Which is the Most Popular Web Browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome

Different computer users use different web browsers. Some people use Internet Explorer which is the built-in web browser of Windows OS. Some people prefer to use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or other 3rd party web browsers.

Did you ever wish to compare these browsers to find out which is the best and most popular among all? Don’t worry. Microsoft has compared the latest stable version of Internet Explorer with latest beta versions of other 3rd party browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome and has released the comparison chart for public.

IE9

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Please note that these browser versions were the latest at the time of testing and writing this article.

The big comparison chart shows various tests divided in following categories:

  • Performance
  • Ease of Use
  • Security
  • Reliability
  • Privacy
  • Web Standards and Compatibility
  • Developer Tools

And following is the official comparison chart:

Performance: Firefox Chrome IE
Fast startup and shutdown Yes Yes Yes
Fast JavaScript engine for better performance Yes Yes Yes
Popular websites load quickly Yes Yes Yes
Full hardware acceleration for text, graphics, and video provided by default Yes
Notification when add-ons slow browser performance Yes
Ease of Use:
Simple browsing controls for a better browsing experience Yes Yes Yes
Change and add search providers within the search box Yes Yes Yes
Search provider suggestions as you type in the search box Yes Yes Yes
New Tab page includes quick access to common tasks and websites Yes Yes
Websites can be pinned to the taskbar in Windows 7 Yes Yes
Tear-off tabs with Windows 7? Aero Snap Yes Yes
Reopen accidentally closed tabs Yes Yes
Combined search and Address bar Yes Yes
Visual search suggestions shown as you type Yes
Jump Lists and thumbnail preview controls for pinned sites Yes
Accelerators for quick access to web services without leaving the page Yes
Security:
Protection from malicious cross-site scripting attacks Yes Yes Yes
Best protection against phishing attacks Yes Yes
Domain name highlighting in the Address bar Yes Yes
Most protection against socially engineered malware Yes
Reliability:
Crashed tabs stay isolated from all other tabs Yes Yes Yes
Automatic recovery of crashed tabs Yes Yes Yes
Tab recovery with messaging and prompting when websites time out Yes
Privacy:
Prevent others from seeing what sites you have visited on your PC Yes Yes Yes
Control whether certain third parties can track your browsing activity Yes Yes Yes
Web Standards and Compatibility:
Supports common and future standards including HTML5 Yes Yes Yes
WebM-encoded HTML5 video supported when a VP8 codec is installed Yes Yes Yes
H.264-encoded HTML5 video support Yes
Compatibility mode to view websites designed for older browsers Yes
Developer Tools:
Tool set (HTML, CSS, JavaScript editing, profiling, network inspection) Yes Yes Yes
Developer tools built-in to the browser Yes Yes
Tools that show pages in different rendering engines Yes

 

After looking at the tests everything seems the best for IE obviously. But we should not forget that Microsoft took the test upon beta versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome where as they took the final version of IE.

What do you guys think about the whole test? Do you agree with the results?

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Published in: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. they forgot to add the feature of webpages and stuff actually loading with speed on the list… because it’s a feature IE lacks. I’ve tested IE 9 against Chrome 25 and chrome pages loaded about 7 seconds faster.

  2. Of course IE9 won the test, Microsoft preformed it and they promote IE9. I say it should be taken again by a non-partial party, otherwise the outcome will always be based off a biased opinion. Chrome loads faster and has better security, but that is my personal opinion based off years of use since it first came out. Before that I used Firefox, IE has always been unreliable in my professional opinion as a computer technician. But once again, everyone has a different opinion and any test will most likely be based off that bias. Thank you for letting me rant, have a blessed day. 😛

  3. I don’t know about what’s the best browser, but FF is DEFINITELY the slowest one and has the most stupid bugs.

  4. Please update the comparison chart with the latest release of Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer.

  5. Update this analysis with latest versions.
    Chrome has more security extensions (Streak for Gmail, Adblock plus, and such like).

  6. I had strong doubts as I went through the results and gave a sigh of relief and disappointment at the conclusion. Didn’t expect Microsoft to give a result that goes against them.
    I wouldn’t have continued reading if I knew it was not conducted by an independent body.

  7. “Microsoft has compared” Missed that part initially. Too bad this is now out of date and was never useful since it was made by IE to make IE look good.

  8. I also had strong doubts on which web browser was easier or faster to use , but now as i looked through the results i am thrilled now to know that there are more differences even though they do the same job. The conclusion though was disappointing.

  9. I didn’t get any clarity among these three web browsers.Please update a new material for beginners.

  10. A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web. Many types of a browser are available on the internet. you can use the Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer etc.

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