Firefox 15.0a2 Aurora / 14.0b6 Beta / 13.0 Final

Mozilla Firefox is definitely one of the most popular browsers in every corner of the world, as it provides excellent browsing speed and very powerful customization tools, with just a reasonable footprint on computer resources.

Firefox is now available on multiple platforms, including Mac OS X and Linux, as well as portable devices, so it has to be something really special about it since so many people are using it.

The first contact with Firefox shouldn't be surprising since most browsers have already adopted tabbed browsing. It comes with a tabbed interface so opening multiple pages at the same page isn't a problem anymore. But what's under the hood is what really makes the difference.

Firefox is amazingly fast and blocks pop-ups, viruses and spyware, but also gives the user an extraordinary power of customization through a well-developed add-on manager. Basically, you can change almost everything in your browser, starting with the way it looks and ending with features and functionality.

Mozilla lets you install new themes and so-called Personas that change the appearance of the main window, as well as plug-ins and extensions for adding new features to the application.

Last but not least, just like the latest iterations of Internet Explorer, it comes with integrated search engines, powered by Google or Yahoo. Plus, it features a powerful bookmark manager, an advanced pop-up blocker, efficient privacy controls and detailed settings menus.

Firefox is very light on computer resources and it performs without a glitch on older computers as well. This browser is fast, reliable and the crash rate is very low. In addition, with the aid of a few extensions and themes, Firefox can be personalized to your own taste.

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Opera Web Browser 12.00 Build 1450 RC / 11.64 Build 1403

The main concern regarding web browsers is speed. Even though Internet connections get faster every day, this still remains the essential and most debated topic when it comes down to web browser preferences. The next matter in hand is the stability and security provided by that favorite application. While Opera is not everyone's pick, Chrome and Firefox fight for supremacy against Internet Explorer.

Things change when looking at mobile browser charts, as Opera Mini tops their ranks. Switching back to the desktop version, it may look as Opera can never compete with these browsers when it comes to usage statistics. Where it can compete though is real-life, day-by-day web browsing. The real test would be to take a number of fans of each browser and measure their stress levels as they surf the Internet.

Opera has a pretty sleek and attractive interface, although users can get a lot more thanks to the built-in theme support that allows them to download themes with a single click. In addition to that, you can also change the color scheme, just to be sure everything matches your preferences. While it doesn't fancy the number of add-ons that Firefox possesses, Opera provides support for extensions.

One interesting feature that might set Opera apart from competition is called Opera Turbo and is specifically designed to help load webpages faster. Especially designed for those with slow Internet connections, this particular function compresses webpages and reduces loading times, thus the browser downloads smaller files.

Opera is one feature packed web browser right out of the box. It sports tabbed browsing, integrated search engine, a password manager and even functions such as mouse gestures and voice interaction. With this particular web browser, users can quickly set up their mail accounts and RSS feeds for easy access to the things they need inside the same application.

The thing that drags Opera down is its HTML (HTML5 in particular) and JavaScript compatibility issues. It's still a very resource friendly application while delivering an impressive browsing speed. When other web browsers might fail, crash and burn, Opera takes advantage of its caching management techniques to make sure the experience of Internet surfing is smooth.

Opera packs one of the best feature set, making web navigation faster and quite a pleasure. It does not require a certain level of Internet-related knowledge as many would think and brings the necessary bundle of protection against pop-ups and other online malware. You can be sure that you just discovered a new option when picking your favorite browser. In the end, it's just a matter of taste.

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Google Chrome 21.0.1163.0 Dev / 20.0.1132.27 Beta / 19.0.1084.56 Stable

For a long time, the fight for the supremacy of the browser kingdom has involved just two major players: Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, each trying to attract more users with their functionality. However, the search engine giant Google has decided to enter the battle with its very own solution: Google Chrome.

Since its launch in 2008, Google’s browser has quickly attracted attention and users no longer install it only to check out a new app, since it already showed that it can be just as stable and feature-packed as the dedicated browsers.

Installation is extremely easy due to the simple setup pack that makes the whole task just a matter of clicking “Next” a few times, along with some options that are far from complicated.

The interface is clean and pleasant, but those who do not really like it can easily apply themes, so that every one can bring their very own touch to an otherwise static app. Being focused on leaving the user plenty of room for viewing the visited webpage, the interface is kept as minimalistic as possible, with the address bar featuring all the buttons one might require for navigation.

Another way to customize Google Chrome and make it more suitable to one's needs is to install extensions – Google has created a comprehensive Webstore for these extensions, where users can find basically any type of app or extension, ranging from education to games, lifestyle and blogging.

A novelty introduced by Google Chrome is the fact that when the user visits more than a single website, more processes are started, so that if one of the webpages crashes, the user can simply terminate its tab (and implicitly its process), without closing the whole browser.

Also, this browser places a lot of emphasis on user privacy, so the Incognito Mode was created. It allows users to explore the Internet the usual way, but when the app is closed, it automatically erases all cookies and history it may have created, thus ensuring one's privacy is maintained.

The freeware license and the frequent updates convince more and more users to take this browser into consideration. Designed with simplicity in mind, it is an easy to use app that can become a powerful package if the user chooses to install add-ons. This makes it the perfect browser basically for every type of user out there.

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