Posts Tagged ‘internet’

Are you passionate about your browser? Do you think your browser is the best? Then, this is what you have to read. Having a fascination for your favourite sports team, actor, actress and arguing about their greatness is an age old phenomenon, but today’s world of late have been arguing about their browsers with their friends and colleagues. From the famous Internet Explorer to the new Opera browsers there seems to be people arguing which is the best.

This argument arises because of the difference in their feature, security, etc. so let us discuss in detail about them. Internet explorer is the widely used explorer in this world comprising nearly 80-85% of the browsing market. Mozilla Firefox stands in the second place with 8-12% of the browsing market. The third, forth and fifth places are occupied by safari, opera and AOL respectively. Nevertheless, all signs point to Internet Explorer losing ground, which is even more worrying for Microsoft considering that more people are getting online than ever before. With more and more people getting online due to the availability of netbooks, cheap laptops like the Asus Eee PC 701 4G designed for going online, in addition to accessing the internet with smartphones, it is not a good time for Microsoft to be losing market share. When it comes to the question of quality there’s a tough competition among all the browsers. Once upon of time, internet explorer was criticized for its poor safety measure but the new version has equaled its competitors in every sense and so does their counterparts.

Experts were put in a very great confusion when they were asked to judge who is the best and in the end gave a conclusion that each one is best in different aspects. Though a few argued that Internet Explorer is the best since it is the widely used browser, many disagreed. Like this there had been a lot of argument over this title. Only time can say which is the best browser because a poor browser will have no place in the market.

The mobile browser war has reached to new heights in the past recent months. Google, Mozilla Firefox and Nokia are redesigning their strategies with regards to the development and revamping of their web browsers for the PC as well as for mobiles. However, Apple and Microsoft were strictly focusing on their own web browsers only, i.e. Safari and Internet Explorer respectively.

But now the Apple too has decided to show a ‘green signal’ to other web browser vendors to develop their respective web applications for its most famous product, the Apple iPhone 3G. With the approval of third party web browsers, the Firefox and Opera iPhone version is most likely to hit the mobile browser markets. In fact, due to its dominance Firefox may be the first third party web browser to be seen in the App store. This may be followed by Opera, Google Chrome or even Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But it’s only a guess as of now. The company has not announced the final beneficiaries that will be allowed to get a place in the App store.

The open source application; Mozilla Firefox is currently the biggest competitor of Microsoft Internet Explorer and disrupting the dominance the IE used to enjoy earlier. At present, Safari is the default web browser application for iPhone and may be the users get to use the Firefox’s iPhone version soon.

Just like any other web browser, Safari for Windows also supports Auto-Fill options to assist the users in filling out web forms. Safari uses information from different sources to complete the forms. The personal information such as name, e-mail ID, address, contact etc. is picked from the Address Book card. The browser can also retrieve the username and passwords that are saved in the keychain and uses its cache to retrieve any other information.

You can configure the information that Safari can use to fill the web forms. Just go to the Edit in the menu bar and select preferences. A new window will pop out. Select the Auto Fill tab and there you will find three options that can be used to retrieve the information via address book card, keychain and cache while filling up the form. All of the options have an Edit button besides them which can be used to configure the information that the Safari uses for Auto-fill. The feature can be especially useful if you are online with something like the Apple iPod touch, and don’t feel like constantly retyping all your information with the cumbersome touch screen.

Using the Auto-fill is very simple. Just go to any web form and select the auto-fill form option under the Edit menu. Safari will fill all the information it matches with the saved information for the fields in the form. If no information is found then it will intimate about this in a new window. All the items that are filled by the auto-fill appear in yellow in the form. If Safari does not recognise the fields it leaves it blank and you have to fill it up manually.

RSS feeds are one of the most needed functions of a web browser. As it keeps the users updated about the new content automatically the RSS are widely used by many Internet users nowadays. Thus it’s important to have a proper RSS management system as at a large scale it becomes very tangled and messy to deal with multiple RSS feeds.

Just like the other web browsers such as Firefox and IE, Safari also offers an excellent way to deal with RSS or XML feeds. It offers both the RSS shortcuts as well as a detailed panel to manage and search for RSS. If a web site offer RSS feeds then the Safari shows the RSS button on the extreme right of the address bar. You can simply click on it to view that particular feed. Wanna go back to the web site, then simply click on the RSS button once again. The one and only issue with the RSS button is that it only shows any one feed at a time. If a website hosts multiple feeds then the RSS button is not suitable for use.

To have a more detailed view of the XML feeds just go to the ‘Bookmark Bar’ under the Bookmarks menu and select ‘View all RSS Articles’ option. You will be redirected to a page where Safari will list all RSS feeds from your Bookmarks menu, Bookmarks bar and Bookmarks library. On the right side there are RSS filters which can be used to sort, find and manage the feeds. This can be tremendously helpful if you want to find a specific topic among your feeds, such as Apple related news, or recent information on Appe products like the Apple MacBook Pro. All you have to do is to simple search for a particular feed in the search bar provided and press enter.

Digital certificates are often used by the web browsers to transfer information in a safer way over the Internet. Apple Safari also makes use of digital certificates, if issued. A digital certificate represents your digital entity and the information associated with that entity. The associated information may include your name, address, contact number, business details or anything else.

A digital certificate is made up of three components. The first one is the public key that is used to decrypt the information. The second component is the identity of the organisation that signs the digital certificate and validates its authenticity. Such organisational identity is technically known as Certificate Authority or CA. The last component of the digital certificate is the actual information that the CA associates with your digital entity.

Usually a digital certificate is restricted for particular use such as digital signatures, encryption, use with web servers etc. The process of restricting the certificates for a specific purpose is called ‘key use restriction’. This is done so that a particular type of certificate cannot be used for any other task. If someone attempts to use a restricted certificate for any unassigned task then the attempt will simply fail. However, it is possible to use a single certificate for different purposes but it is not recommended as this liquidates the security. Obviously these type of security measures are especially helpful for ecommerce sites selling things like furniture, TVs, game consoles, washings machines etc., since valuable credit card information will be exchanged to purchase items from the site. Time constraints are also imposed on the digital certificates. A certificate remains active only for a limited time period and beyond that it gets expired and needs to be replaced with a new one.

Since Apple launched the Safari web browser for Windows it has earned loads of fans, but there are many Internet users who still don’t like it for various reasons. Now the latest buzz that is spreading online is regarding the font rendering technology which this browser uses. The main reason why the buzz took place is the difference between the font rendering technology of Safari and technology of other browsers including Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.

Apple Safari displays the font on the screen in the same way it appears on the paper. So one can easily make out how a particular print out will look. This however makes the fonts appear a little blurred which the Window users are not able to accept. As Microsoft Windows Home Premium uses a whole different font rendering technology, the users of this OS are used to see the fonts using Clear type technology which makes the fonts much sharper on the screen as compared to what actually appears on the paper. So they find it very difficult to read the fonts generated by Safari’s font engine.

Both the font rendering technologies have their own virtues and vices. I personally don’t find any problems in reading Safari fonts. In fact it’s good to see the fonts that way because it’s the true picture, and the blurriness is not too high. However some Windows addicts still justify the Clear type technology and wants Safari to support that.

One of the most attractive charms of Apple Safari for Mac OS X 10.5 is its private browsing feature, which is expected to keep internet surfing private. According to Apple, the Private Browsing feature leaves no traces regarding the web browsing done by a particular user. Normally Safari stores all the information about websites a particular user has visited. It also keeps information that has been entered in the search bars, forms and user id, but if the Private Browsing is on (which can be found under the Edit menu) then such information is not stored and another user cannot trace the web activities of the previous users.

Apple also says that if the Private Browsing is off then the Reset Safari option can clear all the cache but this is not completely true. Clearing the cache or browsing the Web in private mode clears all the site tracks but only for a normal user who knows how to work on the Safari’s GUI (Graphical User Interface) but one can still go beyond that and recover all the site track bypassing the Private Browsing and Reset Safari functions. If you share your computer, then erasing your browsing record can be almost as important as the role the Symantec Norton Internet Security software plays on your computer. You can go to the terminal and type the following command in order to track all the web activities:

dscacheutil -cachedump -entries Host

This will list all the entries with time and access date. To completely get rid of it you have to manually enter the following command:

dscacheutil -flushcache

One unique thing that Apple Safari for Windows has to offer is the Private Browsing feature. This is one of the browser’s special features that make it an outstanding resource to trust while surfing on the web. For many web surfers the internet is the main source for carrying on their business and they need an easy solution to bolster secured online transactions.

If your web browsing is your business then you can bank upon Safari. Once its private browsing option is enabled it totally makes all your web activities private. Your web surfing is completely hidden in that mode. While working in private browsing mode the Safari doesn’t store the Google searches, history, cookies, download history and the online forms. So there are no traces left behind. The private browsing option can also be used to empty the cache and clear all the previously stored records of web browsing, downloads, forms, search bars etc.

This way you can always prevent the online identity theft. Many laptops, such as the IBM ThinkPad R52, contain numerous security precautions, like a fingerprint scanner, to prevent unauthorised access. However, these measures do nothing to secure you will whilst onlin. That’s why using Safari’s private browsing feature is a great saviour, especially when using public PCs. It really clears all the private information which shouldn’t be known to anyone else. For example; credit card number or any other personal details such as contact number, address etc. So always remember to enable the private browsing option. It can be found under the Edit option pinned on the menu bar of Safari.

Apple Safari allows web browsing in a faster and quicker way. Its logo goes well with its functions. It is a compass with a red pointer which is used to distinguish directions like North, South, East and West.

The compass has a transparent glass through which one can see all the directions. Navigators and sailors use it to find distant lands and reach new horizons. Similarly, Apple Safari lets you explore any part of the world through speedy web browsing. Its background color is blue and the directions are highlighted in white. Looking at it closely, one can see it has a world map in the background.

The features of the logo truly depict how Apple Safari actually works. It is a web browser which caters to the demands of the whole wide world. It shows you the right direction, and helps provide you with the fastest surfing experience on your computer or laptop. It covers all the important aspects of internet browsing. Safari provides you with 360 degree of web browsing around the world. Internet browsing was never that fast and easy until Apple launched Safari. Of course the best part is that Apple’s Safari browser is no longer restricted to Apple computers, such as the Apple MacBook Pro (MB166B/A), but now also be run by Windows users. So, Experience an all new faster way to browse the web with Apple Safari.