For reasons that I won't go in to, my job requires that I use several different Internet browsers. I have finally managed to bring the number down to three. Anyway, for those interested in broadening your browsing horizons, here are various browsers you may or may not be familiar with (in alphabetical order)

Avant Browser
I've started to use this one more recently. It's more of a skin for Internet Explorer than a separate browser, and that comes with its own plusses and minuses. Since it's a variation of IE, security is an issue. I don't have to worry about it at work because I use it almost exclusively for internal purposes. It has a nice interface and some handy features for work that may or may not be useful at home. You can set refresh rates for Windows, you have decent customization on how it starts up (previous windows, etc). You can only have one instance of the browser open at a time, which can be limiting (though I find it useful sometimes, as well). When opening multiple external files (such as PDFs) it opens up in a the same different tab so that if you want to open two PDFs from the same window and compare, you have to be more conscious of what you're doing. The tabbing interface is surprisingly good for such a light program. I have not experienced any resource spikes while using it, which is very nice. Not a single pop-up has ever gotten through. There is nothing I've found that Avant can't do that Slimbrowser can.

Flashpeak Slimbrowser
This one was introduced by a coworker and have used it pretty extensively for over a year now. Like Avant, it is more a skin for IE than a browser unto itself. Most of the time it's very light on resources, though spikes are not too uncommon. Sometimes it has a little difficulty shutting down. There are some interface distinctions that take a little getting used to, but become convenient once you do get used to them. For instance, double-clicking on a tab will close it. Typing a new URL (or simply hitting Enter with the existing address) will open up a new tab rather than take over the current one. It makes tab use much more fluid. You use a single tab until you don't have anything to click on and then you close it. It may seem a little limiting, but I find it actually leads to more efficient browsing on my part. Though it is light on resources, it does seem to slow down the connection just a little. I only notice on 28.8 dial-up connections. One definite plus of this browser is that it works on old and obsolete systems, dating back to Windows 98 and very little RAM. Only allows one window to be open at a time. Unlike the other browsers, you cannot drag and organize the tabs as you would like. Not a single pop-up has ever gotten through. Refreshing sites with POST data can be tricky, which for specific uses at work relegated it to second-tier status -- I only use it occasionally these days, preferring Avant.

Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is the standard by which I judge all others. It's an excellent power-browser's browser. It's extremely customizable with all sorts of plugins and trinkets you can download. There is so far nothing that I've found any other browser to do that Firefox cannot with the right plugins. Unfortunately, it requires customization and plugins to become a really good browser. This is in contrast to Opera, which does most of what you need it to do right after download. Though it is not IE compatible the same way that Slimbrowser and Avant are, you can download plugins to make it so. In fact, you can download plugins to make it do just about anything, it seems. As Firefox becomes more popular, pop-up ads are unfortunately becoming more common (you can customize these away with plugins and settings, but it requires more work). Unfortunately, the piecemail nature of the program can make repetitive upgrading and installation tedious. Its handling of external files is both really good (it opens each PDF either in the window you're using or a completely new one) and really obnoxious (If opening something in an external file, it opens up the external app and then skips back to a blank window in Firefox to tell you tha it's downloaded, serving no discernable purpose). But despite the minor annoyances, if I could only use one browser, it would be this one.

Netscape Browser 8.x
The recently relaunched Netscape is similar to its sibling Firefox. It comes with more built in to the browser, but is less customizable. It has some irksome limitations like the inability to move tabs and no easy way to turn off the little weather program (which is otherwise neat), which got me in some hot water at work. It can be somewhat resource-intensive. No pop-ups that I have seen yet, though I have not used this one as extensively as I've used the others. There honestly isn't a whole lot to recommend about this browser in comparison to Firefox except that security is easier to handle and it does more on the initial download.

Opera Web Browser
If you want to only download the browser and do nothing more, Opera may be your best bet. Efficient tabbing requires almost no customization. It does a better job with IE-only sites than Firefox, though it's not perfect and has no plugins to make it so. Because it's not as big as IE and Firefox, very few pop-up ads get through its filters. Right now it's not worth the trouble for malicious advertisers. You can only open up one Window at a time and it has more resource-spikes than any other browser. I've recently stopped using it at work in favor of beefing up Firefox, though I still do use it at home for select browsing.

It's fun to experiment between browsers, though it's worth noting that they very often do not play well together. Slimbrowser, Opera, and Firefox in particular don't play well with others, causing resource spikes and the like. By "resource spikes" I mean the browser or browsers will start taking up 100% of the resources and will not stop until all of them are closed. It gets pretty annoying. Avant seems to be a team player, however. Not sure about Netscape.

Update: I forgot a couple

Ghostzilla
This is sort of a novelty browser. It is ostensibly so that you can browse without being caught, though its own creators tell you not to do that cause you will get caught and (if it's at work) fired. I actually had a use for it briefly at work during this strange period where we could surf the Internet on break as long as we didn't look like we were surfing the Internet (that eventually got changed to "don't surf the Internet on break" which is why this blog has slowed down substantially). Anyway, there are some sites that don't want to load with it, but those are pretty rare. There's just something neat about a covert browser that finds a good place to hide in your window configuration.

Microsoft Internet Explorer
I haven't used Internet Explorer regularly in years. The only time I have used it has been on Camille's computer, which runs so slow that even Slimbrowser stalls. The other day I was asked a question about how to do something relatively simple, and I could not for the life of me recall. I cannot think of any circumstances in which it is advantageous to use this browser. The fact that it still remains so prevalent makes me skeptical that Microsoft can be toppled, no matter how bad a job it does. All that said, I have not used IE7 yet.