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I've spent so much time playing around with new browsers and e-mail clients lately that I thought I'd share some of what I've learnt. I started out by writing some fairly unstructured comments on my favourite software, but realized that it all quickly became incoherent and not as much use as I'd intended. So what you've got is this: a table of software, with some basic information. I'll add extra information on these and others as I get the time.
Palm/PDA section added January '05
All comments are just my impressions and I'm happy to be corrected on any errors.
Last updated: 18/12/2010... Opera 11 launch
| Type | Program | Rating | External Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web-browser | Opera |  |  |
| My favourite browser by a mile, and it's just got even better with the release of Opera 11 (December 2010). While other browsers have incoprorated many Opera innovations over the years, Opera still offers the most flexible and configurable experience out of the box. Mail and feed integration is excellent, and it's the only browser I can think of which allows you to place the toolbars where you want them. Great mouse gestures without having to download an extension, multiple ways of managing tabs, improvd speed (again), and integrated 'turbo' mode for improving web throughout if you are on a slow conenction (increasingly important with mobile netbooks). Latest enhancements include tab-stacking, enhanced mail, improvements to Opera Unite (serve your own files), HTML5 support, integrated debugging (Dragonfly), private browsing. Opera's renowned security is still the sector leader. Version 9 was released in June 2006 and among the ready-to-use out-of-the-box features are: BitTorrent support, widgets (small web-based application), IRC/Chat support, feed-reader, newsgroups, mail, tabbed browsing (which stays tabbed!), lockable tabs, mouse gestures, great zoom, fit-to-width control, ad-blocking, site specific customization. You can also add voice activated control and read-back. The latest version (9.5) was released in June 2008 and has a completely new look, anti-fraud features, improved speed and site rendering, great configuration control, mail/news notifications, plus lots of 'under the hood' improvements. I use the e-mail function constantly. It's excellent and very secure, with outstanding search capability. Oh, and Opera is the only browser currently with no un-patched security problems. Current Security Comparison. Version 10 was released in August 2009. Get it. You'll be surprised.
Features include: | |||
| Web-browser | Firefox | |  |
| This is the next generation browser from the makers of Mozilla. And it beats it hands down. Firefox is fast and simple to use. It uses tabs (of course), has a nice clean interface (which is easy to skin, for those into such things), and provides some good features such as loading links in the background. It is not as straightforward to configure as Opera. There are plenty of add-ons available via the favoured Mozilla route of 'extensions'. The ad-blocker is great, and the mouse gestures do a decent job of replicating Opera. Well worth trying. Minuses are that to get the best out of it you need to add 'extensions'. This is easy enough to do, but can cause conflicts and extensions aren't guaranteed to work with updates. The latest version includes various security improvements, improved updating and numerous other technical improvements. | |||
| Web-browser | Internet Explorer v8 | | |
| I have to admit that this is a big improvement over versions 6 and 7 but it very quickly emulated previous IE versions by becoming the browser with the most known - and unpatched - security flaws. That was and still is the major problem with IE. At least it has tabs. | |||
| Pegasus | |  | |
| This is what I'm currently using. Main strengths are considerable user control, ability to switch off html and other executable files, and solid filtering. It's very safe. The downsides (which loses it a star) are the awkwardness of setting it up for the first time, and some slightly odd behaviour when sending attachments (it inserts a folder reference into the copy in your sent mail, rather than the actual file. There are workarounds for this but it's not as simple as some other programs.) David Harris (the man behind Pegasus) is a true internet originator and the latest version (4.21c) is great. This is probably not the best choice for beginners, but having tried about half a dozen different clients it gets my vote. Update (1): been using this for several months now, running multiple accounts via different servers, with different authentication settings. I use the excellent in-built filters to sort mail so that I can keep control of what goes where. The more I use it, the more I like it. Update (2): although I'm increasingly using the in-built Opera email system because of its integration (I can see new mail arrive in a side panel without switching between applications), Pegasus remains my number 1 choice. Update (3): August 2005 - The public beta of 4.3 is out and is working fine. Most of the changes are in the background. Upgrading was seamless. Update (4): December 2005 - The full version of 4.3 is now available and includes security enhancements. Update (5): September 2006 - One other excellent feature of Pegasus is that it is the easiest email system to transfer between machines. Currently running it (with all my old emails intact) on a Vista 64-bit machine. | |||
| Thunderbird | |  | |
| This is a complete re-write having just installed Thunderbird v3 in early 2010. I'm using for an IMAP account which carries around 2.5GB of email. Installing was as simple as any email package I've ever used... I typed in a few details (username/password/email address) and Thunderbird did the rest for me. Nice search features, and very smooth to use. I still block all html mails. Overall a really good package. If you aren't using it but are looking for a straightforward, fully featured stand-alone email client this is looking the business. I'm very impressed. | |||
| Foxmail | | ||
| It worked. That's about all I can say about it. It's seems to originate in China and has a few gimmicky templates to use for creating new mail. I think it was these that frightened me off. They were not likely to give a good impression if you actually used them. Features seemed limited and it all felt rather like using an e-mail client designed by a 5 year old. Horrible (despite the great name). | |||
| Outlook Express | | ||
| The most popular e-mail program there is. Also the most popular method for propagating viruses. There you have it. It's about the leakiest, most vulnerable piece of kit on the internet. If you value security, use something else (even Foxmail). And if you really do insist on using Outlook Express, here's a couple of pointers: (i) go to Tools/Options/Security and click on the 'Retricted Zone'. This won't affect how it works, but it will be more secure. (ii) Never open attachments. (iii) turn off the preview pane view. (iv) If you want to check an email without opening it, do this: right click on the subject line and view Properties. Then select View Message Source. This will provide a raw text version that is safe to view. (v) Get every patch and critical update Micro$oft offer. (vi) Then get something else. Update: I just installed a new machine with the latest variant of OE6, and lo and behold you can now force incoming html to display as plain text. About time too. I'll add a star for that. | |||
| Mulberry | |  | |
| I use this for IMAP mail. It's provided by work so it cost me nothing. Mulberry is good, but impossibly complex to set up. It took me a weekend to get it right, and I ended up with 18 pages of notes on my set-up (which I forwarded to the technical support bods at work). I still trash the set-up every now and then. However, Mulberry is incredibly secure and has virtually eliminated virus attacks on the work email system. My own theory on this (apart from the fact that it won't execute anything unless asked) is that it is so complicated that writing a virus to trigger anything would be next to impossible. Best of all though is that it has a great address book. Really! I was surprised at just how useful an address book can be. The search and filter facilities are also top-notch. | |||
| Spam filtering | Mailwasher | | 
|
| In addition to an email client I also use Mailwasher. I've got an old version (1.33) which was free. The latest versions are available at a small cost. Mailwasher checks the headers on emails before they download and you can set up filters to delete spam automatically without downloading it to your PC. The latest versions are getting good reports, but 1.33 works fine for me and allows me to check nine different email accounts (on different servers) with one click. Wouldn't be without it. The current version is free for a single account, but you need to pay if you want to check more than one. I'd recommend using this (or similar programs). Because they only download headers they are very quick and they allow you to delete anything at source (or flag anything to download). One point to note: Mailwasher and it's like often offer a 'bounce' facility which purports to send an address-not-known message back to the sender. Don't use it! Server bounces are instantaneous. Any delay in bouncing mail that's been sitting at your ISP will prove that your account is genuine. The other thing is that so many return/reply addresses are faked in spam that the odds are that the 'bounce' will end up as yet more spam in someone else's mailbox. This gizmo saves me huge amounts of time. | |||
| News Reader | Agent | |  |
| Agent is a great newsreader. Solid, reliable and a pleasure to use. I switched to this after getting fed up with Outlook Express dropping new posts if you you synchronized too quickly. I'm using version 1.93. Version 2 has just been released. A free version (Free Agent) is also available, but this is a package worth the small fee Update: I'm using this rather less now (March 2005), the main reason being that Opera allows me to manage newsgroups via the browser interface. The big drawback with Agent is that's its clunky for checking multiple servers (basically you need to set up separate versions of it). This fairly significant shortfall for heavy users should be fixed in the next round of product updates. Update (2): August 2005 - Agent v3 has just been released, and I'm once again using it daily. Agent now handles multiple servers, has a great global search, automatically retries on server errors. All in all an excellent package. Update (3): I'm now on version 4, and further updates have been released. Still a great package. | |||
| File Transfer (ftp) | Filezilla | |  |
| Just picked this up and love it. It's a free, open-source package. Easy to configure, and very smooth to use. It can run multiple threads which speeds up uploading and downloading. One gripe is that it doesn't yet have sound alerts but that may change on the next update. Been using this for a couple of months now and have had no problems at all. If you are looking for a low-cost (i.e. free) ftp program I doubt Filezilla can be beaten. Update: (March 2005). Still no sounds, but I've lost my enthusiams for them anyway! It's a great programme. Try it. I even have a copy installed on a data stick. | |||
| File Transfer (ftp) | WS_ftp(LE) | |  |
| I started life with an early version of WS_ftp (LE) version 5.08, a free and very stable ftp program. And to be honest I've had no real reason to change it (though it looks somewhat dated now). I did try to go for an upgrade recently, but the registration failed for some reason. Have since picked up a copy of the latest Pro version (free with a cover disk). Looks good but has nothing I'd use that isn't also on Filezilla. | |||
| Firewall | Zone Alarm | |  |
|
If you are venturing on-line a firewall is a must. Recent viruses have been propagating via port scanning of IP numbers. In effect you could get infected just by connecting to the net. You didn't need to do anything other than that. Basically, a firewall will stop unexpected data entering your computer, and (depending on what you use) will prevent unauthorized programs sending data out from your machine. Zone Alarm is free, easy to configure and allows you to control outgoing traffic as well as incoming. My version is somewhat dated but works fine (see below). I just turn off all the alerts and let it get on with business. That was until a few weeks ago... Word of caution. Version 5 was released in May and is causing some users significant problems. The Zone Alarm forum has more info. In fact, I've had problems with all versions of ZA on the latest versions of XP, so have lopped a couple of stars. It's become more of a headache than it's worth. A once great product, now sadly and badly in decline. I failed totally to load any version of Zone Alarm on a new PC this week. Update: Most of the problems with the new release are reported as fixed and it still gets good reports from users. One star regained. I've abandoned nonetheless for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm operating behind a hardware firewall, so security is basically taken care of. And for controlling outgoing activity, I'm using the integrated software firewall that comes with the latest Kaspersky suite. That said, if you are running over a modem, especially broadband, do make sure you're firewall is enabled. Running without one leaves you wide open to risk. A product like Zone Alarm will prevent unauthorized software gaining access to the net. | |||
| Firewall | XP | | |
| This is built in to Windows XP and originally was switched off by default. This has been changed with later shipments of XP (hence the score is up to 3 stars). Anyway, it stops inbound traffic pretty effectively. If you're setting up a new machine make sure it's activated before you go on-line (Start/Settings/Network Connections and right-click on the network connection you're using. Go to Properties/Advanced and make sure it's ticked.) | |||
| (Anti) Virus and Firewall | F-Secure | |  |
| I get this through a work licence and it's excellent. Using a utility called Backweb that ships with it, it updates automatically at least a couple of times a day. I tend to leave it alone and let it get on with it's job. Hasn't let me down. If I had to pay for it, I would. It's non-intrusive and has never caused any problems. It's not fancy, no glitzy control panel or anything like that. Just good, simple virus protection that is as up to the minute as you can get. I used to use MacAfee until the settings blew up on me, but have never used Norton on my own machine (it looks very bloated to my eyes and judging by newsgroup reports can be problematic and a pain to uninstal). There are plenty of other AV programs you can use - several of them free - but I've not come across anything as straightforward to use as this, nor anything that updates as frequently. Update: (March 2005) I've just installed F-Secure Anti-Virus Client Security 5.55-SR1, an integrated anti-virus and firewall. The user-interface is much improved, and automatic updates are now in-built. F-Secure has the fastest update cycle of all the major AV prgrammes, which means the highest protection level you can get against new viruses. The firewall is also simple to use (but with high level control for advanced users), and effective. I'm hooked. | |||
| (Anti) Virus | AVG | | AVG free version |
| This is my favoured free anti-virus program. It's easy to install, updates frequently and seems very solid. As with all anti-virus software you need to set it to update automatically, and I've happily installed it in preference to Norton on numerous machines. Worth trying out. | |||
| Text Editor | Notepad + + | |  |
| OK, not the sexiest piece of kit on a PC, but since I create the whole of my website by hand, it's probably the most used bit of software on my machine. Notepad ++ is an open source project which colour codes the source text. This makes it easier to find bits of code and is great for editing html files. Before I found this I'd used the standard Notepad that comes with most PCs, occasionally using Word Pad. I then tried a series of different text editors, all of which were either too complex for me (i.e. did too much), or clunky in some other way. This one does everything I want (and does it very well). | |||
- Computing Corner: Sites to Visit
- Computing Corner: Software used on this site
- Computing Corner: My Opera set-up
- Computing Corner: Opera Skins
- Computing Corner: Opera Accessibility
- Computing Corner: Browser Security
- Palm/PDA section: Tungsten C Introduction
- Palm/PDA section: Tungsten C Customization
- Palm/PDA section: Tungsten C Skinning
- Palm/PDA section: Opera Mini on a Palm
