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Web Browsers - Beyond Explorer
“This page cannot be displayed”. No one likes to see this message when opening web pages, but this is what many internet sites are warning will happen if we don’t upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. And yet, many people are reporting problems after upgrading to Microsoft’s latest web browser, including slowness and even web pages not opening at all. So what is a web browser, and which one should I use if I want to continue getting the most out of my internet experience?
A web browser is simply the software you use to get out to and view websites. Years ago, the web browser most people used was Netscape. Then Internet Explorer came along and soon took over the market, partly because it was packaged free as part of the Windows operating system. Now we see several other free challengers to Internet Explorer, including Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, among others. Think of each as different brands of television sets. They will all go out to the same channels (web pages), but the controls and buttons are different. What is called Favorites in Internet Explorer, for example, is called Bookmarks in Firefox and Chrome.
The most commonly used web browser on the planet right now is still Internet Explorer (IE) 6. If you’ve always left your Windows XP updates on automatic or you own a Vista computer, you are probably using IE7 or even 8. Common websites, like Yahoo mail, are warning that it will soon become necessary to upgrade to this newest and purportedly more secure browser, or risk not being able to view their sites correctly or at all. Frankly, I find this hard to believe given how many computers are still running IE6, and at the same time see many IE8 equipped computers struggling to open websites and just as easily infected by common internet threats.
So how should I choose which web browser to use so that I can function as effectively and securely as possible on the internet for the foreseeable future? Many people are taking a wait-and-see approach and continuing to use IE6. Bear in mind, Microsoft tried to strong-arm the market into rejecting Windows XP in favor of Vista and failed due to market resistance, and they may have to back down on this one as well. If you’ve already upgraded to IE8, you can return to your previous version by simply uninstalling it from within Add/Remove Programs of the Control Panel, but you may continue to experience internet slowness due to the “digital doo-doo’s” left lying around by IE8 even after it is removed.
To hedge your bets, you can also download and install another web browser, like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, which you can find by doing Google searches for each using those specific search terms. Firefox has been around longer and seems to have things better sorted out and working right as a result, but Chrome seems to be catching up quickly. Both of these browsers seem to be faster than IE8 at building web pages, and Firefox (at least) claims to be more secure. Time will tell on that latter point, but it is clear that Firefox’s option settings for how it handles temporary internet files, cookies, and history are definitely the easiest to understand and configure. Both of these will ask if you want them to take over as the default browser, which means it will be the browser that opens when you click on a web link, but you can also change that setting later in the option settings of each.
To make sure your newly installed or upgraded web browser works right on all websites, you should also download and install the newest Adobe FlashPlayer and Java Runtime plug-ins. To do this, open your new web browser and do a Google search for each using those specific terms. The top search returns will take you directly to websites that will install the correct versions for your browser. As mentioned in the previous article, Java will also attempt to sneak in an extra toolbar installation in the process unless to opt out of it at that step.
To really secure your internet experience, consider doing your web browsing from within an isolated environment of your hard drive, called a “sandbox”, which basically does not let any code run anywhere on the computer outside this contained area and helps minimize the potential for infection. Google’s Chrome is supposedly written to run this way, but not enough time has gone by to determine how effective it is. If you are running Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can download and install “sandboxing” software like Sandboxie that will do the job while allowing you to use the browser you already have. For assistance with these or any other aspects of managing your PC, contact a trusted technical support specialist.