Internet Web Browsers - a personal view based on my experience of using them

 Both Apple and Microsoft have their own Internet Web Browsers, built in as part of their Operating Systems,  Mac IOS and Windows and I believe that the same is true of Google, but I have no experience of using that operating system so I can not comment on that. 

I know that for many Linux Distributions the first choice that comes with them is FireFox, but it is not built into them and is an application added to the Distribution.  Again, I need to qualify this statement by saying I only really have experience of Linux Mint, which is a very popular Linux Distribution, however many of the others seem to have it included as well.

If you do a search on the internet for a browser, you will soon discover that there are a lot of them.  I do not know how many there are, but it could well be 100s if not higher than that.  You will also see that nearly every site you visit has a favourite browser which makes it very hard to choose an alternative browser.

So why would you choose an other browser?  The simple answer is,  just as a back up to your main browser in case of problems with it,  you might not like the browser you have installed or for any other reason of which there are many.  Really the second browser is a matter of personal choice, because the various claims about the browsers, I really do not know if they are correct or not.  

FOR IOS

Safari, which is built in with IOS is a very good browser, easy to use and as far as I know as secure as it can be.  It is updated regularly and security updates often (along with IOS) often need no action as they are done automatically by Apple.  It is important to keep your system updated which will include Safari updates.  I like the lay out of Safari and feel very comfortable using it. Saving  favourite sites is easy to  do.  The only problem I have had with it has been with Facebook which is resolved by restarting Safari.

Both Google Chrome and Firefox work well IOS, my personal preference is Firefox.  Why Firefox?  It has been going since 2004 and I first used it then on Windows, it is the one browser that I keep going back to no matter which operating system I have used.  Firefox works well with Mac IOS.  The best thing with Firefox is that you can Block AI enhancements, which is something I have done when using it and it works as far as I can tell.  Other browsers which are "forks" of Firefox, you can use them, if you can find the installer, however I would not bother to do so because they tend to work better with Windows or Linux.

FOR WINDOWS

My first choice if using windows perhaps would be Edge, because of it being built in with it.  The times that I have used it since when using a Windows PC have been good and that is why I recommend it.  My other recommendation, if you do not wish to use Google Chrome or Chrome  based browsers would be Palemoon it is a very good browser to use and I am surprised it is not more popular.  There are so many browsers that work okay on Windows and everyone will have a favourite one.  I am not here to tell you which to use only to say from personal experience these are the ones I like.

FOR LINUX

I really do not know with this, because of my limited experience with Linux, only that from those that I have looked and used Firefox is included with them, so I would think that would be for a good reason for the makers to have done so.  

OTHER BROWSERS WORTH CONSIDERING

I can again only think about those that I have used and that has been mainly on Windows.  Vivaldi is a very good browser as it is very different to most others.  I have not used it on IOS so I can not comment on how good it works here.  With the newer browsers Brave is interesting, I found it works well, but there is the nagging about Brave Rewards.  DuckDuckGo is another browser worth considering.  I have liked it when I have used it and will be interested in how it develops which given the way the search engine should be very good.  

Points to remember 

What ever browser you choose you will have to do some setting up and make some change too.  Some, I have found easier to do than others, Chrome and Firefox are very easy to do and have many, many add-ons if you want them.  Both the pre-installed browsers, have a lot of choice and a lot of changes and extensions for you to choose from.  I tend to stick with things as they are, because it suits me to do so.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Every one will have a favourite browser and searching for one, really can be very confusing.  It can also take a long time to do a complete search.  Remember that many sites have paid content and are not totally reliable.  Look at the suggestions, but make up your own mind - Wikipedia will give you more information on the browser and I have found it a good place to check them out.  Do not hurry making your choice and remember the best browser for you is probably the one you are using !

KEV UNMASKED #AUTISMACCEPTANCE BY ME, THE HARDEST PART

 On 7 April 2024 I wrote a blog post entitled, Hello I am Kev and I am Autistic and now I am typing this one called, Kev Unmasked #Autismacceptance, because April has been designated Autism Acceptance/Awareness Month.  Why there should only be one month of the year when Autism Awareness/Acceptance and not 12 months, is not really logical to me, then many things are not.  What happens during the remaining 11 months of the year? Do we not be aware and not accept?  The truth of the matter for many is that it does not matter what month is designated, they will neither be accepting or aware of anything or anyone! 

I had written a very long piece about this,  which I was going to post and yet having read it back, it did not state what I know it should do, so I have deleted it, apart from the first paragraph.

As I have discovered the hardest part of going from the weird one with the temper, to knowing and understanding that there are others like you and there is a reason why you are like you are and there is a name for it.  This is all very confusing and you keep checking the facts out and the more that you do the more you realise it is true and it is you!  

Like most others, I had a fixed idea what Autism was and what it looked like in others, mostly children, that it turns out is just a very small part of what Autism is and while the fundamental parts do not change which allows you to know that you are Autistic, the manifestation of it is as individual as you are.  No matter how many tests you take, the results will always be the same each time. 

The next part is when you start exploring yourself and your childhood, well it was for me, as perhaps I just became Autistic !  I know it is a stupid thing to think, as you are and always have been Autistic from birth!  My exploring my childhood, made me realise why I got what I called "people sick", and so many other things, which I still do or need and perhaps, it was not a sudden explosive tempter, but a meltdown!  Then there were the many tests, the results of which I never got to know and why to a certain extent I was protected, because back then, Autism was not understood and many who were may have been thought of as being mentally ill (I do not know this for a fact). 

Finally, placing all the pieces together, when I asked those closet to me, none were surprised and just said we knew you were, just accepted it was you!  

I am trying to type this, to perhaps help me and perhaps help others.  I really have found it easy to say to other please be autistic aware and be autistic acceptance and tolerant of those with Autism, than I have myself.  Having spent most of life 'masking" that is hiding the person that I really am, being controlled by my environment and not being able to cope, the switch to being honestly me has been and continues to be hard.  

Kev unmasked and accepting that I am Autistic means I no longer have to pretend that I am a Windows PC like the majority of others, that I am an Mac and work with IOS and there are millions of others like me, we do the same things as the PC peeps do, just differently.  The PC and the Mac !  I like this metaphor  as it might make it easier for some to understand.  Being a PC might be fine for you, but it is not for me, just like your being a Mac would not be fine for you.  It has meant that I can control my environment better, to understand why things are intolerable for me and what changes I need to make so that they are.  It means I have learnt to tell others please act in certain ways, like going to the Doctor so that I feel at ease.  It has also meant for me that I have learnt better coping skills and these have led me to a better emotional and mental state.  Finally I am learning it is okay to be me and if others do not  or can not that it is not up to me be like them, just to be me and to be happy to be me.

The Autism Spectrum is wide and Autism shows differently in each person.  It most certainly not one thing.  Accepting that you are and always have been, is hard and yet it is also freeing, because at long last you can honestly be you !

We ask others to be Autism Aware and to be Autism Acceptant, perhaps we need to be that ourselves first and then ask them to be the same and not just for one month of the year, but for every day of every month of every year.