A browser was originally a program for processing, browsing web pages and moving from one page to another, which also allows you to download files from FTP servers. Now any browser is a complex application that provides an interface between the site and the visitor. The ancestor of all GUI browsers was NCSA Mosaic, the source code of which served as the basis for other browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. As you know, the popular Mozilla Firefox browser later grew out of Netscape Navigator.
Most common browsers
For a long time, the most famous and widespread browser was Internet Explorer, due to the fact that it is the standard built-in browser of the Windows operating system. At the dawn of the formation of the Internet, there was simply no alternative to it, while it was never the best.
In 1995, the Opera browser appeared, which today occupies one of the leading positions in the market and is especially popular in the CIS countries. Opera has a fairly high functionality, intuitive interface, stable speed and a good level of security.
One of the first competitors of Opera is Mozilla Firefox, in favor of which many users have recently spoken out. Mozilla has a growing popularity due to its innovation, speed and security, and it is now the most widely used browser in the world.
In 2008, Google broke into the browser market with a product called Google Chrome. This browser is based on the free Chromium project. Google Chrome has an extremely minimalistic look and the same functionality, but it is very fast and stable.
Safari is a browser from Apple adapted in 2007 for Windows, a free application originally developed for the Macintosh operating system. This browser is in the first lines of the list of the best and has a lot of fans who claim that Safari is the fastest, most beautiful and functional.
According to StatCounter in Russia, as of September 2013, the Chrome browser is the leader in popularity (38.9%), followed by Firefox (20.3%), Internet Explorer (14.1%), Opera (13.7%) … Yandex Browser closes the top five (6.2%).
Chromium-based browsers
Chromium itself is an absolutely open project, from which Google Chrome, Yandex Browser, CoolNovo, RockMelt, SRWare Iron and many other well-known and not so much browsers have grown. Unlike its offspring, it does not have such functions as error reporting, sending statistics, PDF Adobe Flash modules are also missing.
Amigo Coowon Browser is a powerful gaming browser for hardcore gamers, as the creators of this application position it.
Comodo Dragon is a browser for "security maniacs" from the well-known manufacturer of firewalls and antiviruses Comodo.
Unremarkable browsers: PlayFree Browse, QIP Surf Browser, Internet, Odnoklassniki, Rambler Nichrome, Chrome from Yandex, Rambler-Browser, Yandex. Browser, Orbitum, Amigo, RockMelt are also developed from Chromium.
Some browsers support, in addition to online mode, when the browser tries to retrieve pages from a web server, offline mode, which allows you to view saved copies of previously visited pages.
Firefox based browsers
Mozilla CometBird is the sibling of Mozilla Firefox and consumes much less RAM.
Pale Moon - the main feature of this browser is support for powerful processors, which makes it possible to achieve high performance and stability.
Mozilla Flock is a browser focused on social networks, provided with a huge number of bookmarks for almost all existing social networks.
Mozilla SeaMonkey is a browser for Netscape Navigator nostalgic users.
Comodo IceDragon is another free and secure browser from Comodo.
PirateBrowser, the first pirate browser from the famous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay, has a built-in TOR client for tunnel traffic, FoxyProxy for easy work with proxy servers and settings for anonymous surfing.
Standalone browsers
Browzar is a spy browser. Easy, fast, anonymous, all addresses and passwords have to be re-entered every time.
K-Meleon is an innovative, fast and stable browser with a unique set of macros.
Maxthon is a cloud browser that includes a large set of latest generation cloud web browsers.
Tor Browser Bundle - a package that includes the Mozilla Firefox browser connected to a network of virtual tunnels, provides 100% privacy and is very slow.
Acoo Browser is a browser for professionals that has in its arsenal a page HTML code analyzer with highlighted syntax.
Also, the most notable browsers that have their own "chips" that are worth paying attention to include: BlackHawk, Dooble, Internet Surfboard, Lunascape, QupZilla, Slepnir Browser, Torch Browser.
