Internet Explorer

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The details:

A detailed explanation of why you shouldn't use it will follow - suffice it to say that Internet Explorer is buggy, slow and frankly behind the times. It's also damn insecure which is why you get all those lovely spyware/adware popups when you surf. Look here for details of its woeful security record. I also just found this quote by Richard Clarke, who's been chosen to head counter-terrorism by four successive US presidents and who's speciality is cyber crime. "Major software companies have said in the past year that they're cleaning up their act, notably Microsoft, which says it has introduced new quality assurance procedures - frankly, it needs to because it's had a record of very sloppy products, rushed to market without concern for security." Enough said.

Opera

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The details:

Having ditched Internet Explorer, I invite you to try the rather wonderful Opera Internet Suite which you can find here. It's simply the most powerful and customisable piece of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. One day you'll have to use Internet Explorer and you'll cry, so restricted will you feel. For those that are most comfortable with Internet Explorer and don't wish to have their internet experience improved, Opera can be made to resemble, look, feel and behave exactly like your old programme. Pure class.

The Opera Wiki has a great page explaining why you should use Opera (including links to other articles). You can also find the official reasons at the Opera site here which highlights what Opera offers above Internet Explorer. If you fancy something a bit more amusing then check out The Naked Joy of Surfing (clean link) for a good list. It's a funny attempt to explain why Opera is the best porn browser, but in the process manages to highlight many (although by no means all) of the features that Opera can offer you.

The Opera Wiki contains tons of information about tweaking and customizing Opera whilst if you're having problems your first port of call should be the Opera Help page followed by the Opera Forums where the friendly user community will be happy to answer your questions (but please do a forum search first!) The biggest turn-off for new users is that Opera uses google-sponsored ads in the unregistered version. Firstly, this is not malicious. Secondly, you can select text ads which take up minimal space. Thirdly, many people actually find them very useful. Fourthly, if you like the product then pay some money to get it registered and remove the banner - its only fair to reward the programmers at the innovative end of the browsing market.

Opera 8 will block unwanted pop-ups of course, but if you don't like adverts either than you should download my filter file to your Opera profile folder. Right click and choose 'save target as' on this link. Make sure Opera is closed, copy it to your profile folder (usually either C:\Program Files\Opera\Profile or C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Opera\Profile) and it will block most common adverts.

Firefox

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Its excellent competitor Firefox is well worth considering. It looks almost identical to Internet Explorer upon startup and is far more secure. Its initial functionality is quite limited (although greater than IE) and the user must download and install 'extensions' to increase the things it can do. The installation of unknown extensions are a potential security risk, and there is the risk that unsupported extensions might cause conflicts but in general these problems are extremely rare. Some of these extensions are fantastic - most notably the AdBlocker and Web Development toolbar, but new users might find the download process confusing when having to choose between different extensions that do a similar job. 

As Firefox is outshadowed by Opera in terms of features 'out of the box', to minimize hassle I'll direct you to Andrew Gregory's Firefox page where he has a nice list of extensions that you can download to emulate some Opera features. Hopefully this should save the frustration of having to search for different ones. If anyone knows good Firefox sites that perform a similar function (or indeed a site outlining key Firefox benefits) please do let me know - I would like to reduce bias here but just don't have the time to go a-searching.

Which should I use?

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Andrew Gregory's page mentioned above points out his reasons for Opera being better and a moderately good explanation of why Opera might be considered better on balance can be found here. If you really don't like fiddling with settings and are willing to put up with a much smaller featureset 'out of the box' then Firefox might be the browser for you. Ultimately, each browser has its advocates and offer a similar high quality of security (although Opera has traditionally been the industry leader in this area, as well as currently having less unpatched vulnerabilities) - either is far better than Internet Explorer.

Opera does far more, for far less space upon initial install. Firefox is much simpler 'out of the box' (which may, of course, be a good thing for you) - whilst extensions go some way to addressing the gap, the implementation of Opera features is rarely equal and often inferior. The AdBlocker is a great reason to choose Firefox, but as I use The Proxomitron for my browsing, its something of a moot point. The WebDevelopment extension has an Opera equivalent (although inferior) which you can find here.

Bottom line - if you're the person who only ever uses your internet browser to check your webmail, Firefox will probably do what you want with the least hassle. If you're looking for a bit more in your internet browser then Opera is my recommendation. Whilst Firefox extensions are pretty nice, Opera does everything I need and the implementation just seems that much 'slicker,' whilst the extreme customization of the Opera interface is unrivalled.

The Proxomitron

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The Proxomitron is a tiny, yet incredibly powerful, programme that gives you the power to change what you see on the internet. This can range from removing ads from webpages, disabling harmful scripting on sites and generally improving your internet experience. It actually re-writes webpages and thus if you're on a slow (eg. mobile) connection this can be a great saver of bandwidth as advertising images aren't downloaded. You have to alter your browser settings to connect through it and download up-to-date filters for it to work most effectively so it may not be for everyone. There simply is no more powerful web-filtering tool available though and it comes highly recommended.

JD5000's excellent site has filters I recommend on it, whilst you can download Proxomitron itself here. They are completely customisable: fancy blocking javascript on just one webpage? No problem! Re-style some cluttered forums to be much simpler? Again, no problem! Use JD5000's basic config and you should be fine, however occasionally sites will be broken by Proxomitron. If you're using Opera this is dead simple to fix - simply hit F12 and uncheck 'use proxies' on the quick-menu. Takes but a second. Firefox users can use Proxomitron's inbuilt javascript pop-up menu to accomplish the same thing. Not sure why that never works for me!