All of these things add up to a browser that, for Internet Explorer, is refreshingly fast and lean.
HTML5 is natively supported, the underlying JavaScript engine has been rewritten, and there's support for hardware-accelerated text rendering, depending on the power of your underlying system. Speed is always a very relative thing to test, but in our use of Internet Explorer 9, we couldn't call it sluggish the way one could so easily do with previous versions. Bing is not surprisingly the default, but you can easily add other search engines. There's no shame in utilising a good idea, however, and that's what the slick Internet Explorer 9 interface does, right down to integrated search in the URL bar. Likewise, the user interface finally drops the toolbar-heavy approach for a slimmed down interface that draws obvious comparisons with Google's Chrome. To put it kindly, previous versions could often tend to be rather keen on using up as much memory as possible, but our sampling of IE9 suggests it's been slimmed down extensively.
Still in beta at the time of writing, most of Internet Explorer 9's big new features are under the hood and promise speed jumps over previous versions of Internet Explorer.
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That time has passed, but IE still holds a commanding market share, and its status as default Windows browser makes it the standard choice for a lot of web users. There was a time when Internet Explorer was the internet for most folks, with market share that was fast approaching 100 per cent. (Credit: Microsoft) Internet Explorer 9 Beta So up first, we've got Internet Explorer 9. These aren't benchmarks or reviews per se we're just using the currently most up-to-date browsers to point out where it might be worth switching browsers.
We're well past the point where you have to pay for a browser, and with the exception of Internet Explorer, everything we're looking at works across multiple computing platforms. Most users tend to use one browser and stick to it as a familiar kind of playground, but are they missing out on the best the web can offer as a result? We've taken a look at the latest and greatest from Microsoft, Apple, Opera, Google and Mozilla to sort out where each browser scores well or offers something unique that makes them a must-use proposition. So what marks out one browser from another? At a basic level, any browser you choose will do the basics - page display, secure websites for matters such as online commerce and banking - to a standardised level. A good browser does what you want, when you want it to.