Just what we need.  Another browser to compete with Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and others.  Why introduce a new browser into an already glutted market?

First, you have to understand that this is not a stand alone browser.  In order to use Visual Explorer (VE), you must have Internet Explorer (IE) 5  or above installed.  Many IE features are imported into VE.  For example, under Tools, Internet Settings is straight out of IE.  Literally, whatever your IE settings are, they will be the same in VE unless you change them.

Testing the browser out, I find that the same problems that I have with Internet Explorer have been transferred faithfully to Visual Explorer.  Not a good sign. An example is going to the Blackberry Web site.   Neither Internet Explorer or Visual Explorer can find the initial English version of the Web site.  Once I choose my country on the initial Blackberry Web page, both of these browsers develop DNS errors and can not get there from here.

I have tried Google Chrome (slow but gets there), Firefox (so far my favorite), Internet Explorer (sometimes the only thing you can use) and Safari (great on the Mac but not what I want on a PC).  All of them have worked with Yahoo and Google, without any problems.

Visual Explorer is the first browser unable to initially bring up Yahoo without a problem.  Once I opened IE and logged into my home page there, VE suddenly had me signed in to Yahoo.  I was already logged into Yahoo using Firefox which had no effect whatsoever on VE.  It improved the second time I opened the browser, but still had minor problems that a “refresh page” solved.

Importing your favorites is not hard but it isn’t as simple as pressing “Import Internet Explorer Favorites”.  I had to copy my favorites folder to the preferences folder within the VE folder within my Programs on my C drive.  More complicated than it needs to be.

There are several great features offered in VE that you can’t get anywhere else.  One feature is the “Cloaking Device” that allows you to browse the Internet in stealth mode.  When you turn on Cloaking Device, VE will fade away on your desk top so you have to make sure you have the transparency set where you can still what you are doing.  I found that 75 percent transparency was virtually worthless but for some people it may but what they need to browse undetected at work.

Another neat feature is the Explorer Bar button on the left hand side of the tabs bar.  The button opens a side bar and allows you to access IE favorites, history, search functions, RSS feeds, your folders on your computer, and the source code for the page you are viewing.

An added feature in the tool bar is “Filter”.  This allows you to create Content Filters, Popup Filters, and Safety Filters without having to go through options or some other hidden panel.  You can also easily and quickly turn on or off Images, Flash Animations, Animations, Sounds, ActiveX, Scripts, and Java Applets from the same drop down menu.

Themes can be chosen from the options menu.  My favorite is Office 2007 which provides colored tabs so that you can easily differentiate between them and livens up the browser.

New tabs are easy to open with the little Tab button to the right of any tab already open.  Just click and a blank tab opens.  Once you have more than one tab open, a little page icon with miniature squares appears to the left of the first tab.  When you click on it, it shows you what tabs you have open with a mini preview of the page.  You can quickly switch to another page from there.

Under “Window” on the toolbar, you can easily duplicate the tab you are viewing if you need to click further in the site.  You can choose to cascade your open tabs as windows horizontally or vertically and easily switch between tab and cascade views.

VE also gives you the option to print or save Web pages exactly as they look on your computer.  You also have the option to edit Web pages using an image editor.

There are a lot of features in VE that are very impressive and unique.  Once the bugs get ironed out, this might be a great alternative to IE, except that you have to have IE for VE to work.

Over all it is a nice browser, attractive, with some great features, but not so innovative that it knocks your socks off or screams “use me exclusively.”

I still prefer Firefox.

Related:

Entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 3:04 pm under Internet, Reviews, Software, Technology.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
Stumble It!