Team-BHP
(
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
Hey there fellow BHPians!
I wanted to know what browser you folks use to browse. Now, of course there are only handful of them which use different engines and majority of browsers are nothing but re-skinned open source Chromium. Yet some of these do offer very unique features like ad blocking and masking your internet trace. Let me begin by stating my experience.
I started to use the internet, way back in 2007. As expected of the time it was a Windows XP PC running on a 256 Kbps connection (my current fiber ISP provides 150 Mbps!). I was only using the provided Internet Explorer, the days which I wish not to recall :confused: .
Fast forward to 2010, I finally move to Chrome, which was a welcome change over the painfully slow (atleast from what I can remember). It used to share its responsibilities along with Firefox (which I will come to later). Everyone was happily using Chrome and everyone in my family moved to Google email (we were using Yahoo! mail). Slowly Chrome replaced Firefox too.
Enter 2015, Windows 10 was released and so did the successor to IE, called as Microsoft Edge. Some of you may not know but Microsoft used their own engine called the EdgeHTML. If you've used the version prior to 2021, it was just like its predecessor but slightly improved. By 2018, MS decided to rebuild it as a Chromium based browser. It was finally released in 2021. Since then, Edge got a wider acceptance, eventually surpassing the total users of Firefox.
There were also other Chromium based browsers like Opera, Vivaldi and the likes, but it was not my cup of tea. In 2020, a new project called the Brave rose to popularity. It claimed to be a privacy focused browser, rejecting cookies by default, having an inbuilt ad and script blocker. I was happily using it till 2023, until they started introduce ads and Brave token (a type of crypto). This irked me and significantly started avoiding Brave. I was back to Chrome and Edge, until I realised that Firefox existed in my PC
Since then I've been using Firefox as my go to. I've also added uBlock Origin extension, to avoid ads. Its quicker than Chrome, less cluttered, no telemetry non sense and do what it advertises. I am also beta testing Arc for Windows (maybe familiar with Mac users), which I'm quite liking. Features like dedicated space, split screen view are really helping me in terms of productivity. But the browsers has a lots of rough that needed to be polished before I can recommend.
Feel free to share your experiences and preferences.:)
As you have, I, too, started with the legendary (slow) Internet Explorer in 2011, playing games on Miniclip and Kongregate, shifting over to Chrome with its advertisements of integration with Google services.
I used it till COVID-19 when I learnt about Brave. With its enhanced protection services, I installed many extensions, including some sketchy ad blockers like uBlock.
Fast forward to 2024, I registered myself in the Arc browser's beta version, whose USP was simple in its working and use. I have been hooked on it since last month, and I don't think I'll change my browser from Arc to any other in the near future!
Happy browsing to everyone!
Big fan of Chrome here! Yes, it is resource-hungry, but it also offers the most features. In automotive terms, a 200 BHP car will always guzzle more fuel than a 100 BHP one. I am a Chrome power user and have about 10 productivity extensions that I cannot do without.
Love Chrome. As a backup browser, I use Firefox for some tasks, but Chrome is 99% of my usage.
Today's browsers aren't just browsers. They are browsers + email clients + media players + calendars + PDF readers + word & excel editors & lots more.
This is Team-BHP's audience for the year so far:
Firefox has been my browser of choice like forever. Somehow, I could never warm up to Chrome. I have tried Brave when it was in beta but switched back to Firefox soon.
I really like the look and feel of Firefox and its Enhanced Tracking Protection is the best, IMO. You don't really need any other ad blockers when this is enabled. I am also a heavy user of the Reader View feature.
On the mobile, I use Firefox Focus. One of the best browser out there for mobiles providing both privacy and features, IMO. It has tracker protection enabled by default, doesn't provide tabs and won't remember history - my favorite things in a mobile browser. On the flip side, it lacks Reader View, which is a bit of a downer.
With Edge being based on Chromium, I have started to use Edge across platforms, be it Android Mobile or Windows Laptop, whereas on my Apple devices, be it iPhone, iPad or MacBook, Safari is my go-to, I tried Chrome on Apple but felt Safari was better. As regards Windows and Android, I have tried out quite a few browsers ranging from Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, Edge and Chromium but went back to Edge because of its seamless integration with Windows, while on Android, I have the option to use Chrome or any other browser, Edge somewhat makes it easier to see where I left off on Windows and integrates with it more efficiently. you could say the same goes with Safari on Mac and iPhone/iPad as well.
Edge and Safari are both my favourites to download Google Chrome.
Microsoft Edge on both my laptop and Android phone. Have bought both of them in the last couple of months, as I quit my job and had to return the office laptop and phone.
Didn't bother to install Chrome on either. Integrated Edge + CoPilot + Bing + ChatGPT 4.0 works fine for me.
Use chrome on Desktop and Brave on Mobile, only because my organisation doesnt allow download of brave on desktop.
I have started using Edge a bit more these days however. Surprisingly there are a few websites which render much better on Edge vs Chrome. Not sure why though..
Safari as the preferred browser on my iPhone & Mac. It’s very user-friendly and fast !
Whereas on Windows, it’s Chrome. However, off-late I’ve been experimenting the Edge and find it pretty good.
Have stuck to Google Chrome for the past few years, love the simple and minimalistic design, unlike edge which I use some times, too many gimmicks, especially the Bing AI. Firefox and Opera are basically strangers to me an safari is only used on my Ipad, where it is slightly faster than chrome.
I exclusively use Brave Browser on my Windows system and MacBook, while for all my handheld devices, I prefer Chrome.
There was a time when I used different browsers for various tasks. I primarily used Firefox, along with Opera or Safari browsers.
However, things changed when Chrome emerged as the default browser for Android phones. Now, I’ve been using Chrome on both mobile and Windows.
Recently, I started using Edge for its Co-pilot feature.
Have been using Edge for the past couple of years. I find it great for the most part, barring some issues while playing embedded videos in some online courses.
Edge has been really great as I also get around Rs.500 as coupons every year as part of its rewards program. I've tried other browsers such as Firefox and Brave, but I prefer Edge over all of them.
Brave is my favourite, it is a browser that heavily leans on privacy. I'm not against advertisements, I manually do disable brave shields in most websites. But having the option to block ads, trackers etc built-in is quite useful. The browser has many annoying things like brave rewards, crypto wallet etc and the default brave search engine in address bar is terrible. If we spend some time setting up address bar search options, icons etc, then it's great. The toolbar at the bottom is quite useful.
I really liked the new Edge. The issue I have with edge is that Microsoft randomly ask me to complete Windows setup after updates and if I click Agree, it changes the default search engine to bing! ��
I use DuckDuckGo browser on the mobile. Doesn't show ads on and doesn't remember history. On the desktop I use Brave. DuckDuckGo doesn't work on my desktop as it has Windows 7. The desktop version needs Windows 10.
| All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 13:15. | |
