Most internet users  do not think they have a choice when it comes to which web browser they use in Windows. They simply click on the blue “E” and go along their merry way. When their computer becomes “magically” infected with spyware after visiting certain web sites, they wonder why.

The reason, arguably, is that Microsoft Internet Explorer is notoriously insecure. Not to mention, web sites do not display properly sometimes on Internet Explorer. This is by design. In Microsoft’s perfect dream world, all users would be viewing web sites with Microsoft Internet Explorer which are being served by Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) web server and the site would be written in Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) scripting language.

Fortunately for all of us, this is not how the internet works nor was it intended to work this way which is why we typically recommend Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is fast and extensible. When it springs a security “leak” it’s usually fixed very quickly.

By far, the most popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox. While these browsers are fine for everyday use, there ARE other web browsers out there and you can take a look at their features and usage statistics at Wikipedia’s browser comparison page.

This page includes pretty much every browser you can think of and compares the native functionality of each one. The information is extensive and detailed but unfortunately it can be a little hard to follow since there is so much information. But, if you want to see what browser supports a certain feature, this is a great resource.