Google Chrome is a most addictive web browser

My first impressions of Google Chrome as a web browser for Windows were probably swayed by my unfamiliarity with the interface, however I seem to have forgiven its forthcomings I have become drawn to Chrome as my web browser of choice.

There are many applications that Chrome does not work properly for me (particularly due to javascript support) and in that case I find myself booting up Firefox.  It is those times that I realise how fast Chrome is in comparison to Mozilla's browser.  Speed is the #1 reason I use Chrome.  It is also used by Google in its marketing pitch and for good reason.  The other browser are far to bloated and too much time to load.

Of my other criticisms of Chrome are the difficult to find menu items, such as privacy settings which are hidden deep within the options behind a little spanner icon.  Other things I've had to adjust to are things like shortcut keys.  However once these hurdles are overcome, Chrome is very useful.  Plugin support, one of the key things I like about Firefox, is quickly growing for Google Chrome.

I have read that Chrome is stealing marketshare from Firefox and Internet Explorer (as much as 10% on some sites), well I am not suprised.  However this popularity is not reflected in website support for the browser.  Many websites that I visit unfortunately look like a dogs breakfast in Chrome.

10 Essential Freeware Programs to download for a Fresh Install

Having recently reinstalled my PC yet again, I thought I'd share a brief list of must have free programs which I always download and install on any fresh copy of Windows.

1. Microsoft Security Essentials (freeware - requires valid Windows licence) - virus and spyware protection is a must and it won't bog down your PC either
2. Sun Open Office (freeware) - essential for documents, desktop publishing, spreadheets and presentations
   
3. Adobe Reader (freeware) - opening PDF files can be difficult without it 
4. Mozilla Thunderbird (freeware) - for email
5. Irfanview (freeware) - for viewing images
6. Paint.NET (freeware) - for editing images
7. Mozilla Firefox (freeware)- web browsing mainly for its plugins and standards base (using it less than Chrome these days though
8. Picasa (freeware) - an essential photo management tool
9. Windows Movie Maker (freeware) - a nice little suite for creating movie files and uploading them to services such as YouTube
10. Filezilla (freeware) - for uploading files to the web

I can survive without anything else installed.

Upgrading to Firefox 3.0

I've recently run an update of my web browser to Firefox 3.0 and I must say, superficially I can't see too many differences. Some of the interface elements have increased in size. Although I suspect many of the improvements are under the hood in terms of rendering and new standards support.

One thing I did notice though is that during the upgrade, all of my previously installed add-ons like Firebug disappeared. I didn't expect this and I'm pretty sure that there was no advice on this in the upgrade process. Still, it wasn't too painful to find and install them again ...

However I have experienced numerous severe crashes, particularly on some sites and incompatibility issues with some rich text editors which has seen me go back to Internet Explorer. Currently Firefox appears unstable, and I'm not sure why they released and promoted such a buggy browser ...