When I began "surfing" there was no world wide web, and the

concept of the "internet" was much looser and not nearly as

well defined as today. There really was not even the concept

of a "web browser" at all. Instead, there were dozens of much

simpler, more specific browsers, each designed for a single

purpose.

I miss those days long ago, before Netscape and Internet

Explorer came along. There was a little more magic, I think,

and a larger sense of exploring the unknown wilds of cyberspace.

It all seemed, I don't know, more fulfilling when I searched for

hours using FTP and Archie for someone who had a copy of Dungeon

(before it became Zork) or for a document about how DNS worked.

I guess the difference is like flying across the country to

Boston, taking the train, or driving there in your car. If the

only thing of interest is the destination, then by all means

take the fastest airplane. If, however, you want to enjoy the

trip and take in the sights, you may want to drive.

My first "browser" was via CompuServe. I don't know if you

could really call it a browser, but it worked. There was only

text, and it was very difficult to get around, but somehow we

all managed to get along and we got what we needed. I followed

CompuServe with America Online, which was, believe me, a huge

step up. From there I skipped to Netscape, then to Internet

Explorer.

In my humble opinion, Internet Explorer (even those early

versions) was a tremendous step up from anything else that was

available. It wasn't that IE had any better features or anything

like that - it was just that IE, well, felt better. The browsing

experience was smoother, a little more refined, a touch

classier.

I found that Netscape stuttered. As pages loaded it would stop

and start and stop and start, and I found it incredibly annoying.

On the other hand, Internet Explorer was smooth; it seemed to

load pages and graphics much cleaner.

As the browser wars heated up the differences between the two

major contenders became more and more pronounced. Both products

added special tags, special capabilities and tons of

improvements. Sometimes versions of both programs were released

which were not adequately tested; this was a natural by-product

of an honest-to-god war between the two browsers.

I was happy with IE4, and I found IE5 to be just about perfect

(although some tweaking of security was necessary to prevent

serious bug infestations). Because of that, I delayed upgrading

to IE6 until a few days ago - I was more than a little afraid of

the new version due to many negative reports about smart tags

and a few other features.

As it turns out, IE6 is a fine browser, perhaps the best yet

(although I have not yet played with the new version of

Netscape). The browsing experience is very smooth, it's fast and

efficient, and it seems to have just about everything you would

expect.

One of the features that I really like is the new privacy

options. While this does not by any means terminate privacy

concerns with this browser, it is a good step in the right

direction. Whereas before, in all browsers, you can only treat

all cookies the same (accept them, prompt for them or block

them), IE6 allows you to control cookies on a site-by-site basis.

Even better, you can separately choose to turn off third-party

cookies, and you can even treat session cookies as a separate

case. I like it. Now if they would just add something similar to

get rid of those annoying pop-up windows ...

On the downside - IE6 is huge. The browser takes a tremendous

amount of resources: memory, disk and CPU. IE6 also significantly

modifies your system (unlike Netscape or Opera), which can be

alarming. And, of course, you can expect the usual two-to-a dozen

emergency patches a month due to security holes. Some things

simply do not change ...

As should be obvious, I like this browser. It does what I expect

from a browser - it lets me browse and gets out of my way. It's

fast, it's smooth and it works well. That's all that I want.

About the Author

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets

at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to

read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your

internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.