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Browser Software
Most people do not look beyond the Internet browser that comes for "free" with their Windows operating system - Internet Explorer from Microsoft. Many still remember the "browser wars" between Netscape and Internet Explorer and Microsoft's controversial (at the time) practice of giving their browser away for free with the operating system, which lead to Internet Explorer's now dominant market share. Most people are also aware of the many security "issues" that both Windows and Internet Explorer have had over the years.
There are many excellent alternatives to Microsoft Internet Explorer that are available for free. Many of these alternatives have very innovative features that users will appreciate. These products may also be less susceptible to the security issues that have plagued Internet Explorer.
Whatever the reason that you may be looking for another browser, any of the following would be an excellent choice as an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer:
Mozilla
The Mozilla open source software project is an open source community of developers and testers whose mission is to reserve choice and innovation on the Internet.
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is Mozilla's premier browser offering. The Mozilla Foundation claims that over 75 million people have downloaded Firefox to date. Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and is absolutely free. It is getting very favorable reviews.
- PC World Product of the Year 2005
- PC Magazine Editors’ Choice Award 5/16/2005
- Security, Cool Features Of Firefox Web Browser Beat Microsoft’s IE,
Wall Street Journal, by Walt Mossberg, December 30, 2004 - "...Firefox is better than Explorer by leaps and bounds."
Forbes, Better Browser Now The Best, by Arik Hesseldahl, 09/29/2004 - "Beware of spyware. If you can, use the Mozilla Firefox browser."
USA TODAY, Signs your PC's under siege, and what you can do, by Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz, 11/18/2004 - "Move over, Internet Explorer. Feature-studded and secure Mozilla Firefox is a safer, better choice for Internet browsing."
CNET, November 2005
Mozilla Suite
The Mozilla Suite provides is a Web browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editor. It too is available for free. The Mozilla Suite is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Netscape
The Netscape Browser is still around and substantially improved. It, too, is available for free and runs on Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows SE, and Windows ME.
Opera
Opera Software says that their Opera for Desktop browser is "famous" for its speed, small size, security, customization and standards-support. Opera for desktop is available for free and runs on Windows, Solaris Sparc, QNX, OS/2, MacOS, Linux Sparc, Linux PowerPC, Linux i386, FreeBSD i386, and BeOS.