If you're a power user, you can get used to some Microsoft Internet Explorer-related eccentricities. If you're looking for the most features in a Web browser, live with Maxthon 2.1 a while, and you may learn to love it.

If you want one of the fastest, safest, convenience-loaded browsers available, go for Opera. For speed and improved security alone, Opera 9.5 is a worthy upgrade.

BuySafe might have made sense when e-commerce was young, but in 2008 it seems somewhat anachronistic.

Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta 2 is much improved over the first developer's beta of IE8 and includes many new features, such as improved tab handling and better search. Consumers who want to see a preview of the future of IE and enterprises that need to plan for the next version of the browser would do well to download it. Keep in mind that IE8 is beta, and therefore may be buggy. In addition, if you install it, it will replace IE7 rather than run alongside it, so you won't be able to run IE7 and IE8, although IE8's compatibility mode does a good job of working with sites built for IE7. At this point, it's too early to compare Internet Explorer 8 to Firefox 3, because there still may be design changes. But when it does ship, it'll certainly be a worthy competitor. Its tab handling is superior in some ways, and the Accelerators and WebSlices are worthy additions. When a more complete beta arrives, it will be easier to do a real head-to-head comparison.

Google has produced an excellent browser that is friendly enough to handle average browsing activities without complicating the tasks, but at the same time it's powerful enough to meet the needs of more-advanced users.

An interesting and useful tool that is all the more valuable because it is free.

Are you sick and tired of Internet Explorer?

If you post multiple items on Ebay at once, there is no better tool available for doing so

Despite SeaMonkey's rough edges, its bundling of a browser, an e-mail utility, and an HTML editor in one package is appealing.

It's undoubtedly going to be a popular service, although there's some way to go before Webaroo can offer the whole of the internet on your hard drive. This program has a lot of promise, and credit must be given for sheer innovation. But is it going to be the next big thing? Only time will tell.

At first glance, Safari 3.0 seems a solid upgrade. There may not be any earth-shattering new features, but what is new feels well thought-out and improves on Safari's already strong performance.

This one-stop Web browser offers easy blogging and integration with Web services, but not all of its features are configurable.