For this week’s Freeware Frenzy I will be reviewing Avant Browser 10.1.23. It is yet another free browser; they seem to be growing like weeds these days. A friend of mine mentioned it to me a few weeks ago after I told him I was having a memory leak problem with Firefox. After loading a video clip or two, FF would freeze and I would be forced to close and reopen it. After he told me that he had no such problems with AB, I eagerly snapped it up.
Installation
Avant Browser is based on Internet Explorer, requiring that you have IE 5.5 or later already installed. The download is only 3.7MB. Definitely worth it. Installation is a standard EULA agreement > Folder change > Icon setup > Install routine. You are asked if you’d like to install RoboForm, required for AutoComplete. And that’s all there is to it. You’re ready to customize and go. Being IE based, Avant will import your favorites list from IE, so no need to reload all of those. I know I have a bunch.
Use
After spending time with Avant Browser, I have set it to my default browser. It not only adds upgrades that IE lacks, but adds all the features of Firefox without any hassles. Up top of the browser window are the standard toolbar and standard buttons. There is of course the address bar, the search bar, the Window Tools and the Tabs bar. I have arranged mine as you see in the screenshot, but all of the bars are movable. The Window Tools something different for the browser and allows you to tile windows within the browser how you see fit. In the upper right, you find Cascade, Tile Horizontal/Vertical, Maximize All, Close All, Close All Except Current, Minimize, Restore and Close. The last 3 refer only to the open tab. You must use the buttons in the uppermost right to exit Avant altogether. Avant allows for saving of open tabs, so that when you exit, you can reload AB without losing anything important you were looking at. AB minimizes to the system tray to do this. Along the tool bar, you’ll find some additions including Groups, where you can save related websites as a bundle and Feeds, which stores RSS feeds which you can organize. It comes with some Blogs, Business, Download, Entertainment, Humor feeds etc, already.
Options
Here you can see the various options in Avant Browser. The options for multiple home pages, Mouse Gestures, Auto-complete, Email, Search Engines, Popup and Ad Blockers, etc are all here. AB is very customizable. You have shortcuts for searches, simply type “g pcmech” in your address bar and Google will search for it. You can add your own shortcuts as well, binding “pcm” to www.pcmech.com for example. Avant supports skinning, and comes with a few, for those who need a custom look.
My only quibble with Avant is that the hotkeys on my Logitech keyboard do not respond with Avant. They will only load in IE. Firefox would recognize them and load when it was my default browser, but no luck with Avant. I am not broken up about this though. It was a small price to pay for the convenience of Avant Browser.
Conclusion
Avant Browser is an excellent contender in the free browser arena. In my tests it only used 15MB of Ram when it was open. I found the vast customizations welcome. The browser is easy to learn and enjoy. The help forums on Avant’s website are very active, should you have a question. My keyboard issue is not enough for me to dock points from Avant. I was smitten with Firefox when I moved from IE but now that I have Avant, I am not going back anytime soon. I encourage everyone to try it out, as it is only a small download. I’m going to give it a 10/10. I’m sure all of the die-hard Fox and Opera fans out there will cry foul but AB is a great addition to the line-up of choices. Anyone still using IE should certainly give Avant Browser a spin.
Check it out: www.avantbrowser.com
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