Hi, my name is Aaron, and I am a Netscape user (please applaud now). Well I am primarily a Netscape user. After all I do have a shortcut to it on my desktop and it's also perched atop my start menu. How did I get that way?

It all started when Jerry fixed me up for the Internet. Make that when Jerry fixed up the boo-boos I made when I tried to set up for the Internet by myself. He installed the full Netscape Communicator 4 suite on my computer as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.02 (the most recent version at that time), plus some other goodies. When I took to the net, I went right for Netscape, and have rarely turned back since.

My first love of Netscape Navigator v 4 was the enhanced leaping from the Forward and Back buttons! Microsoft F&B navigation was still at one-page-at-a-time. I also began to appreciate Netscape's more informative Status Bar. While Internet Explorer tells you it's either looking for a page or that it's found a site, and it has X number of images left to download, Netscape clues you in on file sizes, download speeds, download percentages and estimated remaining download times. This can be very handy information to know. It was really just your basic no-win version 4 vs. version 3 match-up.

That was the early days. Now the playing field is a little more level, as I now have IE4 on my computer. While Microsoft has come up front with longer legs for F&B navigation, the status bar is still not very informative. I do like IE4's importing of the bookmarks I accumulated in all my Netscape browsings as well as the up front accessibility to the History folder. I don't think I'm too terribly offended by the "obtrusiveness" of the History or Favorites windows on the screen when I call for them. For the record, I subscribe to no channels, and no, I didn't op for the active desktop (has anyone?J ). MSIE was my default browser (until I installed Opera for a freebie preview) for previewing pages viewing image files, and for surfing emailed URLs. With the improvements made in IE4, I could handle that with no problem.

As far as performance is concerned, Internet Explorer appears to boot quicker than Netscape, since it gives you the splash screen sooner. Netscape may be a tad quicker in opening images, but IE opens the pages themselves quicker. Sure you'll look at text with graphic boxes all over, but hey, text is important too!

And speaking of images, I have a peeve with IE. If you right-click to save images, you run a risk of installing new wallpaper on your system instead! C'mon guys! Give a bit of space please!

Internet Explorer 4 Right-click save: your new wallpaper if you're not careful!
Netscape Navigator 4: A safer, sane way to save images from the Net. Are you listening Microsoft?

In summary, this browser wars thing is just like anything else: Brand A does some things better than Brand B, and vice versa. I'm still primarily a Netscape user by habit that now bears no malice to Microsoft.

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