Explorer's best point, in terms of ease of use and convenience, is probably the Explorer toolbar that lets you switch between Favourites, History, Search and so on.
Explorer also has the option of opening a web page in a new window, which you can do by right-clicking on a hyperlink and selecting Open in a New Window from the menu that appears.
There's no way of stopping pop-up adverts without installing additional software, although Microsoft has promised to include this feature in the next update, and many of the security and other internet settings options are totally baffling to the average user.
Explorer is notorious for its susceptibility to spyware - software that is surreptitiously installed on your PC as part of another application to monitor and report back on your internet usage - as well as other online nasties.
The frequent updates and security patches that Microsoft releases for the browser don't inspire confidence in the product as a whole.
The search function isn't the most illuminating of guides in the quest for knowledge and many people will prefer to add other search engines to their list of favourite websites or install the Google toolbar (see 'Add-ons and plug-ins' below).
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR
Netscape Navigator is free for personal use and comes with an impressive list of extras. As well as the Netscape Mail email application and instant messaging software, you get the Winamp audio player, Viewpoint media player and various plug-ins, such as Sun Java and Macromedia Flash, which you'll need to view certain web pages.
There are also tools to synchronise Palm-based handheld computers and block irritating pop-up adverts. Last but not least is Radio@Netscape, a music player that has pre-set genres ranging from Renaissance to Rap, and even includes a Hawaiian, easy-listening station.
At first glance, the browser itself looks pretty similar to Internet Explorer, with toolbars and a pane on the left of the browser called My Sidebar.
In here, you'll find different bookmarks marking your favourite web pages, a variety of search engines, Netscape Channels and, if you're signed up for instant messaging, your My Buddy List.
All of these links are logically organised into groups and filed away using tabs as if they were sheets of paper in a file separated by tabbed dividers. Just click on a tab to bring up a page of links. You can add and remove tabs for news, business or games websites and anything else you want.
The other big difference between Netscape and Internet Explorer is the use of tabbed browser pages. This means you can have several web pages open at the same time stacked on top of each other. Again, each web page has a tab at the top that allows you to switch between them quickly.
This all makes for much easier and tidier browsing, especially when you want to open several of the web pages a search engine has found for you. As with Internet Explorer, you can add links directly to the toolbar.
There's also a pop-up stopper, which you can customise on a per-site basis if, for example, you don't want to see pop-up ads on your online banking website but you'd still like to see them advertising special deals on certain shopping sites.
Download Netscape Navigator here
MOZILLA
Mozilla comes with far fewer features than Netscape. Although you get the Chatzilla communications tool for instant messaging and features to synchronise Palm-based handheld computers, you don't get a radio or the other goodies that come with Navigator.
You can, however, change the appearance of both Mozilla and Navigator. If you select the Modern theme from the View menu in Mozilla, you'll find the browser almost indistinguishable from Netscape apart from the logo at the top right of the window.
One useful feature that Mozilla shares with Netscape is the ability to search your bookmarked sites for keywords.
Your search will return a list of the links containing that word in their website address, the name you've given them or the description, which can save a lot of time tracking things down if you have a large collection of bookmarks.
Look deeper, though, and you'll spot several differences from Navigator. Many of the default links in the Mozilla toolbar and Sidebar relate to the Mozilla development community.
As the browser is based on open source software, you'll find that there are regular updates and improvements to Mozilla that can be downloaded.
The browser was updated during the course of our review, for example, to add a tool that allows you to swap electronic business cards and add the Ask Jeeves search engine to the browser itself.
Download Mozilla here
MOZILLA FIREBIRD
While Mozilla and Navigator share many common features and were developed using much of the same software, Mozilla Firebird has been created from scratch by the Mozilla.org community. It's built for speed rather than comfort and, officially, it's not yet finished.
The application won't install itself automatically on your computer unless you download the optional Windows installer on the Firebird section of the Mozilla website. If you don't download the installer you'll have to install the application manually, which some may find a bit fiddly.
In terms of appearance, Firebird bears more resemblance to Internet Explorer than it does Mozilla but, like its big brothers, you can customise its appearance according to theme.
It also offers tabbed browsing and a pop-up stopper, and features some other useful touches such as a Google search box on the main toolbar.
Although we didn't run stopwatch tests, Firebird certainly feels faster and more responsive than Explorer, Navigator or Mozilla. The latest version of Firebird has just been released and renamed Firefox.
Download Mozilla Firefox here
OPERA
Opera is totally unrelated to the other browsers on test here and comes in two versions. One costs £23 and the other is free, financed by banner adverts in the toolbar.
Although the latter version has an option to tailor adverts to your Google searches, it should not be confused with spyware as it does not collect personal information.
Like some of the other browsers we've looked at, Opera features tabbed browsing (you can have the tabs top, bottom or at the side), a pop-up stopper and a sidebar with bookmarked websites called the Hotlist.
This is rather more densely populated than the sidebars in competing browsers, with extra buttons to launch the Help menu and the Opera email application that runs within the browser application.
The Notes button is particularly clever. You can copy text from web pages to a blank note and add your own text, then use the note in emails if, for example, you want to send someone a snippet of a news story with your comments. Notes copied from web pages also double as links, so you can refer straight back to the source.
Opera's shortcuts are also rather clever. If you hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse left, you'll go back to the previous page. If you hold down the right button and move the mouse down, you'll create a blank page in which to open a new web page.
There are several more shortcuts and, although it takes a little experimentation and practice, it's an innovative way of navigating your way through cyberspace.
Another feature we liked was the search toolbar. This provides you with shortcut boxes to a variety of search tools, including search engines such as Google and AllTheWeb and the search facility on sites such as Amazon.com.
You can also search the page you're currently viewing. Again, it takes a little getting used to but it's a great timesaver and it's easy to customise so you can search Amazon.co.uk, for instance, rather than the American site.
Finally, we also liked the Quick Preferences. Press the F12 key on your keyboard and you are directed to a set of preferences that give you instant access to options such as switching off pop-ups and the more flashy animations you're likely to encounter online.
Download Opera here
Strike out, be bold
Internet Explorer may be the default web browser installed on the vast majority of PCs, but remember that it isn't your only option. In fact, in terms of ease of use and features, the other browsers on test here beat it hands down.
As Navigator, Mozilla and Mozilla Firebird are all free to use, you have nothing to lose by taking them for a spin. However, our Best on Test award goes to Opera.
As well as having an impressive list of features, it's user-friendly and fast and only the fact that the competing products are free of charge and free of adverts stops us giving it five stars.
If you're using an alternative browser to Explorer you may find that certain sites such as the Microsoft Support search page aren't accessible or don't display properly and you may need to revert to Internet Explorer to download upgrades. For everyday web surfing, though, a different browser might better suit your needs.
Add-ons and plug-ins
All the browsers we've looked at here support plug-ins, which will allow you to read PDF documents, watch QuickTime movies, view Flash animations and so on without leaving the browser.
Such plug-ins are free and you'll usually get a link to download and install them when you first try to view content on a web page that uses them.
If you are using Explorer or another browser that doesn't have a built-in pop-up stopper, you may want to download and install one, such as Popup Manager, which you can download free here.
This puts a little green icon in the corner of the Explorer window, which turns red when a pop-up is blocked. You can then click on this to show the pop-up.
Our current favourite add-on for Explorer is the Google toolbar, which neatly combines instant access to the Google search engine, pop-up blocking and automatic form-filling. It's free, and you can download it here.
One of the perils of web surfing is picking up unwanted add-ons such as CoolWebSearch that hijack your browser's home page and search tool.
These often install themselves by stealth and can be hard to remove. If you find that Explorer is performing very slowly or taking you to unwanted sites, you need the help of the good guys.
If you're plagued by CoolWebSearch, you can download software from Merijn.org to help remove it from your computer once and for all. Meanwhile, Ad-aware, which is free to download here, is a handy tool that will detect and remove spyware from your PC.
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