Your default browser

[Dr Lobster*]

yes, it's that old chestnut again.

a new build on the beta channel of google chrome has just been released (v4.0.249.30) which now easily enables you to use extensions, with an extension gallery just like firefox.

i've kind of been using firefox and google chrome for a while, but google chrome has now been granted 'default browser' status on my pc.

there are a few annoying bugs in firefox (some of which have been on bugzilla since 2003) that are still not fixed, and it's my view that the platform is increasingly being left behind.

for instance, the cache in firefox is hugely outdated - it's changed little since the netscape days and if your browser crashes you loose it all. if you watch a large youtube video, your cache usually gets zapped. you also can't have any more than 8192 items in the cache and under certain circumstances once this limit is reached, firefox will stop caching completely and download everything every single time (this will happen if you set your cache size to something big, such as 500mb, 100-150mb seems to be the limit to stop this happening).

so, i tried chrome. no adblock hurt me. i had to block all those annoying ads in my router and no mouse gestures was a real pain. thankfully, addons to fill this void is now easy to install and seem to function well.

so, what's your default browser?

[marksi]

I was a huge Chrome fan; then it started to slow down. So I moved to Firefox. And yes, Adblock was great.

But then I was tempted back to Chrome with the "Synchronise Bookmarks" function that easily and effectively keeps all my bookmarks organised across all 3 machines. That version doesn't seem to be affected by the previous issue of sometimes behaving slowly and I'm very happy with it now; it's simple and uncluttered.

Must have a look to see what extensions are available.

[SiGa]

I use FireFox. It does the job I want it to do for the most part.

[WillPS]

Opera

[Pete]

I've always considered installing chrome on my netbook but its lack of adblock and xmarks that have kept me back. I didn't realise it had its own internal bookmark sync tool however, so I might have a look again.

Firefox, much as I love it, has some major issues and despite the rendering speed having been improved there are some rather irritating little application speed issues that annoy me.

[Gavin Scott]

I've always considered installing chrome on my netbook but its lack of adblock and xmarks that have kept me back. I didn't realise it had its own internal bookmark sync tool however, so I might have a look again.

Firefox, much as I love it, has some major issues and despite the rendering speed having been improved there are some rather irritating little application speed issues that annoy me.

Firefox has been crashing for me, although sometimes I'm really pushing it to its limit.

Java based chat applications on certain websites, or webcams or somesuch (don't ask) really do make it strain - and its only when I look to see how much resource its guzzling do I understand why my PC is wheezing.

That said, the same sites don't work in IE properly (pages that should pop up as a set size arrive maximised and can't be altered; and in Chrome (in its opening weeks anyway) failed to work at all - so Firefox took the crown there despite its problems.

Maybe I should try Chrome again.

[Inspector Sands]

Chrome is my default now too. I was finding Firefox just too slow and sluggish. The other advantage is that on my netbook I get more page to my screen as the toolbars etc are so basic

I seem to be missing lots of adverts on Chrome, notably on guardian.co.uk, all I get is a 'page null error' where the ad should be. This causes the problem that when I want to go back I have to press back a few times as each failed ad results in a new item in my page history.


The bookmarks on Chrome as a little fiddly and not well thought out either. What's this 'internal bookmark tool'? Also where's the update to the new version? just checked and it says 'no updates'

[Nick Harvey]

I'm still on boring old IE8; can't be bothered to change.

Don't know if this is of any interest, but I've just looked up the last week's figures for good old Carbuncle Corner.

IE8 33%, IE7 31% and IE6 2%; so Microsoft still account for 66% in total.

Then Google 15%, Firefox 9% and Safari 6%.

Lastly, Konqueror, Mozilla, Netscape and Opera which each have 1%.

[Gavin Scott]

Google 15%, Firefox 9%?

That's a little shocking to be honest.

[Pete]

[Pete]

should be noted that mediaparters google is the ad thingy