Browsers

Thanks to the Netscape- Internet Explorer clash years ago, most all browsers are free now.  What you need to know is that Internet Explorer is NOT the only choice.  

First and foremost, QUIT USING INTERNET EXPLORER!  IE 6, which most XP and earlier systems use, is really a problem.  The average time between getting on the net and getting infected, is a matter of a few minutes.   Simply, don't use IE 6 at all.  

IE7 is a lot better, but don't have a lot of confidence in it. Keep updating it at the very least.  Plus, I don't like the interface very well.

A browser if often a matter of personal taste.   You can choose and customize a browser to look and operate like YOU want, and now what Redmond thinks you might want.

Find out which browser is fastest!

Mozilla Firefox

This browser is up to version 3.5.3.  It is very widely used.  The latest version is picking up speed, but Chrome is still the leader.  The best feature is that it is VERY customizable.  You can have colors, backgrounds, icons, pointers, etc changed very easily.  There are lots of plug-ins and add-on's & tool.    I recommend it.

Google Chrome

Chrome is FAST!  It is faster than all the others easily.  But it is really a stripped down version.  Not very customizable, etc.  However, for everyday browsing this is a nice tool.  And its fast.  I use it about half the time now.  Give it a try.

The biggest problem I have with Chrome is it is always sending info to Google about you so that they can target ads better. The other is that it is a bit of a spartan interface. It has no "bells and whistles", but that because it is built for speed.

SRWare Iron

This is even newer than Chrome!  Iron is Chrome without all the "reporting" to Google.  It runs the same way with the same limitations, and the the great speed that we expect from Chrome.
I definitely suggest you use Iron instead of Chrome

Opera

This browser is much less known in the US, but I hear it is very popular in Europe.   It has a very different look and feel to it than Firefox and IE.  The current version as of this writing is 10.0. It has sped up quite a bit and now is close to Firefoxin speed..  It does have tabbed browsing as well and other features. It also has versions for cell phones and PDA's, although they actually want to "charge" for it. (Horrors!)

I get more fond of it the more I use it.

Apple Safari

This is the newcomer to the pack.  It is up to v.4 (beta) and claims that it is 10X faster than Internet Explorer. It has a Mac style and look (as you would expect).  It is also rated as the FASTEST of the browsers.  To me it is a bit Spartan. 

Be sure to update this program as well.  There have been a few serious security flaws found recently, I believe most of them have been cured for version 4.

Others

The ones listed above are not the only ones.  Check out free-web-browsers.com to see others.  Remember, the key is security and what you are comfortable with.

Mail Clients                           

It is not that I don't like Outlook Express, Outlook, or Microsoft Mail but they are widely used that every hacker wants to mess those programs up rather than bother with a lesser known one. So, if you used one of the other mail clients, by default you miss a lot of the problems with email. They are not perfect, but I like them a lot.       

Thunderbird

 This is a fine program that works well with few exploits for hackers. It will also work with Google Mail. When you set up your account, if you tell it that it is a Gmail account, it properly sets it up with nothing extra on your part, which is nice.

I use it. You can set it up for all your different POP mail accounts and it can keep the mail together or separately as you wish. I highly recommend this one. The new interface in V.2 seems a bit brighter than before. Download it HERE

Evolution for Windows

I just discovered this while running Ubuntu Linux on a spare box I built.  Evolution is an Outlook replacement.  It has everything Outlook has except the high price.  It is definitely worth a look.

I installed it on my XP box and got a memory error upon exiting.  A friend got the error while in the middle of the program.  I don't know what that means, except it is probably not ready for primetime right now.  Soon maybe.  Bugs are fixed fast on Open Source Software.

Spicebird

Spicebird is a cousin to Thunderbird and others. It is almost an Outlook clone with all the extras.... calendaring, to do list, contact lists, etc. One thing I don't see yet is a way to categorize or make lists. It could be I'm missing it but there will be a way soon.
It uses addons and extensions like Mozilla products to customize it.
I've officially dumped Outlook for it. If you don't own MS Office with Outlook, give this a shot. It is still in beta, but looking god.

Online Clients

GOOGLE MAIL

 Free, and LOTS of space, 2 GB. You also can access either web based or using a POP mail client. This means that you can use Outlook Express, Outlook, or others to access your mail like normal.  Also, Gmail scans for viruses before you even see the mail.  Nice.

I get my Gmail via my Thunderbird client. Get one, or two addresses for yourself.

YAHOO MAIL

 Yahoo mail, while it is not a 'prestigious' address is very good at filtering spam, and is great for giving an address to sites you are not sure about. It is handy and free. It costs extra, though, if you want to access with your POP client like Outlook or Thunderbird.   You have "unlimited space" to work with too.

I have several addresses with Yahoo!. They are great "throw-away" addresses. You can give you Yahoo address to contests, surveys, and places that might send Spam, and you will get the vast majority of the filtered, and the rest you can toss, while only giving your friends your "preferred" address.

HOWEVER, I have recently heard of two reports of the mail and data in a Yahoo account just disappearing, unrecoverable.  I cannot verify this but I trust my sources.   Also, you cannot backup your mail unless you move to the paid service.  So, even though I've had accounts for years and not experienced any problems, take that into consideration.  But, if it is just a "throw-away" address or a "spam bucket" loss of data is not an issue.

HOTMAIL

 I suppose that I cannot ignore hotmail, though I'd like to. It has a horrible reputation for spam, selling info and such. It is run by Microsoft, and that is enough for me not to trust it. But, some folks love it and it works well for them. So, if you trust Microsoft, you might want to try it.