Tuesday, March 22

Just browsing

I've decided to ditch Internet Explorer..
I know lots of other people have probably done this ages ago, but I finally got fed up with it (mainly because IE's pop-up blocker seems to be a big pile of festering shite) and decided to look at the alternatives available. I decided, in the end, to go for Avant Browser, mainly because it's free (as annoying as pop ups are, they can be closed, so why pay for something that gets bundled with Windows anyway?) but also because it was the highest rated alternative to Internet Explorer (that you didn't have to pay for) in a recent PC magazine that was knocking about the office.

For those who cannot be arsed to click the link above (and are, therefore, obviously not running a multi-tabbed web browser), here's the top ten reasons to install Avant:

"Flash Animation Filter: More than 85% of all flash animation on web pages is advertising. These flash files are pretty large, and normally take up to 90% of the size of the page you're visiting. With Avant Browser you can save this bandwidth by blocking the download of these flash files with just one easy click. Avant Browser also provides options to block downloads of pictures, videos, sounds and ActiveX components. With these options users can control their bandwidth and speed up page loading.

Built-in Pop-up Blocker: Easily eliminate unwanted pop-up pages automatically with just one click. (and this one actually works - Ed)

Additional Mouse Functions: If you click a link in the web page with the middle mouse button, the link will be opened in a new window in the background. And there are two handy mouse gestures in Avant Browser. The first allows you to navigate backward one step by holding the right button down and then clicking on the left button simultaneously. The second allows you to navigate forward one step by reversing the buttons used: hold left, and click right.

Multi-Window Browsing: Browse multiple web pages simultaneously. All opened pages can be easily stopped, refreshed, closed or arranged with one click.

Real Full Screen Mode and Alternative Full Desktop mode: When you enable Full Screen Mode, all you see is the webspace, with no toolbars or other clutter. They are simply autohidden! Move your mouse over the top or bottom and find the toolbar and tab bar respectively. Avant Browser also provides Full Desktop Mode, which is the same as Full screen mode, but differs in that your windows task bar stays visible.

Built-in Yahoo/Google Search Engine: Avant Browser provides a built-in search engines, Yahoo and Google. Built-in search engines enable user to search for web pages, images, groups, directories, news, lyrics and software in Internet. International users will be glad to know that you can set avant to utilize any of up to 64 google mirrors by default!

Full IE Compatibility: Avant Browser comes with all Internet Explorer functions, including Cookies, ActiveX Controls, Java Script, Real player and Macromedia Flash. IE bookmarks are automatically imported into Avant Browser.

Records Cleaner: With Avant Browser, you can easily keep your privacy by deleting Typed Addresses, Auto-Complete Passwords, Cookies, History of Visited Web Sites, Temporary Internet Files and Search Keywords.

Safe Recovery: If Avant Browser is closed improperly, all open web pages are saved and will be automatically reopened at next startup.

Skins: Express your creativity by making a skin for Avant using a custom, easy to use program called Avant Browser Skin Factory, or use any of the many and varied skins made by other users."

Am using it now and am very happy with it..
The multi-tabbed feature (having several web pages displayed in a single window) is particularly helpful for blogging to be honest, particularly when you're trying to include links in the entry you're writing and saves the hassle of having multiple Internet Explorer windows open. The fact that you can move forward and back on each of these tabbed windows is also a nice touch. Plus it imported all my IE favourites for me (so the browser was ready to go straight out of the box) and it just looks cleaner somehow.. it's a much nicer interface. Is early days, I know, but I doubt I'll be heading back to Internet Explorer anytime soon..

Ciao

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