okay, my parents aren't going to get off of the dailup train and our computer is awful (863MHz 256MB of RAM). Runescape runs alright and web browsing isn't terrible but what browser, (of opera, firefox, IE 6, and IE 7) is the fastest?

 

 

 

And one more question! Could anyone tell my how to set a default web browser?[/size]

Have you tested them all yourself to see which is fastest for you?

my parents aren't really cool w/ downloading a whole lot of crap on my computer, plus i don't have a year for the downloads themselves, lol!

throw safari in there too

Out of those, I want to say IE 6...but if you decide to use IE, go for 7 anyways because of security..I know it's IE, but 7 is more up to date security-wise than 6. Personally, I'd go with Firefox, despite the browsing speed. But that's just me..lol

1) Using size 14 for your post isn't a good idea. It looks noobish. (good thing you borked the bbcode :P)

 

 

 

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

 

 

 

3) Opera is claimed to be the fastest (via various tests, consume with side of salt). FireFox would be another obvious choice to try out, though it can have some issues with consuming too much RAM at times, which would be a bad thing on a low end machine. You're going to have to try them out either way to see what fits your needs and your machine. If your parents forbid it, you're somewhat out of luck because us telling you what's best isn't going to be the best fit for you and your hardware.

 

 

 

4) I'd suggest staying away from Safari. The week it was first released it had massive security holes that shouldn't have been there, even for a beta release.

I personally use K-Meleon. It's a lightweight browser which loads pages well and is easy on the system resources.

 

 

 

I tested three browsers (IE7, FireFox and K-Meleon with six tabs open)

 

 

 

Firefox - 48,068K Memory used

 

Internet Explorer 7 - 54,524K Memory used

 

K-Meleon - 21,800K Memory used

 

 

 

As you can see, K-Meleon uses far less of your memory than both Firefox and IE7. For slower computers, this can be a great help.

 

 

 

It takes a little getting used to, but it is fairly easy to use and is similar to the Firefox layout (same engine as Firefox)

 

 

 

K-Meleon doesn't have all the extra bells and whistles like Firefox has (Add ons and the like) However, K-Meleon does well and has what it needs. It views websites well and Java, Flash etc all work fine.

 

 

 

I highly recommend this browser for your system.

Holy... I don't think I could ever go back to Dial-up, thinking about it. I complain when I'm getting less than 200kbp/s, nowadays.

 

 

 

Personally, I'd get a pen and paper and draw whatever browser you want. They'll probably implement a device which turns your paper into a fully functioning monitor by the time you download a new browser. :P

 

 

 

... Only kidding.

 

 

 

Er, I'd go with IE7, although, I haven't seen it run on a very out-dated computer yet.

Generally, Opera seems to score highly in page rendering, but Internet Explorer gets some loading help from Windows, as many of it's DLLs may already be loaded.

 

 

 

On dialup, testing the MTU (same way as broadband) and tuning the RWIN to support the maximum BDP, can give a small assist.

 

 

 

When I had 56k, I tuned the hell out of it, and even set modem options for speed range, force connection type (get a 42-49k or fail) - if you have pay monthly dialup, then forcing a good connection or fail is worth doing, if you are pay as go, then the connection charge for each failed connection means it is not a good idea.

 

 

 

Also, make sure the modem/com port is set fot 230400 speed - it can get close to that, with full modem compression if the data is mostly plaintext.

 

 

 

Another tip, maximize caching, in Internet Explorer, I would go with the "Automatic" option, which will check less often on content that appears to be persistent, more often on content that is dynamic, unless conditions force a check every time.

 

On dialup, testing the MTU (same way as broadband) and tuning the RWIN to support the maximum BDP, can give a small assist.

 

 

 

 

Just to give you a hand:

 

 

MTU = Maximum Transmission Unit: Basically, the maximum information packets you can send through an interface/network at a given time.

 

 

 

RWIN = Recieving Window (I think) -- Something to do with how much the user can recieve without actually having to accept it/information coming through without you having to aknowledge it.

 

 

 

BDP = No clue, and I'm quite up to date with my acronyms. Doomster, fancy explaining it? I would come away with something too, then. :P

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

I got a list, but have no idea which one you're referring to:

 

 

 

BDP Acronym List

 

 

 

Bandwidth Delay Product? I don't know. :P