If I try to remember the browsers that I used since I discovered the Internet, there are a lot of them in the list, but when I think about my primary browsers, there are only a few. Unfortunately, Netscape is dead and gone now, so the remaining ones are Opera, the big crowd of IE-based browsers, such as Maxthon, Avant Browser and others, depending on my mood, and Firefox, just as expected.

I know there are a lot of Firefox fanboys out there, but I am not one of those, believe me! I see Firefox as a very good browser, but I always found it to have a bunch of problems, so I never fell in love with it. No problem, there's enough time left for that to happen, but if and when it does, Firefox should really become much better than any browser in the wild!

Today, Mozilla.com also got updated, and this happened only a few minutes ago. I love the new layout of the site, mainly because now I can feel it closer to the user, being less of a corporate site and more of a user-friendly one, and you can understand whatever you want when I say "user friendly." Just take a look at it!

OK, these being said, I think we should leave anything else behind and get busy downloading and installing Firefox 3, don't you agree?

Setup
<-125x125 Button - left->
If you already have Firefox installed, I guess the Update feature is the best choice for having Firefox 3 up and running in an instant, but I have chosen to download and setup the program once again manually, because the built-in updater was extremely slow in doing anything, but this is explained by the heavy loads on Mozilla's servers today. After all, they want to break all download records today...

The file to download has about 7MB in size, and can be obtained using the link at the end of the article(you'll want to drop a comment down there, anyway!). Once you got it on your hard drive and you have started the setup process, here's what you will encounter, if you're facing the flaming fox for the first time...

As I always do, I have chosen the Custom setup mode, but you can pick Standard and escape clicking the mouse a few extra times. Before arriving to the point where you press Finish and make sure that "Launch Firefox now" is checked, you will have to (read and) agree the License Agreement, pick the setup mode, and if you have chosen my path, you also need to choose install location, then set up shortcuts, so you can add Firefox to your desktop, Start Menu Programs folder, and Quicklaunch toolbar...or not, finally followed by pressing another Next button, reviewing the install options one last time, then press Install and get ready to rock and roll!!

Launching Firefox...

Interface

Most people will surely install their favorite skin sooner or later, and those updating Firefox to version 3 won't even have the chance to see the default interface, but my advice is to switch back, at least for a while. Why?

Just as the new default interface Opera 9.5 received a few days ago, Firefox 3 looks better than its predecessor. Much better, I dare to say. The icons have been changed, the Back/Forward buttons are looking very interesting, and the one-click bookmark icon has been added to the address bar. I know I may be missing something, so feel free to let me know what I missed!

Features

"Mammon slept. And the beast reborn spread over the earth and its numbers
grew legion. And they proclaimed the times and sacrificed crops unto the
fire, with the cunning of foxes. And they built a new world in their own
image as promised by the sacred words, and spoke of the beast with their children. Mammon awoke, and lo! it was naught but a follower.

from The Book of Mozilla, 11:9
(10th Edition)"

Why the quote above? Well, type "about:mozilla" in the address bar and press Enter. Some consider this to be one Easter Egg, I consider it to be a great quote to start talking about the features packed inside what Mozilla claims to be "the best Firefox yet." For those who want to see something else as a proof that Firefox 3 exists, since the official page seems to appear and disappear, there's the screenshot below...

First of all, one thought - Firefox 3 still could be improved when it comes to memory usage. That should say it all, and I won't mention this again. It may be a feeling I get after using so many IE-based browsers that eat far less memory than Firefox ever did, but I know this can only get better. Good...now, let's see the highlights of those "more than 15,000 improvements," shall we?

As I was saying earlier, the thing that jumps right out in your face is the one-click bookmark feature. Everything is very simple - type an address, press the empty star to the right, and you have just bookmarked that site. Press the star, which has just become yellow, again, and you will see the window above, which allows you to set the options for this bookmark, including the tag, a handy new way of grouping bookmarks, apart from the good old folders.

Another side note - considering the way this feature works, a quick bookmark removal feature would also be welcome. If you ask me, I would go for a right click on the star, or a Delete option inside the window I have just shown you. Why? Think about trying to open a bookmarked site, and seeing that the domain has been parked, or that the site is no longer available in your country, and so on. Why click at least 4-5 times to delete it, when one click could be enough?

Obviously, Firefox 3 is faster than Firefox 2, just as expected. The score in the Acid3 test is still lower than Opera's, with 71/100, compared to 83/100, while Acid1 and Acid2 are both passed without breaking a sweat.

When talking about security, there's a feature called "Instant Web Site ID," having the purpose to help you "Avoid online scams, unsafe transactions and forgeries with simple site identity." It seems this is something similar to Opera's Fraud Protection, more or less...

Before moving on, one more thing - I don't understand why they still have left this behind, but Firefox 3 doesn't have mouse gestures! Well, you can't have them all...

When working with bookmarks, things have become a lot better, showing that Mozilla didn't simply watch those bookmark management extensions that appeared in the last years, without learning anything from them. The Library contains your browsing history, as well as you bookmarks, and you can sort them based on a lot of criterions, from name to location, tag or keyword.

Even more than just the above, you can save frequent searches in dynamic smart folders, saving a lot of your precious time, because these folders automatically update as your bookmark list and history grow. Pretty cool, huh?

The integrated Web Search now features smart keywords, so you can assign certain keywords to various search engines. This way, when you look for certain products, you'll use Amazon instead of Google, without having to change the default search provider. Even better, there are also search suggestions available, as you can see above.

As usual, this is only the top of the iceberg, because there's plenty to see in Firefox 3, especially when talking about security and usability. I guess that until I manage to decide which are my top 10 features of those that have been added, we'll have to be happy with what I noticed today...but you can help by adding your own observations, and I urge you to do so!

Final Thoughts

Ehem...all the official Firefox pages are now back to the old versions. I have no clue about what's happening, but I guess it has something to do with Mozilla's server being completely overrun by the incredible amount of traffic Firefox 3 can generate. We'll surely find out more about this in the coming days...or not!

What else to say about Firefox 3? I am impressed, honestly. I am not crazy about it, I didn't start to love it yet, because we have to get to know each other much better, and Firefox 3 is not one of those browsers to discover in a few hours.

So far, everything's good, and leaving aside the lower score in the Acid3 test, Firefox 3 may be even better than Opera 9.5, my current favorite, but only time will tell, because changing your primary browser is not something to do over night.

Developer: Mozilla
Price: free
Full version download: Download

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Do you hate Opera? I know too many people that don't like it, and in the last weeks, it even started to piss me off, although I use it as my primary Web browser. Anyway, we'll talk about my issues with Opera 9.27 a bit later, because there's quite a lot to say.

Now, it's enough to say that the long-awaited Opera 9.5 browser was released today, and since it was a pleasure to update it, I will share my experience with you, while trying to come up with one of the first Opera 9.5 reviews on the Web, and - hopefully - the first honest review, and written from the point of view of an old Opera user.

Setup

When I tried to use the built in update feature, I ended up with a strange message saying that Opera 9.5 wasn't available in my language, although I had the English version. As I saw this, I thought that backing up all my current Opera setup would be a good idea, so I started packing the Opera folder(primitive yet effective backup approach, when talking about Opera), after downloading the setup package from the Opera 9.5 download page, of course.

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->As you can see above, the first thing that strikes you in the face is the new Welcome screen of the setup program. It's new, I know, and despite the fact I've seen better, this one is simple, yet stylish, and has black and red - one of my favorite color combinations...



OK, so you should - obviously - select the "Upgrade" option when asked, if you are already using Opera, then move on. I had no special problems while updating to Opera 9.5, and I guess you shouldn't, either.



At last, be sure that "Run Opera when I press Finish" is checked, press "Finish," and get ready to rock!

Interface

To be honest, I don't see anything that special with Opera 9.5, when looking at it. Some icons have been changed, the Status Bar got a few new features, but it's not what I expected. So...what was I expecting? I can't exactly tell why, but I had in mind that Opera 9.5 will have a completely overhauled interface. Good for me, that's not true.



Anyway, since after updating, I remained with my heavily customized layout I had before, it's not a surprise that I still feel like using Opera 9.27, except the fact that now...everything is much, much better, as we're going to see right away!

Features

Features, just great! Now, let's leave the features nicely aligned, waiting to be checked, because I have to tell you about the problems I had with Opera 9.27 lately, problems which are now gone.

As we all know, Internet Explorer can be anything but a memory hog, which is not true with Firefox, for example, which is a very good browser, but a huge memory hog. Unfortunately, the same is true with Opera. Well, "it was," because while Opera 9.27 was using over 300MB of memory most of the time, in some cases even going above 500MB, Opera 9.5 only uses about 200MB, most of the time less, and that's in the same conditions - with about 40 websites loaded simultaneously.



In the last few months, Opera 9.27 kept crashing on me on a regular basis. Most of these crashes were not random, since I noticed that, as an example, when trying to download from certain FTP servers, Opera would crash. Opera 9.5 didn't crash so far, but I guess I'll have to think about this again in a month or two.

Next, we have YouTube and other similar sites. What's about them? Embedded Flash video players, of course. OK, what's that special with them? Well, lately I wasn't able to play any video content in Opera, because it kept freezing the video, and I had no sound. Obviously, same sites worked great in other browsers.

At last, there's speed and low CPU load when playing browser-based Flash games or video content. Opera 9.5 is much better than its predecessor at first sight, and I need no tests to prove that!

Since I said "tests," let's see how does Opera 9.5 handle the Acid tests, shall we? Anyway, don't expect screenshots, because it's enough to give you the scores and links to do the tests for yourselves, so here we go: Acid1 - perfect, Acid2 - perfect, and Acid3 - 83/100. As a side note, it's enough to say that, in Acid3, Firefox 2 scores 53/100, while Safari 3 reaches an impressive 75/100.

Opera has all the features you'd need from a modern browser, and even more - BitTorrent support built into the download manager, custom content blocking, tabs and sessions, mouse gestures, quick find, and others, but there are only two things worth being mentioned before I draw the conclusions...

First, there's the new browser engine, which Opera claims to be "More than 2x faster than Opera 9.2 in rendering JavaScript and HTML." I didn't use a timer to compare loading times, but it's surely faster, as I said before. This new browser engine comes together with a very useful Opera Link feature which allows you to sync your bookmarks between mobile phone, computer, and even more than just that.

Second, there's Opera Fraud Protection. Phishing, malware? No more! As you can see above, a dangerous site is market so you can't miss it. Just keep your eyes on the address bar, and be sure to report any malicious websites you pass by, if they are not recognized by the browser as "evil."

That should be it for now. I know there's a lot left to say, so feel free to draw your own conclusions, but first, let's see mine!

Final Thoughts

What do you think I should say about Opera 9.5? I love it! It wasn't about writing the Opera 9.5 review, after all. In the end, it was about restoring a user's faith into a program that started to become a bit of a disappointment. Did it work? Oh, yeah!

Opera 9.5 is faster, more secure and more reliable than before. Opera Link is a handy addition, and Opera Fraud Protection is one of the first bricks added to the foundation of a safer Web for everyone.

Weak spots? Good question! Probably there are still a lot of websites that won't display properly in Opera, simply because they were build for IE 6, in most cases, but I still have to bump into such sites, at least with Opera 9.5.

Leave the past behind, and forget anything you heard about Opera until today. Opera has just reborn, and if someone would ask me to choose a nickname for Opera 9.5, that would surely be "Phoenix." I'll be here, waiting for your own impressions regarding the best browser in the world today. That's it!

Developer: Opera Software ASA
Price: free
Full version download: Download

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Although Safari was released as a public beta on the 7th of January, 2003, it took Apple no less than 4 years to launch a Windows version, but I am sure this happened so late because the current status of the browsers market made it a better idea than before, and not because it wouldn't have been to create a Windows version back in 2003.

Anyway, since the beta for Windows XP and Vista arrived on the 11th of June, 2007, and in the meantime we arrived to version 3.1.1, a stable and reliable one, I considered installing this browser on my computer, and after playing with it for a while, I decided to write a proper review for this new browser on the Windows platform, so here it goes...

Setup
<-125x125 Button - left->
First stop, the setup process... Well, it is my pleasure to inform you that installing Safari can be as easy as 1-2-3, especially if you already have QuickTime or iTunes. Why? Each of these programs comes with the Apple Software Update utility, a tool created first to help you keep your programs from Apple up to date. Recently, Apple decided to help those using its software on Windows get acquainted with Safari, and the easiest way to do it was to include Safari in the Apple Software Update tool.

Being given the above, you have two choices - you can either open the update tool and choose to install Safari, or simply go to the download page (check the link at the end of the article), get the setup package, and install the program (that's what you should do only if you don't have iTunes or QuickTime already, so the Apple Software Update tool is not available).

Since installing Safari should be very simple, no matter how you choose to do it, I guess the natural step to take now is to talk about the program's interface, so let's get moving, shall we?

Interface

When it comes to the interface, Safari is one of the best looking Web browsers when using only the default skin, without any additional skin or add-on. Anyway, there are no skins for the Windows version of Safari, as far as I know, and - at least for me - Safari doesn't really need any skins.


As you can see in the image above, Safari has a nice brushed metal texture all over, rounded edges, discrete, yet easy to spot and use buttons, so most people should be happy with it. Switching between the Web page and RSS Feed view modes is very simple, with a single mouse click, in most cases, but that is taking us to the features of the program, so let's move on and see why should you use Safari...

Features

Before saying anything else, I have to repeat what I said in every article related to the Windows version of Safari I wrote so far - Safari is very fast, and that doesn't need any benchmark to prove it. Simply open some pages with your old browser, trying to choose sites that load slow, and then let Safari handle them. I am sure the difference in speed is going to be noticeable without having to count the seconds - I am not paid by anyone to say this, it's just my computer user opinion, and nothing more.


First of all, we have tabbed browsing. Do I have to say more? Everyone tries to do as many things as possible at the same time, and save precious minutes to spend with the family, or maybe to play some games... One of the interesting tab-related features in Safari allows you to bookmark all the open tabs, but this is also available in Firefox. Anyway, Firefox won't allow you to move a tab to a new window (although this may only be useful to a handful of people).


Next, there's the built-in RSS Reader. If a page has a RSS Feed available, all you have to do is click the blue RSS button in the address bar, and Safari will take care of the rest. There's also a search feature available, and multiple choices for sorting and filtering articles. Nothing too fancy, or extremely advanced, but nicely integrated, and it gets the job done.


As a side note, I have to tell you that Safari managed to amaze me with one thing - while playing YouTube videos, CPU load was extremely low, most of the time below 5 percent. No, I don't have a quad-core, it's only a dual-core AMD processor, which sometimes gets loaded up to 90-100 percent in the same scenario, when using Opera or Firefox.


The long feature list of Safari's Windows version also includes a very good pop-up blocker, enabled by default, the SnapBack feature which allows you to return to where you started easier than in most other browsers, Forms AutoFill, resizable text areas, "private browsing" mode, a very handy feature for those of you that don't want anyone else to stick their noses into the History of your browser, and that's not all. Obviously, you need to taste it, so you can really appreciate it, so I'll leave you here, and move to the "final thoughts" part...

Final Thoughts

As soon as Safari appeared on Windows, I wasn't quite interested in it. I have been using Macs for a while, and back then, about one year and half ago, switching from Safari to Camino was one of the first software switches I made on the Mac. Today, I must confess that, in certain areas, Safari is the best Web browser for the Windows platform. Obviously, it's not "the best" yet, but I will use it from now on for at least some tasks, and that's no lie.

No matter if you like Apple or not, please give Safari a try, or at least share with the rest of us your opinion, and the reason you are still keeping the distance. After all, it can't get any worse than having to dump your favorite browser for it, right? ;)

Developer: Apple Inc.
Price: free
Full version download: Download

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Since our last review of the FlexTk Professional software, this program got a few new versions, and now its latest version is 2.0.20. While reviewing it from the ground up once again isn't quite an interesting as I would like to, I will try to look at this new version, and compare it with 1.6.44, the one we have seen back in December. These being said, prepare to meet an interesting and handy Windows software for the first time...or simply "prepare for a new encounter with Flexense's capital ship, FlexTk Professional"!

Setup

Compared to the previous release I played with, the price remained the same - $25, and the setup package is just as large as before, having about 4MB in size. FlexTk Professional 2.0.20 is (still) available for free, as a 30 days trial version, so everything's just fine, so far.

If you have an earlier version installed, as I do, all you have to do is update the program by using the Update link in the lower right of the main window or, if you want, go to the Help menu and choose Check for updates first.

The other way is, obviously, to download the setup package and install the program for the first time, and since compatibility is no problem, you can run FlexTk Professional without problems on Windows XP or Vista, since these are basically the systems used by those that may need FlexTk Professional (don't tell me that someone still hanging with Windows 98 has a huge hard drive and needs to use this program!).

Interface

Compared to the other version I played with, FlexTK Professional 2.0.20 looks just as good, but a few new buttons appeared on the toolbar, together with two panels, Bookmarks and Filters. If you're wondering about those new buttons - we're talking about new features here, or features that have been made easier to access than before - that's what we need to discuss in the "Features" section, so let's move on...

Features

While version 2.0.20 added the hihg-end product, FlexTk Ultimate, I will stay aside for now. In the not-so-far future, be sure we'll check it out too, but now, let's see what's new in FlexTk 2.0.20...

Since last time, file copy performance has been optimized, and the file system bookmarks and filters views have been added(those that I mentioned in the "Interface"section).

Other than the above, we have a new rule-based file organizing tool, accessible via the Organize icon, but best new feature - in my opinion - is the almighty Search tool. "OK, so we have a Search feature, what about it?", you may ask.
Total Commander also has a great Search feature, but this time we're talking about a few levels of accuracy higher. To prove this, I will give you only a few names of the advanced search criterias available - "Search Files Containing HEX Pattern", "Search Files Categorized As", or "Search Files Last Accessed".

Just as a hint, by using this program's classification feature, combined with the Search feature and the other goodies available here, you could easily grab some huge hard drives, forget about burning data to DVD or CD discs, and fully enjoy advanced file management, instant data retrieval, lightning-fast data backup, all for $25!

I know the above may sound like advertising, but it's not...just grab FlexTk Professional and see this for yourselves!

The Good

FlexTk Professional 2.0.20 can handle huge amounts of data even faster than before, but the new features added to it are exactly what I was missing, although not quite everything I was missing... but it's good to leave room for even better future versions, don't you think?

The Bad

The Help file is still only available online, and the View features still need a lot of work. Maybe we'll have a multimedia viewer embedded in a future version? Just dreaming...

Conclusion

While FlexTk Professional 2.0.20 isn't quite where it should be to become my favorite file management tool, the road to that point is shorter now, and I am really glad to see that. These being said, I guess we'll talk about Flexense's products again in the not-so-distant future, so be sure to check this one for yourselves, until then...

Developer: Flexense Systems Ltd.
Price: $25
Trial Link: Download

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Portable media players, shortly known as PMP, are more and more popular each day, and they are not the only portable devices able to play videos. The problem appears when you have to convert data into the format supported by a certain gadget, because, unfortunately, there isn't any good video compression format compatible with the PSP, iPhone, XBox and so on. This is where an entire army of converters comes into play, and today's pick is called Aplus Video to iPod PSP 3GP PPC PMP (try remembering that, now!).

Setup

Aplus Video to iPod (and all the rest that follows, but I'll only call it this way from now on) reached version 8.68, and comes in a setup package as large as 4.4MB. Since downloading it shouldn't be much of a problem, let me tell you about the setup process...

Once you run the setup package, you shouldn't have any problems, as long as you're not using Windows Vista and have UAC enabled... Anyway, I installed Aplus Video to iPod on my good-old Windows XP, and it all worked perfectly.

If you're wondering about the limitations of the trial version I used, the answer is that you can only convert 20MB output files or smaller using it. Other than that, you get 2 buttons allowing yopu to purchase this program placed in the main window of the program, right next to the Play button, and I think one would've been enough. At last, the price required to register this program is $29.95, so let's push forward and see if you get enough for your money or not...

Interface

Aplus Video to iPod looks good, and that's all I need to say. While it's very easy to use, its interface, which is covered by a nice skin, doesn't allow you to customize it or at least install additional visual themes, but let's not forget the purpose of this program - it's here to help you convert movies, so the lack of 200 custom skins for it is no big deal!

Features

According to its producer, this program automatically detects your hardware and adjusts the conversion speed. Sounds good, but I don't understand why they didn't optimize it right for dual and quad core systems, because conversion speed was slower than my X2 4000+ is capable. Also, I couldn't find any Settings area, but I know a lot of people who enjoy programs that don't ask many questions, and they will surely love this one!

Aplus Video to iPod supports drag and drop, but be careful to choose your output directory first. Why? When I converted my first file, it was set automatically to D:\, but I don't have any D drive(my DVD Writer is currently RMA'd due to some problems)! The most funny part came when I ran a search for that file on my entire 320GB drive and couldn't find it. Anyway, no big deal...

To convert a file, simply drag it over the window of the application, choose one of the existing conversion presets, and press the Play button. What's not so obvious about the Play buttons in this program is that the one located in the toolbar below the small preview window allows you to view converted content, while the big Play button converts the original. Not quite straightforward, I must say.

Well, I know something must be added, and I am sure you'll help with comments. No, I didn't forget to tell you about the supported video files, because virtually all popular ones are supported, including AVI, Divx, ASF, WMV, WMA, MPEG or MOV.

The Good

Aplus Video to iPod is very easy to use, supports a wide range of file formats and it even has a very useful batch processing feature.

The Bad

I already said what I don't like, so I will repeat - it seems there's no multithreading optimization, so multi-core processors won't work much faster than single ones, and there are no options available for those that want to really get "in control". Also, price could be lowered with 5-10 bucks...

Conclusion

Aplus Video to iPod is a program worth trying, at least. It does not match my tastes perfectly, but I am sure a lot of people would consider it worth buying, and since it's free to try, you can hit the download link below and give it a go for yourselves!

Developer: Aplus Software
Price: $29.95
Trial Link: Download

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