Web Browsers

For Windows systems Internet Explorer is included and updated through the automatic update mechanism.  For Macintosh Safari is included and updated through the automated app store system.  While you will always have these available they are not your only choices.   We recommend everyone have a second browser to use if for no other reason than to make sure a web problem isn't software based. 

Internet Explorer has taken some well deserved criticism over the years but starting with version 10 really isn't bad.   Safari has always been solid but can be quirky at times.  Google Chrome and Firefox are both updated so often that sometimes their reliability suffers.  Nonetheless, all of these browsers are pretty good.  There are other choices beyond these that have some advantages too but these 4 are the mainstream browsers to be sure. 

Google Chrome is a Web browser by Google, created to be a modern platform for Web pages and applications. It utilizes very fast loading of Web pages and has a V8 engine, which is a custom built JavaScript engine. Because Google has used parts from Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox browsers, they made the project open source.

Most web browsers are free and frequently updated. Not every update is stellar but Chrome has shown to be less prone to version bugs than Firefox.  We suggest EVERYONE at least have this browser on their computer even if it is not their go to browser. 

Firefox is an actively developed free web browser with some unique features.  Compatability is good but not outstanding so you may not want to use this as your only browser. 

A special developer version is also available.