Hello, and welcome back! It’s time for another exciting blog post! Today, we will talk about web browsers.

The humble web browser, the most used piece of software on any device. The web browser gives you access to websites around the world. If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you’re using a web browser. Did you know that when it comes to this software, you have many options available to you? Let’s cover some of those options, and we’ll also cover what abilities each browser has.

First, let’s start with the big 5:

GOOGLE CHROME: Chrome is by far the most popular web browser today. Based on the Chromium engine, this browser has full support for Web Apps (Installable apps of websites that you can go straight to with just a click or two). Chrome supports certain extensions, such as ad blockers. Unfortunately, while it does support ad blockers, recent updates made to Chrome have weakened their ability to operate at their full power.

The other downside, is while Chrome does have some privacy features, you have to set them up. Despite this, it still stands as the top browser on the web today. Chrome is available for all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Chrome’s icon is a 4 colored circle, consisting of Red, Green, Blue and Yellow.

MOZILLA FIREFOX: Firefox, born from the original Netscape browser, is another contender in the browser market today. Firefox is based on the Gecko engine. Unlike Chrome, Firefox excels strongly in privacy and browser extensions, such as ad blockers.

Ad blocking in Firefox is far more powerful than in Chrome. Firefox comes configured out of the box with privacy features enabled by default. Firefox is available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Firefox’s icon is an orange fox wrapped around the earth.

MICROSOFT EDGE: Based on the Chromium engine, Edge is the default browser that comes with Windows 10/11. It shares most of the same features as Chrome, such as the ability to install Chrome extensions. The main difference here is Edge uses your Microsoft account for sync, while Chrome uses a Google account. In June 2019, Edge was also released for Windows 7 and 8.1. As of recent, Edge now features Microsoft CoPilot AI.

While Edge is primarily a Windows browser, it is also available across the major operating systems, including mobile. Edge’s icon is a rounded “e” in various green/blue gradients.

NOTE: If your Edge icon is a dark blue, sharp looking “e”, then you have an outdated, discontinued version of Edge based on the proprietary EdgeHTML engine. Update Windows to get the current version OR download an alternate browser.

SAFARI: Based on Apple’s WebKit engine, Safari is a MAC/iOS oriented browser. Safari has support for some extensions, such as ad blockers. Safari is only available on Apple devices. While there used to be a Windows version, that was discontinued long ago. Safari’s icon is a blue compass with a red/white needle.

OPERA: Based on the Blink engine (aka Chromium’s base), Opera is a lesser known web browser. Opera’s popularity came in the early days of the web when it became one of the first full featured browsers to run on early mobile platforms (BREW, J2ME, etc). Opera also features a data saver utility that can speed up the loading of websites. Today, Opera is available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Opera’s icon is a red 3D ring.

Now, for some honorable mentions:

BRAVE BROWSER: Based on the Chromium engine, Brave is a privacy focused browser. Brave comes complete with a built in ad blocker, and strong privacy settings which are configured and enabled out of the box. Brave also has support for Cryptocurrency wallets and the blockchain in general.

The desktop version of Brave also comes with a built in TOR client for enhanced privacy, as well as Brave’s own VPN service. Brave also gives access to a blockchain-based internet known as Web3. Brave is available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Brave’s icon is an orange lion face.

TOR BROWSER: Based directly on Firefox, TOR browser is a strongly privacy focused browser. TOR browser’s internal TOR client routes your traffic through various “hops” between you and your destination. This browser also grants you easy access to TOR’s own internal network (Known to most as the “Dark Web”).

TOR is the only service that uses .onion addresses. TOR browser is also available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. TOR Browser’s icon is a circle with the a purple left half, and a purple/white striped right half.

NOTE: On Mobile, there’s also an app called Orbot, which is a standalone TOR client. This will let you use TOR as a full device VPN, OR you can configure it to only tunnel traffic from certain apps.

SAMSUNG INTERNET: This is a Chromium based mobile browser found mainly on Samsung devices. While there was once a version for Windows, this has been discontinued. Samsung Internet is available on Android, Google’s Wear OS for smartwatches, and Samsung’s proprietary Tizen OS. Samsung Internet’s icon is a light purple squared circle with what looks like a white and purple image of Saturn.

VIVALDI: Based on Chromium (Webkit on iPhone/iPad devices), Vivaldi is a 3-in-1 application, featuring a web browser, email client, and a calendar. Vivaldi is also unique in that it can use extensions made for Chrome or firefox. Vivaldi also comes with privacy tools enabled out of the box, such as an ad blocker, tracker blocker and popup blocker. This browser is available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. The icon is a light red square, with a light red “V” inside a white circle.

CHROMIUM: The base of the open source Chromium project. This browser is similar to chrome, but is the open source version, and, unlike Chrome, is a bare bones browser with no extra features. While addons are supported, they must be manually added. Chromium is however, stronger in the privacy sector than Chrome. Chromium is the base to most all third-party browsers, such as Brave. Chromium is available on all major operating systems, on PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Chromium’s icon is the same as Chrome’s icon, but in various shades of blue.

Now, let’s take a look into the past at some obsolete browsers.

INTERNET EXPLORER (1996-2022): Introduced in 1996, Internet Explorer, or IE for short, was marketed as an addon for Windows 3.11 and early versions of 95, but then eventually became the default included browser on Windows ranging from the last versions of Windows 95, up to Windows 8.1. Despite being included in Windows 10, it was superseded by Microsoft Edge. IE reached EOL status in June of 2022.

IE is still included in Windows 10/11 as a base for Edge’s IE mode, due to some internal systems still relying on IE. IE’s icon is a light blue “e” with a gold ring around it. Earlier versions of IE had a dark blue “e” with a gold ring around it”. While IE was only available on Windows systems, a version for MacOS was eventually produced and distributed, giving Mac users a simple way to access the internet. In it’s later years, IE would also be included on early Windows Mobile devices.

MICROSOFT EDGE (EdgeHTML – 2014-2019): The first version of Microsoft Edge, meant to replace IE, was based on Microsoft’s proprietary EdgeHTML engine. This version was originally shipped out with Windows 10, and has since been replaced with the Chromium version of Edge. Windows 10 21H2 and newer, as well as Windows 11 all come with the newer version. The icon for this version of Edge was a light/dark blue “e” with two points towards the back of the letter.

NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR (1994-2008): One of the earliest web browsers, Netscape was born in 1994 from the original Mosaic web browser. Over time, Netscape would become a popular alternative to using IE. In 1998, America Online (AOL), would buy Netscape for $4.2 Billion. In 2004, Parts of Netscape Navigator would be used to create what is now known today as Mozilla Firefox. Netscape finally reached EOL status on March 1st, 2008, with it’s final release being Just a couple of weeks earlier on Feburary 20th.

Netscape was only available on Windows and MacOS systems. Netscape Navigator’s icon was a square with the bottom half being an outline of a darkened earth, and the top being a greenish gradient of the sky. A white N is on top of this with the right bottom part obscured by the darkened earth. Earlier Netscape icons were a green gradient square with a lighthouse and ship wheel in it.

AMERICA ONLINE: While AOL is not defunct in any way, It belongs here thanks to it’s original software, aka what came on those AOL CDs you kept getting in the mail. AOL’s “browser” at the time was limited to content hosted on AOL itself, as there was no true link to the internet. While a browser was included in AOL versions as far back as 2.5, users were limited to what was on “AOLNet”. Around version 3.0, things changed, and AOL users could venture onto the actual internet. From 4.0 on, AOL could be started up, connected then placed in the background, allowing the user to use other internet applications, such as an external web browser. This software is still around today as AOL Desktop, which is really just a fancy browser with AOL content baked into it.

I can also cover browsers for those who like to do retro computing, but I’ll cover those in a post dedicated to retro computing. (Oh the fun we can get into with that topic!)