Following the release of new versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox, the infamous 'browser wars' are flaring up again. Despite both Firefox 1.5 and the Beta of IE7 making significant strides, it would be be foolish to think this was a two-horse race. While gaining a good reputation with geeks and power users, Opera has long been a bit-part player among the big boys of the browser world. However, if this preview release is anything to go by, the Norwegian-built browser could finally be ready to punch with the heavyweights.

Opera has been pioneering new ways of browsing the web for some time. It has had tabbed browsing since the days before tabbed browsing was cool and developed the innovative 'mouse gestures' control system, where you navigate through the web just by holding the mouse button and flicking your wrist. The developers even dabbled with a multi-pane interface for viewing several pages within one interface.

The good news is that Opera has lost none of its appetite for innovation, and version 9 is packed with new goodies that will have the programmers at Mozilla and Microsoft choking on their doughnuts. For starters the app runs much quicker than the previous release, making it arguably the quickest browser around (except perhaps for Safari) at rendering pages. Incredibly, despite this boost in performance, the program appears to use less memory than version 8.5, making it far less draining on system resources than Firefox and IE.

In terms of features Opera is the gift that keeps on giving. New to the program comes OSX Tiger-style 'widgets', allowing you to check news, convert currency, view the weather and so on through a series of draggable pop-ups which anchor themselves in front of the browser. Although there aren’t many widgets to choose from at present, this is sure to change once the tech-minded Opera fans start developing more.

Another great addition to Opera 9 is BitTorrent support, allowing you to download torrents directly within the browser – a feature that amazingly no one had thought of before. This system works very smoothly, which makes us wonder why RSS feed reading support in Opera is still so poor.

Among the other new treats within the program is a nifty new search feature which lets you add any search engine to the search bar in the main toolbar. This means you can instantly access searches within your favorite online destinations (Softonic, for instance).

Tabbed browsing remains, although some users may be annoyed to discover that Opera has added close tab buttons to the tabs themselves rather than as a separate button. Having said this, the new web page preview thumbnails that appear when you rollover a tab are a real masterstroke. Mouse gestures are still there too, along with the addition of Total Recall-style voice commands – another example of how cutting-edge this browser is.

Opera's developers have been keen to ramp up security features too, and although they aren't highly original, the new content blocking and pop-up blocking functions serve their purpose effectively. What's more, it's refreshing to see a browser that embraces the latest web standards so freely, with the latest release boasting support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 tags.

The browser is remarkably stable and is far better behaved than Internet Explorer 7. Combined with its speed, innovative features and standards support, Opera is undoubtedly web software's best-kept secret, and the final release may prove to be even better than Firefox. Don't say anything though, or everyone will want it.

Download Opera 9.52 in Softonic

For a while now, computer users have been waking up to the real threats that exist while browsing the web. Every day, more turn their back on the established vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer and opt for the hottest open source project on the net, Mozilla’s Firefox. But there are plenty of alternatives that offer great features, and one of those is Avant Browser.

Based on Internet Explorer, Avant will import all your favorites automatically and also keep your settings intact. As such it makes a good alternative to the popular Firefox browser, which shuns all things IE, and may seem slightly too foreign from the conventions that many users have built up while using Microsoft’s browser. Although Avant Browser is based on the Internet Explorer engine, it doesn’t fall victim to the same security vulnerabilities (although no-one is claiming that it’s invulnerable), and while it’s at it, adds some great tools designed to enhance your browsing experience.

The Flash blocker is an effective way to keep memory usage of the browser to a minimum or to simply cut out those over-elaborate ads that invade and take over many web sites. To appeal to a wider audience, there are quick links that let you quickly translate pages to a wide selection of languages, or you can customize the look of the browser using the many skins that are included by default. Of course, no modern browser could claim to be complete without tabbed browsing and Avant really delivers the goods with a system that allows you to even reload tabs after you’ve closed them.

In fact, this browser has some of the best extras that we’ve seen to date, in particular the system whereby tabs can be resized like normal program windows letting you display multiple site windows side-by-side, within one browser window. There‘s also a useful toolbar item that displays tags describing the page that you’re on. Click on a tag and you open a list of site that result from a search using that tag or keyword; brilliant! And the piece de résistance is an automatic session saver that lets you open up all the sites you were browsing when you last closed the program.

Avant Browser is relatively unknown as a mainstream browser and as such is not restricted from experimenting and taking the best ideas from the big hitters, as well as adding its own nuggets to the mix. What you get is a very impressive selection of tools in a browser that will even run your Microsoft update without objections. Definitely worth consideration if you are thinking of changing browser.

Download Avant Browser 11.6.20 in Softonic

While the developers claim that "Free 100% Real-Time Protection" is something that most similar programs charge for may be stretching the truth somewhat, Spyware Terminator & Web Security Guard is very powerful spyware solution.

The program includes all the options you expect to find in such a product including options to manually carry out or schedule scans as well as options to deny or allow access to certain programs to your PC. The program is not just a spyware scanner however as it also includes an antivirus scanner. The developers have also seen fit to include a "Web Security Guard" which carries out the the job that most anti-phishing and pop up blockers in Internet Explorer and Firefox already carry out. This feature also features user generated website reviews along with warnings as to whether the site could be potentially harmful or not. Note that the developers warn that if you are using an unsupported operating system (such as Windows 98 or ME), you it may be better to use version 1.9 which offers the same protection but is much lighter on resources as the one drawback of this program is that it is rather slow to start and close and can hog your memory at peak scanning periods.

This is a comprehensive security solution that has all avenues of attack covered although if you're already using a virus scanner, you may be better to stick with it as it seems the weakest part of what is generally an excellent package.

Download Spyware Terminator & Web Security Guard 2.2.3.444 in Softonic

Acoo Browser is a powerful multi-tabbed Internet browser based on the Internet Explorer engine (IE 5 or greater required). Acoo Browser provides a user-friendly GUI interface, including tabbed document windows, dockable panel groups and customizable toolbars.

Acoo Browser allows user to surf multiple Web sites within one browser window. It also includes many advanced features such as Mouse Gestures, built-in syntax highlighted HTML source viewer, powerful built-in Web page analyzer, recoverable Popup Blocker, Ads Filter, script error suppression, Cleaner, external tools, web page zooming, URL Alias, Integrated search engine support, and much more...

Acoo Browser can block annoying pop-ups, banner Ads, flash Ads and other Internet Ad annoyances automatically without interfering your surfing. There is also detailed logging record in Acoo Browser, and you may know the Ads sites killed by Acoo Browser so as to improve your setting. Acoo Browser makes your surfing experience easier, quicker and more comfortable.

Download Acoo Browser 1.86.478 in Softonic

As you're probably aware by now, there are lots of great web sites out there and loads of online content that can educate and enrich your life. Sometimes though accessing information online can be bad for your computer's health if the sites you visit contain or link to spyware, adware, spam and viruses.

Running Web Security Guard is like having your own personal digital bodyguard, warning you when the sites you visit might be dangerous and protecting you accordingly. On the face of it the program is just another toolbar in your browser, albeit a comprehensive one. You get lots of useful tools such as a multisearch, eBay search, travel pages, yellow pages, white pages, games, and so on.

You can also bolt on lots of common desktop tasks and applications such as an MP3 player, RSS reader, screensaver, weather information, word-checkers, evidence eliminators and pop-up blockers, making it a pretty comprehensive system.

However, where this program differs from most other browser toolbars is in its security features. The program uses a range of clever methods to help ensure that you stay safe when surfing the web. It offers customer reviews of sites and provides you with a description and threat rating of each site you visit, although these constant notifications can get annoying after a while.

If you're the kind of person who worries about the security of web sites then be sure to install Web Security Guard for complete peace of mind.

Download Web Security Guard 5.1.0.99 in Softonic

If you're being constantly hassled by pop-up ads, then you'll know how annoying it can be. Adblock blocks annoying popup windows although it's specifically designed for Internet Explorer. The advantage of blocking pop-ups are numerous. Firstly, it enables you to speed- up page loading as ads usually take-up valuable bandwidth and RAM. Secondly, it can make your page much clearer without annoying ads in the way and finally of course, it stops you being hassled by casino and viagra companies all the time.

Adblock blocks a range of different ad types including Flash ads to save bandwidth and RAM, Activex object ads to make your browser more secure, fly-in ads and rich media/banner ads so that your page is clearer to read. The other good thing is that the developers are constantly updating the software so it's always up-to-date with the latest ad tricks.

Adblock is particularly useful if you live in a rural area and rely on a slow dial-up modem for the internet. The most useful feature is that you can choose any image on the web page and right click to add it to the blocked list.

This is a powerful Adblocker although still not as effective as simply switching to the Firefox browser which blocks far more pop ups automatically.

Download Adblock Pro 2.6 in Softonic

MyProxy helps dramatically accelerate your internet connection, save your Internet costs and make your web surfing more enjoyable. In order to achieve these targets the whole sequence of functions is implemented in this software: ad stopper, pop up blocker, caching, money and traffic records, internet connection speed meter, integrated dialer, sharing dialup connection between other computers of your LAN.

An average web page contains 5-7 banners and 3-4 pictures. Your internet connection is being freed by caching pictures and blocking ad banners for loading useful information. Statistics shows that every 1 megabyte of useful information contains about 100-150 banners and 100-200 kilobytes of static graphics.

MyProxy works as a proxy-server between your Internet browser and your Internet Service Provider (ISP). So all your internet requests go through it. This means it is not dependent on the type of browser you have installed. Just install the program and MyProxy will do the rest.

Download MyProxy 8.9 in Softonic

The best way to stop malware infecting your system is to catch it before it strikes. Yes, if George Bush has spyware or adware protection installed on his PC, you can bet it will be pre-emptive like STOPzilla. STOPzilla provides real-time protection, detects, blocks and removes spyware and adware, stops pop-ups, and erases cookies and history. It's constantly updated against the latest threats so you're guaranteed round the clock protection as long as you are connected to the net.

The thing I most appreciate about this program is that it's really easy to configure. The cartoon logo may give the impression that it's not a serious piece of software but it is actually very easy to use yet pretty solid. Although Firefox, and even IE, now have pretty good pop-up blockers, it's particularly effective in this area blocking almost everything that has not been assigned to your safe list.

STOPzilla is easy to use, powerful and requires little configuration - what more can you ask for from an anti-malware program.

Download STOPzilla 4.4.4.16 in Softonic

Some players come loaded with too many features and too many codecs - not MPCStar. MPCStar is a universal video player that can play most formats of films downloaded from the internet. MPCStar has been developed using open source libraries, so it's highly customisable if you have any programming knowledge. One of the best features however is a pop-up blocker which prevents pop-ups appearing that sometimes come loaded with films.

To ensure smooth playback and not get weighed down with too many codecs, MPCStar contains only the major codecs including Media Player Classic, FFDshow Codec Pack,
RealPlayer Codecs, ActiveX controls, QuickTime Codecs and DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter). The only problem is that these codecs are regularly updated and there appears to be no automatic update function but overall, this is one of the simplest and most powerful players I've tried since VLC player.

Download MPCStar 1.9 in Softonic

K-Ninja v2.0.2 is a compact, fast and adaptable freeware web browser for Windows. It features a special rendering engine that utilises the latest Mozilla/Gecko Rendering Engine release. This engine supports most current Web Standards (HTML 4.0, CSS, XHTML etc.).

K-Ninja also has tabbed browsing, which are called Layers. New layers can be opened and closed with the Open & Close Layers buttons. There's also a compact menu to increase the viewing space for the webpage.

Of course, it also has a powerful Pop-up Blocker and Integrated Search function - just type a search term/word into the address bar, and click on the Search button. Results are then delivered via Google. Java, Javascript etc).

These and many many more features are awaiting you in K-Ninja Samurai.

Download K-Ninja Samurai 2.1.3 in Softonic

AdsCleaner is a powerful ad blocking software designed to stop ads (block banners ad, kill popup), guard your online privacy. But keep in mind - AdsCleaner is not only an effective ad stopper and pop up blocker, but a very useful, multifunctional tool that can give you much more than any other ad killers.

AdsCleaner is an excellent ad killer & pop up stopper that seamlessly integrates into the Internet Explorer browser and enhances it with a number of neat features:

• AdsCleaner makes it possible to block ads (ad killer abilities)
• AdsCleaner allows blocking banners, which have specific dimensions (468x60, 88x31, etc).
• AdsCleaner allows shrinking the area previously occupied by blocked banner. Such a flexible approach to ad blocking guarantees comfortable work with web pages with our ad killer software
• AdsCleaner makes it easy to avoid loading graphics from other web sites
• AdsCleaner an effective pop-up stopper
• AdsCleaner allows you to clear all the traces of your web surfing that Windows automatically stores on the hard drive – just with a single mouse click
• Scheduled cleansing of all traces of your online activities

Download AdsCleaner 4.3.52 in Softonic

Anyone who ever used the Internet faced annoying popup windows with advertisement. It is virtually impossible to make a program that will eliminate those completely, while leaving those that are useful or even vital for website navigation. Many software companies tried and failed that is why you see more and more of those pop-up windows every day. Pop up Blocker does not close any popup windows; it helps you choose which windows you want to be closed with block list feature. Meaning, the more you use this program less popup windows you see.

The pop-up blocker has 4 types of pop-ups blocking: 100% pop-ups blocking, Pop-ups Block list, Pop-ups Block list with keywords, Limit windows opened. This is one program packed with advanced Privacy Protection Technologies (Prevent your home page from being reset, Go to URL, Proxy settings, Sound effect on close pop-ups, Disable auto suggest, Block messenger spam pop-ups and much more).

Download Pop up Blocker 6.0.6 in Softonic

Save Borb Bay from calamity in this addictive arcade-puzzler - one shot from the chute and you'll be hooked! Scrubbles is the arcade-style puzzle game that will test your wits, not just your reflexes. Join the unforgettable cast of characters for an adventure of bubble-popping proportions - just watch out for the Danger Zone! Choose from Journey Mode or Arcade Mode - the addictive gameplay will give you hours of fun.

Features:

• Two ways to play: Journey or Arcade
• Two game modes: Straight Up and Ball Mode
• 5 unique powerups and a bevy of blockers
• Boss Battles: test your skills against the Overlump, the Roboss, and the Big Boss…the mastermind behind it all…but who could it be?
• Pick your difficulty: Relaxed, Harmful, Punishing, or Decapitating

Download Scrubbles in Softonic

Ad Annihilator is an ad and cookie blocker and offline browser that rids you from advertisements and pop-up windows. The application protects your privacy while you surf the web; spares your online time, bandwidth and money; speeds up your browsing; supports offline browsing; supports Web document versions; shares retrieved documents with other people and computers; organizes retrieved documents; explores Web documents structure; and searches for downloaded documents.

Download Ad Annihilator 2.4.9 in Softonic

The free VMN Toolbar makes your browsing more fun and secure! Search the Web from anywhere and enhance your browsing experience with features like RSS feeds, Games, Weather, Pop-Up Blocker, Anti-Spyware, Translation, and URL error redirection. Have your favorite RSS news feeds delivered on the toolbar in a quick and easy-to-use dropdown list. Get accurate real-time local weather conditions. Play free online games directly on the toolbar.

Download VMN Toolbar 1.5 in Softonic

Dynamic speed increases can be obtained with Firefox's unique pre-fetching mechanism, which recycles idle bandwidth by silently loading and caching all of the links on the page you are browsing.

Fasterfox allows you to tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay. The program includes a millisecond accurate page load timer tests the effectiveness of your settings, along with a pop-up blocker for pop-ups initiated by Flash plug-ins.

By default, Firefox prefetches links which are explicitly marked by the web page designer to be prefetched. This is seldom done in practice, so you rarely benefit from it. Fasterfox's "Enhanced Prefetching" causes all of the links on the page to be eligible for prefetching, which leads to a very noticeable difference in snappiness while surfing the web.

Download Fasterfox 2.0.0 in Softonic

Usually, when anybody stores dozens of Bookmarks in a suitable application, even in text editor, it is still easy to search and navigate them visually. However, with more items, the task of searching and navigating becomes more difficult. There are many approaches to overcome this problem, some are more successful than others.

QuoBox handles this issue using a combination of five different approaches. Bookmarks are located in graphical units called Groups. Groups can have different colors and can be placed on the Groups Tables based on category. Basically the similar way. The human eye is able to find such Group more easily, than for instance, an item in a tree view or in a list box. That's because Groups do not tend merge visually so quickly.

Features:

• Full and Compact display mode
• Drag and drop URLs from IE Explorer, Firefox and Netscape
• No duplicate URLs
• Broken URLs Checker
• Automatic URL Info tracking
• Quick Bookmarks search
• Import Bookmarks from IE Explorer, Firefox and Netscape.
• Export QuoBox Bookmarks to html file importable by IE, Firefox, Netscape & Opera
• Integrated multi-tab browser with Pop-up Blocker
• Documents stored in encrypted XML format
• Password protection

Download QuoBox 2.5.17.0 in Softonic

Just when you thought you wouldn’t see another version of Internet Explorer this side of the next ice age, Microsoft hits the world with a totally new release of its almighty browsing app. It’s been so long in the making that many web users have got fed up with waiting for Microsoft to update its technology and have looked elsewhere – mainly in the direction of Firefox. Now the big, bad king of the browser world is in no mood to see its crown wrestled away, but can it do enough to win back its deserters?

For starters, the new streamlined interface is definitely an improvement. Microsoft has basically stripped back the menu bar and hidden all of the tools and functions within a set of compact icons, placed subtly at the top-right of the interface. It allows you to see pages in a very large viewing space. IE has also finally decided to support tabbed browsing. It includes a ‘New tab’ button for instant opening, plus an ingenious ‘Quick Tabs’ button, which opens up thumbnail previews of all your opened tabs in one screen and, unlike Firefox, IE 7 actually has a close button on each tab. You can even save groups of tabs as your homepage so they all launch upon start-up. We also appreciated the print preview tool, which adjusts the page according to your paper size.

IE 7 has improved the way it integrates RSS. Whenever you come across a site that supports RSS, the icon in the toolbar will turn its characteristic orange. Click on it and you will be lead to a page that reveals all the feeds for that website. Just click on the “subscribe to this feed” link to add it to your favourites. You can also subscribe by clicking on the small star icon on the left. Unlike Firefox however, there’s no drop down view of each item in a feed. The Favorites Center, opened up by clicking on the big star icon, is divided into favourites, feeds and history.

Security is usually one of the characteristic weak spots of IE. Apart from a pop-up blocker, version 7 also dishes out an anti-phishing filter. To give it a try, we opened up known phishing sites published on Phishtank. To our disappointment, the filter failed to report most of them. Phishing protection may not be IE 7’s strength but at least the browser incorporates security protocols SSL 2.0 and 3.0 and TLS 1.0, just like Firefox.

For all its improvements, IE is still far from perfect. Like Firefox, IE fails to pass the Acid2 Test and does not even support the latest standards. We found IE to lag and drag whenever opening up new tabs, the tools section and applying new settings. You can add a good number of search bar providers and add-ons from the Microsoft website, however they are still in much fewer number compared to the Mozilla extensions for Firefox. Furthermore, IE 7 is actually limited to those of you that have XP SP2 and for some reason you will need to disable your antivirus and restart your PC to properly install it. This new version of the Microsoft browser is definitely an improvement, but it’s still a long way away from Opera and Firefox.

Download Internet Explorer 7 in Softonic

The scourge of spyware has been well documented for some time now, and the problem isn’t one that will go away in a hurry. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools around that help you detect and remove evil, privacy-raiding code from your machine, with BPS Spyware and Adware Remover being one of the more effective. Unlike many of its peers, the application offers real-time protection to help you ensure that once you’re system is clean, it stays clean.

Scanning for spyware using the app is a doddle thanks to an intuitive interface, which, despite looking a little tacky and garish, allows you to perform a quick scan, full scan or a deep scan with the minimum of fuss. Although the scan takes a little too long compared with many other spyware removers, it makes amends for this by being very thorough, picking up traces of spyware that even apps like AdAware couldn’t touch. However, the application lacks somewhat when it comes to informing you what the malware detected is, and there are no descriptions of the spyware elements included in the database, which is a bit of a shame.

The great thing about BPS is that it isn’t just a spyware remover. The utility also includes a system hijack scanner, a Winsock repair tool and a rather neat pop-up blocker which is compatible with any Web browser. As a result, it can help protect you from all the various bugs that lurk on the net without any hassle. You’ll be able to find plenty of tools that can scan faster than this one, but the program still boasts an impressive range of options and is very simple to get to grips with.

Download BPS Spyware and Adware Remover 9.3.0.11 in Softonic

It seems somewhat ironic that Internet Explorer’s reign should be undermined by Firefox. After all, this is a browser that rose from the ashes of the team that developed Netscape Navigator, a program which IE ousted to claim the monopoly on the web.

It’s somewhat bizarre that a non-for-profit developer should be in a position to strike fear into world’s biggest software producer, especially while still in the 1.x stage of development of its product. Yet, as many predicted, this eagerly-anticipated release represents a real threat to Microsoft’s dominance of the browser market, with the Mozilla team pumping plenty more into the program and thus upping the bar for IE7.

Firefox was already a class product, delivering a fast and simple way to browse the web in comfort. So much so in fact that existing users might be wondering why they even need to upgrade when the current version is so much better than anything else out there.

Picture it like sitting in business class and being offered another pillow. The app now allows you to browse the web faster and more securely than ever, while retaining the incredible simplicity of previous versions of Firefox. Cosmetically, you won’t notice much difference between this and the last incarnation, but the changes that have been made are quite welcome, if not essential.

First up, is a new-and-drop facility for browser tabs, allowing you to sort and reorder your tabs just by clicking and dragging. The Preferences menu also gets an overhaul, making the options clearer and easier to access. The developers have also tweaked the ´Back’ and ´Forward’ tools, preloading cached pages to speed up surfing.

However, the main changes to the program are all hidden within the back-end of Firefox 1.5. The app comes armed with a series of security fixes, making it the safest surfing tool on the block. What’s more, all updates and security patches, including extensions, now take place in the background, meaning that you don’t have to manually install every new release – a process which can become pretty tiresome.

There’s also a new extension management system which makes it a lot easier to manage the expanding wealth of cool plug-ins for the browser. On the down-side, the new version renders many extensions and themes redundant as they are incompatible with version 1.5. That said, we all know how keen Firefox developers can be to keep up with technology, so it shouldn’t take long for the updates to these extensions to be completed.

Of course, the application retains all of the cool features that have helped make it so popular including integrated searching (now with support for Answers.com), tabbed browsing, pop-up killer, live bookmarks and support for the latest web technology.

While the tweaks within this release are reasonably subtle, Firefox is making incredible strides towards conquering the browser market. I development continues at the current pace then Microsoft is going to have its work cut out, especially as we haven't seen a release of IE since before Osama Bin Laden went missing.

Download Firefox 1.5.0.7 in Softonic