Mozilla just released Firefox 3.5.6, and while the fix list isn’t that long, the one to pay attention to that was repaired is: Crashes with evidence of memory corruptionFF 3.5.5 for whatever reason just blew up in memory use, and so far since upgrading to 3.5.6, that rapid overuse of memory seems to have decreased quite a bit. This upgrade did not break...

Browser skinning simply means to change how it looks. The functionality remains the same, but the icons, background, menus and so on have an altered appearance. In some instances, browser skinning can also include adding in functionality it didn’t have prior. Here’s how to use an alternative skin for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. Internet...

Opera 10 is out of beta and in official release, so if you want to try it out, go for it. Note before continuing: PCMech Premium members can see me review this browser in a 20-minute video. 1. "Windows Native" skin Accessible by: Tools/Appearance or Shift+F12 The default look of Opera is "Opera Standard". It definitely looks better than...

Caret Browsing is when you use your keyboard to navigate a web page as you would if you were in a text editor or word processing application. This style of moving within a document is nothing new as it’s been around for a very long time, however most don’t know it exists in web browsers. IE and Firefox both have the Caret Browsing feature, accessible...

Google seems to have an odd way of deploying their Chrome browser. The first reaction when it appeared was, "Hey! Where’s the Mac and Linux versions? What gives?" It was nothing short of strange why Google seemed to concentrate on Windows so much concerning their own browser offering. Granted, Windows is the most-used desktop operating system in...

In our last episode.. I talked about how much web browsers suck. But now it’s time to discuss how great they are. The best way to describe the greatness of modern web browsers is to point out the features we have now that most people take for granted. 1. Tabbed Document Interface Most people know this as simply tabs. This was one of the best improvements...

The web browser is the most used application on your computer, period. Even when you’re not using it, it’s probably minimized to the taskbar/dock/panel. Unfortunately web browsers still to this day have a fair degree of suck factor. Here are 5 reasons why web browsers suck: 1. Plugins are the browser’s own worst enemy I call them plugins. Call...

The most-used browser on the internet is still Internet Explorer. It surprises me how many people do not know how to make basic customizations to this browser. This video will show you how to do it. You may learn a few things you didn’t know about the browser before. See video...

Opera is one of those browsers that has a very dedicated community, but pales in usage compared to Firefox and Internet Explorer. The perks of Opera have pretty much always been the same.Best native tab management Lightning fast operation in just about every way Low memory usage A user interface that just makes sense More options that are actually usable...

After trying out Safari 4 beta and not being overly impressed with it, I went ahead and downloaded the latest version of the Opera web browser, version 9.64. The petite 5MB installer file whizzed thru its installation process. I don’t remember a browser installing itself this quickly since Firefox 1.5. This browser is lightning quick. Pages which...

There are some web browsers that are safe in older versions and some that aren’t. The safest (and fastest) web browser in the world is Lynx. This is because it’s 100% text-based. There is no malware, spyware or malicious code that exists for Lynx that I know of. The only drawback is that there aren’t any images in Lynx, nor can you use a mouse....

Later on today I will be downloading the new official release Internet Explorer 8 web browser (around noon-ish EST is when it will be available on Microsoft’s site) and look forward to putting it thru its paces. However I’ve also downloaded another browser that hearkens back to the way Netscape used to be, Seamonkey. Yeah, Netscape? Remember that?...

If you use the Mozilla Firefox web browser you may be prompted to update to version 3.0.6. If you haven’t, click Help then Check for Updates and you can download the latest version now. In the release notes for this version, it’s noted that several security and stability issues were fixed. I have noticed that in 3.0.5 there were a few times the...

According to a recent news story, the official release of IE 8 will not be in 2008 as once planned. Basically put, Microsoft feels it needs more shakedown and testing before becoming official – and to be honest I am in 100% agreement with this. I’ve used the beta version of 8 (which obviously isn’t finished since it’s beta), and while the...

A big difference between Firefox and IE is the way add-ons are installed. Typically for Firefox, everything is installed through the browser where for IE most everything is installed through a program installation. Much like Firefox however, IE has a built in and easy to use extension manager, however I have found many people do not know how to acutally get to...

Google Chrome is a web browser very recently released by Google. While Dave concentrated more on the “guts” of the browser, I concentrated more on its usability. What I discovered is that while Gmail and Yahoo! Mail work, the full version of Hotmail does not. The bookmark import from Firefox on initial install didn’t work. There’s also...

Every now and then, I find it interesting to delve into the server logs for PCMech and find out what you guys are using in your system. The PCMech audience is pretty representative of the “normal” computer-using audience. We don’t have an uber-geeky crowd here. We have what I think is a normal cross-section of the computer using public. So,...

Mozilla has released the first update to the new Firefox 3 browser: 3.01. It promises better security and more stability. Several security issues were found in the original Firefox 3.0. One critical flaw was stated by Mozilla this way: Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing....

If Internet Explorer 7 is your browser of choice, but you find it lacking the functionality Firefox has… don’t get jealous, get even with IE7Pro. IE7Pro is a free add-on which adds loads of functionality. From their web site: IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse...

Firefox 3 was recently released by Mozilla and they broke a world record in doing so for the most downloads in a 24 hour period. There is a reason the browser is so popular: it is flexible and well thought out. Out of the many new features available with the new version, one of them is the way it handles bookmarks. So, what’s new and what are my tips for...