QOTD: Which Browser Do You Use? Why?

[alaeddin]

firefox since I heard of it years ago. Because of security and add ons. Also because it is not made by microsoft ;D

 

[linaaslt]

Chrome, cause it's simple and fast. i don't need any add-ons or other bs.

 

[amnotanoobie]

Chrome because of the amount of viewable space that I get, and less distraction from the menus, toolbars, etc. Though when using plugins such as flash or java it does seem to use more cpu even than Opera.

Previously Opera, because of the fluid mouse gestures, a little bit better loading and rendering speed than FF, very good memory usage and management (even when using it for days, I don't turn off my pc), security and the way that I could block images individually per website.

Firefox, when the website I'm going to breaks on Opera, or when the website is full of flash or java content. Firefox seems to manage cpu cycles better when using plugins. Though FF is a memory hoar after 8++ hours of use.

IE, only when a damn website requires IE.

 

[Upendra09]

Chrome because of how little resources it takes up, but before it i was an all out firefox fan, but i plan on using the new firefox

 

[doomhammr]

Firefox because of Adblock and FireFTP extensions.

 

[Guest]

Firefox with speeddial, downloadhelper, cacheviewer, and of course the most important: adblock plus with many many many entries in the block list. I would not be on this site without adblock. Nauseating frigging ads.

 

[ssddx]

I use IE for all of my web browsing needs. I have tried out firefox and I do not see what all the fanboy hype is about. IE has always worked faster than FF for me for some reason as well.

Ultimately a browser is a browser. People can complain all day about security issues, but the fact remains: The most popular browser will always have the most people trying to hack/exploit it.

Figure the millions of corporate users who only have IE, the millions of users who only know about IE, and the millions of users who just do not care.

Anyways, in this day an age.. who doesnt run an AV/Firewall & Antispyware? Well.. that and having security setting set to a resonable level.

 

[justjc]

I use Opera because of all the little things. In the beginning(around 2001), it was the fact that it was the "fastest browser on earth" that dragged me in. Since then the ability of Operas developers, to always add the functions I need, has kept me loyal.

Perhaps it's because they are the most innovative browser company, but I always seem to find the functions I need built-in in their latest versions. Be it a torrent client, a mail client, print preview option, ICQ(was included once), the ability to get my bookmarks and notes to other computers or my mobile with Opera and the ability to share files from my own computer using Unite(helpful when people don't want their pics floating on websites like Facebook and Flickr).

Also navigation options like it automatically being able to predict the next page, so you don't have to find a link, the dial, the mouse gestures for the most used commands and the ability to use voice to navigate is quite addictive.

I've tried other browsers like Chrome, IE6-8, Firefox 2, but none of them really offered a good alternative to what Opera gives me.

 

[kartu]

Opera at work and at home. It just has everything I need out of the box:
1) Bookmarks with sync
2) Mouse gestures
3) Speed

on very rare cases, or when developing some webapp I use Firefox with Firebug plugin.

 

[powerbaselx]

Firefox 3 (win XP). Good interface, all that i need.

Use IE just for specific sites. Don't like the interface.
Tried Google Chrome, nice looking, good multi-task, new experience, but Firefox is still the best.

 

[p05esto]

IE : Sites just look better in it, especially type. It also loads as an application faster and I can't tell any real world difference in loading web pages. Pre-installed and more integrated with Windows is a big plus. It's also the largest percentage of the browser market, which means developers make SURE things at least work with IE, then the others as time permits (yes FF I know as well).

 

[goose man]

Firefox for me, I can't live without add-ons.
Job requires me to open page composed on other language and character (like Japanese or Chinese page) and Firefox has add-ons that can translate those pages automatically.

 

[kartu]

P.S.
Forgot about built-in ad blocker.

 

[Guest]

Opera.

Fast. Small CPU useage. Magic Wand for passwords/usernames. Speed dial for frequently visited sites. Great integrated email and RSS reader. Many "Firefox-like" apps. Customizable skins. It's pretty sweet.

I also have IE8 and Firefox, but Opera just runs faster for me.

 

[awaken688]

Haven't tried IE8 or Safari 4. Chrome is super fast. FF and IE7 handle the other stuff fine. Chrome 2 for 99%. The other 1% I use FF or IE7 to load depending on the site. Chrome is just faster on my machine than FF by far. Pages load faster, the startup is faster, just everything is faster. Now granted, there have been a couple times when Chrome felt lacking and I had to go back to FF, but that is rare and the time Chrome saves me is worth it. I'm going to give FF 3.5 a try though. I loved FF2, but FF3 just wasn't as good to me. Hopefully Chrome will add just a few more basic things, and I'll be good to go.

 

[Guest]

Opera all the way (Turbo 0 beta is the fastest browser ive used ever, sped dial up to 25 pages and tab view make it unbelevable) Firefox for website developement and sites not working on opera

Safari lastly for its private browsing when shopping for presents as it would be the last one my girlfriend will open (She is an opera fan)

 

[Guest]

Chrome, because of its separate processes for each tab, transparent resource usage, stability, efficient screen usage, lightness and speed. And because it's google. somehow I trust the guys. they're not into a blind money seeking in everything like MS. quality backed by greatest specialists.

 

[coolkev99]

IE8. My computer is a bit slow and IE starts up about 2-3x faster than firefox. Haven't tried Chrome yet.

 

[baddad]

Firefox 3.5 Add-ons like Xmarks, Colorfultabs, Cooliris, all the plugins and now the new tab button makes me a happy surfer.

 

[cknobman]

Chrome definitely the fastest and easiest to use.
Only problem I have is the occasional site that dosnt support it.

Ive tried firefox a few time and like it for plugins but just dont really think the browser is as great as some people make it out to be.

 

[bunz_of_steel]

FF of course, plugins, stability take your pick all better than going with the corporate forced M$ IE8 is just krp

 

[Guest]

Just upgraded to FF 3.5, and so far I'm happy!
I don't notice much difference between 3.0.11 and 3.5 so far, but one thing I found is that 3.0.11 sometimes didn't shut down and remained in the taskmanager, where I had to shut it down manually there.
I haven't had that with FF3.5 yet!

 

[doittoit]

Opera, when I'm going to read articles from sites I visit regularly. The "next page" when you hit spacebar is awesome, also, I like the mouse gestures and the fact that when it zooms, it zooms everything. Chrome when I'm surfing. IE when I'm sick of a site not working right.

 

[jgiron]

For surfing I use Chrome, it's fast and you can remove tab into different windows.

For development I use Firefox because of all the great plug-ins (plus u can drag a tab from FF to Chrome. Nice feature.

I also use IE to test because of the user base that uses IE.

I will soon be supporting Safari but I dislike it's functionality compared to the other browsers, but I do like it's look.

 

[erichlund]

At work, I use the mandated IE6, yes 6, for company stuff. If I need to do a search that's not preset in IE6, then I use Firefox while connected to the company VPN, or Safari if not connected. Safari is far faster, except that the VPN for some reason slows it to a crawl.

At home, I'm writing this on IE8 in Win7RC, which I use every morning. I have to admit, I'm a long time user of Exploder, and I'm just comfortable with it. Don't really like Firefox's bookmark system, IE's favorites are just more intuitive for me. On my Linux box I do use Firefox.