Opera 24.1558.53 - A browser that's free, comprehensive and innovative

 

Opera is a free web browser that's fast, rich in features and innovative. Far behind Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer in terms of numbers of users, Opera is, however, the equal of its competitors and offers users a browser that's always at the forefront of technology.

Everything to let you surf easily

The Opera web browser offers all the features you need to happily surf the web. "Quick Access" and "Notebook" pages are available when you launch the browser and offer you easy access to the sites you use the most and those you've added to your favorites. At startup, Opera also offers a Discover page so you can always keep an eye on the news. It displays the news by topic and you can select the country and the language.

Opera includes a download manager, history and a private browsing mode so you can navigate without leaving a trace. It also lets you install extensions to customize your surfing experience. While the catalog is much smaller than that provided by competing browsers, you will find versions of Adblock Plus, Feedly, Pinterest, Evernote Clearly etc. for Opera.

The Opera address bar is powerful and allows you to perform searches on multiple search engines at the same time, while benefiting from the suggestions for websites that gradually appear as you type.

Excellent design and performance

Opera's ergonomic choices means you end up with a model of simplicity and practicality. The adopted codes are very similar to those adopted by other browsers and you can navigate very conveniently with Opera. The options are where you would expect them to be, and the Quick Access and Notebook pages are well thought out – generally speaking, the interface is very pleasant to use.

Opera handles the latest web standards to perfection by using the WebKit rendering engine. The latter also replaces Presto, the Opera house engine. This adoption is, however, transient, and Opera should in fact use the Blink renderer developed by Google for its Chrome browser. It's a change in direction that promises many changes, improvements and enhancements in the future.

Besides constant performance, Opera offers a functionality dedicated to slow Internet connections. The Off-Road Mode, formerly called Turbo, compresses pages to provide quick navigation, even when your connection is barely there.

In terms of the interface, Opera is friendly and adopts a modern style with a large navigation area. Its appearance is customizable with themes and you can add your own personal touch.

A web browser that's gaining momentum

Opera has all the great qualities in its category. It's comprehensive, comes with a nice interface and regularly innovates to offer its users the best possible experience. If you want to move away from Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer, then Opera is definitely the way to go.

What's new

- New default themes.
- Silent updates and lighter.
- Chromium updated to version 35.01916.114 release. 

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Mozilla Firefox 31.0

Firefox's latest - and greatest - version!

Mozilla Firefox is one of the World's most popular web browsers and was one of the first to break the stranglehold of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) on the web browsing market.

Features

This is the latest version of the popular web browser and as always, Mozilla claim to have a speedier, safer browsing experience. Tests reveal that this newest version of Mozilla Firefox is certainly quick to load even the most graphics intense pages.

Firefox also now features secure connections when performing Google searches to improve privacy and there's an updated site identity indicator in the URL bar. There's only one relevant improvement in the latest version of Firefox for most users relating to security. Security has been improved with mixed content blocking which protects users from "man-in-the-middle attacks" and from eavesdroppers on HTTPS pages. There are also several bug fixes.

Mozilla Firefox's tab layout is quite similar to Google's Chrome browser, instead of seeing a blank page whenever a new tab is opened Firefox users will now be treated to icons that offer quick access to everything from bookmarks to most recently accessed and most frequently visited sites.

These icons are fully customizable in Mozilla Firefox as well. You can click and drag them to any spot you like on your name tab's page. If you're not a fan, you can also go to the grid icon on the upper right side of your browser and erase them entirely.

Firefox features Facebook integration. Firefox supports Facebook's social API so you can have dedicated buttons for Facebook in your browser. Mozilla Firefox supports Facebook's Messenger within Firefox, giving users desktop notifications as well as a persistent friends list and activity feed on the right. Conversations will open up as overlays on top of whatever website you're on so you can multitask while you chat.

Usability

Mozilla Firefox really changed the way people browse the web when it originally burst onto the scene. Today Firefox remains an incredibly powerful and customizable browser, although competition from Google Chrome has given it a definite run for its money.

Conclusion

In terms of interface, the latest version of Firefox isn't much different from previous versions, but the features it has added certainly make for a nicer, more enjoyable browsing experience overall.

What's new

New simplified interface inspired by Google Chrome

Synchronisation of your browser settings between different devices

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Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft's browser is becoming more up-to-date

The classic Microsoft browser lets you browse online while setting a whole host of options (security, privacy, ease of use).

 

New options for security and privacy

Internet Explorer 9 has a new look and provides many options that allows it to edge closer to its competition. 

In terms of privacy, the "InPrivate" feature (allowing you to browse incognito) is greatly appreciated and allows you to open sessions without storing the visited pages in your history or accepting cookies. It's also now possible to customize your privacy options to choose what kind of data you want to share with the sites you visit. 

Security also seems to have been refined by Microsoft, and Internet Explorer 9 now offers us new tools such as protection against tracking and SmartScreen Filter (which allows you to check the security certificate of the sites you visit to avoid undesirable pages).

Customize your web browsing experience

Internet Explorer 9 is an opportunity for Microsoft to (finally) incorporate a system of tabs in the browser. It's no longer necessary to open a new window for each different page you visit, and believe us, this new feature really is a breath of fresh air for Internet Explorer. It's a shame, however, that this innovation has taken so long (much longer than it took the competition) to be introduced!

However, it's the browser that offers some of the most interesting options. It's possible to customize the language options to choose which versions to display for websites. Convenient if you're traveling abroad or you always want to display web pages in a language other than that of your browser. You can also change the search engine options to choose your favorite, and you don't necessarily need to use Bing as the base.

In terms of extensions, Internet Explorer 9 is also catching up and now offers more additional plug-ins to customize your browser. However, don't expect a plethora of extensions, Internet Explorer always blames its delay on other browsers like Firefox! However, the new performance center for extensions offers a helpful option for reviewing resource consumption, so you can quickly identify extensions that are likely to slow down your browsing experience.

A browser that's constantly improving...but still has far to go

There's no doubt that Microsoft has radically revised its copy for Internet Explorer 9, with new (and welcome) options on privacy, security and extensions. Special mention must go to the performance center for extensions, which is definitely a one-up on its competitors. 

But despite efforts by the developer, Internet Explorer 9 is still too far behind its main competitors. Nowhere near as fast as Chrome, as versatile as Firefox or as lightweight as Opera, Microsoft's browser is too light on extensions and too heavy to get up any real speed. Internet Explorer 9 is a decent browser, but nowhere near the top of the genre.

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