Bundled programs and optional installation wizard clauses are everywhere. Nearly all programs that you might try to install on your PC would have some sort of on opt-in or opt-out clause within their setup wizards and while most of the time this shouldn’t be seen as a major concern, users need to realized that those options shouldn’t be neglected and overlooked as sometimes carelessness and negligence towards that could lead to certain rather unpleasant issues with your PC. One glaring example is when some form of undesirable software application is added to another program as an optional install. This is how a large portion of Adware, Browser Hijackers or other kinds of PUP’s (potentially unwanted programs) are getting distributed. Since a lot of users do not pay enough attention to the details and settings within the installation wizards of new programs, oftentimes they end up installing some pesky and irritating application in addition to the program that they actually wanted on their computer.

The issue with this is not only that the added software could be annoying but in some cases, such optional applications might also cause certain security problems. Many Adware and Hijacker programs could be potentially capable of making your system susceptible to various online threats and the best way to prevent this happening to your computer is to ensure that no such undesirable programs make it inside your PC’s system.

 This is what leads us to the problem with optional clauses within installation wizards – many of those are confusing, misleading or even hidden from plain sight within the Custom installation menu. Normally, a careful user would be able to navigate through the setup menus and find (and disable) anything optional that is potentially unwanted. However, if you want to be certain that there’s nothing left, there is also a neat software tool which can help you achieve that and here, we will give you some more information about it.

Unchecky

Unchecky is a basically a software program that has the sole purpose of automatically unchecking any installation wizard checkboxes such as optional installs, clauses for changing your browser’s frontpage and search engine or ones for installing new toolbars and browser extensions (among others). The software application is unobtrusive and unnoticeable while working. However, once you try to install some new piece of software, you will notice that any checkboxes within the setup wizard have been automatically unchecked (even the ones that are hidden in custom settings menus!).

The installation of Unchecky is as simple as it could be – you simply run the .exe installer, choose language and click on Install. The process happens in an instant and after that, the program is already working in the background. A Desktop icon gets created from which you can access the minimalisitc and clear interface of the program where you can find a couple of basic options. Unchecky requires almost no system resources to run so it will not affect your computer’s performance whatsoever even if your machine isn’t all that powerful.

If you, for whatever reason want to disable the tool, you can do it from its Home tab by simply clicking on Suspend Device (Administrator Rights required). TO get it back up again, just select Resume service and Unchecky will be enabled once more. Of course, the functioning of the tool will not prevent you from manually checking the optional clauses in any installation wizards that you might want to be opted-in, however, it will keep you from accidentally installing or allowing something that you might not actually want.

Conclusion

This little yet effective software tool is surely a great addition to anyone who wants to add an extra layer of security to their system. Even though the task of Unchecky is simple, this program can go a long way towards keeping your computer clean and making it better protected against any potentially unwanted programs or undesirable browser changes. Keep in mind that file bundles and optional installs are some of the most common reasons for people landing Adware and Hijackers so if you think that you won’t be able to manually uncheck everything unwanted from the installation menus of new programs, we recommend that you give Unchecky a go.

The post Unchecky review (anti-bundled software tool) appeared first on Malware Complaints.

Introduction

TOR is an acronym that stands for The Onion Router – this is a web protocol that allows users to remain anonymous by hiding their online activities using an overlay network with a number of interconnected nodes. The Tor Browser is a modified version of Mozilla Firefox that makes utilizing Tor much easier than it has previously been. Currently, everyone who wishes to, regardless of how tech-savvy they are, could gain access to Tor via this dedicated browser. Therefore, if you are a customer who is concerned about their web privacy and wishes to keep their online activities hidden from website trackers, advertising companies or even whole governments, the Tor Browser can help you achieve that.

How does The Onion Router work?

This browser review is going to differ from our previous ones because the Tor Browser has a very different focus and purpose when compared to other web browsers. Even high-security and privacy-oriented browsers such as Brave and the Epic Privacy Browser still work very much like most other browsing programs that you might have encountered before. However, with Tor, things are different.

The use of Onion as a name is a metaphor that illustrates how one’s web browsing is protected and hidden underneath multiple layers just like the layers of an onion. In order to hide your IP address, this browsers reroutes your traffic through a preset circuit of nodes. There are many different circuits with nodes all over the world making the tracing of your IP rather difficult (however, not impossible!). In fact, it must be mentioned that the simple practice of using the Tor browser as opposed to any other program might lead to the attraction of unwanted attention to you. Still,though, this is by far one of the most effective ways for concealing your IP and consequently, your physical address as well. When using the Tor browser, you can even see what trackers would see as your IP address (your apparent IP) which would actually be the address of some of the nodes and not your actual IP.

Installation and Interface

The Tor browser is free and can be downloaded by anyone using a regular browser. Once you download and install Tor, you will have to install a support code which is made easier by the program’s installer. Tor supports versions for Windows (XP to 10) Mac and Linux. Users are usually advised to install the browser on a separate USB drive to further reduce the chance of getting traced. Also, before you begin to use the browser, you’d need to disclose what type of Internet connection you have – a censored (extra configuration needed) or a non-censored one.

Interface

The Tor Browser is basically Mozilla Firefox with heavy modifications under the hood and a couple of necessary extensions to help keeping your browsing private. However, the interface is similar to that of Firefox. On the starting page you are greeted with a plea for donations – this is how the whole Tor Project is financed, via voluntary donations. There is also search bar using the Disconnect.me tool which helps you use any popular search engine but without exposing and sending your query to the search provider so that your privacy is secured in that aspect as well.

Features/Add-ons (Privacy)

Normally, we would first go over the performance of a browser before we talk about its features. However, with Tor, the additional features that it provides are different from those of any other browser and are probably the most important part of this program so we will mention them first.

• Torbutton add-on – Clicking on this button would allow you to see the Tor network settings and circuit that you are using as well as your apparent IP address. From there, you can also request a different chain of nodes for your current browsing session or only for when you are connecting to a certain website.
• Security Panel – this can be accessed from the Torbutton and it allows you to easily set the level of privacy that you want to have on the browser. It is a simple slide that goes from low to high. At low (privacy), which is the default setting, all features of the browser would be enable whereas when it’s set to high, a lot of content including certain images would get blocked for security/privacy reasons. This makes it easier for regular users to configure the levels of privacy protection that they want to have with Tor.
• Anonymity testing – Tor tests everything you do online for anonymity and if something could potentially compromise your private web experience, the browser notifies you about it. Also, the developers of the program warn their users that the mere using of their product cannot guarantee anonymity – it just helps with achieving it but the user would still need to be careful with what they do online.

Performance

In order to provide its users with its high levels of secrecy and anonymity, Tor compromises with speed and performance. It is a very slow browser and takes quite some time to access pages due to the constant traffic rerouting through a number of different nodes. Even if you have the best Internet connection and a powerful PC, you will still find that the Tor Browser is nowhere near as quick as most other similar programs. That said, speed isn’t a top priority of Tor and if you truly want to remain anonymous online, you’d have to put up with the slower performance of the program.

The Dark Web and .onion

So far, we have only been talking about regular surfing with Tor. However, one extra feature that this browser offers is access to the so-called Dark Web – a hidden network of websites that end in .onion. Those sites cannot be accessed by regular browsers and do not show up on search results from regular search engines. This means that you won’t be able to access anything from the Dark web even if you use the Tor browser’s starting page search box as it is powered by regular search engines.

Such sites form the Dark Web are hidden for a reason and you have more than likely heard stories about them. It is true that the Dark Web is full of illegal, shady, obscure sites that we advise you to stay away from. However, this doesn’t mean that the Tor browser is solely used for criminal activities.

Conclusion

Tor is all about privacy and even if it facilities illegal deeds, it also can help activists and freedom fighters struggling against oppressive regimes communicate with the outside world without fear of getting traced by the authorities. Also, Tor can serve regular users too, if they want to have better web privacy and are willing to sacrifice a faster browser performance. There is no doubt that nowadays web privacy is scarce and tracking of users’ online activities is a common practice which further increases the need for web browsers that allow for more privacy-oriented web experience.

The post The TOR Browser – accessing The Onion Router appeared first on Malware Complaints.

Introduction

The basic premise of Rainmeter is that once you install it, it would enable you to load a variety of different skins that can serve a number of different functions. For example, some skins add a widget-like feature to your desktop such as a clock, a Google search bar,  or a weather forecast window to name a few. However, there are also more complicated and sophisticated skins such as ones that serve as some sort of a Control Panel allowing you to quickly access different elements of your system such as the Computer, your media players, different sites (Google, Youtube, Facebook, etc.). The variety of the different skins is immense and it would take you quite a while to try the different types. Also, since the program is fully open source, the majority of skins are actually created by users themselves. There are a couple of sites on the Internet from which you can download and install new skins for your Rainmeter. One such website is DeviantArt, from which we downloaded most of the skins for this review. Also, on this site you can get dynamic wallpapers for the Dreamscene tool.

How to use Rainmeter

As we already mentioned, it is very easy to use Rainmeter, yet, your experience with it would be much more pleasant if you have some technical knowledge so that you would be able to modify and customize the different skins as not all of them have user-friendly interface (more on that later). The program itself is really simple to use. You download it from the official site, install it as you would with any other software and run it (from an icon added to your Taskbar). A window opens where you can see three tabs: Skins, Layout and Settings. The Skins tab is where you can see all your Skins and load the ones you like. Layout allows you to save different Skin configurations ad directly load them instead of seeking the same skins and settings again. The Settings tab offers some basic options for Rainmeter. If you want to load a Skin, simply find the one you want from the Skins tab, click on it and then select Load.

Skins

Rainmeter is all about its skins. The program itself doesn’t do much apart from allowing you to load them. However, your true experience will depend on how good the skin is. Some skins you will find more pleasing or better programmed than others as most of them are created by other users and it is perfectly normal if some of them aren’t as polished as you might want them to be. That said, there are truly some amazing and highly imaginative creations out there that can turn your Desktop into a piece of art. Here is a link to DeviantArt’s Rainmeter Skin section – feel free to explore and see what fits your preferences.

One thing to note here is that Skins are saved in .ini format – this file format can be opened via any text editor. Once you open a skin file with, for example, notepad (the default tool for opening skins), you will see its code inside. This is where being tech-savvy could help you because as skins are all open source, everyone is free to edit them however they like. You can change variables and values in order to customize the skin and make it the way you want it to be. Some of the more user-friendly skins have some sort of interface that allows the user to easily change their settings/variables without the need to access the code but this isn’t always the case. The codes for the skins are not overly complicated so it is possible for customers that do not otherwise have programming knowledge to still manage to successfully modify a skin as long as they take their time.

Managing Skins

After you download a skin, it is saved as a .rmskin file – you are supposed to run that file and click on install. Installing the skin will automatically add it to your Rainmeter library. As we already mentioned, in order to load it, all you have to do is click on it and then select Load. Later, most skins allow you to modify some of their settings by right-clicking on the skin on your desktop which opens a drop-down menu with several options. To unload a skin, right-click on it and select Unload.

Conclusion

Rainmeter is truly an interesting and entertaining tool that anyone can use. If you want to invigorate the outlook of your Desktop or add to it new and useful utilities and features, you should definitely try this program. It requires very low system resources and will run without a problem even if your PC isn’t all that powerful so if you are up for it, go ahead and give it a try.

The post Rainmeter – make your Desktop come to life! appeared first on Malware Complaints.

Introduction

Epic Privacy Browser is a web-browser developed with the sole purpose of providing its users with the ability to safely browse the Internet without having their privacy invaded. As you surely already know, currently there is a huge number of ways in which most users’ privacy gets violated on a daily basis and unfortunately, most of the time this is actually legal. One cannot simply state that they don’t want to have their online activities traced and expect that their desire would be fulfilled. Therefore, another approach is needed in order to make one’s browsing more private. This is where Epic can be helpful with its many different features that have the sole purpose of making sure that what you do on the Internet does not become public and known by anyone except for you. You cannot expect from Epic to have the speed of Microsoft Edge, the versatility of Chrome or the customization capabilities of Opera, what you can expect from this browser is high levels of online privacy as this is the whole idea behind this program.

Interface

There isn’t really much to say about Epic’s interface. It is a browser based on Chromium so if you are familiar with Google Chrome, you should have no problem using it. Initially it looks and feels the same as Chrome and only once you’ve actually started exploring the web with it, will you notice some of the more important differences.

Performance

Epic isn’t the fastest browser out there, especially if you are using its proxy servers but then again – it is not supposed to be. Privacy demands sacrifice and in this case, speed and performance would have to suffer a bit. That said, the browser is perfectly workable and if you aren’t annoyed by pages that do not load super quickly, then you should have no issue with Epic’s performance. Also, the built-in ad-blocker might actually help load certain pages faster than they would load with a browser that doesn’t block ads.

Constant incognito mode

If you have ever used some form of incognito mode on any other browser, then you should be familiar with this feature. However, with Epic, it has been taken to a whole other level as you are basically surfing in incognito/private mode by default – no history is being kept or anything else that would suggest what your previous browsing session has been about. As you will see when you open the main menu of the browser, there isn’t even a History button.

Features

Any extra features that Epic has have been focused on making your web activities as private as possible. This browser combines all the popular privacy-protecting methods that you might have heard of as well as adding a few extra ones for additional protection.

• Built-in ad-blocker – A lot of modern browsers have integrated this feature and for a good reason. Ads are oftentimes way too annoying and intrusive for anyone to put up with them and they could also sometimes trigger security risks as well. The feature works well and is enabled by default so if you wish to stop it, you’d have to do that manually.
• Proxy – This is likely one of the most important features that allow for better protected web privacy. On a regular browser, when a request to a website is made, the user’s IP gets sent to that site so that the site’s server would know where to send back a reply. Though this is the norm, having your IP send to a certain website can allow for your physical location to get approximately determined. With a proxy feature, the request and the reply get rerouted through another server that serves as a middle link for the web traffic. That way, if a website attempts to track you, the address that it would determine would be the address of the proxy server and not your own. In order to enable the proxy when using Epic, all you have to do is click on e the proxy button from the toolbar (top-left) and select On. You can also choose which of the proxy servers to use as there are a couple of them.
• Do not track – A lot of browsers have this feature but the difference between them and Epic is that when the Do not track header is enabled on Firefox or IE for example, the sites you visit can still decide to ignore it. This isn’t the case with Epic. Here, the Do not track is enabled by default and it actively prevents sites from keeping tabs on your web activities. Once you visit a site that is trying to track you, the browser will even display a small window showing you how many trackers have been blocked and giving you the option to turn of the tracking protection if you so desire.
• Secure search – most search engines are also know for telemetry and data collection which is why Epic has a separate search tool that is powered by the most popular search engines but does not send any search data to them. It also does not keep any search history which is why you won’t see any search suggestions from previous search queries. Also, any queries made in Epic’s search tool are automatically rerouted through the proxy by default.

Issues

Epic has some compatibility issues with certain websites as it might not be able to properly load some of them. Also, for privacy’s sake, there are very few extensions for this browser (less than 10!) but note that this is done for the sake of protecting your privacy as there are many extensions out there that are known for tracking their users and collecting personal data. Another thing more advanced users might be displeased with is the fact that the search tool does not support basic standard search modifiers and also doesn’t work smoothly in certain instances.

Conclusion

Epic Privacy browser is exactly what its title says it is – web privacy at its finest. If you are concerned about getting traced when surfing the web and about having your personal data collected by all sorts of sites and online services, then you should probably give this browser a go. It isn’t the fastest, has certain bugs and glitches and lacks the customization and versatility of the more popular browsers but, as we already stated, its purpose is different and it is surely good at what it is made to do – keep your online privacy protected and secured.

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Introduction

The core concept of Slimjet is to allow the user to optimize the time they spent online – the program not only tries to offer great performance and speed when loading pages but it also integrates a number of features to speed-up the working process. Also, it packs a satisfying number of useful and unique built-in features that can greatly ease-up one’s browsing experience similarly to what the developers of the Maxthon browser (review of Maxthon) have achieved with their product.

Interface

Since Slimjet is based on Chromium, nothing about it should look unfamiliar or unknown. However, in our opinion the browser also somewhat resembles Opera with its rectangular tabs and with its new tab page which seems to work a lot like Opera’s Speed Dial (which is a good thing). On the new tab page, there is a search bar where you can choose which search engine to use (you can’t choose the search engine with Opera’s Speed Dial) and below are a number of tiles with different sites. The tiles are fully customizable as you can change their size, number, colors and, of course, the sites that they represent.

Apart from that, there is nothing unusual or unexpected about Slimjet’s interface – it is clean and initially doesn’t have a lot of toolbar buttons. This, however, can be easily changed as the toolbar is fully customizable as well and you can add many additional buttons to it so that you have quicker access to the browser’s other features.

Like with most modern browser, the address bar and the search bar are combined and the user can choose which search engine to use on the search/address box. This combining of the two boxes normally regarded as less privacy-oriented compared to having them separated, yet some users might find this to be more convenient.

Performance

Slimjet is a fast browser and it’s performance is quite good. We cannot say that it is the fastest as there are a lot of other competitors but it surely is a reliable program if speed is what you value most in browsers. However, it is not really a lightweight browser. In terms of resource consumption, it doesn’t eat too much ram or battery power but it isn’t the most economical either. That said, we have no complaints in terms of performance or speed as Slimjet really is a good and fast browser so if this is what you are looking for, you should probably give it a try.

Features

This is where the fun begins – Slimjet is actually surprisingly versatile when it comes to extra features and it also has a number of unique treats for its users that you don’t normally get by default with other browsers. Here is a quick summary of what this program can do.

• Google Extensions – Slimjet supports Google’s Web store and is compatible with most add-ons from it which means that you will have access to one of the richest extension libraries at your disposal even though you wouldn’t be using Chrome.
• Ad-blocker – built-in ad-blockers seem to be becoming more and more popular among browsers and Slimjet is no exception. Its ad-blocker will help you get rid of any pesky and intrusive adverts so that your online experience could remain undisturbed and uninterrupted.
• Facebook share button – a feature that allows you to quickly share anything on Facebook.
• Video downloader – with this you could download most youtube videos to your PC. To add to that, the downloader even has an integrated converter that allows the user to download and convert a song video into mp3 format.
• Screen capture – allows for taking quick images from your screen; similar to Window’s snipping tool.
• Screen record – an interesting feature that allows you to record video of what you do on your browser and later save the file to your PC. However, this seems to need some polishing as it doesn’t work perfectly. Still, an interesting and potentially useful utility.
• PDF reader and an option to save pages in PDF format
• Weather info button
• Mouse gestures – allows you to quickly execute different commands such as move back and forward between pages and opening new tabs by simply holding the right mouse button and drawing an arrow with the cursor – depending on the arrow’s shape and direction, a different command would be issued. This is similar, yet more advanced version of Opera’s mouse gestures as in Slimjet there are many more possible gestures and what they do can be customized from the browser’s settings. This is one of those features that truly has the potential of optimizing your browsing time and speeding up your online work as long as you learn to integrate it within your working process.
• Quick fill – an advanced password manager that enables you to quickly access all your online accounts – another utility to speed up your browsing.

There are a lot more features and utilities that this browser offers so we cannot fit everything in one article. The bottom line is that Slimjet really has a lot to offer both in terms of functionality, utility and customization options.

Security and Privacy

You can expect Slimjet to be as secure as most popular browsers the likes of Chrome, Opera and Firefox – there aren’t any known big flaws in that department – the ad-blocker also helps avoid potential security risks which is a nice addition. As far as privacy is concerned, the combined search and address bar as well as the integration of the Web Store might compromise certain aspects of your online privacy as is the case with many other browsers. If you are concerned with your web privacy, there are other browsing programs dedicated solely on ensuring that their users’ online activities stay private (two such browsers you can see reviewed here and here).

Conclusion

Slimjet isn’t a very well-known browser program since there are more popular options than it out there. However, it seems that the developers behind this program have really tried to implement different elements from different browsers in order to create a all around internet tool that offers high-quality performance, a lot of opportunity for customization, a big number of extra utilities and features as well as satisfying protection and security. Therefore, if you are looking for an alternative browser program that can suit the needs of a lot of different types of users, we recommend you try Slimjet.

The post Slimjet Browser Review – speed and utility appeared first on Malware Complaints.

Introduction

Currently, the web-browser trend focuses on initial minimalism with subsequent versatility and functionality available through a lot of customization options. Maxthon, on the other hand, is anything but minimalistic – when using it, one gets the feeling that they are working with the Swiss army knife equivalent for browser programs. A lot of features that you’d normally get on other browsers only by installing some add-on or extension will be available to you on Maxthon from the very moment you install it in the form of built-in tools. Another interesting thing about this browser is that it combines two separate engines: Trident which is also used by IE and Webkit utilized on Safari and Chrome. Looking at most other popular browsers, we can see a number of similarities but when we have a look at Maxthon, it becomes apparent that its developers have tried to implement a number of other, original ideas, making their product rather unique when compared to the rest.

Interface

As soon as you open Maxthon, you are bound to notice that things aren’t really the way that you would expect them. When I first started this browser, I did not get the familiar feeling that one would have after switching from Chrome to Firefox or from Firefox to Opera. While there’s nothing about Maxthon’s interface that is too complicated or too unfamiliar, there’s certainly a need for exploration until you can feel comfortable with this browser. The main reason for that is the big number of buttons available at the toolbar as well as their unusual orientation relative to the search/address bar. Speaking of the search/address bar, as you have already probably guessed it, Maxthon, similarly to other modern browsers combines the search and the URL box which, though convenient, is less privacy-friendly compared to the old school interface where the two boxes are separated (as they are on Firefox).

When talking about the way tabs are handled, there are things to be desired there as other browsers have better tab implementation. That said, one neat thing you can do on Maxthon is split the screen (by pressing F10) and have two tabs displayed on your screen, each taking half of the space. Also, there are a couple of tab-related options once you right-click on any of the tabs.

We won’t go into detail, explaining each and every button as one article would not be enough to do that. Exploration, as we said, is necessary so as to start using this browser to its full potential. However, once you are familiar with all the different tools available at your disposal, you will come to realize the full potential of this program. Also, the unusual outlook of the browser’s interface might actually feel pleasant to some users as it is not something that you see too often with browsers.

Performance

Even though on the program’s official site it is claimed that it is very fast and high-performing, Maxthon isn’t as fast as some other web-browsing programs out there. That said, it is certainly not a slow browser either. We would say that Maxthon performs well and loads pages quickly enough for the preferences of someone who doesn’t need a super fast browser. A nice addition to the performance aspect is the relatively low memory and battery consumption that one can have with this program. While it isn’t best in this department either, it certainly does quite well. Overall, in terms of performance, Maxthon might not be the best, yet considering that it isn’t exactly a lightweight browser, it offers a satisfying level of speed and performing capabilities.

Features

Now we are talking – this is where Maxthon shines the brightest as it really comes with a lot of features that most other browsers do not have by default. We will only mention the most interesting and innovative ones but there will surely be some that are going to be omitted.

• Extensions – even though this is a lesser known browser program, it still has a satisfying variety of extensions (about 700) available at its Extension Center.
• Nightmode – when enabled, it changes the brightness and color schemes of your screen when the browser is opened so as to make the screen less straining for your eyes.
• Resource Sniffer – this unique tool that isn’t available on most other browsing program allows the user to extract and download data from any page that contains audio, video or image contents. You can even download Youtube videos with the Resource sniffer. It doesn’t, however, work perfectly as audio files seem to remain undetected by it.
• Snap – this tool works similarly to Windows’ Snipping Tool as it allows you to capture images from your browser and later save them on your PC. There are even a couple of extra options for altering the captured image.
• Ad-blocker – similarly to Opera, Maxthon has a built-in ad-blocker which prevents the display of irritating adverts when you are surfing the web – a really neat feature.
• External tools – there is even a button on the toolbar which opens a menu that allows for quick access to a number of commonly used Windows tools such as the Calculator, Paint, Notepad, etc. (the user can add additional programs there).

Security and Privacy

In terms of security, the browser has a couple of nice traits such as the aforementioned ad-blocker as well as an URL checker and a sandboxing feature for pages’ codes. While it is certainly not the safest browser, it sure offers significant security levels to its users. As far as privacy is concerned, the combined search and address bar lowers the privacy levels on Maxthon and also, in the past there have been a couple of privacy-related issues such as browsing data getting sent to the servers of Maxthon. However, this is nothing surprising or unusual as this is a common practice with most popular browsers nowadays.

Conclusion

Maxthon is not the best browser on the market but it sure is a unique and interesting alternative to more popular options. The wide variety of features that it offers and its high versatility are sure to please a lot of users that value those traits. Others, of course, might be put off by the fact that a lot of it might seem unfamiliar and non-intuitive but for those customers, there are more than enough simpler and less overwhelming browser programs out there.

The post Maxthon Browser Review – a multi-functional browser tool appeared first on Malware Complaints.

Introduction

Google Chrome is a heavy-duty browser program that is famous for it’s wide array of different settings and customization options as well as for its versatility, speed and performance. It is considered by many to be the best browser there is and there’s certainly a lot of evidence to support such a claim. That said, however, users must bear in mind that Chrome is certainly not flawless which is the reason why many people still seem to go for other alternatives when it comes to choosing a web-browsing program. Regardless, there is no doubt that Google Chrome has been the most popular and most commonly used browser for quite some time and its constant evolution and improvement is what ensures that it remains on the top.

Interface

As you might expect from a modern browser, Chrome supports tabs and following the current trend among browsing programs, the Interface of Chrome is minimalistic and clean. Similarly to IE 11 and Edge, Chrome too has its search and address bars combined which is normally seen as useful, but one must bear in mind that it reduces the privacy that the browser provides as anything typed in the Omnibox (the address+search box) gets sent to the Google servers even if you haven’t hit Enter to issue the search.

Chrome’s new tab page is similar to that of Firefox as it has a search engine bar and tiles with recently visited sites. The customization of the new tab page isn’t anything amazing as there are browsers such as IE11 and Opera that offer much more in that department. Still, it can be useful and you can always change the new tab page to something else from the browser’s settings.

Chrome handles tabs well, however, there is something that we do not like about this browser’s tabs and it becomes apparent once the users has opened a lot of them. If you open many enough tabs in Chrome, you will no longer e able to tell them apart at the top of your screen as the only thing you will see from each tab would be a tiny triangle-like shape with no website icon or title. Firefox and Opera handle this aspect of tabs in a much better way as Firefox simply hides excess tabs leaving enough space for the visible ones and allows the user to access the hidden ones by clicking on an arrow, whereas Opera always shows the icon of the website on each tab regardless of how many are opened at once.

Performance

Chrome has pretty much always been one of the fastest browsers out there and still offers satisfying performance. However, it is no longer the fastest one as there are other, lighter browsing programs that outmatch Chrome in terms of speed. One other thing we should mention here when it comes to performance is that Chrome is one of the most demanding browsers. It is infamous for it’s high RAM consumption and if you are using it on your laptop that is working on a battery, you will also notice that the battery would get drained much faster than it would if you are using some other browser. Chrome might be a lot of things but being a lightweight browser isn’t one of them. To use it effectively, you’d better have a computer with enough RAM and, if you are a laptop user, a good, strong battery. Otherwise, there are other good web browsers out there that aren’t as power-hungry as Chrome is.

Customization

Chrome indeed has a lot to offer in terms of versatility and customization. Chrome’s web store offers a rich library of all sorts of extensions and add-ons to boost the functionality of your browser and the extensive settings that the program provides can help you modify it so that it suits your needs. However, when it comes to ways you can tweak your browser, there are other alternatives that have more to offer such as Opera and Vivaldi. That said, you can hardly find greater variety of of options for expanding your browser via add-ons, which might also be a problem in Chrome. There are many instances of not so desirable or not so safe extensions which could lead to a number of issues so one must always be careful what they are installing on Chrome. Also, a lot of add-ins require access to different aspects of your browser and oftentimes tend to collect personal data which is the reason why Google Chrome isn’t the most privacy-oriented web-browsing application.

Extra features

There are a lot of neat features that Chrome has to offer – it has a built-in Flash and also supports PDF so it can be effectively use as a reader so you might not even need to download and install a dedicated reader program. It should also be noted that the browser was one of the first to provide its own Task Manager (separate from the Task Manager of Windows) to help the user monitor the activity of the program.

On the other hand, Google Chrome lacks certain rather common features that other browsers posses such as reading mode or integrated social sharing which is no big deal but would still be useful to have it.

A positive trait of this browser is that is has a very good syncing and installing it and switching to it is very easy and happens in about a minute.

Security and privacy

In terms of security, Chrome is considered to be one of the more secure browsers – it receives frequent updates and has very high-level support. However, when it comes to privacy, many users and researchers frequently point out that Chrome isn’t concerned with the privacy of its customers and oftentimes violates the user’s personal space. Web-site tracking, collecting of information, extensions that require way too many permissions, etc. This has lead to a lot of people leaving Chrome for more privacy-oriented alternatives and there indeed are a lot of other good browsing programs that allow for a much more private web experience.

Conclusion

Google Chrome is still one of the best browsers out there and is a solid tool for exploring the internet and helping with your work. You will hardly find anything that other browsers can do that Chrome cannot (with a few exceptions). It is a versatile program that gets innovations introduced on a regular basis. There is even a version of Chrome that allows users to experience beta changes to the program that are still not officially introduced.

However, as was said in the beginning of the article, there are several things that certain users might find unpleasant about Chrome such as the high RAM and battery use or the low privacy levels that it offers. Still, there is no doubt that it is a good program that can gets the job done which is why it is still the most popular browser out there.

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Introduction to Brave Browser

Brave is a newly developed browser based on Chromium – its creators are led by the co-founder of the Mozilla project, Brendan Eich and Brian R. Brody. According to the developers behind this browser, it’s main purpose is to allow the users to have safer and more privacy-oriented web experience. This is the main goal of Brave and in our opinion it does indeed deliver upon it. The program combines features from other browsers into one product making it a good choice not only for people who want to stay low-key and avoid getting tracked but also for users who simply want to be able to roam the online world without getting obstructed every five minutes by some irritating pop-up or some intrusive big web-banner.

Interface

Brave’s interface is plain and clean but it looks good. There are very few buttons there – only the bookmark menu, the main menu of the browser and a bookmark button. As with all modern browsers, Brave supports tabs and one interesting thing about the way tabs are handled is that hovering over a certain tab displays a preview of the page. This can be helpful if a lot of tabs are opened at once but some users might find this feature to be distracting rather than helpful. Luckily, you can disable it from the browser’s settings.

Performance

This is a lightweight browser and it is a quite fast and well-performing one. In fact, it is no slower than the top browsers on the market meaning that it loads at least as fast as Chrome and Firefox. Therefore, if you decide to give it a try, performance shouldn’t be an issue. Also, the resources that it would require from your PC will not be too much meaning that the browser is unlikely to affect your system’s performance.

Features

As should already be obvious, most of Brave’s features are focused towards safety, security and privacy. Similarly to Opera, the browser has an integrated ad-blocker and also has a Do not Track feature that is enabled by default. Unless the user goes out of their way to disable it, website will not be able to track one’s activities and keep data records on them. In fact, many site owners have been disgruntled with Brave as it directly affects the revenue that they earn due to an increasing number of the users of this browser. Statistics about the number of blocked ads and trackers are also provided. If the users wants to, they can manually unblock the tracking and ads for a certain site while still having the rest of the websites blocked.

Extensions (Lacking)

Something that might cause users to turn away from Brave is its lack of extension support. As odd and weird as this might sound, there is actually a reason behind this decision of the developers. As some Chrome extensions could potentially be malware or some other sort of unwanted software, the creators behind Brave have decided to leave out extensions support out of security and privacy concerns. This is sure to divide users between those who want to be able to customize their browsers via add-ons and those who value online privacy and security over additional extra features. In our opinion, Brave would be good for casual browsing but the lack of extensions could prevent customers to use the browser for more sophisticated tasks.

Brave Browser Review

Having safe and secure web-experience is important and it is also nice to be able to surf the online world without getting interrupted by unpleasant advertising materials. There are certain tools and certain browsers that offer ways to achieve that but if you truly want a program dedicated to web safety and privacy, then Brave might be a good choice for you. However, you must bear in mind that due to the lack of extensions, the opportunity to customize the browser as well as the program’s versatility have been greatly limited. If you do not mind those limitations and do not need the browser for any sophisticated operations, then you will certainly enjoy Brave with its ability to remove any unpleasant web distractions and also with its superior speed and good performance.

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Introduction

Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source web browser created back in 2002. Currently, it is considered to be one of the best browsing options out there and it’s popularity has been just as high throughout the past decade or so. It combines performance, security, privacy and customization making it a one of the top three browser applications out there. Even though some claim that in more recent times, Firefox has been slowing down in terms of improvement and modernization, there is no doubt that it is still a solid piece of software with a lot to offer.

Interface

Firefox has a stylish outlook that is pleasant to the eye. The tabs are rounded unlike those of other popular browsers such as Chrome or Opera. The program handles the tabbed interface rather well and arguably, better than Chrome. The reason we say that is because if you have a lot of tabs opened in Chrome simultaneously, they will be all displayed at the top but you won’t be able to recognize them since as there won’t be enough space for their names. With Firefox, once the tabs get way too many, the browser simply hides the remaining that you can access by clicking on an arrow to scroll left or right to see hidden tabs. Some might see this as unusual and might prefer the way Chrome or other browsers handle tabs but we think that this feature is a neat addition. In our opinion, the best way of handling many tabs is that of Opera where even if there is an excessive number of tabs, each one still has the icon of the site displayed on top making finding the tab you are searching for easier.

One other peculiar thing about Firefox is that it doesn’t combine the address and the search bar unlike most modern browsers and goes with the old school interface of having separated boxes. It is up to anyone’s personal preference to determine whether this is good or not. Having a combined box makes it easier and faster to browse but having the boxes separated makes the user’s searches more accurate and more secure. One neat thing about Firefox’s search bar is that you can choose what search engine/provider to use further helping make your search request more accurate.

The new tab page of Firefox is a combination of a search engine and most visited sites. It isn’t anything special yet it can still be useful. However, the Speed Dial of Opera seems as a more convenient and useful new tab page.

The three-dash menu of Firefox includes tiles representing different settings and in our opinion this looks better than the way other browsers handle their menus with a lot of lines of text which might feel overwhelming at times.

Performance

Firefox is a fast browsers and is on the top of the list in terms of performance. It isn’t, however, the fastest one out there as Firefox is outmatched by Chrome, Edge and Maxthon. On the other hand, Firefox doesn’t use that much system resources in comparison to Google Chrome while still offering a very good performance and high loading speed. In fact, Firefox uses about as much RAM as Edge does which is pretty much half of the memory used by Chrome.

Extra features

Firefox is widely-known as one of the browsers that allows for heavy customization – the program has a lot of potential add-ons and extensions and also provides a number of useful features.

• For example, this browsers offers a reading mode option where any distracting page content would get removed leaving only the text and making it easier for the user to focus on it.
• Additionally, Firefox supports social network sharing which allows the user to quickly share something to any social media site by simply clicking on a single button without need to actually access the social platform.
• One other feature that the browser has is the so called Firefox Hello which is basically a tool that can effectively replace Skype as it allows for chat and live video conversations without the need to install additional software for that purpose.
• The syncing between Firefox and other browsers is another interesting trait of the former as it not only makes it possible to transfer bookmarks, profile names and passwords from other browsing programs but it also enables the user to continue their browsing session after switching to Firefox.

There are a lot more useful functions that this browsing software has and it’s capabilities can vastly be expanded via the rich library of add-ons that anyone can download. One thing that Firefox lacks is integrated Flash support and recently, the use of Flash on Firefox has been dying out.

Security and privacy

Firefox is famous for it’s high security and its respect for the user’s privacy. This is the browser which first introduced the Do not Track option. Also, the program includes malware and phishing protection and it also supports integration with antivirus systems. This web-browsing tool is oftentimes considered to be one of the safest of the popular browsers and for a good reason. Therefore, if you are looking for a versatile browser that comes with many additional features but still offers a substantial amounts of protection and is privacy-oriented, then Firefox is definitely a good choice.

Conclusion

Firefox is surely a great option that balances many important aspects such as versatility, customization, performance, low memory usage, security and privacy, holding all of those to a high standard. There is a reason why it is one of the most popular browsing options on the market and there aren’t many negatives to its name. Surely, it cannot be said that it is the best web-browser as this is highly a subjective matter but there is definitely a lot to like about this program and you won’t go wrong with it if you decide to give it a go.

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Introduction

Edge is considered to be a lightweight browser which focuses on performance and simplicity. Unlike the older IE versions, here Microsoft have tried (and managed) to optimize their product, making it a reliable and fast. This is not to say that there are no issues with Edge but it is certainly something else. It comes packed with Win 10 and is set as the default browser when Windows 10 is installed. Currently (as one might expect), Edge is still nowhere near as popular as Chrome or Firefox, but it has some good qualities which results in a lot of people keeping it as their default browser program which leads to the increase of its popularity.

Interface

The interface of Edge is simple and clean, without anything unwanted or unnecessary. Similarly to IE 11, the address and search bars have been combined which isn’t a bad idea as it reduces the screen space that is taken from the page. However, the search engine integrated in the search/address bar is set to Bing by default and changing it to Google requires several steps to complete – some users might find this annoying. The starting and new tab pages of Edge is set by default to a page that combines a search bar and a row of tiles with popular websites on the top and a newsfeed/weather row down below which can be customized. In our opinion, Opera’s Speed Dial new tab page is more useful as it basically serves as a bookmarks page where you can see tiles from the sites you have selected to appear in there. Still, Edge’s variant isn’t bad either and some might even find it better. Otherwise, the interface of this browser is easy to navigate and there is hardly anything obstructive or irritating. Some might dislike it due to its simplicity but we believe that having a clean interface is not a bad thing.

Performance

A big issue that older Microsoft browsers had was their low speed and weak performance. This is now in the past with Edge’s satisfying speed and good performance. It doesn’t consume much system resources and loads pages with relative ease. It is currently one of the fastest browsers out there and this is likely Edge’s best trait. Therefore, if you want a fast browser that doesn’t require too much resource usage for Window 10, Edge might be enough to satisfy your needs so that you don’t have to download a new browsing program.

Cortana

A neat feature that comes with Edge is the integration with Cortana – Windows 10’s virtual assistant. There are a number of functions related to Cortana when you are using Edge such as helping with the search of certain information within webpages or directly providing answers for certain queries that the user issues. For example, the feature called Cortana Assist highlights relevant information such as phone numbers, addresses, etc. within a page so that it saves the user some time.

Other features

There are a couple of things that Edge offers as additional utility. There is a Reading List feature through which one can save webpages for later use, however, this function cannot be sued offline. There is a form of reading mode that removes obstructive content from a page making it easier for the user to focus on the text. Sharing on social media with Edge is made easier as well so that the user wouldn’t need to access additional applications in order to post something on a social media platform. Another good thing about Edge is it’s Integrated Adobe Flash as well as PDF support which makes this browser an effective reader program as well.

However, one must bear in mind that Edge’s extra features and also, it’s potential plug-ins and extensions library aren’t as rich as those of other competing browsers. Part of this can be contributed to the fact that Edge is a relatively new browser and is still on its way towards improvement but if you are looking for something highly versatile with a lot of options to choose from, you might prefer some of the established top browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.). One other thing that we didn’t like about Edge is the lack of a full-screen mode when viewing a webpage – something that most modern browsers have.

Conclusion

Microsoft Edge is certainly not a bad browser. It has several issues and lacks the versatility of the current top browsers but it is slowly improving and is certainly a competitive product that has a lot to offer. It’s lightweight and fast performance are nice additions which everyone would certainly enjoy. Therefore, if you are a Windows 10 users (Edge is available only for Win 10) and you don’t care too much about add-ons, and extra features and are simply looking for a fast and reliable browser, Edge might be the program for you.

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