Top 8 Internet Explorer Alternatives

Following the legal agreement between Microsoft and the European Competition Commission in December 2009, millions of Internet Explorer users in Europe now have the option of choosing an alternative browser. However, there are many Internet users out there who do not know what other Web browsers are available in the market due to Microsoft Internet Explorer’s dominance over the years. In no particular order, the following list should give such users a general overview of the top Internet Explorer alternatives on the Web.

1. Flock Browser: Powered by Mozilla, Flock is the first social Web browser. It has a People Sidebar, which help users keep in touch with friends on social-networking sites, a Media Bar, that makes it easy to find and surf photos and videos from favourite Web sites, a Photo Uploader, Feed Reader, Web mail, Web Clipboard and wait for this – a Blog Editor to help bloggers compose articles online or offline before publishing on their favourite platform. This browser is definitely a must see for all bloggers!
   Download Flock for free.
2. Mozilla Firefox: Firefox is the most popular alternative to Internet Explorer. It offers over 6,000 add-ons, customisation, private browsing to user-privacy, anti-phishing and anti-malware technologies.
   Download Firefox for free.
3. Opera: Opera claims to be the fastest browser on earth. It also offers private browsing, supports Java script and has hundreds of desktop widgets that users can run as standalone applications.
   Download Opera for free.
4. Google Chrome: Chrome browser is becoming increasingly popular among Web users because it is lightweight, has a reputation for loading Web sites quickly and launches immediately. Users can also search for information on the Internet (Google) directly from the address bar.
   Download Google Chrome for free.
5. Apple Safari: Safari Web browser works on the iPhone, iPod touch, Mac and PC. In other to increase the browsing-area, its browser frame is a single pixel wide, there is no status bar (by default) and the scroll bar is only displayed when on mouse over. Safari also claims to be the world’s fastest browser.
   Download Safari for free.
6. Maxthon Browser: The Maxthon Web-browser offers flexibility. Users can swap, add, move, remove, and change tool bars, icons ,menus, colours, skins and layout according to their preference. In addition, the browser has an in-built spam “hunting” system (Ad-Hunter) that blocks harmful, or irritating ads, images and pages.
   Download Maxthon for free.
7. Avant Browser: Avant browser allow users perform frequently used browse operations with basic mouse movements. It also saves user’s bookmarks, configurations etc, in an online storage account so that users can access their profile from anywhere and at anytime.
   Download Avant Browser for free.
8. Sleipnir Browser: Sleipnir is a highly customisable Web browser that lets users play around with its design, skin, and visual appearance according to their tastes.
   Download Sleipnir for Free.

In addition to the above browsers, the following deserve honourable mentions; K-meleon, Slim, and Green browsers.

Talking Point

While most Internet users go for the popular Web browsers, it might be important to note that the less popular ones might actually be less susceptible to malicious attacks and therefore usually more reliable. Although there are various reasons why people use different Web browsers, why did you choose the browser you currently use? If you could, would you change it for a less popular Internet browser?