Xooex

The main gateway to the information superhighway is still the web browser. Some of them managed to build quite a reputation over the years, but it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the best, or only tools out there. For instance, Xooex wants to put focus on navigation speed, keeping things simple.

You’re free to run the application right after download, because you’re not taken through a setup process to make it work. As such, it can easily fit on a thumb drive in case you want to use it as a personal web browser on other computers besides your own. Just make sure that .NET Framework is installed on the target PC.

A pretty minimalistic window shows up on launch, with an intuitive overall layout making accommodation a walk in the park for individuals of all levels of experience. Most of the space is where content is shown, with the upper toolbar fitted with the necessary controls to land on a page of interest, and view navigation history.

However, a little time spent using the application and you realize it’s missing most features on which modern web browsers rely today. On the one hand, bookmarks are not implemented, and the only way to quickly access favorite pages later on is through the history tracker, but it too can get crowded after some time.

Moreover, the application isn’t built to support modern types of content, especially multimedia, and there’s a high chance you run into serious errors on specific pages. Tab navigation isn’t possible, but you can run more instances of the application.

Bottom line is that web browsing tools don’t need to be fitted with too many extra features, but Xooex doesn’t even get the basics straight. Sure enough it quickly takes you to specified pages, but at the cost of quality on modern types of content, while flexibility isn’t its strong point, considering there’s no tab support, or bookmarks manager.