CompuClever Blog

Test Your Internet Speed

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Currently, one popular speed test site performs more than 5 million speed tests each day.  This speaks to the need of attempting to verify if our Internet is slow or suffers from periods of poor connectivity.  Stopping and waiting for a video or show to buffer in the middle of viewing or being cut off during an online chat session – these are sources of frustration.  This is especially true given the fact that we paid for a service and full expect that it should deliver.  When you signed up for a service you may have heard the boastful claims for fast download and upload speeds.  But, do those numbers hold up to everyday use?  And why do we face slowdowns?  Many service providers are looking at changing the monthly subscription model to a usage model.  What leeway do they have around charging more for priority services; and, what about government regulations in this area?  We’ll look into these concerns and we’ll show how all speed tests are not created equal.  We also have a list of phrases, terminology, and speed measurements to help with some of this subject matter.  We’ll start with some recent news.

In the News: Fair and Equal

At the end of February of this year, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to have the same rules applied to broadband as what is governed by the telephone service.  This is in the hope that ISP companies provide fair and equal treatment. This means net neutrality regulations will be adopted “…based on a new definition of broadband that will let the government regulate Internet infrastructure as it could the old telephone network.”[1] The good news is that there will be no blocking or slowing down traffic by service providers. They are also banned from offering paid priority services to charge companies like Netflix fees for Internet “fast lanes” when facing congested network lines.  The common carrier principle will mean that every customer gets equal access to the network.

There are critics to this decision – Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman referred to it as “…heavy-handed government regulation in a space celebrated for its free enterprise”.  There is a concern about the government getting too involved and applying new tax and tariffs.  President Obama has released a statement saying that “…there should be no toll takers between you and your Internet content”.  If you would like to find out more about this, including an instructive video, see this link: money.cnn.com

It is likely there could be further developments and this will continue to be a hot debate moving forward; be prepared to hear more about “net neutrality”. For now, it is useful for us to focus on what we currently experience with our Internet network speeds.

The Terms

There are several terms that require a quick definition for us to continue.  These are:

  • Download Speed:  This is the rate that data is transferred from an Internet source to your PC.
  • Upload Speed:  This is the rate of transfer from your PC to the Internet.  This is useful to know when you want to do a two-way chat.  You need to upload your data (voice and video) to the receiver.
  • ISP (Internet Service Provider):  These are the organizations that provide Internet access and services for using and participating with online activities.
  • Bandwidth:  We refer to Internet bandwidth as the volume of data per unit of time that an Internet connection can handle.  It can be thought of as the size of the “pipe” that feeds the data.  Greater bandwidth equals more data in less time.
  • Ping: A type of test to determine the communication delay between two computers on a network.
  • Broadband:  High speed Internet access.  In this case, “broad” means that several types of data can be transferred such as data, voice, and video.  It can be delivered by such means as fiber optics, ADSL, cable, and satellite.

Types of connection vary as do speeds of data transmission:

  • Fiber Optics:  Lines that consist of glass strands as thin as a human hair that carry digital information over long distances.  It is not distance sensitive like copper and you can download more in less time.
  • Cable:  Coaxial cable similar to that used for TV’s.  This provides greater bandwidth than telephone ADSL.
  • ADSL:  This connection uses copper telephone lines.  Simultaneous high-speed data is transferred.
  • Satellite:  A connection is made using a satellite dish.  It is slower than fiber, ADSL, and cable.
  • Dial-up modem:  Analog modem via telephone.  This is the slowest of options.

Speed:

Now that you have a better idea of the various components of Internet connections, let’s talk about speed of transfer.  If you have ever had to deal with using a dial-up modem you know how important speed of access is.  The units of measure for bandwidth speed are kilobit per second (KBit/s) or megabit per second (MBit/s or Mbps). While it may be challenging to wrap your head around 1 Mbps being one million bits of data transferred in 1 second, it is useful to get an overall idea of the average speeds achieved by various types of connection.  For example, the top speed for dial-up is about 56 kbps.  The slowest of the High Speed Internet options is more than 15 times this speed starting around 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps.

Good to Know:

  1. ISPs configure download speed to be faster than upload speed as there is typically more emphasis on downloading files to your PC.
  2. There are free ISP services in some areas where you can use the Internet free of charge but advertisements will be displayed.
  3. The average broadband speed in the US today is 18.2 Mps.[2]

What speed should you expect:  Follow this link: Types of Internet Connections to discover what speed you should be getting with your method of Internet connection.

Testing Your Speed:

We have examined four speed tests sites and provided the results here.  We focus primarily on ease of use with these sites.  We will also provide some information on the results in terms of accuracy and lack of accuracy.

The four sites we tested are:1) Speed of Me, 2) Speed test.net, 3) Speakeasy.net, and 4) Bell Aliant.

1. Speed of Me

Of our four tests this is the only one that is not powered by Ookla.  This means it could differ in its results from the others (we will speak to this later).  What we first notice when visiting this page is the amount of advertisements that are presented.  This site, like many others, gets revenues from other companies that benefit from users with slow PC performance.  As there are several ads we have a difficult time finding the place to start.  Eventually we notice a small “Start Test…” button.  The test itself takes under a minute to complete and was reliably the fastest of the test sites we examined.  The results, as can be seen from our image below, are presented in a bar graph style.  The graph is a great representation of what is going on – in this example, considerable spikes of Internet speed.  What we do not like about this test is that they point out only the maximum speeds.  For example, the maximum here is 7.42 Mbps.  We would have to guess at the average speed we would be getting and assume it is around 3 Mbps.

 

Click to visit speedof.me

2. Speedtest.net

There have been over 7 billion speed tests run on this site.  We can’t deny its popularity.  However, once again, we see a lot of ads.  On the plus side, it does have an easier place to launch from – there is a very visible “BEGIN TEST” button.  Again the test itself takes under a minute.  The results are less visually representative and the main results are provided: ping, download speed, and upload speed.  Unfortunately there are other ads presented as well. We do like the fact that speedtest.net utilizes ping test techniques to determine the closest server so you do not have to choose.  We don’t like the fact that the results are considerably different from the other tests.

 

Click to visit speedtest.net

 

3. SpeakEasy

Again, there are ads present from the first display to the final presentation of the results.  With this test you are required to pick a location although it is not clear as to which one you need to pick.  Most of us would pick the closest in proximity to our own location but it is important to note that web pages we visit on a daily basis can be located anywhere in the world.  This test provides the option to choose a location if this is important to you – all the other sites determine a server location for you.  After making a selection the test begins and then it appears to be doing nothing.  From our tests we found it to be the slowest of these contenders at well over a minute.  The results information displayed is minimal with ads taking up more space and the “Choose A Location” option remaining so that you can begin again.

 

Click to visit SpeakEasy.net

4. Bell Aliant

When you first arrive at this site you see only about three items: the name of the company, the “Ookla” logo, and the “Begin Test” button right in the center of the page.  This speed test is easy to run and as clean as can be.  It takes about a minute to complete based on our connection but you see the progress as it runs through various testing stages.  The results are displayed below and are more detailed than some of the options we have covered while still being easy to analyze.  The Download speed includes a small graph although it could be better displayed with actual measurements – that way we could determine if this is an average or the maximum speed.  Despite this we find this test to be the best of the four here.

Click to visit BellAliant

Speed results

As can be seen when examining the results of these four tests, the actual download speed can vary to a large degree.  In our case, from 7.42 Mbps (Speed of Me results) and 0.34 Mbps (from Speedtest.net).  If we are to throw away these two results and average the last two tests, we find that the real speed may be around 2.25 Mbps.  So why is there this discrepancy?  We don’t want to rely on taking more than one test and averaging.  In our example, we are testing using a Satellite ISP service.  We have also tested from a high-speed wireless service (requiring a receiver dish using line-of-sight), and from Broadband cable (coaxial).

Our test results

Speed of Me Download: 7.42 0.55 23.41
Upload: 0.66 0.49 2.91
Speedtest.net Download: 0.34 0.18 22.87
Upload: 0.11 0.15 2.72
SpeakEasy Download: 1.76 0.58 20.28
Upload: 0.17 0.31 2.63
Bell Aliant Download: 2.71 0.31 22.55
Upload: 0.36 0.28 2.65
(in Mbps) Satellite (as above) High-speed wireless Broadband cable

 

We found that the satellite tests were the most inconsistent.  The large spikes in connectivity depicted in some results graphs may explain the discrepancy.  The fastest and most consistent results we achieved were with the Broadband cable connection (TV cabling) with high-speed wireless showing more consistent speeds but being slower than cable and as slow as, or slower, than satellite.  The rule of thumb here is that direct lines (copper, cable, fiber optics) will provide the most consistent and fastest speeds.  However, this does not mean that these types do not suffer from poor connectivity.

Wrapping it up…

For now, we have had a good start into introducing this area of computing – one we use daily and take for granted.  In the next article we are going to look more closely at why our connection speed suffers and what we can do about it.  Stay tuned.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

[1] http://www.cnet.com
[2] https://www.fastmetrics.com

We’re Asking You to Set the Record Straight for CompuClever

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To our customers:

Andy Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

At CompuClever we pride ourselves on building a valued relationship with our user base.  It is our mission and mandate to build software that is reliable and safe and to establish a relationship with our clientele in such a way as to offer not only software expertise but also solid customer support.  We not only make ourselves available we encourage our users to contact us should they need to deal with PC issues involving performance and optimization.

That said, we would like to bring to your attention a service that has done us a disservice.  There is a website that users can offer their own reviews so as to rate websites and the products they make available.  The website service is called MyWOT (WOT standing for “Web of Trust”).  It came to our attention that CompuClever has received not only a poor rating but one that is inaccurate and grossly misleading.  You can see this rating here: https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/compuclever.com.  We were given two ratings of “Poor Trustworthiness” and “Very poor on Child safety”.  There was also one item of: “Previous blacklisting by a trusted source…”

How could this come about? Here are the details of how this happens:

  • The notion “Previous blacklisting by a trusted source…” is pointless and we contacted the owner of that blacklist and got CompuClever.com removed with almost no effort.  It seems like MyWOT enjoys leaving hints and traces about the bad aspects of our website without solid proof.
  • The current “Poor Trustworthiness” and “Very poor on Child safety” is based on low volume vote, for which MyWOT even admits:  they have “low confidence in its rating”.  This means that a competing company can rate their competition very low and thereby sabotage the validity of both this web rating service and the reputable company.

The only solid piece of information is in the section of “Information from third-party sources” which is obtained from Symantec.  Since our website is verified by Norton Symantec, it presents a safe verification: https://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=www.compuclever.com

We Care: Some might say it’s best to ignore discrediting acts such as this and keep on fighting the good fight.  However, the reason that we care about our current rating status on MyWOT was because its data is being used by some large Internet service providers and social networks like Facebook and DuckDuckGo.

What we would like: It is our hope that we can get real reviews by real customers so as to reflect the true product value we have devoted ourselves to establish.  We want real people to give real feedback and to counter the saboteurs.  Here is what you can do:

Steps:

  1. Go to this page: https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/compuclever.com
  2. Click on this link: “Please Register / login to leave a comment.”
  3. Fill out the info on the sign up page ( https://www.mywot.com/en/signup ) and follow the steps to create a new account.
  4. From the MyWOT webpage, go to the top right search bar and type in the website address: compuclever.com.
  5. Click the blue “Rate the website” button.

Bonus: If you’d like to have a little fun now that you have gone through the steps and signed on to this web rating service… why not try rating the website “mywot.com”.  I think it would be fair to say that it does promise to be a good rating system if only it didn’t suffer from misleading ratings that can be easily swayed by only a few invalid reviews.

From the makers of PC TuneUp Maestro, PC Clean Maestro, Ultra eBook Reader, and Ultra File Opener… we at CompuClever would like to give you our thanks for your patronage and support.  We are a real company, providing a real and valued service.  We hope to continue establishing this relationship in the future with you and others so that your PC experience is a positive one!


Andy Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
On behalf of all of us at CompuClever

 

Browser Repair

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We have touched on the subject of web browsers in recent articles but have not given full attention to one particularly naughty and crafty unwanted program that many have had the misfortune of experiencing.  How frustrating is it when we take the time to uninstall or re-adjust something on our computer and we find our efforts become undone.  We frequently see many people in need of our support services as they have lost the ability to restore their web home page and regain the overall functionality, look, and feel of their web browser.  The fundamental feeling to this is that their computer is no longer their own but is to some degree, controlled by someone else for another purpose or gain.  This is not right and we need to reclaim our PC and restore the ability to customize the web browser.  We’ll describe the situation to some degree and then point out the steps to take to uninstall the unwanted items and recover your browser once again.

Installing unwanted items to your computer can happen quickly and easily to the point of not knowing what you are getting.  The recent trend is to more easily accept free apps for our PC and because of this, distributors are packaging third-party and other, sometime questionable, software into bundles.  Bundled packages will include items that we do not want installed at any point for any reason.  The result, a user will typically experience unwanted changes such as their browser toolbar or home page being changed.  There is one program called Search Protect, that appears trustworthy based on its name and even claims to protect and maintain your browser settings, but it is a complete sham.

Unwanted Program:

The Search Protect program – from Client Connect; formerly Conduit, a venture of Perion – is known to be potentially dangerous in terms of being a browser virus that steals confidential information for third parties.  Less worrisome but still placing it in the realm of malicious software, it does modify the web browser targeting any or all of the following: search engine, home page, new tab page, and other settings, so as to point to a partner portal site.  From the Client Connect / Conduit website we can see the program in a completely different light:

Search Protect is a free desktop application that saves your preferred browser’s homepage and default search settings so that they can’t be changed by software you download from the Internet. Search Protect may alert you if a third party attempts to change your browser’s default search or homepage settings.[1]

The site goes on to say that you can use Search Protect to manage your browser settings but the reality is you have no control; the malicious settings remain.  The true known characteristics of this software offender include:

  • Potential malware can be installed by this program.
  • Hijacks aspects of the web browser (homepage, search engine, etc.).
  • Difficult to remove as it will re-install itself.

With the last point, some reports [2] state that attempting to remove the program can cause PC system errors.  Considering the program acts to guard the browser from any changes made, it would appear that you are stuck.  Not so if you have the right tools.

The Fix:

The steps involved in fixing and restoring your browser first begin with dealing with the unwanted program, Search Protect in our example, using PC Clean Maestro.

To uninstall the unwanted item:

  1. Open PC Clean Maestro and select the Uninstaller button in the left pane.
  2. Begin by searching for questionable programs in the Recently Installed tab as can be seen in the image below.  If you installed something within the last 10 days it will appear here.  If you do not see any items you can use the other tabs or enter a word in the Search box.  In this case the word “Search” would bring up Search Protect or other questionable programs.
  3. Select the program and determine if it is unwanted.
    4. Tip: If you are not sure about a program and whether to remove it… check the resource site: http://www.shouldiremoveit.com From here you will can enter in a program by name and get the goods on it.  You can also see that programs like “Search Protect” and many others with “Search” in their names are listed as the top most active programs to remove.
  4. Click the Uninstall button.uninstall_unwanted_program

The next step is to restore the browser to its previous state.

To restore the browser:

  1. In the PC Clean Maestro window, select the Browsers button in the left pane as can be seen in the image below.
  2. Select the browser tab (for example: “IE” or “Firefox”).
  3. Click the restore button located at the top right.restore browser

Once you have completed these steps you can now open your browser and customize your homepage, search engine, and other options.

Here is a list of other programs to be on the lookout for: [3]

  • Search App (by Ask)
  • Search Protection (Spigot)
  • Remote Desktop Access VuuPC (CMI Ltd)
  • Settings Manager (Aztec)
  • Wincheck
  • Mobogenie
  • Mixi.DJ toolbar
  • WhiteSmoke Toolbar
  • Delta Search toolbar
  • Oople Toolbar
  • Internet Helper Toolbar
  • DivX Browser Bar
  • Yontoo
  • Travelocity Toolbar
  • Entrusted Toolbar
  • Social Search Toolbar
  • VisualBee
  • Webcake

In Summary…

Applications and especially bundled programs need to be installed with our knowledge and consent and from trusted sources.  Having the ability to quickly determine what you have recently installed is vital.  PC Clean Maestro identifies installed items and effectively uninstalls unwanted programs.  With the offending item out of the way you can return your browser to the way you prefer it.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

[1] We choose to not include the website as there are reports of unwanted redirects to the website that have resulted in phishing attempts as well as receiving spam, junk email, and phone marketing scam messages.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_hijacking
[3] http://www.bitdefender.com/tech-assist/self-help/how-to-remove-the-search-protect.html

New Year’s PC Resolution

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This past year we introduced topics and subject matter related to PC enhancement. We intend to highlight the best of these as they apply to providing you the tools needed to enhance your PC performance and take action against unwanted behavior. It is our hope that you can take a look at our year in review and pick what you need to carry out your PC goals for the upcoming year. It’s likely that there are items in your computing world that need attention and here’s your chance to fast track to those areas that have been neglected.

We have chosen six of the most popular articles from 2014. Here is an overview of these articles in three categories:

Privacy / Security:
– Identify and Clean Cookies (July)
– Virus vs PUP and How to Remove Both (Sept)

TuneUp / Clean Up:
– Improve Startup (Aug)
– Spring PC Cleaning (June)

Support:
– CompuClever Free Functionality (Oct)
– DIY vs. Repair Shop (Nov)

Here are the PC enhancement articles for 2014.

Identify and Clean Cookies

About: Not all cookies are created equal. Cookies are created when browsing to particular web pages. While most are safe – especially when coming from a trusted source – not all are. While cookies cannot infect your PC, there can be potential dangers related to security and privacy.

Action: You can prevent cookies from being stored and you can delete existing ones. We focus on removal beginning with backing up your data. When you data is secure… PC Clean Maestro is well equipped to scan, display, and clean cookies and other items that are security or privacy risks. We also include information on how to set up your browser for DNT – Do Not Track mode.
Read the entire article here…

DIY vs. Repair Shop

About: In this article we give warning to anyone who blindly takes their PC to a repair shop. We highlight one case where a particular gentleman had been ripped off by a technician who blamed the cause of his PC troubles on a computer cookie planted by CompuClever! This brings up the question – who can you trust? Checking credentials is paramount. For example, CompuClever applications have approved Microsoft and Intel certification.

Action: This article assists the reader in determining if the cause of their issues is from unwanted software or from a virus. We empower the reader to take the right steps before putting trust in someone who claims to be an expert.

Step 1: DIY – Do It Yourself – when possible. Check for available free solutions.
Step 2: Use free available support. CompuClever has one-on-one support for direct PC tune up.
Step 3: If it is a virus… get the right information from a repair technician before you hand over your PC.

Read the entire article here…

CompuClever Free Functionality

About: We’re very familiar with the notion of “free” but… with strings attached. We see this whenever we download a free application and it includes around three or more extra bits of software that you have to carefully remove during the installation process. We took the opportunity to introduce our applications and show how anyone can use some of their functionality for free indefinitely.

Action: If you have purchased one of the CompuClever applications and you like what you see… here’s your chance to try out one of the others for free. If you want the full program you can upgrade at any time of your choosing. Here are some examples of the free functionality available:

  • PC TuneUp Maestro: includes free scans (registry, fragmentation, system tune up, and Internet tune up), system backup capabilities, and many other free tools to explore.
  • PC Clean Maestro: includes free scans (privacy, security and junk file accumulation), removal of junk files, plus the use of the Uninstaller tool.
  • Ultra File Opener: includes free Open & View, Manage File Associations, Submit Files for Analysis, and more.
  • Ultra eBook Reader: enables you to open eBook files, manage file associations, bookmarks, find tool for free. And that’s the short list!

Read the entire article here…

Virus vs PUP and How to Remove Both

About: This subject matter is complex and involved. We focus on simplifying it as best we can to define virus and PUP – Potentially Unwanted Programs. We find that users often feel that the occurrence of PUPs can mean they have a virus. This is not necessarily true and we want to empower our readers to take action.

Action: It makes sense to work on the symptoms first. If you have unwanted behaviours coming from an unknown source, you can begin by identifying the source. PC Clean Maestro comes with a newly upgraded Uninstaller tool that can assist you to examine what is a trusted application so you can remove what is not. As for viruses, there are free tools available and there are paid applications. We recommend the best place to start is with trusted free tools from Microsoft.

Note: One important last note we stress in our article and here… be very cautious when downloading anything. Take care during the installation of a program to make sure it doesn’t come with extra programs and functionality. Clear the check box of unwanted items and choose only the program you want!

Read the article here…

Improve Startup

About: We focus on one area of poor performance which can be very annoying – the startup time of your PC. Although we can’t expect that our PC will run as fast as when we first purchased it, we can adjust what programs first get started when powering up.

Action: You are instructed on how to use PC TuneUp Maestro’s Optimize PC tool. You will find it easy to review all the programs displayed in the list. Once you have done so you can customize how they perform at startup by disabling or enabling any item in the list.
Read the entire article here…

Spring PC Cleaning

About: This article is one of our favorites as it appeals to our instinct to clean and organize and we have used very easy and straightforward steps. In terms of “clean” we refer to removing clutter and backing up files we want to keep. By doing so we improve the performance of the PC and make our lives a lot easier in terms of accessing the files and data we need.

Action: If you are getting the feeling you have a lot of files on your PC and space may eventually be an issue… here is your chance to follow some easy steps. They include:

Step 1: Assess your space needs in terms of free space.
Step 2: Backup your files. – Not as tedious and challenging as we think –
Step 3: Deal with the junk using PC Clean Maestro. From scan to clean this is a fast and simple process.

By managing your files you are actively preventing performance degradation and you can take comfort in the fact that the files you value highly are safe!
Read the entire article here…

Here’s to 2015…

We thank you for taking interest in our articles this past year. May you rediscover the joy of using PC in 2015. Welcome to the New Year!

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users. If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

Browsing for browsers

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There are two main themes to present – choice and browser clean up.  As for choice… not all browsers are created equal.  Most all of us start off with what comes with our PC – Internet Explorer.  For some people, this is the only choice they know.  While all browsers have the ability to access your favorite sites and create bookmarks, there are very real differences between the top most widely used browsers.  This could be the time for you to look into the options.  As for browser clean up, we have new functionality to roll out with our PC Clean Maestro application.  As we are well aware, browsers start out with the basics and then, through the installation of extensions, they can get bogged down or in some cases are altered without our approval – most frequently, our homepage or search engine changes.  It’s time to take charge and have your browser function as you would have it.

 

Here is what we will cover:

  1. Components:  We’ll start with a breakdown of the components.
  2. Top Picks:  We’ll look at the top three browser candidates.
  3. Our App:  We’ll describe how you can make full use of our latest release of PC Clean Maestro.

Without getting into too many of the details and specifics of this technology we will point out some basics.

Components

We will focus on components related to what we see when we bring up our web browser, namely the user interface.  We will also talk about the items that are referred to as “extensions” that can be added to a browser after you have installed it.

Typically the user interface (UI) consists of three areas:

  • The toolbar area at the top.
  • Main viewing area sometimes referred to as the viewport.
  • The status bar at the bottom.

The toolbar is used for navigational purposes as it has buttons such as back, forward, refresh, stop, and home (to get you back to your homepage).  It also has an address bar so you can type in a web address and you likely have a search bar to enter in words that can bring up a list of applicable web pages to the subject you are interested.

Two Most Frequently Altered Areas of the Browser: We get a lot of feedback and reports of how alterations have been made to the Search engine and the homepage.  The Search engine is designed to search for information and content on the Internet.  Examples include Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo! Search and the like.  These are sophisticated programs that crawl the web and quickly provide results of your inquiry.  A homepage is the page you first see and want to access when you open your browser.

All users want to make a choice of a Search engine and homepage that they are both familiar with and meet their needs.  It becomes all that more frustrating when installing something that modifies these areas of your browser without consent.  We will show you how to return your browser to its default settings in a later section of the article.

Extensions: Components that can be added to the browser to increase functionality are referred to as extensions.  These can be in the form of toolbars and other add-ons or plug-ins.  Examples include toolbar extensions to provide some specific functionality such as web searching using a specific search engine, better access to installed applications, or providing convenient links or categorizations of media sites.  In some cases they can provide extra functionality as with Ad blockers that block ads on the sites you visit and terminate items that collect and send your data.  The challenge with all extensions is identifying what each of these are, making absolutely sure they are from trusted sources, and knowing that they are not bogging down your browsing experience.

Top Picks:

Google Chrome came into the browser fray in 2008 and this brought about new advances in browser technology in terms of speed, standards, and design which forced the other players to catch up.  And catch up they did.  One review by PCMag put the independent open source Mozilla Firefox at the top of their list for best browser:

With a beautifully redesigned interface, excellent performance, thrifty memory use, helpful browsing tools, and leading customizability… [1]

But the “best” is a matter of preference and to a large extent will depend on your needs. The three most commonly used browsers are: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft IE.  These take top honors and we can focus our attention on them.

Most Popular:  In terms of popularity, at this time Google Chrome ranks number one, with Mozilla Firefox second and IE in third place.[2]

Speed: Most reports[3,4] related to speed (startup and web page load times), put Chrome at the top followed by Firefox and then IE.  It is important to note, no browser reviewed here is in any way sluggish and there are trade-offs for speed as described below.  Based on our experience of browsers, we concur with these findings.

Operating System (OS): Finding the right browser can depend to a great extent on what OS you are running on your PC.

  • Windows 8: If you use touch screen technology then IE is the best choice.  However, both Firefox and Chrome are better in terms of being expandable and offering device synchronization of program settings.
  • Windows 7: IE has some advantages (easy to use), but both Firefox and Chrome are better in terms of expandable functionality.
  • Windows XP:  The best choice is Google Chrome based on how far back it supports early versions of XP. IE is not supported on Windows XP.

Privacy: The three browsers each have private browsing modes.  Firefox and Chrome lead the way in this arena.  Note: browser privacy means not saving cookies or browsing history but does not protect you from websites that can collect or share information about you.  To take it to the next level you need to look into extensions, such as HTTPS Everywhere, Disconnect, or AdBlock Plus.

Extensions:  Firefox takes top place with a combination of add-ons, pin tabs, web apps and more.  Next in line is Chrome which taps into Chrome desktop apps and Google Now notifications.

Google Chrome:
+ fast and reliable
+ good customization with exclusive access to the Google store extensions
– fast but uses up considerable computer memory; sluggish on older PC’s
– some operations are not very intuitive
– compatibility issues on some sites (especially if using the 32-bit version) 

Mozilla Firefox:
+ open-source means available to all developers; transparent and trustworthy
+ good set of available extensions for customization and functionality
+ intuitive in terms of creating bookmarks and changing options
– slower than Chrome for starting up and for loading web pages
– requires considerable memory; sluggish for older PC’s
– compatibility issues with some sites; you sometimes have to install add-ons

Internet Explorer (IE):
+ easiest browser to use in terms of functionality
+ fewest compatibility issues
+ fully compatible with Windows 8 and has access to Windows store add-ons
– not as customizable and less extended functionality
– it has a history of being exploited and plagued by security issues
– slower than Chrome and Firefox by some reports
– also requires considerable PC resources

Price:  When making your choice you will want to know what the costs are and what it takes to try out a new browser.  Internet Explorer is included with Windows operating systems and can be downloaded for free.  All browsers are free to download and run and you simply have to go to the website (such as Mozilla.org or Google.com).  This makes it possible to pick and choose one – or more than one – without worrying about the price tag.

Browser Clean Up with PC Clean Maestro

:
Making a decision about which browser to use could depend largely on how well you can customize it and take advantage of extended functionality.  However, some things have a way of taking on a life of their own.  You can start off small – with the basics – and soon you have more than you bargained for.  This can happen all too easily with browser extensions.  At times these little program tidbits can get installed without our expressed knowledge or consent.  Situations occur where your homepage or our favorite search engine is modified.  In the worst case scenario, rogue or malicious software can make alterations we do not want.

The most recent version of PC Clean Maestro now comes with new functionality to provide you the ability to examine browser extensions and disable them.  Once you open the program you can click on the “Browsers” tab in the left pane and you will see the following:

Now the steps are easy…

  1. Review the list and select an item.  Note: you can also search for an item by typing the name in the Search box and then make a selection.
  2. Click the applicable action button: Disable or Enable.

You’ll note with the example above that extensions are organized in categories specific to the type of browser you are using.  Also, as in this case, more than one browser can be installed to your system and you can examine these one at a time using the tabs at the top (for example, “Chrome” or “Firefox”).

Restoring Settings:  You can easily restore the browser settings that you had by default when first using your browser.  This is especially useful if they have been altered without your consent.  Frequently, new software installations like to make changes to your search engine or your homepage to direct your web surfing.  To restore your settings do the following:

  1. At the top of the Browsers page, select the browser tab (“Chrome”, “Firefox”, or “IE”).
  2. Click the Restore button located at the top right.

Note:  If you have customized your settings you will have to repeat the process by opening up the Browser settings and choosing the homepage and search engine of your choice.

In Summary:

Being able to pick a winner from the top three most popular browsers is a personal decision for most of us but one that needs to be based on PC capabilities and individual needs.  We appreciate that there are these choices available to us and that the competition spurs on better technology.  We promote good ethics when it comes to PC technology.  Browser extensions need to be installed with our knowledge and consent and from trusted sources.  PC Clean Maestro offers the ability to have you turn off add-ons that are unwanted.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com


[1] http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365692,00.asp
[2] http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
[3] http://shirleycomputerservices.co.uk/blog/pros-and-cons-of-browsers/
[4] http://www.pcworld.com/article/2605933/browser-comparison-how-the-five-leaders-stack-up-in-speed-ease-of-use-and-more.html