IE8 improvised and added several new features including multiple processes and developer tools. Even with that they are still lagging behind Mozilla’s Firefox. Firefox 3.6 is scheduled for release this December, however, it still lacks several features already existing in IE8 and Google Chrome.

It will be interesting to see where the browser war is headed. Considering that more and more people are now living in the cloud and performing much of their work in a web browser, having the biggest browser market share is of utmost importance to everyone including Mozilla, Microsoft and Google.

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• Firefox 3.6 RC1 Coming November, Firefox 3.6 In Mid December

Removing each of these toolbars individually can be quite a pain, this is where a freeware called Smart Toolbar Remover, can come in handy.

Smart Toolbar Remover will detect all the installed toolbars and allow you to uninstall it from your PC with one click.

Techie Buzz Verdict

Smart Toolbar can come in pretty handy, if you usually install lots of softwares and using the standard installation instead of custom one’s, where you can approve each installation. These types of installation are where most of the toolbars get past your eye.

It can also come in pretty handy to perform maintenance on your browser and uninstall unwanted toolbars from your PC from a single location.

Techie Buzz Rating: 2.5/5 (Good)

Download Smart Toolbar Remover

Link disabled due to bad website reports from My Web of Trust. Thanks to a vigilant Techie Buzz reader Keith Petersen for pointing this out in this tweet. We will ensure to run more tests in future, and not promote software which has been flagged by users.

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In addition to that Mozilla have also announced, that Firefox 3.7 final version will be released in the spring of 2010.

Firefox 3.6 has some exciting features including a graphical tab switcher and the ability to install plugins and themes without requiring restarts. Firefox 3.7 mockups suggest that it might have some of the look and feel of Google Chrome.

Firefox 3.6 is something really big for Mozilla, who have been playing catch up with other browsers in the innovation department. It would be good to see the final version of the software in terms on new features and enhancements. We will be doing a review of Firefox3.6 Beta when it becomes available for downloads.

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PortableApps is a portable software suite, consisting of applications that provide you with tools for your daily computing life, including a web browser, open source office suite and a multi-protocol instant messenger among other things.

PortableApps have now released a portable version of Google Chrome, which you can download and use from anywhere. Once you download the installer, run it and extract the files directly to your USB drive. Once you have done that, you can easily use Google Chrome from any PC.

Techie Buzz Verdict

Google Chrome is pretty lightweight and allows you for faster browsing, having a portable application will ensure that you do not lose your settings, cookies and preferences when you frequently access multiple computers.

With the help of the portable version, you can easily have access to all your history and saved sessions. Very useful and a definite must download.

Techie Buzz Ratings: 4/5 (Very Good)

Download Portable Google Chrome

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If you already have Google Chrome installed you can click on the wrench icon and select About Google Chrome from the list. Chrome will automatically check for updates and give you an option to download the updates.

If you are looking for a direct installer for Google Chrome 3 you can download it from the link below. The download link is located on Google’s server. So rest assured it is safe to download and install.

Download Google Chrome 3.0.195.21 [Executable]

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Everything was going fine with Opera until they tried integrating a server inside the browser. Rather than inventing new things they should really concentrate on fixing the mess they are in now.

Oh by the way, did you know Opera was the first browser to come with tabbed browsing? They are really good with inventing and integrating new stuff inside their browser, but we need better browsing experience now. Here are some problem areas that I have been seeing with the latest versions of Opera.

AJAX

The problem on browsing pages with Opera is that, AJAXIFIED pages do not respond as they should. Instead, in most of the cases it reloads the whole page. Well that defeats the purpose of AJAX and consumes more bandwidth.

Take the case of tweete. When you hit the reply button, ideally it shouldn’t reload the entire page but it does. Does that mean Opera doesn’t load the entire webpage at first instance? Does it ignore the AJAX codes thinking they are not necessary to load?

Here is an article by opera dev team asking to make minimal use of AJAX in a page but the article is dated back in 2008. If Flickr, a photo sharing site, didn’t use  unnecessary AJAX codes the page would look like this. That looks ugly right?

TURBO

Opera has come up with a smarter way to solve the above problem of consuming more bandwidth usage by coming up with something awesome, Opera TURBO. It works on the similar lines of Operamini. But it works the best in Operamini and not on the desktop browser.

Somehow, Opera doesn’t remember cookies when the TURBO mode is turned ON. That’s quite annoying as you have to login again everytime you visit a new page on the same site.

SUPPORT

No, I am not talking about Opera support here. They are simple awesome, no complaints there. What made Firefox, a buggy piece of software, a worldwide hit was marketing. And within few months of their marketing strategy(remember Google’s message to use Firefox? ), I could see millions of sites supporting and modifying their webpage for Firefox.

I have never seen Opera doing anything of such magnitude. Why? It’s the time when you can’t rely simply on innovations. You need to market it properly. Ask webmasters to support Opera browser. Ask sites to support Opera.

Sites like Zoomin, Inkfruit, Mumbai university site and most of the Indian government sites do not completely support Opera.

Plugins

The reason Firefox became hit was Plugins. There is a lighter option for plugin in opera, javascript codes. But that’s not very helpful when trying to create something like StumbleUpon button.

The widgets in Opera hog up more memory than plugins in firefox. I don’t see what can be done with existing structure of Opera, but probably they could implement something for better integration of 3rd party codes in here.

That said, this does not mean my love for Opera has diminished even slightly. I just want it to give me a  better browsing experience. I would be more than happy to see Opera improving on these loopholes and making it a much better browser.

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As we reported earlier and as was apparent, theme support with some new themes for Google Chrome is now available. Google has released several themes for the Google Chrome browser.

The 28 new themes can be found here, on the Google Tools Page.

Install Themes in Google Chrome

You will need the latest development build of Google Chrome to install the themes. To install a theme, just click the “Apply theme” button. The theme file (in .crx format) will automatically download and get applied.

How do you manage themes in Google Chrome? This version includes a basic theme management in Options –> Personal Stuff tab, right now you can switch back to default theme or get new themes.

Most themes are simple and look mostly like Personas for Firefox. But it’s still in development and we should expect something good to come ahead.

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If you’ve been following the news off late, a lot has been happening around the P2P networks, P2P is just one aspect of privacy. The other aspect is history, cache, temporary files data that you may leave behind on your system, which can be misused by some smart folks around you for their benefit.

I’ve always been pro-anonymous web browsing. I’ve always supported the motion to browse the web anonymously. There are a lot of freely available tools that help your surf anonymously and one JAP is one such tool !

JAP or JonDo is a new commercial service launched by the same guys who launched the much popular AN.ON. JAP is a research project aimed at providing an average user like you and me, to gain complete anonymity on the internet while browsing our favorite websites without the fear of being tracked.

Here is a lowdown of how JAP works. All you have to do is download the JAP client for your version of the OS. Install the JAP client and then all your web traffic is redirected through the JAP servers and makes it anonymous. Here’s a pictorial representation of how JAP works:

The Orange computer in the middle represents the JAP server. So your client sends the request to the JAP server and then the server replies to the JAP server. This response is redirected to your computer by the JAP client. The end server will never know about your existence.

Let’s take a look at one of my favorite offering from the guys at JAP.

JonDoFox

JAP provides specially designed web browser named JonDoFox which is a custom designed Firefox web browser, which is optimized for anonymous web browsing. This is just a reinforced Firefox.

[ Get JonDoFox ]

Enjoy anonymity and as JAP puts it Anonymity is Not a Crime.

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There are a really nice internet bandwidth monitor we have told you about in the past, however we came another interesting Freeware called NetWorx which will help you monitor bandwidth usage.

NetWorx is a simple and free, yet powerful tool that helps you objectively evaluate your bandwidth situation. You can use it to collect bandwidth usage data and measure the speed of your Internet or any other network connection. NetWorx can help you identify possible sources of network problems, ensure that you do not exceed the bandwidth limits specified by your ISP, or track down suspicious network activity characteristic of Trojan horses and hacker attacks.

NetWorx Key Features

• Clear graphic and/or numeric display.
• Usage reports with export to a variety of file formats, including Excel, MS Word and HTML.
• Permits close supervision of uploads and downloads.
• Works with dial-up, ISDN, cable modems, ADSL, Ethernet cards, and more.
• Includes network information & testing tools with advanced netstat that displays applications using your Internet connection.
• Scalable to your own modem download capabilities.
• Option to notify user or disconnect from the Internet automatically when network activity exceeds a certain level.
• Speed meter to accurately time downloads and report the average transfer rates.
• Dial-up session journal with detailed information about every session.
• Absolutely free and does not contain any adware/spyware/malware

Download Networx [via]

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Microsoft terms IE8 as one of the fastest browsers on the market today, with features like Web Slices, Instant Search and Accelerators.

We will be doing a full review of the browser once we get our hands on it, in the meantime go ahead and download the browser.

Download Internet Explorer 8

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