Which internet explorer is better for windows 7. Choosing the best browser for Windows. What are the browsers for the computer. Review

On duty, I have to maintain several computers of a very respectable age in working order. In terms of hardware, this is not difficult - fortunately, cars released 10 years ago are often assembled (soldered) better than modern consumer goods. But in terms of software, the task is more difficult. The biggest headache for me is antiviruses and browsers. Both those and others are very eager for RAM, which, alas, is in short supply (for the last 1.5 years, the budget for updating computers at school has been tending to zero, and a small upgrade can only be done in the event of a complete failure of the old hardware). Meanwhile, it is highly desirable to update both the antivirus and the browser periodically. We will talk about choosing an antivirus some other time, but today I will try to find the fastest browser for older computers.

For starters, a little background. Until recently, I installed the old Opera 12 on all old computers. But, alas, one fine day, this once wonderful browser began to crookedly display a vital site - an electronic magazine. Well, I had to say goodbye to the old Opera and look for alternatives.

First of all, of course, I checked how fresh Opera behaves on old machines. Alas, as expected, Opera 30 (at the time of my experiment this version was up to date) behaved like a typical Chromium browser: it ate a lot of memory, causing the computer to swap a lot (with an IDE disk, heh ...). Things were a little better with other typical chromo-clones (Yandex Browser, Chrome itself). Fresh Firefox 40 behaves relatively decently, but it has obvious problems with rendering the interface (slows down) and memory consumption is still quite high (especially when opening 2-3 tabs). Well, since the browsers known to everyone do not cope with the task, let's try different exotics.

Part 1. Looking for a fast browser in the Chromium camp

I was pleasantly surprised in terms of speed. Being an add-on for Internet Explorer, it works very fast and does not eat up too much memory. But, alas, all this happiness is available only on Windows 7, and the weakest machines I have run Windows XP. No, under Windows XP the mentioned SlimBrowser works fine, but the IE8 engine, alas, is hopelessly outdated and differs little in rendering quality from the same Opera 12-.

Next, I decided to try out "unusual" variations on the Chromium theme. There were three candidates. The first one is . It is positioned by developers as a lightweight and fast browser. In general, this statement is true - for a chromo-clone, Midori is really quite light and fast. But, unfortunately, on computers with 1 gigabyte of RAM (and even more so with 512 megabytes), it is not easy enough.
The second candidate is Chinese. The younger brother of the well-known Maxthon was born about a year ago. In fact, it is a Chromium cut to the limit. It works really quite fast, but it still consumes a lot of memory. I would advise it rather as an addition to the main browser on normal machines (when you need to quickly read something without waiting for the main browser to load, Nitro loads almost instantly). But for older computers, this browser is not suitable.

Finally, the last Chrome in my experiment is an OpenSource project . The developer positions it as a successor to the good old Opera, but on a modern engine (guess which one?). True, from a technical point of view, this browser is built a little differently - it does not create a separate process for each sneeze. This feature allows Otter (namely, the name of the browser is translated from English) to save memory quite well. In terms of speed and functionality, Otter is also pretty good. But, alas, it is still very raw and not stable enough for everyday use. And the interface, to be honest, leaves much to be desired ... In addition, Otter is essentially a theater of one actor (in the sense of a developer) and, alas, there is almost no hope for a speedy bringing the project to a digestible state.

Otter Browser. In the bowels of the tundra Otter in spats ...

Part 2. Looking for a fast browser in the Gecko camp

Well, since the Chrome community cannot please in terms of speed, let's try to turn to the second opposing side and look at browsers based on the Gecko engine. This engine is no less popular among developers, although with its own specifics. If Chromium (and Blink) is used to build browsers mainly by various commercial companies (Otter is a rare exception), then Gecko is more popular with the OpenSource community. Unfortunately, this community, for the most part, is busy changing the basic functionality of Firefox, as a result of which clones of Ognelis (or Firepanda - whichever you prefer) with different sets of functions are born. Against this background, there are several projects that make optimized builds for certain platforms. Among them, only two focus on improving the speed of Firefox. The first project is . Within its framework, builds are made that work (according to the assurances of the developers) 25% faster than the original FF. Until recently, the PaleMoon project even had a separate assembly optimized for Windows XP, but due to the termination of official support for this OS, its release was curtailed. However, until now there is a separate build for weak machines based on Atom, which can be used on any old computers.
In terms of speed, PaleMoon was very pleased - the subjective speed of launching the browser and loading pages on a computer with 1 GB of RAM is even higher than when working with Opera 12 (although it eats a little more memory). The interface, by the way, is drawn noticeably faster than that of the ancestor in the face of FF (affects sawn Australis). True, to enhance the convenience of the “lunar” browser, you will have to finish a little (in particular, and enable it in the settings). In general, the impressions of this browser are the most pleasant. Among other things, PaleMoon supports extensions from FireFox, which means that it will be quite simple to expand its functionality.

Finally, the last contender for the title of "the fastest browser for old computers" is the . This project, which appeared at the dawn of the popularity of Firefox, was dormant for many years and only recently began to revive. In essence, this is a very distant relative of Firefox, which took only the Gecko engine from its ancestor. Due to the distance of kinship, K-Meleon does not support extensions from the original Firefox and does not inherit all of its problems (speed, in particular). As a result, we have a very smart and quite functional browser. In terms of speed, today K-Meleon is the leader. Only the clumsy interface and congestion with not all the necessary functions prevent it from being unambiguously recommended for use.

K-Meleon 74. The fastest browser…

As a conclusion. Based on the results of multi-day testing (including on real users), I personally chose PaleMoon (more precisely, on its build for Atom). In conditions of severe lack of RAM, it works noticeably faster than all other browsers. On computers with 512 MB of RAM, K-Meleon showed the best results in terms of memory consumption, but users almost in 100% of cases complain about its inconvenient interface (read: unusual appearance and non-standard arrangement of controls). In theory, all this can be solved by fine-tuning the interface (fortunately, K-Meleon provides such an opportunity), but in practice, the difference in speed with PaleMoon is not so great. The final decision, however, is yours.

Updated March 18, 2016
I tested a couple more programs that claim to be the "fastest browser for an old computer." My impressions are in .

Updated February 19, 2019
It turns out that enthusiasts keep making PaleMoon builds that work on older computers. Here, in particular, (you need to download the file mypal-28.3.1.win32.installer.exe).

Now, with free access to the Internet, it is quite easy for any user to install many of the newest Internet browsers for Windows 7, but it is more expedient to first deal with the question of which is the best browser for Windows 7 and is best suited for specific user requests, taking into account its individual specifics. work on the Internet.

Below are the browsers for Windows 7 that currently have optimal functionality in the "Seven" with a brief description of their strengths and weaknesses, having studied which each specific user, based on his own conditions, will be able to choose the best option for his permanent operation that best suits him and his PC.

The entire top of the best browsers offered to the user's attention, included in the list of this article, are free, and the user needs to focus only on their characteristics, taking into account, for example, the capabilities of the computer used.

After all, you can choose to work on the World Wide Web and extreme options, such as: the fastest browser or the most economical in terms of energy costs.

What is the best conductor for the global network?

Each computer owner must answer this question for himself. The material contains only bare facts, based on which the user will be able to make the best decision for himself.

And although, according to the reviews of other people, the most popular browsers, stuffed with a bunch of all kinds of functions, are better in operation, they often turn out to be not the best for the individual requirements of a particular user. Of course, you can install all of them and experimentally determine which browser will best suit your conditions, but in order to save time, we recommend that you first read all the information below.

This Internet Explorer rightfully belongs to the category of the most common browsers for Windows. The main window of the "Cunning Fox", despite its excessive simplicity, has an easy-to-use interface. By default, it is almost empty with only basic functions, but special application tools allow you to expand it unlimitedly with the capabilities of various programs. You can install using the following resource: "www.mozilla.org/ru/".

What are the main advantages of Mozilla?

The following main advantages can be listed:

1. Has a significant amount of the necessary tools and tools used by the developers of Internet sites;
2. Convenient and concise interface. Comfortable menu with bookmarks;
3. It has a special hardware increase in video download speed;
4. Reliable security system for user information, including access codes stored in the browser's memory;
5. Provides RSS support;
6. Fast and customizable search string;
7. Possibility of effective protection against various appearing menus and windows;
8. Supports special extensions, such as various social networks, YouTube, weather conditions, etc.;
9. Quick ability to synchronize all information between FireFox browsers on all user devices;
10. A huge number of different themes with the ability to modify the look of the browser.

Main disadvantages:

1. The browser cannot boast of providing the fastest web experience;
2. Requires a significant investment of time to customize to the specific requirements of the computer owner;
3. Experienced users compare FireFox to driving a tank to a bakery on a perfectly clean pavement.

Users with high demands on the speed of launching an application can definitely recommend this true cutting edge Web technology "Chrome", which is guaranteed to provide the highest speed of all freely distributed browsers. In our list, it is the fastest and at the same time consuming a small amount of computer resources. Although it has a somewhat "Spartan" interface (one might even say that it does not exist at all) in the form of only a couple of inconspicuous keys. But in terms of the number of different applications in it and toys, Chrome is the undisputed champion. You can install using the following resource: www.google.ru/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html».

List of the main advantages of "Google Chrome":

1. Very convenient synchronization of all settings, including various extensions and numerous bookmarks with a Google account;
2. The same field is used to print page addresses and search the Internet for information;
3. Has the necessary tools and tools used by the developers of Internet sites;
4. Preview frequently visited pages in a new bookmark;
5. Browser update function in automatic mode;
6. A huge number of extensions that can provide a complete replacement for standard applications;
7. Support for a huge number of languages;
8. High stability and reliability of work. Even after a crash occurs on one of the open pages, the browser will continue to function normally in the rest;
9. Convenient and quick transfer of existing settings to Chrome from all Internet browsers previously used by the user;
10. Reliable protection and notification of the computer owner when they try to enter pages with malicious software.

The main negative aspects of Chrome:

1. Consumption of a significant amount of computer memory resources, with a large number of simultaneously viewed bookmarks, however, resources are released very quickly literally at the moment of exit from running pages;
2. The absence of visual type bookmarks, however, there are special extensions for displaying them in the browser;
3. Chrome is the leader in startup speed only for Windows 7, and, for example, in Windows 8, a similar process already takes 2 times longer.

Opera

If you are a supporter of simplicity or are still new to the world of the Internet, then Opera will allow you to get used to it very quickly and start working fully on the World Wide Web. You can install using the following resource: "www.opera.com/ru".

Advantages:

1. Allows efficient and fast work with a significant number of simultaneously running pages;
2. Easy to learn;
3. Support speed increase;
4. Comfortable bookmarks bar;
5. Functional loader;
6. Availability in the search bar of the main search engines;
7. Language support;
8. Protection when trying to display a menu with malicious content;
9. A large number of topics;
10. Convenient work with mail;
11. Saving sessions;
12. A large number of additions.

Flaws:

1. There are no bookmarks in the new Opera;
2. The smallest speed of hardware acceleration;
3. Not the highest speed of script processing;

The developers of this browser claim with absolute certainty that it has maximum reliability and security. And most importantly, the use of "Yandex.Browser" is patriotic, because it supports a domestic manufacturer. You can install using the following resource: https://browser.yandex.ru/old/desktop/».

Advantages:

1. Greater degree of security;
2. Information is synchronized with other computers;
3. Very convenient design and functionality, almost like Chrome;
4. Export settings from third-party browsers;
5. There is an accelerator;
6. Widgets.

To be able to visit pages prohibited in the country, there is a Tor browser. A very small application that provides user anonymity. But, it should be noted that the speed of its launch is not great. You can install using the following resource: "http:/tor-browser.ru/".

Pros:

1. Absolute secrecy. No one will know not only the parameters of the user's computer, but even his "IP" and place of residence, thanks to a reliable traffic encryption system;
2. Tor functions on the basis of Mozilla and therefore is also easy to use;
3. Does not require installation, you can work directly from an external USB-drive.

Negative sides:

1. Slow.

The main advantage of this browser is the ability to install the above browsers using it. But if the user is patient enough, has iron endurance and at the same time solves only the simplest tasks when going online, then this program is always at hand, because it is installed along with the system by default. No need to install.

Advantages:

1. A simple look without distracting chips;
2. Saves RAM;
3. General string for search and addresses;
4. Relatively high startup speed;
5. Low power consumption (a very relevant argument for use in mobile PCs).

Negative sides:

1. Low speed;
2. Complexity of settings.

We've compared the 9 most popular browsers for Windows to help you choose the best one. The interface, speed, security, the presence of advertising in the program, presets and "chips" were evaluated.
Test participants:

• Browsers on Chromium:
  • Chrome;
  • Yandex browser;
  • Amigo from ru;
  • Opera;
  • Vivaldi;
• Mozilla Firefox;
  • Tor Browser Bundle
• Internet Explorer;
• Microsoft Edge;

Test conditions:

• Clean OS Windows 7 x32 in a virtual machine;
• 3.5 GHz Dual Core Processor;
• 4 GB of RAM;
• 256 MB video memory with 3D and 2D acceleration;
• The opening speed was measured with a stopwatch from clicking on the shortcut to downloading google.ru. The browser has not been opened before;
• RAM consumption was measured on 7 open tabs. The list of sites has always been the same;
• For a general browser test, the Peacekeeper Futuremark benchmark was used;
• Support for HTML5 features was tested at html5test.com. The maximum possible score is 555.

Most Popular Browsers

Top 10 browsers in Russia for desktop computers in 2015 according to Liveinternet statistics:

1. Chrome - 40.2%;
2. Yandex.Browser - 15.2%;
3. FireFox -14.1%;
4. Opera (new version) - 9.6%;
5. Internet Explorer 11 - 6.1%;
6. Opera 12 - 3.4%;
7. Amigo from Mail.ru - 3.1%;
8. Internet Explorer 10 - 1.8%;
9. Internet Explorer 8 - 1.7%;
10. Internet Explorer 9 - 0.9%.

Four of the ten most popular browsers - Chrome, Yandex, the new Opera and Amigo - are based on the Chromium browser with the Blink engine. This is 68.1% of the total share of users. They have many common features, differ in their own integrated web services, interface and other features.

Chrome

No wonder Google Chrome is popular: a minimalistic interface, a large catalog of free extensions and themes, fast work and support for modern web development technologies.


Platforms: Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X 10.6+.
Functions:

• Full data synchronization: history, extensions, passwords, bookmarks.
• User profiles.

• Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox.
• Built-in page translator.
• Remembering forms and passwords.
• View PDF in a browser.
• Highlight errors when typing.

Flaws:




Performance



Safety

• Warnings when visiting dangerous pages.
• Blocks pop-ups well.
• Alerts for location request, camera and microphone.
• Warnings when visiting https sites without a signed certificate.
• Incognito mode: a separate window that does not save history.
• EXE file will not download without confirmation.

Flaws:

• Passwords are stored in encrypted form, but they can be viewed through the settings.
• The spell checker sends all the texts you enter to Google to display errors.

Advertising and presets




Yandex browser

Yandex Browser is based on Chromium, but outwardly it is very different from regular Chrome. Almost everything has been redone, and the changes have benefited the browser - they are really convenient.


Platforms: Windows, Android 4.1+, iOS 7.0+, Mac OS X, Linux.
Functions:

• Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome.
• Full synchronization through Yandex mail account.
• Smart search bar shows answers in hints. You can not remember the exact address of the site, just enter the name in Russian - you will immediately get to the site.


• When you open a new tab, a scoreboard appears - an analogue of visual bookmarks. The list of sites is customized to your liking. Collection of beautiful background pictures. The download manager is built into the scoreboard.


• The quick call feature searches the page for a phone number. When pressed, an SMS with a number is sent to the phone. Works with sync enabled.
• Translation of selected text and pages.
• Return to the top of the page and back when clicking on the tab.
• The address bar instead of the URL shows the title of the main page and the title. On some sites, links to popular sections of the site are displayed in the line on the right. When clicked, a full link is displayed, a button for copying and sharing in social networks. networks.
• The browser does not close when all tabs are closed.
• View documents in doc, rtf, ppt, pdf format and ePub, fb2, fbzip e-books directly in the browser.
• Mouse gesture control. A handy feature from Opera


• Supports extensions from the Chrome store and Opera.


• Search on the page taking into account word forms. Finds even words with other endings.

Performance



Safety

• Built-in security plugins. Included in add-ons.
  • Antishock - blocks annoying ads and shocking pictures.
  • Flash banner and video blocking.
  • Reputation of Web of Trust (WOT) sites - displays the assessment of the site by other users.
  • Adguard - blocks pop-ups, text and video ads.
• The built-in antivirus checks downloaded files.
• Warnings when visiting dangerous pages and SMS fraud.
• Protecting information and passwords when working through the public Internet.
• The latest version of Yandex.Browser is one version behind Chrome (44.0.2403 versus 45.0.2454).

Advertising and presets

• By default, Yandex search. Easily changed to any other in the settings.
• Adds 2 shortcuts to the taskbar: a browser and a link to the Yandex home page.
• By default, 17 add-ons are installed.
• Initially, sites were added to the scoreboard.

Amigo

Mail.ru's Amigo Browser is notorious for being automatically installed with other free programs. Apparently, because of such active advertising, 3.1% of Russians use it.
Platform: Windows.



Launching the browser takes 1.7 seconds due to autoload when Windows starts. If autoload is disabled, startup takes 7 seconds.
The result in Peacekeeper is 2702 points.

The result in html5test is 498 out of 555 points.
Seven open tabs consume 459 MB of RAM.


On disk Amigo occupies 357 MB.

Safety

The program version is 42.0.2311. The current version of Chrome is 45.0.2454. In terms of time between these versions, the difference is 1.5 years! In the new versions, numerous fixes were made to the stability and security of the browser, but the developers are in no hurry to implement them.

Advertising and presets




Opera

After the transition from the Presto engine to Blink, many fans of the old 12th Opera were dissatisfied with the loss of some of the usual functionality and individuality: the built-in torrent, email client, RSS reader, mouse gesture control, bookmarks were replaced with a piggy bank. Some people switched to other browsers: for 2 years, according to Liveinternet statistics, the number of Opera users in Russia has decreased by a quarter. The developers promised to return the old functionality over time. What does Opera represent 2.5 years after the engine change?

Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android. Versions of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile for popular mobile platforms: Symbian OS, MeeGo, Java, Android, Windows Mobile, bada, iOS.

The interface is different from the standard Chrome. The menu button has been moved to the left corner. Tabs look like in the old Opera. The interface of settings, history, bookmarks, download manager has been redesigned.


Visual bookmarks on the express panel with the ability to edit. Search through the list of visual bookmarks. Multiple bookmarks are merged into a folder. Navigation to access additional features at the bottom of the express panel:




Bookmarks, tabs, express panel, settings, history, passwords are synchronized. There are limitations on mobile platforms.


The problem of navigating through a large number of tabs has been solved - a preview button has been added in the upper right corner. There is also a list of recently closed tabs.


Own catalog of add-ons and themes. To install extensions from the Chrome Web Store, you need to install the Download Chrome Extension from the Opera catalog.

In the settings, the sidebar for extensions is enabled.


View pdf in browser.

Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer and Chrome.

Performance

The first launch takes 5.5 seconds.
In Peacekeeper, Opera scored 2744 points. Of the features of HTML5, there is no support for H264 video codecs.


The result in html5test is 500 out of 555 points.

Seven open tabs consume 267 MB of RAM.


Takes up 119 MB on disk.

Own development - Turbo technology. Compresses traffic and increases page loading speed. Works on mobile versions too.

Safety

Private tabs.

Reports about suspicious sites.

To protect traffic on public Wi-Fi networks, it is proposed to use SurfEasy's own VPN service. The basic version is free (up to 500 MB/month), the full version costs $3.99 per month.


The current User Agent version 45.0.2454 keeps up with Chrome.

Advertising and presets

By default, Google search works in the address bar, Yandex search on the express panel. Search in the address bar is easy to change in the settings.

Vivaldi

A browser based on the Blink engine from one of the founders of Opera. He is not yet a year old, but he shows great promise. Currently only the developer version is available.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux.
The interface is absolutely not similar to Google Chrome, it was written in HTML + CSS + Javascript (because of this, it slows down for many). Modern flat design that can be customized. For example, you can move the address bar and tabs to any side of the screen, disable unnecessary elements.


By pressing Ctrl+F11 all unnecessary details of the interface disappear, the browser is controlled by hotkeys.

Some of the functions are based on the "classic" Opera 12:




Synchronization of bookmarks, settings, history and passwords.

You can control the browser without a mouse. Press F2 to view available keyboard shortcuts. You can customize your combinations.


Grouping tabs to work with a large number of open sites.


Site preview when hovering over a tab.

Express panel with visual bookmarks. Grouping visual bookmarks into tabs and folders.

A new tab can be opened by clicking the mouse wheel on an empty space, it is not necessary to click on the plus sign.

Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Opera 12 and 15+, Chrome, Yandex, Vivaldi.

For Vivaldi, extensions from the Chrome store are suitable.

There are also not very convenient things: when you try to insert a word into the address bar to edit a URL, Vivaldi automatically highlights the entire URL. Doesn't always want to copy the URL. The download bar appears on the side when it's not needed. But do not forget that this is still an unstable version. By its release, many jambs will be fixed.

Performance

Opening the browser takes 11 seconds.

In Peacekeeper, Vivaldi scored 2926 points. Of the features of HTML5, there is no support for H264 video codecs.


The result in html5test is 501 out of 555 points.

Seven tabs consume 437 MB of RAM.


The disk space is 282 MB.
There is a function to load images only from the cache (as in Opera 12) for users of slow Internet.

Safety

The current version of Vivaldi in Chromium is 44.0.2403, which is 1 version behind Chrome.

Advertising and presets

Yandex search by default.

There are 3 plugins installed by default: PDF Viewer, Adobe Flash and Google Update.

Preset list of sites in visual and regular bookmarks. Deleted manually.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox runs on the Gecko engine, the main concept of which is support for open Internet standards (HTML, CSS, W3C, DOM, XML, JS, etc.) and cross-platform.



According to the results of tests by Sauce Labs, Firefox is the most stable browser at the end of 2014. More than 55 million launches of popular browsers of different versions were carried out, errors in Firefox appeared in only 0.11% of cases. Internet Explorer showed itself worst of all (0.25%), and of the latest versions - Safari 6 (0.12%). With the release of each version, the number of crashes decreases, they are almost absent in the latest Chrome and Firefox.

Platform: Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, Android. There are unofficial builds for many other OSes.

Import from Internet Explorer and Chrome.

Synchronization of bookmarks, passwords, tabs, history, add-ons, settings.

Separate search bar in search engines and dictionaries.

Built-in visual bookmarks.

Smooth scrolling. What browsers on Chromium lack.

Support for extensions, plugins and themes from our own store. There are extensions unique to this browser.

Built-in PDF viewer.

Live bookmarks. Instead of bookmarking a single page, you can add an RSS feed. A list of the latest articles on the site will be displayed.


View for reading. The function leaves the main content on the page, removes the design and all elements of the site.

When you open a large number of tabs, a button appears to scroll through them.

Links in the History (history and bookmarks) can be labeled.

Performance

The program started in 5 seconds.




The result in html5test is 446 out of 555 points.

Seven open tabs consume 187 MB of RAM.


Takes up 145 MB on disk.

Safety

Pop-up blocker.

Private browsing. This is a separate window that does not save browsing history, passwords.

"Forget" button to delete the history. It can be moved to the toolbar. Other browsers also have this feature, but it is hidden in the settings.

Built-in protection against phishing and malware. Websites and downloaded files are checked against Google's SafeBrowsing database.

Saved passwords can be viewed through the settings. To protect against password theft during physical access to the computer, a master password is set, which encrypts all data.

Since July 2015, Adobe Flash has been blocked by default in Firefox to increase security.

Advertising and presets

Mozilla Developer is a non-profit organization.

internet explorer

The standard browser known to all Windows users is Internet Explorer. It does not need to be downloaded when installing the OS, but it is recommended to update to the latest version - 11.0. In Windows 10, it was replaced with Microsoft Edge, written from scratch. Partly because of the bad reputation: netizens joke that it was invented to download other browsers.

IE significantly loses to modern browsers in functionality, interface, loads pages slowly, many web development standards are not supported, due to which sites may not be displayed correctly. In recent versions, these shortcomings have been tightened.




However, if you add up all versions of IE from the top 10 browsers on the Internet, 10.5% of web users use it. The Explorer can be compared to an old “call-only” phone. The main function (browsing sites) works, nothing more.

The default is Bing, which is unusual for Russian users.
IE 8 startup speed - 4.5 sec. IE 11 launches in 7 seconds.
IE 8 scored 219 points in Peacekeeper.


Microsoft Edge

The default browser in Windows 10 is Microsoft Edge (originally called Project Spartan).

Modern minimalistic interface. Fits perfectly with the interface of Windows 10. Only the essentials are on the toolbar - the rest of the buttons are hidden in the sidebar. By the way, the list of options and settings in the browser is minimal.

The browser runs on the new EdgeHTML engine with the Chakra javascript interpreter.

The ability to take notes and draw on top of web pages and share them. This is not yet available in any browser.

When selecting text, Edge recognizes the type of data and offers customized solutions. For example, when highlighting a phone number, he will offer to call.

The smart address bar displays search results for some queries without going to the site.

Reading mode. The page is cleared of everything superfluous, leaving only text and photos. You can save your favorite articles to your reading list. The function resembles the Pocket service.

The browser does not support extensions, but they were promised to be added in new versions at the end of 2015. This is the main drawback, without which the Edge cannot fully fight the competition. So far, there is not even a banal Adblock. To block ads, you can now use a separate program - Adguard, but it is paid.

According to unconfirmed information, Edge will support not only extensions from the Windows Store, but also from the Chrome store.

In a conspicuous place is a button for feedback from the developers.

Safety

The built-in SmartScreen filter blocks potentially dangerous websites.

Each tab is isolated - it opens in a separate process, just like in Chromium.

Advertising and presets

Bing search is used - this is also a Microsoft project. The search cannot be changed.

Adobe Flash is already built into the browser (can be disabled in the settings), but a similar technology from Microsoft - Silverlight is not supported.

Choosing a browser is simple: just download any of the most popular and, sooner or later, you will definitely get used to it. But in order for the process of learning and further use to be as comfortable as possible, you should know what to look for and count on. Your attention is a list of the most famous free browsers for Windows 7/8/10. Downloading them and trying it for yourself is the best option, but don't be too lazy to read the whole text, save time.

Google Chrome is the cutting edge of web technology

Google Chrome is the most popular browser today, installed on almost every computer. At first, Chrome gained popularity for its speed and flexibility in settings, including by installing browser extensions. Now it is not the fastest browser, but the most functional with support for all the innovations in web technologies. A truly huge library of add-ons allows you to get any functionality.

Chrome has under the hood the Chromium engine, which has become the standard for modern browsers. Most popular browsers are made on the Chromium engine. The engine is responsible for rendering the code of pages and scripts -> into a visible page on the monitor screen.

Browser Advantages:

• All kinds of extensions that can replace standard programs
• Crash control allows you to keep the browser working even during an error in one of the open windows
• Warning the user about visiting malicious sites
• Import settings from any browser
• Multilingual interface
• Automatic updates
• Has a developer toolbar
• with google account
• The built-in task manager allows you to evaluate which of the tabs consumes a lot of CPU and memory resources

• Not very convenient bookmarks, there are no built-in visual bookmarks, but there are
• It does not work well with many open tabs, while it eats a lot of memory, but frees it the fastest after closing them

Google Chrome is currently considered the best browser for Windows 7 and Windows 8/10. But to each his own. For example, I do not like the uninformative download manager and when opening many tabs. True, there is an extension The Great Suspender, which, after a specified time, frees memory from unused tabs. But chrome does not close them, and to see these pages again, you just need to refresh them.

Chrome starts up the fastest on Windows 7, but in the eight and ten things are bad with this - the load time increases by up to two times!

Opera is the best choice

Perhaps there is no browser that is clearer, more understandable and easier to learn for a beginner than Opera. Although Opera is now running on the Chromium engine, it has everything you need to surf without installing additional extensions.

Previously, I used Opera because of convenient visual bookmarks (tiles with the most necessary sites on an empty tab) and a file download manager. Here it is done very conveniently and clearly. Opera is the best browser for dealing with multiple open tabs, and indeed. You can keep several dozen open sites, and this will not particularly affect the speed of work.

Particularly useful, in today's realities, built-in and unlimited traffic. And plus it has a "Turbo" function for compressing transmitted data for . But here you need to experiment. Sometimes, on a slow connection, the opposite effect occurs - the speed decreases even more.

When choosing a program to work on the World Wide Web, many are mainly interested in what is currently the fastest browser for Windows 7.

Although there are just a huge number of other criteria for choosing a browser.

To date, you can find and download many "self-written" browsers, that is, those that were developed by novice programmers, and not by teams of professionals.

So, their main drawback is the speed of work.

There is no mention of data security and safety.

In any case, today we will analyze all the main characteristics that will help you choose a program for accessing the Internet, and the main one will be the speed of work.

As for how this very speed will be tested, a very simple method will be chosen, which is to launch the browser or perform other operations on it with a stopwatch.

In particular, the speed will be tested on such operations as launching the browser itself, opening the website site, authorization in the Google mail account, launching the video and installation speed.

Testing will not be done on a new computer.

This choice is due to the fact that we want to achieve maximum objectivity of research.

Yes, such tests usually use "clean" machines, but we all do not have the opportunity to reinstall the operating system every month.

This would make it possible to make a completely “clean” machine out of the order of a used computer.

In general, the conditions will not be easy as close to reality as possible, they will be quite real. Go!

Opera

This browser was released in 1994. Until 2013, he worked on his own engine, then switched to Webkit + V8, which is familiar to many developers, which, by the way, is also used a little in Google Chrome.

It is the fifth most popular web browser in the world according to research by some sites. Users love the mobile version, which is called Opera Mini.

The main advantage of this program is its excellent ability to save traffic. This allows many users to pay less for internet.

You can download this browser absolutely free on the official website www.opera.com/ru.

This site has one big "Download Now" button, which allows you to start downloading.

For our tests, the latest version downloaded from the official site will be taken.

Speed ​​tests gave the following results:

• Browser startup time - 3 s;
• Website opening time - 2 s;
• Video start time - 2 s;
• Installation time - 1.3 minutes (from launching the installer program to closing it).

By the way, the design of the installation window for this program is very beautiful, but at the same time minimalistic.

The installation process itself takes very little time.

The user only needs to press one button and nothing else - he does not choose a path, does not read a bunch of license terms, does not watch presentations, and so on.

On the one hand, this is, of course, good, because a simple user does not need all this.

But some will say that this is bad, because "who knows what they write in the license there."

But since we evaluate the speed of work, then in this regard, Opera shows itself perfectly.

Other Advantages and Disadvantages of Opera

In addition to speed when choosing a program for accessing the Internet, it will also be useful to know about the following advantages of Opera:

1. Saving traffic. A proprietary feature of this browser.
2. The presence of Turbo mode, which allows you to work even faster on slow computers and still save traffic.
3. Own express panel with bookmarks. In other browsers, this function must be installed additionally. Yes, there are bookmark bars, but they are not as functional.
4. Hot keys of management. In fact, this browser can be controlled without a mouse.
5. Ease of work. Opera is not loaded with plugins for privacy and other similar functions, so it can work many times faster.

The disadvantages of Opera include the following:

1. On older machines, it may not work at all. On the other hand, nothing from the modern standard user set already works on them. And who now uses such old computers?
2. Incorrect work of some scripts. In defense of Opera, we can also say that not all scripts that exist today work on other browsers.
   Complaints about the instability of work - restarts, throws out, and so on. It also occurs not so often - whoever is not lucky will have to restart.

Google Chrome

This browser was released in 2008 - relatively recently.

Its direct ancestor is the Safari browser, which then also tried to adapt to Windows, but these attempts were unsuccessful - it turned out to be too slow, and often restarted.

Safari is originally designed for Mac computers. Google Chrome runs on its own engine called Chrominium.

Last year, this browser was the first in many polls in Runet.

You can download Google Chrome on the official website - www.google.ru/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html (a very non-standard link that could be shortened).

There, too, there is a single button that should be pressed.

By the way, here, on the download site, you can read the license agreement, as well as set Google Chrome as the default browser and check the box for sending work reports to Google.

By the way, many refuse the latter.

To do this, you just need to uncheck the box highlighted in green in Figure 4.

Testing the speed of this browser gave the following results:

• Browser startup time - 4 s;
• Website opening time - 5 s;
• Authorization time in the Google mail account - 1 s;
• Video start time - 1 s;
• Installation time - 1.5 min.

When installing here, by the way, some additional content is downloaded, which makes the whole process a little longer.

Otherwise, Google Chrome performs really well, but still a little worse than Opera.

And despite the fact that it is this browser that many authors of such articles call the fastest.

As you can see, tests in real conditions gave a different result.

Advantages and disadvantages of Google Chrome

Also, users who choose a program to access the Internet will be very useful to know about the following benefits of Google Chrome:

1. Safety. This is given great attention here. Google Chrome has a huge number of additional programs and scripts that protect against all sorts of attacks and viruses. In addition, this browser has its own database with these same viruses and malicious sites.
2. Mode "Incognito", which allows you to quietly be on different sites. This means that the site will not leave a cookie or any other information about the stay of a user working in Incognito mode.
3. stability at work. It is very rare to hear about Google Chrome that it is reloading or failing to withstand a large number of sites.
4. Your "Task Manager", which makes it possible to see how many resources a particular site consumes, as well as a plugin.
5. Normal work with extensions. It is also very rare to hear complaints about this.
6. Voice search control.

The disadvantages include the following:

1. No support for NPAPI plugins since version 42.0. A lot of modern plugins work on this platform. And users are faced with the difficulties of installing them or even with the inability to complete this task.

Otherwise, Google Chrome performs just fine.

As you can see, its speed is not too much inferior to Opera, therefore, given all the other advantages, it is not surprising that this particular browser is called the best to date.

Mozilla Firefox

In 2014, in all foreign surveys, this browser took a strong first place. But then the two programs described above took the lead from Mozilla Firefox.

Still, what contribution the “cunning fox”, as many users call it, has made to the development of browsers in general deserves respect.

The fact is that Mozilla Firefox became the first browser in the world that had its own database of extensions. It was for him that the first extensions and plugins began to be written.

Not surprisingly, as of 2017, it is Mozilla Firefox that has the largest base of extensions.

In addition, it was in this browser that privacy mode first appeared.

Today, this idea is actively used by Google specialists, including the development of the aforementioned Google Chrome.

The first version of this program was released in 2004 on the Gecko engine. To this day, in terms of the engine, nothing has changed.

But this does not prevent the program from constantly improving and gaining new market positions.

Although, of course, since 2014 Mozilla Firefox has lost a lot of popularity.

It is also most convenient to download this browser on the official page - www.mozilla.org/ru/firefox/new/.

By good tradition, the site has one big “Download for free” button.

The site no longer has any license agreements. And in general, the download occurs automatically and this process does not delay anything.

In the installer window, you can use additional settings. The settings window is shown in Figure #6.

As you can see, you can specify in it where the program shortcuts should be installed, the installation path, and whether this browser should be made the main one.

Advice: When installing, be sure to use the advanced settings window, because otherwise, program shortcuts will appear on the taskbar, on the desktop and in the Start menu, which users often do not need! In addition, installation information will be sent to Mozilla, and the browser itself will become the default browser.

To open this very window of additional settings at startup, click the "Settings" button, highlighted in Figure No. 7.

The installation itself also begins with downloading additional files. This, of course, makes the process longer.

Mozilla Firefox uptime tests yielded the following results:

• Browser startup time - 5 s;
• Website opening time - 3 s;
• Authorization time in the Google mail account - 1 s;
• Video start time - 2 s;
• Installation time - 1.35 min.

Advantages and disadvantages of Mozilla Firefox

The benefits of Mozilla Firefox are as follows:

1. Reliability at work. There are plugins that can "kill" absolutely all browsers except Mozilla Firefox.
2. Security and privacy at the highest level. This is the only browser of its kind that can block the collection of information about a particular user by sites, including Google. This makes it possible not to see annoying ads that are generated at the request of this user.
3. Version updates happen in the background.
4. In addition, the widest base of plug-ins and extensions mentioned above should also be included here.

The disadvantages of Mozilla Firefox are:

1. Immunity of some modern scripts.
2. Frequent complaints about slow operation, especially at high loads.

From all this, we can conclude that Mozilla Firefox clearly cannot be considered the fastest browser for Windows 7.

Yandex browser

This is the youngest modern browser among those used by several million people. Users first heard about this browser in 2012.

Now, in 2017, Yandex is actively promoting its product using contextual advertising. Here, of course, everything is aimed at working directly with Yandex services.

So in this browser by default there is already mail, a translator, a disk, money and everything else that only the most popular Russian search engine offers.

By the way, the engine in Yandex.Browser is the same Chromium. Many users say that this program has its own quick launch panel, which is called "Scoreboard" here.

This is considered a feature of Yandex.Browser, but for a simple layman, this is practically the same bookmarks bar that is in the same Opera.

True, there it is much more functional.

You can host 20 different sites on Tablo.

An interesting feature of this browser is the work with mouse gestures.

This means that there is a certain set of gestures that are formed by certain cursor movements and perform certain functions.

There are also a huge number of extensions and plugins, most of which are taken from the already beloved Google Chrome.

This is due to the fact that these two browsers run on the same Chromium engine.

You can download Yandex.Browser on the official website - browser.yandex.ru.

Although, if you visit the site yandex.ru several times, you will definitely see an advertisement for this browser and you can follow the link to download it.

This site also has a great big "Download" button.

The results of testing the speed of this browser gave the following results:

• Browser startup time - 11 s;
• Website opening time - 4 s (the first launch, by the way, gave a result of 24 seconds);
• Authorization time in the Google mail account - 4 s;
• Video start time - 2 s;
• Installation time - 2.10 min.

During installation, it is also possible to make Yandex.Browser the default browser and make it possible to send data to Yandex specialists.

To do this, check the box marked in green in Figure 9.

Most users prefer to uncheck these boxes, which is not at all surprising.

As you can see, in terms of speed, Yandex.Browser clearly loses to the same Mozilla Firefox.

Advantages and disadvantages of Yandex.Browser

The advantages of Yandex.Browser are as follows:

1. Developers pay great attention to security. So the program automatically checks a particular site for suspicion. It has its own criteria for suspiciousness (Web of Trust), as well as programs installed by default to block phishing attacks and ads.
2. Own system for viewing documents in such formats as .pdf, .doc and others.
3. Your translator.
4. Turbo mode, like in Opera.

The disadvantages include the following:

1. The imposition of Yandex services, which many users do not like. Although, on the other hand, this browser was created precisely for this.
   A lot of people don't like the interface.
2. Difficulties in setting. Many functions that are in the same Opera or Mozilla are simply not here in Yandex.Browser.

In general, from all this we can conclude that Yandex.Browser is far from the fastest and most optimized browser.