MSIE is good for a basic browser, it's somewhat fast and simple. I like the interface.. as little clutter as possible.
But it lacks some minor details. Tabbing, Extensions, minor security issues.
Opera 8 beta1 is the fastest, but too many websites load incorrectly (primarily google sites) and i encounter many glitches while surfing... and the ad is HORRIBLY annoying.
Firefox 1 has many features i love. the EXTENSIVE extension library, nice theme support, tabbed browsing, MANY minor features including mouse/keyboard behavior and what not, and "moox's optimized firefox builds (best method to improve firefox's speed)." Also very little clutter (second screen shot) while i browse, my features tuck away nicely giving me a comfortable browse. (i use alt + <-- for back button, etc...)
I currently have these plugins installed:
Theme: Saferfox Xpanded by mankin
Firefox Version: 1.0.1 Community Edition build m3
Extensions: ...
--View in IE/View in Firefox (allows me to right click and switch to the differnet browser for that website
--FireFTP - basic program like cute ftp.
--Edit CSS - allows me to change the Stylesheets of the pages i'm view live.
--FlashGot for my download managers
--SyncMarks to synchronize my firefox bookmarks with my MSIE bookmarks.
--Forecast Fox for live weather updates (shown in screen shot at lower right of status bar.
--Google Preview to add thumbnails of webpages to my google searches.
--Sage (shown in screen shot) for my RSS(news/blog) feeds.
Too many extensions can cause firefox to load slowly. I have noticed the startup speed has slowed, but not a major differenore nor problem... browsing speeds are still very nice.
I am running the latest Zone Alarm Pro with adblocking and privacy features, Ad-Aware/Ad-Watch for my adware/spyware protection, NOD32 for virus protection. And all actively work very well as i browse while taking up few system resources.
My System (or that which may affect my setup):
Windows XP Professional sp2 with Longhorn Transformation Kit 9
Aston Replacement Shell
3.2e (prescott) Pentium 4 w/HT
1gig pc3200 Crucial ddr
Western Digital 10,000rpm sata drive
Software: ...
NOD32
Zone Alarm Pro
Ad-Aware/Ad-Watch
yup i was bored... how entertaining this is!
Even at that, my Opera works good on those. You can even still sign into gmail with Opera even though it says it doesn't support your browser. Just proves Google isn't perfect either!