Secure browser for windows 7. Fast browser for an old computer - myth or reality? Which browser is the fastest?

Windows 7 remains the most popular operating system, used by tens of millions of users. We will try to determine which browser is best for them. Perhaps they chose the wrong one?

In the new version of Ya.Browser, the developers decided to implement an unusual interface background - it will become animated. Unlike other browsers, the thumbnails here are represented by recognizable site logos, rather than screenshots of pages. This makes it much easier to understand. Other advantages include a minimalist interface. The program's panels take up at least 20% less space than can be seen in Firefox. What else can please you is the synchronization of open tabs with other devices.

You will also probably be pleasantly surprised by the answers that appear as you type in the address bar. For example, when asking: “What’s the weather like in Arkhangelsk...”, you will already see that it’s raining in Arkhangelsk right now, and the air temperature is +19.

Another plus is integration with Yandex.Disk, mail and other company services.

Simple and fast. Actually, that's all you need to know about the most popular browser in the world. And this is precisely why millions of users chose him. Tabs open at lightning speed, there are no unnecessary elements in the interface

It is perfect for a weak computer because it requires little RAM. Moreover, the program identifies each open tab as a separate process.

Chrome's place in the Google ecosystem deserves special attention. If you use Android, GMail, Hangouts, Google Drive, YouTube - then this is your browser.

Firefox impresses with its personalization capabilities. How beautiful a browser it will be, and what it should be able to do, is up to you to decide. Thousands of plugins to help! The second reason to download Firefox to your computer is the security system that the program developers have paid Special attention. Built-in anti-virus and anti-phishing monitors, instant ID verification, tracking protection - all this has already been implemented and is ready to serve you.

And if you are a gamer, then you should probably look at the Fire Fox. The fact is that in online games this browser demonstrates a higher response rate than its analogues. It also has fewer crashes.

Opera is considered an advanced browser “for those who understand.” It has a number of built-in options that will be of interest to web developers and designers. In addition, it is convenient to watch videos online - if your Internet is unstable and the speed drops from time to time, you are unlikely to notice it. The situation is the same with loading pages - they shrink and open faster if the Internet connection fails. User protection here is also at the proper level - Opera will not allow unscrupulous sites to steal your passwords and other personal data or install a virus on you.

The first thing that catches your eye is the two interface options: classic and stylized. The latter offers not square miniatures, but round ones of different sizes. He looks very unusual. In addition, UC Browser makes it convenient to work with bookmarks - they are arranged in several rows.

That is, you don’t have to scroll and search for the right tab for a long time, as, for example, in Chrome. It's a small thing, but nice.
No less pleasant is that after installing this browser, you will receive bookmarks from the browser you previously used. That is, they will not have to be transferred. A built-in download manager that works even when the browser is closed is another delight of using the UC browser.

The good old “donkey” in the latest version has significantly increased the level of stability and security. According to these parameters, it is practically not inferior to its competitors. In addition, the developers have reached a new level of rendering - they set a new record for the time spent processing animation, web applications and other multimedia on the Internet.

The Internet without a browser, a web browser, is nonsense! To work on the Internet, you need a program with which the user finds in global network information in the form of Internet pages. The browser opens the found pages in the work area and organizes work with them. And by work we mean working with text information, playing various computer games, watching and listening to media content, music, videos and calculations, and much more! So, in front of you modern computer under operating room control Windows system 7 and the desire to work with the very best web browser. So which browser is better for Windows 7? We will tell you about this right now.

What do users pay attention to?

  • Attractive appearance of the program, user-friendly interface;
  • Speed ​​of searching and opening web pages on the Internet;
  • The program's demands on computer resources, including the type of operating system;
  • Functionality, richness of the browser with options, the ability to use additional extensions;
  • Ability to synchronize data between different devices;
  • Ensuring the security of the user's personal data.

Any choice is subjective, just like the rating! From the point of view of possibilities, Buridan’s donkey (sorry for the cattle!), when choosing a feeder, was in a less tense state than modern user Internet when choosing a browser. Unlike the legendary animal, which stood between two approximately identical haystacks, a website surfer needs to choose between a dozen excellent programs. The choice is yours; you need to compare information on at least the most common browsers for Windows 7.

Which browser is faster for Windows 7?

Working in Yandex Browser

Standing out from a number of browsers in recent years, the browser of Russian programmers with the Webkit engine combines security, speed and ease of use. Despite the external similarity with the popular Chrome, which, by the way, has the same engine, even short work with


Yandex. The browser hijacks the user. Conquers with its advantages:

  • convenient work with a “smart” address bar that combines search functions;
  • fast ;
  • Increased security for downloading content using the SafeBrowsing$ algorithm
  • automatic page translation service;
  • availability of Opera Turbo modes;
  • Adobe built-in programs.

Among the disadvantages, we can note the possible slowdown of work on outdated systems. It can be stated that this browser combined best solutions competitors, having received a wide range of plugins as add-ons. The program deserves to be downloaded and installed on computers running Windows 7

Opera - free browser

The old man in the browser family. It has been carrying its burden regularly since 1994. In 2013, I changed my engine to a Webkit+V8 hybrid, the same as Crome. Opera Mini and Mobile versions have been developed.

Despite its advanced age, it holds third place in popularity on the RuNet. This is guaranteed:

  • good speed of working with websites, the ability to use Turbo mode, and the use of cloud technologies;
  • the presence of an Express panel that provides the fastest possible access to selected pages;
  • presence of a proven Opera Link synchronization process;
  • extensive use of hot keys;
  • operation of Opera Unite's own web server.


The disadvantages include:

  • high resource consumption random access memory, when opening several tabs, work slows down greatly;
  • insufficient stability, violation of script execution, possibility of failures and glitches;
  • a problematic, unique solution to the “Piggy Bank” bookmark system.

Overall, Opera is a worthy contender for the role favorite web browser.

Choosing a Google Chrome browser

Appeared on the Internet in December 2008. Created based on the Safari browser. It was named Cromium. Google finalized its version faster than other participants in the development of the project, and the browser they presented quickly began to gain a leading position among browsers. In the spring of 2015, Chrome already occupied a leading place in the RuNet. To be fair, it must be said that the pre-installation of the browser in mobile devices running Android helped with this increase in rating.


Positive properties:

  • high speed of working with resources;
  • increased security, additional protection against virus attacks;
  • the ability to use the “Incognito” mode, protection from transmitting information about your work to the network;
  • simple, uncluttered interface, quick access page, search bar combined with the address bar;
  • stability, no glitches, ;
  • if problems appear, they can be tracked using your own task manager;
  • a large selection of additional extensions;
  • there is a Google Translator menu;
  • and even voice control capabilities.


Flaws:

  • Flash Player support has ended;
  • requires more than 2 gigabytes of RAM;
  • many extensions with English interface;
  • wasteful energy consumption due to the heavy load on the iron.

Internet Explorer Benefits

Since 1995, IE has been an integrated software product of the Windows operating system. Before Google Chrome entered the arena, it ranked first in popularity. Today it is losing its position to the more advanced Yandex.Browser. This is the reason for the termination of development and support of Explorer.

And, although the latest version of IE is approaching the leaders in terms of speed, stability and security, it is falling further and further behind in the race for the user.

Network developers hardware use Internet Explorer as a standard, but to work with media content it is better to choose a different browser.

Working with Mozilla Firefox

The Fire Fox browser, developed in 2004 by Mozilla Corporation, deservedly took leading positions in the rankings among European users. Popularity Mozilla Firefox and currently occupies the second step of the podium in Runet.

Equipped with the Gecko engine, the program is still being improved. And the range of additional extensions is second only to Chrome!

Positive qualities include:

  • simplicity and ease of use, user-friendly interface of this program;
  • the ability to very finely tune the browser;
  • more than one hundred thousand different plugins and extensions;
  • ability to work with any operating system;
  • excellent reliability of the program;
  • convenient organization of bookmarks;
  • ensuring security and protection of personal and account data on various sites;
  • background update service software.


We compared the 9 most popular browsers for Windows to help you choose the best one. The interface, performance, security, the presence of advertising in the program, presets and “chips” were evaluated.
Test participants:

  • Chromium browsers:
    • Chrome;
    • Yandex browser;
    • Amigo from ru;
    • Opera;
    • Vivaldi;
  • Mozilla Firefox;
    • Tor Browser Bundle;
  • Internet Explorer;
  • Microsoft Edge;
  • Test conditions:

    • Clean Windows 7 x32 OS on a virtual machine;
    • Dual-core 3.5 GHz processor;
    • 4 GB of RAM;
    • 256 MB of video memory with 3D and 2D acceleration;
    • The opening speed was measured with a stopwatch from clicking on the shortcut to loading google.ru. The browser had not opened before;
    • RAM consumption was measured on 7 open tabs. The list of sites was always the same;
    • For general browser testing, the Peacekeeper Futuremark benchmark was used;
    • Support for HTML5 functions was tested on the site html5test.com. The maximum possible number of points is 555.

    Most popular browsers

    Top 10 browsers in Russia for desktop computers in 2015 according to Liveinternet statistics:

  1. Chrome - 40.2%;
  2. Yandex.Browser - 15.2%;
  3. FireFox -14.1%;
  4. Opera ( a new version) - 9,6%;
  5. Internet Explorer 11 - 6.1%;
  6. Opera 12 - 3.4%;
  7. Amigo from Mail.ru - 3.1%;
  8. Internet Explorer 10 - 1.8%;
  9. Internet Explorer 8 - 1.7%;
  10. Internet Explorer 9 - 0.9%.

Four of the ten most popular browsers - Chrome, Yandex, the new Opera and Amigo - are based on the Chromium browser with the Blink engine. This is 68.1% of the total share of users. They have many common functions and differ in their own integrated web services, interface and other features.

Chrome

It’s not for nothing that Google Chrome is popular: a minimalistic interface, a large catalog of free extensions and themes, fast work and support for modern web development technologies.


Platforms: Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X 10.6+.
Functions:

Flaws:


Performance

Safety

  • Warnings when visiting dangerous pages.
  • Blocks pop-ups well.
  • Location, camera and microphone request alerts.
  • Warnings when visiting https sites without a signed certificate.
  • Incognito mode: a separate window in which no history is saved.
  • EXE file will not download without confirmation.

Flaws:

  • Passwords are stored encrypted, but can be viewed through the settings.
  • The spell checking module sends all entered texts to Google to display errors.

Ads and Presets


Yandex browser

Yandex Browser is based on Chromium, but in appearance it is very different from regular Chrome. Almost everything has been redone, and the changes have benefited the browser - they are really convenient.


Platforms: Windows, Android 4.1+, iOS 7.0+, Mac OS X, Linux.
Functions:

  • Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome.
  • Full synchronization via Yandex mail account.
  • The smart search bar shows answers in suggestions. You may not remember the exact address of the site; just enter the name in Russian - you will immediately be taken to the site.

  • When you open a new tab, a board appears - an analogue of visual bookmarks. The list of sites is customizable to your liking. A collection of beautiful background pictures. The download manager is built into the scoreboard.

  • The quick call feature looks for a phone number on the page. When clicked, an SMS with a number is sent to your phone. Works when synchronization is enabled.
  • Translation of selected text and pages.
  • Return to the top of the page and back when clicking on a tab.
  • The address bar shows the home page name and title instead of the URL. On some sites, links to popular sections of the site are displayed in the right bar. When clicked, the full link is displayed, along with a copy and share button on social media. networks.
  • The browser does not close if you close all tabs.
  • View documents in doc, rtf, ppt, pdf and e-books ePub, fb2, fbzip directly in the browser.
  • Mouse gesture control. A handy feature from Opera

  • Supports extensions from the Chrome and Opera store.

  • Search by page taking into account word forms. It even finds words with different endings.

Performance

Safety

  • Built-in security plugins. Included in add-ons.
    • Anti-shock - blocks annoying advertising and shocking pictures.
    • Blocking flash banners and videos.
    • Reputation of Web of Trust (WOT) sites - displays the rating of the site by other users.
    • Adguard - blocks pop-up windows, text and video ads.
  • The built-in antivirus scans downloaded files.
  • Warnings when visiting dangerous pages and SMS fraud.
  • Protect information and passwords when working over the public Internet.
  • The latest version of Yandex Browser is one version behind Chrome (44.0.2403 versus 45.0.2454).

Ads and Presets

  • By default, Yandex search. Easily changes to any other in the settings.
  • Adds 2 shortcuts to the taskbar: browser and a link to the Yandex home page.
  • By default, 17 add-ons are installed.
  • Initially, sites were added to the scoreboard.

Amigo

The Amigo browser from Mail.ru has gained notoriety due to its automatic installation with other free programs. Apparently, because of such active advertising, 3.1% of Russians use it.
Platform: Windows.

Launching the browser takes 1.7 seconds due to autoloading when Windows starts. If you disable autoload, startup takes 7 seconds.
The result in Peacekeeper is 2702 points.

The result in html5test is 498 out of 555 points.
Seven open tabs consume 459 MB of RAM.


Amigo occupies 357 MB of disk space.

Safety

The program version is 42.0.2311. The current version of Chrome is 45.0.2454. The time difference between these versions is 1.5 years! New versions have made numerous fixes to the stability and security of the browser, but the developers are in no hurry to implement them.

Ads and Presets


Opera

After switching from the Presto engine to Blink, many fans of the old 12th Opera were unhappy with the loss of some of the usual functionality and individuality: the built-in torrent, email client, RSS reader, mouse gesture control were gone, bookmarks were replaced with a “piggy bank”. Some people switched to other browsers: over 2 years, according to Liveinternet statistics, the number of Opera users in Russia decreased by a quarter. The developers promised to return the old functionality over time. What does Opera look like 2.5 years after the engine change?

Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android. Versions of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile for popular mobile platforms: Symbian OS, MeeGo, Java, Android, Windows Mobile, bada, iOS.

The interface is different from standard Chrome. The menu button has been moved to the left corner. The tabs look like in the old Opera. The interface of settings, history, bookmarks, and download manager has been redesigned.


Visual bookmarks on the express panel with the ability to edit. Search through the list of visual bookmarks. Several bookmarks are combined into a folder. Navigation to access additional features at the bottom of the Express panel:


Bookmarks, tabs, express panel, settings, history, passwords are synchronized. There are limitations on mobile platforms.


The problem of navigating through a large number of tabs has been solved - a preview button has been added in the upper right corner. There is also a list of recently closed tabs.


Own catalog of add-ons and themes. To install extensions from the Chrome online store, you need to install Download Chrome Extension from the Opera catalog.

The settings enable the sidebar for extensions.


View pdf in browser.

Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer and Chrome.

Performance

The first launch takes 5.5 seconds.
In Peacekeeper, Opera scored 2744 points. HTML5 features do not support H264 video codecs.

The result in html5test is 500 out of 555 points.

Seven open tabs consume 267 MB of RAM.


Occupies 119 MB of disk space.

Own development - Turbo technology. Compresses traffic and increases page loading speed. Works on mobile versions too.

Safety

Private tabs.

Reports about suspicious sites.

To protect traffic in public Wi-Fi networks It is suggested to use SurfEasy's own VPN service. The basic version is free (up to 500 MB/month), the full version costs $3.99 per month.


The current version of User Agent 45.0.2454 does not lag behind Chrome.

Ads and Presets

By default, Google search works in the address bar, Yandex search works in the express panel. Search in the address bar can be easily changed in the settings.

Vivaldi

A browser based on the Blink engine from one of the founders of Opera. He is not even a year old, but he shows great promise. Currently only the developer version is available.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux.
The interface is absolutely not similar to Google Chrome; it was written in HTML+CSS+Javascript (because of this it slows down for many). Modern flat design that can be customized. For example, you can move the address bar and tabs to any side of the screen, and disable unnecessary elements.


By pressing Ctrl+F11 all unnecessary interface details disappear, the browser is controlled by hot keys.

Some functions are based on the “classical” Opera 12:


Synchronization of bookmarks, settings, history and passwords.

You can control the browser without a mouse. Press F2 to see available keyboard shortcuts. You can customize your combinations.


Grouping tabs to work with a large number of open sites.


Preview of the site when you hover over a tab.

Express panel with visual bookmarks. Grouping visual bookmarks into tabs and folders.

You can open a new tab by clicking the mouse wheel on an empty space; it is not necessary to click on the plus sign.

Import bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Opera 12 and 15+, Chrome, Yandex, Vivaldi.

Extensions from the Chrome store are suitable for Vivaldi.

There are also not very convenient things: when you try to insert a word into the address bar to edit the URL, Vivaldi automatically selects the entire URL. Doesn't always want to copy the URL. The download bar appears on the side when it's not needed. But do not forget that this is not yet a stable version. By the time it's released, many of the bugs will be fixed.

Performance

Opening the browser takes 11 seconds.

In Peacekeeper Vivaldi scored 2926 points. HTML5 features do not support H264 video codecs.

The result in html5test is 501 out of 555 points.

Seven tabs consume 437 MB of RAM.


It occupies 282 MB of disk space.
There is a function to download images only from the cache (as in Opera 12) for slow Internet users.

Safety

The current version of Vivaldi in Chromium 44.0.2403 is 1 version behind Chrome.

Ads and Presets

Yandex search by default.

By default, 3 plugins are installed: PDF viewer, Adobe Flash and Google Update.

Preset list of sites in visual and regular bookmarks. Removed manually.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox runs on the Gecko engine, the main concept of which is support for open Internet standards (HTML, CSS, W3C, DOM, XML, JS, etc.) and cross-platform.

According to test results from Sauce Labs, Firefox is the most stable browser at the end of 2014. More than 55 million launches of popular browsers of different versions were carried out, errors in Firefox appeared only in 0.11% of cases. Internet Explorer performed the worst (0.25%), and of the latest versions - Safari 6 (0.12%). With the release of each version, the number of crashes decreases; they are almost absent in the latest Chrome and Firefox.

Platform: Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, Android. There are unofficial builds for many other OSes.

Import from Internet Explorer and Chrome.

Synchronization of bookmarks, passwords, tabs, history, add-ons, settings.

Separate search panel in search engines and dictionaries.

Built-in visual bookmarks.

Smooth scrolling. What Chromium browsers lack.

Support for extensions, plugins and themes from your own store. There are extensions unique to this browser.

Built-in PDF viewer.

Live bookmarks. Instead of bookmarking one page, you can add an RSS feed. A list of the latest articles on the site will be displayed.


Reading view. The function leaves the main content on the page, removes the design and all elements of the site.

When you open a large number of tabs, a button appears to scroll through them.

You can assign tags to links in the Journal (history and bookmarks).

Performance

Starting the program took 5 seconds.


The result in html5test is 446 out of 555 points.

Seven open tabs consume 187 MB of RAM.


Occupies 145 MB of disk space.

Safety

Pop-up blocker.

Private browsing. This is a separate window in which browsing history and passwords are not saved.

Forget button to delete history. It can be placed in the toolbar. Other browsers also have this function, but it is hidden in the settings.

Built-in phishing protection and malware. Websites and downloaded files are checked against Google's SafeBrowsing database.

Saved passwords can be viewed through settings. To protect against password theft during physical access to the computer, a master password is set that will encrypt all data.

Since July 2015, Firefox has blocked Adobe Flash by default to increase security.

Ads and Presets

Developer Mozilla is a non-profit organization.

Internet Explorer

Known to all users Windows standard browser - Internet Explorer. It does not need to be downloaded when installing the OS, but it is recommended to update to the latest version - 11.0. In Windows 10, it was replaced by Microsoft Edge, written from scratch. Partly because of its bad reputation: netizens joke that it was invented to download other browsers.

IE is significantly inferior to modern browsers in functionality and interface; it loads pages slowly; many web development standards are not supported, which is why sites may not be displayed correctly. In the latest versions these shortcomings have been improved.




However, if you add up all versions of IE from the top 10 Russian Internet browsers, it is used by 10.5% of network users. Explorer can be compared to an old “calls only” telephone. The main function (website browsing) works, nothing extra.

The default setting is Bing search, which is unusual for Russian users.
IE 8 startup speed is 4.5 seconds. IE 11 starts in 7 seconds.
IE 8 scored 219 points in Peacekeeper.

Microsoft Edge

The default browser in Windows 10 is Microsoft Edge (at first it was called Project Spartan).

Modern minimalistic interface. Goes well with the Windows 10 interface. The toolbar contains only the essentials - the rest of the buttons are hidden in the sidebar. By the way, the list of options and settings in the browser is minimal.

The browser runs on the new EdgeHTML engine with the Chakra javascript interpreter.

Ability to take notes and drawings on top of web pages and share them. This doesn't exist in any browser yet.

When you select text, Edge recognizes the type of data and offers customized solutions. For example, when you highlight a phone number, it will offer to call.

The smart address bar provides search results for some queries without going to the site.

Reading mode. The page is cleared of everything unnecessary, leaving only text and photos. You can save articles you like to your reading list. The function is similar to the Pocket service.

The browser does not support extensions, but they were promised to be added in new versions at the end of 2015. This is the main drawback, without which Edge cannot fully fight its competitors. There is not even a banal Adblock yet. To block ads, you can now use a separate program - Adguard, but it is paid.

According to unconfirmed information, Edge will support not only extensions from the Windows Store, but also from the Chrome store.

There is a button in a visible place for feedback with the developers.

Safety

Built-in SmartScreen filter blocks potentially dangerous sites.

Each tab is isolated - it opens in a separate process, just like in Chromium.

Ads and Presets

Bing search is used - this is also a Microsoft project. The search cannot be changed.

Adobe Flash is already built into the browser (can be disabled in the settings), but a similar technology from Microsoft - Silverlight - is not supported.

Internet browsers download to your computer for free.
Download Internet browsers for Windows XP, 7, 8, 10.
Download the best browsers in Russian without registration.

version: 19.10.0 from October 16, 2019

Ya.Browser is a web browser from the Yandex company, created on the basis of the Chromium engine. Combines the best features of popular Chrome browsers and Opera, and also provides unique opportunities to its users.

The Yandex browser is similarly capable of activating the traffic-saving Turbo mode and still loading pages quickly when the Internet connection speed slows down, as in . Enjoy a minimalist interface, amazing speed and a built-in translator, and add extensions from the Google Chrome store.

version: 2.8.1664.44 from October 16, 2019

New browser from the developers of Opera, built on Chromium with the Blink engine. It features expanded functionality and increased ease of navigation.

The web browser interface is very reminiscent of Opera 12 - there is also a sidebar, a basket with closed tabs and picture display mode. At the same time, the authors implemented a number of interesting innovations. Among them are tab grouping, an integrated email client, and notes on open web pages.

version: 77.0.3865.120 from October 15, 2019

The Chrome browser has long been the leader among its peers by a wide margin. It would seem that such trump cards as crazy speed and user-friendly interface left no chance for analogues.

But the increasingly hot breath of competitors in the form of Mozilla and Opera, as well as the conquest of their share of the audience with new products such as , and Yandex.Browser, required new accents from developers.

version: 64.0.3417.54 from October 15, 2019

The Opera browser from the descendants of the Vikings is reliable, fast and convenient, and the use of a unique Turbo mode allows you to quickly load pages even with a critically low Internet connection speed.

Opera for computer is a powerful web browser from Norwegian developers who have focused on the reliability and convenience of web surfing.

version: 69.0.3 from October 14, 2019

Mazila Firefox is one of the most popular cross-platform browsers in the world, it provides fast, secure Internet surfing, is flexible in settings and has a huge selection of plug-ins and extensions.

The multimillion-strong fan club of the Mozilla Firefox web browser is driving the market, creating conditions for healthy competition with the Google browser. The reasons why users tend to download Mozilla Firefox are obvious - the emphasis on enhanced protection against malicious sites, high speed of working with dozens of open tabs and the introduction of innovative technologies, such as sockets, web consoles or new generation graphics.

version: 4.0.0.155 from September 23, 2019

A program for safe Web surfing, it allows you to block access to the connected camera and microphone, and view all permissions issued to various sites.
A fast browser based on the progressive Blink core. When creating Atom, the company used its experience working on Amigo, another browser from Mail Ru.

version: 28.7.1 from September 12, 2019

Pale Moon is the best alternative to Mozilla Firefox. The browser is based on the same software core, but has a lightweight interface and increased performance by 25%.

It provides excellent page opening speed and increased stability by eliminating some tools. According to the developers from Moonchild Productions, a browser should be a browser, and it is not necessary to take on the functions of other applications.

version: 8.5.5 from September 04, 2019

Tor Browser for anonymous web surfing. It is a Firefox web browser with an integrated Torbutton extension, a script blocker and an add-on for logging into sites via the HTTPS protocol.

The program allows you to visit sites prohibited by the administrator or the state, as well as correspond in web chats, place orders and download files, hiding your IP address and other identification elements.

As part of my job, I have to maintain several very advanced computers in working order. In terms of hardware, this is not difficult - fortunately, cars produced 10 years ago are often assembled (soldered) to a higher quality than modern consumer goods. But in terms of software, the task is more difficult. The biggest headache for me is antiviruses and browsers. Both of them are very hungry for RAM, which, alas, is in short supply (for the last 1.5 years, the budget for upgrading computers at school has been approaching zero, and a small upgrade can only be done if the old hardware completely fails). Meanwhile, it is highly advisable to update both the antivirus and the browser periodically. We'll talk about choosing an antivirus some other time, but today I'll try to find the best one. fast browser for old computers.

First, a little background. Until recently, I installed the old Opera 12 on all old computers. But, alas, one fine day, this once wonderful browser began to display crookedly a vital site - an electronic magazine. Well, I had to say goodbye to the old Opera and look for alternatives.

First of all, of course, I checked how the fresh Opera would behave on old machines. Alas, as expected, Opera 30 (this version was current at the time of my experiment) behaved like a typical Chromium browser: it consumed a lot of memory, forcing the computer to swap heavily (IDE disk, heh...). Things were a little better with other standard chrome clones (Yandex.Browser, Chrome itself). The latest Firefox 40 behaves relatively well, but it has obvious problems with interface rendering (it slows down) and memory consumption is still quite high (especially when opening 2-3 tabs). Well, since the browsers known to everyone cannot cope with the task, let’s try different exotic ones.

Part 1. Looking for a fast browser in the Chromium camp

I was pleasantly surprised in terms of speed. Being an add-on to Internet Explorer, it works very quickly and does not eat up too much memory. But, alas, all this happiness is available only on Windows 7, and my weakest machines run Windows XP. No, the mentioned SlimBrowser works great under Windows XP, but the IE8 engine, alas, is hopelessly outdated and is not much different in rendering quality from the same Opera 12-.

Next, I decided to try out “unusual” variations on the Chromium theme. There were as many as three candidates. The first of them is . It is positioned by the developers as a light and fast browser. In general, this statement is true - for a chromo clone, Midori is really quite light and fast. But, unfortunately, on computers with 1 gigabyte of RAM (and even more so with 512 megabytes) it is not light enough.
The second candidate is Chinese. The younger brother of the well-known Maxthon was born about a year ago. In essence, it is Chromium stripped to the limit. It really works quite quickly, but it still consumes a lot of memory. I would recommend it rather as an addition to the main browser on normal machines (when you need to quickly read something without waiting for the main browser to load - Nitro loads almost instantly). But this browser is not suitable for older computers.

Finally, the last Chrome in my experiment is the OpenSource project. The developer positions it as the successor to the good old Opera, but on a modern engine (guess which one?). True, from a technical point of view, this browser is built a little differently - it does not create a separate process for each sneeze. This feature allows Otter (and this is how the name of the browser is translated from English) to save memory quite well. In terms of speed and functionality, Otter is also doing pretty well. But, alas, it is still very crude and not stable enough for everyday use. And the interface, to be honest, leaves much to be desired... Besides, Otter is essentially a one-man show (in the sense of a developer) and, alas, there is almost no hope for quickly bringing the project to a digestible state.

Otter Browser. In the depths of the tundra Otter in spats...

Part 2. Looking for a fast browser in the Gecko camp

Well, since the Chrome community can’t please us with anything in terms of speed, let’s try to turn to the second opposing side and look at browsers based on the Gecko engine. This engine is no less popular among developers, although it has its own specifics. While browsers based on Chromium (and Blink) are mainly built by various commercial companies (Otter is a rare exception), Gecko is more popular among the OpenSource community. Unfortunately, this community, for the most part, is busy changing the basic functionality of Firefox, as a result of which clones of Ognelis (or Firepanda - as you prefer) with different sets of functions are born. Against this background, several projects stand out that make optimized assemblies for certain platforms. Among them, only two focus their efforts on improving the speed of Firefox. The first project is . Within its framework, they make assemblies that work (according to the developers) 25% faster than the original FF. Until recently, the PaleMoon project even had a separate assembly optimized for Windows XP, but due to the cessation of official support for this OS, its release was discontinued. However, to this day there is a separate build for weak Atom-based machines, which can be used on any old computers.
In terms of speed, I was very pleased with PaleMoon - the subjective speed of launching the browser and loading pages on a computer with 1 GB of RAM is even higher than when working with Opera 12 (although it uses a little more memory). The interface, by the way, is rendered noticeably faster than that of its ancestor in the face of FF (the cut Australis has an effect). True, for greater ease of use, the “lunar” browser will have to be modified a little (in particular, and turned on in the settings). In general, the impressions from this browser are the most pleasant. Among other things, PaleMoon supports extensions from FireFox, which means expanding its functionality will be quite simple.

Finally, the last contender for the title of “fastest browser for old computers” is the . This project, which appeared at the dawn of the popularity of Firefox, was in hibernation for many years and only recently began to be revived. Essentially, this is a very distant relative of Firefox, taking only the Gecko engine from its ancestor. Due to its close relationship, K-Meleon does not support extensions from the original Firefox and does not inherit all its problems (working speed in particular). As a result, we have a very fast and quite functional browser. In terms of operating speed today, K-Meleon is the leader. The only thing that prevents us from definitely recommending it for use is the clumsy interface and the fact that it is overloaded with not all the necessary functions.

K-Meleon 74. The fastest browser…

As a conclusion. Based on the results of many days of testing (including on real users) I personally chose PaleMoon (more precisely, its assembly for Atom). In conditions of severe lack of RAM, it works noticeably faster than all other browsers. On computers with 512 megabytes of RAM, K-Meleon showed the best results in terms of memory consumption, but users in almost 100% of cases complain about its inconvenient interface (read: unusual appearance and non-standard arrangement of controls). In theory, all this can be solved by fine-tuning the interface (fortunately, K-Meleon provides such an opportunity), but in practice the difference in the speed of working with PaleMoon is not so great. The final decision, however, is yours.

Updated March 18, 2016
I tested a couple more programs that claim to be the “fastest browser for an old computer.” My impressions are in .

Updated February 19, 2019
It turns out that enthusiasts continue to make PaleMoon builds that work on older computers. Here, in particular, (you need to download the file mypal-28.3.1.win32.installer.exe).

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