Which internet browser do you use the most?

[six]

Inspired by ClutchDisc's poll about PC OS's, it made me curious about which web browser is used the most by the folks here. If you don't use a PC, or don't use a PC more than you use a smartphone/tablet, please indicate that you use the mobile version in a comment.

So, as the title says, which web browser do you use the most? For me, it's Firefox.

As a side note, if any of you use IE, please download the patch as soon as you can, if you haven't already. Even if you still have XP.

[watkins]

Firefox at home. IE at work because Chrysler.

[ClutchDisc]

Wow.. you beat me to it! This was going to be my next thread. I've been a long time Chrome user, however I just switched to Firefox about 2 weeks ago... I love Firefox 29!

I still use chrome for a few websites that don't work the best on Firefox. Both are excellent web browsers!

[six]

Wow.. you beat me to it! This was going to be my next thread.

Haha, great minds think alike lol

[theholycow]

At this point, IMO, all browsers stink equally.

The browser landscape used to look like this:

• IE - default, works with every site, very insecure...and got tons of attention from people writing exploits. Avoid when possible.
• Firefox - bloated but works with most sites, under the radar as far as exploit attention, huge ecosystem of extensions/plugins/etc made it the most powerful. Useful.
• Chrome - new kid on the block, kinda clunky, almost as compatible as IE, dependable. Tolerable.
• Opera - fast and smooth, tons of features built-in, lots of sites incompatible. Love it or hate it. I loved it.
• Safari - Apple. Not much to say. Tolerable.
• Others - specialist browsers and uninspiring also-rans.

They've coalesced into one amorphous blob containing few of the strengths that each had as a specialist. (I've heard the same said of cars, come to think of it.) Today, that same landscape looks like this:

• IE - cleaned up and quite secure, still heavily targeted, runs ok. Tolerable.
• Firefox - as heavily targeted as IE. Runs a little better out of the box than it used to but gets gunked up quickly and anyway who uses Firefox without a dozen extensions? Tolerable.
• Chrome - still kinda clunky, still almost as compatible as IE, not as dependable, and we no longer trust Google like we used to. Tolerable.
• Opera - uses Blink (formerly Webkit), the rendering engine made by Google for Chrome. Lost all its features, lost most of its other strengths too, just to gain a little compatibility (and, presumably, to reduce programming effort). Probably tolerable.
• Safari - Apple. Not much to say. Tolerable.
• Others - specialist browsers and uninspiring also-rans.

These days I'm holding on to Opera 12 (pre-Webkit), but who knows how long it will hold out. As always, I'd use FF/Chrome/IE as necessary for sites that don't work in Opera. Different tools for different jobs.

[tankinbeans]

I used to use Firefox almost exclusively, and whatever the heck was on my work computers (different jobs), but switched to Chrome when I got my new computer. Firefox started pulling up random poop-up sites when I'd go surfing and it got irritating. Techie friend said it'd been compromised and recommended switching over.

It's interesting that my searches from my phone will transfer to the PC and vice-versa.

[AHTOXA]

IE/Chrome at work (some work sites only work on IE)
Chrome exclusively at home and on mobile devices

[six]

For the people who use different browsers at work, aside from compatibility issues (such as old-school intranet sites that only work on IE6, etc), why don't you guys just download your favorite browser onto your work computer and use that instead? It only takes a few minutes.

[watkins]

Why? I just open another tab in IE and it works fine for the minimal amount of interneting I do at work. Although unlike a lot of (most?) people here, I have a physically involved job that is not conducive to using the computer for personal matters.

[ClutchFork]

For the people who use different browsers at work, aside from compatibility issues (such as old-school intranet sites that only work on IE6, etc), why don't you guys just download your favorite browser onto your work computer and use that instead? It only takes a few minutes.

I did. Their IT people said I could not have Chrome because it is a security risk (they mostly use IE), but they let me have Firefox, which works fine for me. They recently blocked streaming of radio stations to conserve bandwidth and I found I could still stream on Firefox.

[Rope-Pusher]

Oh give me my Chrome, when the internet I roam,
Where the hackers and the StandardShifters play,
Where often are heard a few doge words,
And the posts I can Fickset all day.

Chrome, Chrome, I’m deranged,
Where the hackers and the StandardShifters play,
Where often are heard a few doge words,
And the posts I can Fickset all day.

[IMBoring25]

For the people who use different browsers at work, aside from compatibility issues (such as old-school intranet sites that only work on IE6, etc), why don't you guys just download your favorite browser onto your work computer and use that instead? It only takes a few minutes.

That's assuming they'll let you. I basically was the IT department at my last job, so I was able to do what I wanted. At my current workplace, IT rules with an iron fist and you will not download or install unapproved software under penalty of whatever you can think of. We don't even have rights to manually install patches.

[potownrob]

In the mid to late 90s I used mostly netscape. I started on a mid-90s Mac (that my sister had originally bought for college) and I'd sit waiting like an eager dog for the next updates to netscape and other software. Then, in the early 2000s when I was at college with my Windows laptop I alternated between netscape and IE. At some point netscape either started to stink or disappeared and i used just IE. Had some flings with Opera and Firefox later on in the 2000s but ultimately stuck with IE and used IE and FF at work. In the 2010s or thereabouts started going steady with Firefox at home until recently, when its bloatedness and incessant pop-ups (despite using add blockers) drove me to try Chrome. I had tried Chrome in the past but didn't like the interface - too different from FF and IE, plus I didn't trust google (yet i had had and enjoyed android phones...go figure). Now I find Chrome to be much better than FF and I'm scared to go back to IE with all the warnings about it, plus it's boring. I use it both at home and at work. I use Safari on the iPad since it works good enough (I did use other browsers on my iPhone and MacBooks though). Chrome FTW (for now)!!

[six]

At my current workplace, IT rules with an iron fist and you will not download or install unapproved software under penalty of whatever you can think of. We don't even have rights to manually install patches.

Wow, that sucks. You would think that the company I work for, one of the largest technology companies in the world, would be like that, but it's the complete opposite. It even surprised me, everyone is given administrator rights to their own PC, and we have almost free reign to install whatever we feel like. They even recommend and set by default Firefox as the default browser in the corporate image. And if you want a Mac, they say "sure thing" and give you your choice of a Macbook Pro Retina or Macbook Air Retina, again, with full rights. You want a desktop? Sure thing! You want a linux box? Sure thing! It's great, now that I think about it.

[potownrob]

like many hotels, ours has computers at the front desk and in the offices upstairs, and management and most employees know nothing about maintaining or fixing them and depend on little rinky dink IT companies to help us out in times of need. I got in trouble (OOOOOOHHHH!!!!) for downloading programs on the computers, changing the settings etc. used to get yelled at by people who know nothing about computers. got a talking to by one of the IT guys once (that was legitimate, but still, he had no business thinking i was trying to sabotage the computers). got yelled at for resetting servers and other nonsense. they then had the IT guys set the computers so we couldn't (easily) download stuff, change the desktop background (OOOOOOOOHHHHHH...) and other usually harmless stuff.

cliff's notes: it stinks to work with and under stupid people.