Opera is a proprietary software provider who has created a variety of tools for online users. The Internet browser is much like Internet Explorer, and serves the same purpose. But there are some significant differences that convinces a small number of Internet users to adopt this new browser in place of IE.

Opera has a great reputation for well-built products and their browser download is much smaller than Internet Explorer. Even on a dial-up connection, the Opera installation file can be downloaded in less than half an hour.

Opera beats Internet Explorer in a few areas where features are concerned:

* Visual tabs—you can drag the bottom of the row of tabs in your browsing window to change them to thumbnails of webpages. Also, when you hover over tabs with your mouse, a preview of the site appears under the tab.

* Tab bar placement. You can now move your row of tabs (or thumbnails of sites) the the left, right, or bottom of the browsing window.

* Speed dial—Opera was one of the first browsers to offer a page of thumbnails that function as a shortcuts to websites. You can now customize the number of thumbnails to 24 and change the background image on the page.

* Turbo mode—ideal for dial-up and low-speed wifi connections, this handy feature compresses images on the webpages for faster loading times! The turbo mode can be set to automatically turn on when the connection speed slows, or to stay on constantly.

* Mouse gestures—these shortcuts can be performed with your mouse to open links in new pages, go back, forward, or close windows with presets clicks and movements of your mouse.

* Image loading options—simply click a small button at the bottom of the window to switch from loading all images or only cached images to help with page loading. Or, if you prefer a more secure and even faster load time, images can be turned off completely. Also, right click on images that have been hidden or compressed, and you'll have the option of reloading that image normally.

You can find many other features that are similar to other browsers. Other simple preferences are available, like changing the colors and layout of your browser or adding your name and location information for fast form entry. The features page on the Opera website has more information.

Of course, Opera works toward speeding up page loading and protecting their users from dangerous websites and online threats. Opera has an advantage of not being very well known or used—unlike Internet Explorer. Virus and spamming attempts are often targeting the more well known browsers because more people are using them. You can download Opera or read more about their speed and security measures and techniques by going to Opera.com.

Opera may not be for everyone, but it is especially optimal for dial-up and other slow connection users who need a faster browser. It does look and work somewhat differently than Internet Explorer, so it's helpful to read up on how Opera's browser works and to check out all of the preferences as soon as you get it downloaded.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

If you like Google for its speed and simplicity, you might be interested in their Internet browser, Chrome. Google created Chrome because they wanted to start from scratch on a browser made for today's Internet. The Internet has changed a lot since the first browsers were developed. Chrome is simple and neat, but loaded with security, speed, and functionality features.

Google acknowledges their use of features already implemented on browsers, like Firefox Safari, to design Chrome. Chrome is an open source project, meaning that other can use from their ideas as well. One of the features you'll recognize is bookmarks. You can automatically copy bookmarks or favorites from another browser and instantly save a new bookmark by clicking the star icon next to the address bar. These features are identical to those of Firefox.

Like Internet Explorer, Chrome as the option of tabbed browsing and reordering the tabs. However, Chrome allows you to drag tabs into their own windows, or drag windows to become a tab of another window. Chrome also has “Crash Control”, which lets each tab run individually to avoid shutting down the whole browser if one tab crashes.

Chrome carries Google's tradition of personalizing and simplifying tasks, using the features from the homepage and Google toolbar. When you open a new tab, for example, you will see a thumbnails of previous and often visited websites to choose from, instead of a blank page. Also, while typing in the address bar, Google suggests visited sites and popular sites, or to run a Google search on the keyword(s) you entered.

Chrome was one of the first browsers to have a private searching option. While surfing “incognito”, pages are displayed as read-only, and nothing from these sites are saved on your computer. Google Chrome also has its own task manager. Just like Windows, Chrome allows you to track usage and running processes on the browser. You can detect what add-on, tab, or other process that is using the most bandwidth and end processes separately without disrupting the other processes.

Like many browsers, Google Chrome claims to be the safest and the fastest browser. There are so many ways to test this and different factors that effect actual speed, that this is difficult to prove. In fact, Chrome could work faster for some people or websites, where Internet Explorer or another browser would be faster in another area. Regardless, there is no doubt that this browser is well made and is preferred by a small group of users.

If you just want a fast engine and don't need a bunch of buttons and toolbars, Google Chrome might be just right for you. To read more details about Chrome features or to download the latest version of Chrome, go to google.com/chrome.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!