Internet Explorer, they still prefer IE over something else so they can avoid learning how to use another web browser. Then there is another group of people that prefers to stay away from IEs and turn to Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and many other less well known browsers.
Why some people prefer another browser over IEs? The idea is that using another web browser over IE may be hacker-safe. As too many hackers and scammers are targeting IE users, it’s somewhat safer to use a less well known browser where hackers and scammers pay less attention to. Browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and Opera are quite good in offering stability, usability, performance, and features that IEs may not have.
Firefox has thousands of add-ons that are quite useful, and to name the fews that you may like such as NoScript, WOT, Video DownloadHelper, Firebug, Personas, PDF Download, FoxTab, Forecastfox, GooglePreview, CoolPreviews, and so much more. Some people think that Firefox is much faster than IEs.
Chrome is a browser that made by Google. Chrome has a special feature that most browsers don’t have is that each opened tab is sandbox — means each tab has its own process. This means whenever a website or a web application that you open up through a tab goes berserk, crashes your web browsers, but with Chrome the bad websites can only crash a process, and so only a single tab will be out of service. Chrome has a very clean look when comparing it with Firefox and other browsers. Chrome rather has its users see more of a website they visit than a browser itself, and so most features on Chrome stays out of users’ sights.
Opera has a very cool feature that allows you to use mouse gestures to navigate the web. Opera seems to have more add-ons than Chrome, but less add-ons than Firefox.
Many website designers have a hard time in designing websites that compatible with all browsers. In fact, it’s extremely hard to do so as different browsers render websites differently. This is why some websites look perfect on IEs, but it’s another story when the same websites render with Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and so on. IE6 and IE7 are somewhat acting on their own rules and not conform to some standard rules that some browsers are following. IE8 is another story, Microsoft says IE8 plays much nicer than its predecessors by following some standard rules. To compare different browsers’ behaviors, you can check out browsershots.org.
For anyone who cares about security, it’s best to upgrade to the latest version of the browser that you’re using. It’s not a bad idea to have more than one browser installed on your computer. Why? It’s for appearance and security purposes. Also, when you get bored with one browser, you have the option of choosing another browser to play with.
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