Freeware Browsers - A Freeware Graphical Web Browser Guide for Windows
This is a freeware graphical web browser guide for Windows. It compares the most popular features between each browser.
Page Key
= Uses the Microsoft
Trident Layout Engine
= Uses the Mozilla
Gecko Layout Engine
= Uses the Opera
Presto Layout Engine
= Uses the
WebKit Layout Engine
= Feature is Supported
= Feature is Not Supported
= Feature is Supported through Extensions
Notes - Some of the following browsers require an archive utility to extract them. The following is recommended:
IZArc
- Download
- Home Page
A 100% Free archive utility that supports many archive formats including: 7-ZIP, ACE, RAR and ZIP.
Editor's Picks
Internet Explorer 7
- Home Page
- Download
- 
Internet Explorer 7 maintains the most webpage compatibility of any browser and adds Tabs, Integrated Search and a much needed Anti-Phishing feature. Pop-up Blocking support was added in Windows XP SP2 and is used by Internet Explorer 7. Since the single most important feature of a browser is webpage compatibility, this is an excellent choice for most users.
Opera 9
- Home Page
- Download
- Customize
-
Opera invented Tabbed like browsing and was the first web browser to include an Integrated Search feature and Pop-up Blocking. Other unique features include an integrated BitTorrent Client and Voice control. Opera is the Fastest, most Secure and most Compliant (Acid2) Graphical Web Browser for Windows. An excellent choice for advanced users.
Notes - Opera is not compatible with all webpages.
Browsers
Acoo Browser
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager (1)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the InstantGet Extension
AOL Explorer
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Notes - AOL Explorer may bundle AOL Desktop Search and AOL AntiSpyware applications.
Avant Browser
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager (1)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the LeechGet Extension
Cayman Browser
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Crazy Browser (AM Browser)
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Deepnet Explorer
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search *
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
* Search is from the address bar
Firefox
- Home Page
- Firefox Myths
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures (1)
Download Manager
Page Zooming (2)
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client (3)
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Mouse Gestures Redox Extension
(2) Supported with the Image Zoom Extension
(3) Supported with the Simple Mail Extension
Flock
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Google Chrome
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search *
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
* Search is from the address bar
GoSURF
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search *
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures (1)
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the StrokeIt Extension
* Search is from the address bar
GreenBrowser
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager (1)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the LeechGet Extension
Internet Explorer 6
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs (1)
Pop-up Blocker (2)
Integrated Search (1)
RSS Support (1)
Mouse Gestures (3)
Download Manager (4)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery (1)
Anti-Phishing (1)
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Windows Live Toolbar Extension
(2) Supported with Windows XP SP2 or the Windows Live Toolbar Extension
(3) Supported with the Mouse Gesture Extension
(4) Supported with the LeechGet Extension
Internet Explorer 7
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
-
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures (1)
Download Manager (2)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery (3) *
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the IE7Pro Extension
(2) Supported with the LeechGet Extension
(3) Supported with the IE7Pro Extension
* The Restore Last Tab Group Feature was in the IE7 Beta but is missing in the Final Release version.
K-Meleon
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search *
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager (1)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery **
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with various
Download Managers
* Search is from the address bar
** Requires manually selecting the 'Open Last Session' Feature
Maxthon (MyIE2)
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Mozilla Suite
- Home Page *
* End of Support: Mozilla Suite - March 11, 2005
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures (1)
Download Manager
Page Zooming (2)
Safe Recovery (3)
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Mouse Gesture Extension
(2) Supported with the Image Zoom Extension
(3) Supported with the SessionSaver Extension
Netscape Browser
- Home Page *
* End of Support: Netscape Web Browser - February 1, 2008
+ Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming (1)
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Image Zoom Extension
Opera 9
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
-
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
Safari
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery *
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
* Requires manually selecting the 'Reopen All Windows From Last Session' Feature
SeaMonkey
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures
Download Manager
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery (1)
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Crash Recovery Extension
SlimBrowser
- Home Page
- Features
- Download
Engine
Tabs
Pop-up Blocker
Integrated Search
RSS Support
Mouse Gestures *
Download Manager (1)
Page Zooming
Safe Recovery
Anti-Phishing
Email Client
Voice Control
BitTorrent Support
(1) Supported with the Instant Get Extension
* Partial Mouse Gesture Support to go back and forward only
Kids Browsers
Kids Playground Web Browser
- Download
"Kids Playground Web Browser is a free browser that kids can use to surf online to web links that you provide. An adult can password protect the links editor."
KidRocket Web Browser
- Home Page
- Download
"The KidRocket KidSafe Web Browser is a free browser that is a simple and effective way for kids to safely surf the internet. It will only go to the hand picked web sites programmed into the Web Browser. The rest of the internet and WWW, along with its many safety concerns and hazards... are completely LOCKED OUT!."
Specialty Browsers
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition
- Home Page
- Download
"Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you.."
Opera USB
- Home Page
- Download
"Use all the features of Opera on a USB Drive."
uBrowser
- Home Page
- Download
"uBrowser is a simple Web Browser that uses the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine and OpenGL to interact with pages in a 3D environment. Any page that works in Firefox should work in uBrowser."
End
This page will be revised as new browsers are released and evaluated. This information can change at any time. Feel free to submit suggestions or comments to
OptimizeXP@comcast.net. Do not send Technical Support Questions.
Browser Submissions - For a browser to be listed here it must be 100% free, without ads. Include an installer and uninstaller. The browser must also be actively developed within the last year.
Rejected - The following browsers were not included for the following reasons: (Please do not submit them)
Amaya
- This is really a web editor with browsing features.
- Poor CSS Support = Unacceptable.
- Serious web page compatibility issues = Unacceptable.
Dillo
- Does not natively run in Windows. (Only official builds off the home page are acceptable)
- Does not support CSS, JavaScript, or Java = Unacceptable.
- Does not support SSL = Unacceptable.
- Frame Support is very limited = Unacceptable.
- In my opinion lack of support for all these features makes the browser useless.
Elinks
- The homepage does not compile or host the Windows builds = Unacceptable.
- None of the builds available worked = Unacceptable.
- In my opinion text only browsing is a complete waste of time with modern web pages.
Lynx
- The homepage does not compile or host the Windows builds = Unacceptable.
- Not all available Windows builds were the latest browser version = Unacceptable.
- I downloaded multiple builds that did not work = Unacceptable.
- After finding a build that did work I found the browser too complicated to use = Unacceptable.
- In my opinion text only browsing is a complete waste of time with modern web pages.
Off By One
- By far the worst interface of any graphical web browser used yet.
- No address bar = Unacceptable.
- No CSS and JavaScript support = Unacceptable.
- No applet, plug-in or Flash support = Unacceptable.
Extension Support - Only officially supported free extensions will be listed. Any extension must specifically mention the browser it supports, otherwise it will be considered unofficial and not listed here. In some instances there are multiple extensions that perform the same function. The one chosen is based on popularity and is only listed to show that a feature is supported through an extension. It is not listed to endorse a certain extension over another. Do not submit extensions if one is already listed for a feature that does the same thing.
Legal Notice - Reproduction of this page in whole or in part is strictly forbidden. This guide and ALL versions thereof are protected by copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Feel free to link to this Guide.
