No… this isn’t a new Sci-Fi movie coming out anytime soon. It’s the war of the web browsers. It’s a complete OVERLOAD of browsers? Which one is best? Which one should I use? I’m so confused!?!?!

As I previously stated, Edge is ANOTHER WEB BROWSER, but so is Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Brave, Safari, Dolphin … just to name a few. Honestly, there are hundreds of them. But which one is best? That depends on what you are doing. This is what we recommend. After a few comments about the last post, I thought a little further explanation is warranted.

You should ALWAYS have more than one web browser installed. Internet Explorer has been built into Windows for more than 20 years. That doesn’t mean it’s the one you should always use. It’s just built in. Something to get you started. Think of it as ‘your training wheels’. You need it to get online to get yourself rolling. After a while, you can graduate from IE and go elsewhere. That does not mean you should go to AOL and use that browser! Jeez … grow up and get a real browser. You ask why? Here’s why.

No two web browsers are exactly the same! What works on one, might not work on another.

For example, since IE (aka Internet Explorer) has been around for so long, there are some things that ONLY work in IE. Your old security DVR system may require IE and an ActiveX control to view it on your PC. Stuff like that will only work in the antiquated IE format. So … you should keep it around. Well, that is until Microsoft forcibly removes it from your Windows 10 machine sometime later in 2021. At that point a lot of people will be screaming they can’t log into their old equipment.

Chrome or Firefox? Which one? Get them both! It can’t hurt.

Use whichever as your default browser, but there is nothing that says you can’t have both. Go ahead, grab a PIE and a CAKE at the deli, both are delicious! If something goes wrong with Chrome, you can use Firefox to download another version of Chrome, or a fix from the web. Sometimes the old IE won’t even go to the websites that contain those fixes. It’s just too old. You don’t send Grandpa to the Jet Pack park to pick up the young ones.

Every browser can get corrupted. It’s easier than you can imagine. It all comes down to EXTENSIONS! What is an extension?

An extension is an ‘add on’ for your web browser to do special things. There are probably millions of them out there, and most are WORTHLESS. They will slow down your PC, cause ads to pop up, or even crash your browser.

We only recommend one add on, and that is UBLOCK ORIGIN. That is an ad blocker and it works!

However, I’ve seen extensions to ‘save you money’, ‘fix your grammer’, ‘login to email’, and even open PDF files (which your browser can do WITHOUT an add on piece of software). The best rule of thumb regarding your browsers is LESS IS BETTER! The less junk you have running, the better off you’ll be.

So… go ahead, download a different browser. Set whichever one you like best as your default. Remember your bookmarks may be saved elsewhere, so you might need to transfer a few things. We can help if you get stuck.