Web Browsers are those software applications, where you tend to spend more time, than what you actually think. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari - the three Web Browser giants have evolved themselves over the years to keep pace with the technological upgrades but there are some features that we miss in these veterans and have to rely upon add-ons.
Today, the multitudes of Web Browsers can be seen that target niche markets with their unique features. From catering to a gamer's needs to social media addicts, there are many Browsers that are worth a try. With their new, interesting features and designs, these Browsers can make your Web browsing experience a lot easier and better. Let’s have a glance over it.
- Vivaldi
Released this April, Vivaldi is a feature-loaded Web browser, that entrusts the users with wide scopes for customization. With Chromium as its engine underneath, it adapts itself to the user’s preferences to provide smooth and easy surfing. You can set the tabs with the open pages, stack the tabs, pin the important Web pages to panels and create your own keyboard shortcuts along with the mouse gestures, as per your convenience. Hit F2 and you will launch a search feature, that searches across all the bookmarks and browsing history to find your stuff in the browsing session. You can literally tweak every aspect of this Browser. It is based on Chrome, but is able to manage your system’s memory far better.
- Microsoft Edge
Microsoft released a new Web browsing tool, named Microsoft Edge, last year to replace Internet Explorer. With Cortana as a search assistant, Edge is a faster, smarter and more modern avatar of Internet Explorer. Edge allows you to add your notes to a Web page by simply clicking on “Make a web note” button. Similarly, create your own reading list to save your articles to read them later and pin them to the screen to view while you are browsing. You can pin your favorite Web pages to the start menu for quick access. As it supports only Java script, it keeps the unwanted extensions away for a trouble-free experience. Edge allows you to measure the performance of a site with its Unified Performance Profiler tool to find out reasons for slow performance of a site. Geeks out there will surely love it. Well, only Microsoft Edge is able to stream your favorite flicks from Netflix at 1080p on Windows 10.
- Brave
While a full version of this Browser is yet to be released, this August, it targets those surfers who seek privacy. The brainchild of a co-founder of Mozilla, Brave is programmed to block annoying advertisements online, irritating re-directs and trackers. With this ad blocking feature, this Browser is really fast in loading the Web pages and you can see the loading time in the address bar.
- Maxthon MX 5
Maxthon MX 5 (latest version), a China based Browser with focus on Cloud data, has introduced three new features in its Browser worth trying – Infobox (that allows saving the Web pages to Cloud), passkeeper (for password management) and UUMail (block spam mail and provides you anonymity, when you are online).
The major points to consider while picking a Web Browser are: compatibility with the operating system, speed and performance, feature set and security. Security will always be a major concern, unless a good and effective antivirus program is installed. As the current version of Chrome is power stripping, bulky and slothful at times, why not give these newbies a try?