[Animayhem]

With all the hype and such around IE I looked into google chrome and foxfire as alts. So far I am leaning towards foxfire as it seems close to IE and does not have all the extra garbage google does.

Thoughts?

[DarkRanger]

Been using Firefox for awhile. Always found it easier to navigate than IE.

[LooseWilly]

You could always go really crazy and try something unusual - Opera is fairly lean.

There's a variant of Google-Chrome called "Iron" that is supposed to be more "respectful" of your privacy... presumably it does less in the way of integrating cookie and such like tracking (which means your ads won't be as "targeted to your interests" as with more standard Chrome).

Of course, you could always just use Chrome without logging into any Google apps, then you won't have so much in the way of targeted bells and whistles... though you'll probably be constantly nagged to log in in order to "optimize" your experience. (I have a nice shade of gold in my Settings Menu button on this Chrome window, because I'm not sufficiently logged into Google, as a matter of fact...)

There're also some further-off-the-beaten-track Webkit based browsers that might be amusing to try. There was one called Ice Weasel (haven't heard much about it lately, but it might still be lurking out on the internets somewhere waiting to be downloaded). There's Sea Monkey (used that on a Windows XP machine up until a year or two ago... generally seemed to do the trick, and if there were any hackers targeting that thing, an off-brand browser might just give them pause).

There's also Chromium... it's an open source webkit based browser that's seen a lot of development from Google... the base for Chrome, upon which all the nifty "personalization" bells and whistles are mounted — or so it has been said.

And, of course, there's also Safari — it's a browser designed by Apple, but it's not just for Macs anymore... you can find a Windows download if you look (heh, might even consider using Bing for such a search, rather than Google...).

If you happen to be a large corporation with deep pockets, then I could also point you at a browser for the paranoid... but I doubt you want to go down that route.

In any case — if you've been "using" IE, then I would personally recommend ANY of these browsers, because I've never come across a browser that was more aggressive about shoving ads not merely in my face, but deep down into the vicinity of my tonsils, than Internet Explorer. I have nothing good to say about that browser. Nothing.

If there's a particular feature that you really love about ... the browser I prefer not to name if I can help it... you might also try a google/bing/duckduckgo search for "search engine" + "{insert your favorite feature here}" ... there are a number of even smaller companies and open-source-freaks customizing browsers in all sorts of ways that might just prove to be a delight.

[Bela]

I use Google Chrome, but without all the extras. I just use it for my search engine. But yes I do get a lot of tracking cookies and flash ups to say I am not logged in as a Chrome user and not getting the full benefits of Chrome.

I have also used Opera in the past and found that quite sufficient as a search engine without all the fancy trimmings.

I have been thinking of going back to Opera as I did like that when I first used it. Just not sure how it would react with windows 8.

[Animayhem]

Thanks for replies so far. I will look at them.

[zDarkShadowz]

When I first got internet explorer there were a bunch of add-ons, but I got rid of them all so, still using it. At least Microsoft is liable if internet explorer messes somethign up.