Some readers have asked which Internet browser we recommend as the safest, fastest and most functional?

If you use Windows on your PC, you know that Internet Explorer (IE) comes installed ‘out of the box’. That accounts for a great deal of its popularity. However, IE is also the browser with the worst history of successful malware attacks. Recent versions have made much progress in this area, but IE6 is universally recognized as the low point in browser security.

Browser usage share varies from place to place as well as through time. In China and South Korea, IE has approximately 90% usage share, whereas in Germany and Indonesia, Firefox has around 60% and 80% usage share respectively. In Belarus and Ukraine, Opera is the most popular browser with close to 50% and 35% usage shares each. Chrome is the most popular browser in Tunisia and Albania with respectively 47% and 50% usage share. In Europe, Firefox replaced IE as the leading browser in December 2010, with 38% usage share.

Interestingly, IE’s recent decline in Europe is thought to be explained by IE users switching to Chrome. The worldwide usage share graph tells the story. After initial popularity, Firefox peaked at 32% usage share in November 2009, and has been slowly declining since. Google introduced Chrome in September 2008, and after a slow take off it has now picked up 17% share and is clearly accelerating. Almost all of this growth has come at the expense of IE, which over the past three years has slipped from nearly 70% usage share to 45%. Most of the other growth is in mobile browsers, which now account for nearly 5% share.

So, what do we recommend? Chrome. If, like us, you used it when it first came out, it was not entirely stable, and seemed a bit sluggish. You should try it now! Chrome is now a very slick and polished product with some excellent features. Gone are separate boxes for typing in addresses or search terms. Now there is just one box, and Chrome sorts out what you want with amazing accuracy.

There are many other features, such as Incognito windows which ensure nothing is stored or changed on your computer. (Just type Ctrl-Shift-N for a new Incognito tab.) I especially like the ability to sync bookmarks, etc, across computers anywhere on the Internet, which means I have all my bookmarks and other browsing data brought to me wherever I use Chrome. And that doesn’t require an add-in! Also, check out the theme gallery. I like the James White theme/skin. And as a Windows and Linux user, I really appreciate that everything is cross-platform.

If you want to try it out, you can download Chrome here.