Lab

Web browsers

A Google survey last year found that the average Briton spends an average of 164 minutes online every day, compared to just 148 minutes watching television. If we really are spending the equivalent of 40 days a year checking out websites, arguing with people on forums and hunting for bargains, we really ought to make sure we're using the best web browser software to do it.

Strangely, though, while we apparently spend more time online than gawking at the box in the living room, most of us don't get half as excited about choosing a web browser as choosing a TV. Yet it's just as rewarding when you find one you really like, and you don't even have to brave commission-happy sales assistants. Nor do you have to worry about the spiralling price of a bog-standard set, because all the leading web browsers are completely free.

Thanks to Microsoft's controversial tactics in the late 1990s, Internet Explorer gained a stranglehold on the market, all but extinguishing earlier browser giants such as Netscape. Apple Mac users remain stubbornly independent - they have to, since Microsoft doesn't make Explorer for the Mac any more - but among the rest of us, many users aren't even aware alternatives exist.

That would be fine if Internet Explorer was the best option, but in fact this once highly innovative piece of software grew fat and lazy during its market dominance, and sat idly by while the competition sped past. Now, Microsoft is playing catch-up while the likes of Firefox and Opera rattle off new features at a rate of knots.

Although some of these features are aimed specifically at certain kinds of users, many are useful for everyone. Take keyword shortcuts, which save you having to go to a commonly used search or reference site and then click in a box and type what you're looking for. Instead, to look up your favourite punk act on Wikipedia, for example, you can just type 'wk Wire band' into the browser's address bar and hit Enter.

When you want to find something within the web page you're looking at, type-ahead or incremental searching, where you start typing and instances of what you've typed start appearing straight away, can also save valuable seconds - and those seconds will add up to hours over weeks and months.

Not every web browser has to suit every purpose, though. Browsers are now being created for groups of users with certain common interests: we've tested Songbird, which focuses on music, and the excellent social networking browser Flock. Both offer unique features that prove innovation is alive and well, even in a field that many would perhaps consider slightly less exciting than an episode of Neighbours.

Over the next few pages, we take a close look at half a dozen of the best browsers money can't buy. They include the latest from the big names, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and AOL's OpenRide, but the two browsers scrapping for our Best Buy award are Opera and Firefox. Let battle commence!