14 DAY TRIAL // I don't know how to swim, and even if I knew, there's no place around for surfing...but, of course, I can surf the Internet until my eyes bleed (I have never done such a thing, and I wouldn?t encourage you to try this at home...or anywhere else!). Obviously, the software tool that you can't go surfing without is the Web browser, and there are a lot of good ones out there, despite the popular belief that you can count the worthy ones using your fingers...
The browser I have found today is called Fast Browser Pro, the latest version released is 8.1 and it's completely free to download, install and use. The setup package containing this program has 1.63MB in size and installing it was a pleasure. OK, so we got it, we installed it...time to give it a spin!
When I looked at this program for the first time, I got mislead into thinking that this is another of those Internet Explorer front ends that brings a few extra features and the most important one of them is the ability to open multiple pages at once (anyway, since IE 7's final version was already released, Microsoft finally has a multi tabbed Web browser, and a lot of people claim it's also pretty good - I didn't get to try it so far, so I can't say that yet). The truth is that Fast Browser Pro has an interface that follows the industry standard, but it also offers the chance to use custom skins, and you can customize its look and feel as much as you want. Don't worry, I am not going to tell you stories about the skins or how to use the tabs, because there are enough special features that I can hardly wait to show you...
First of all, I have to tell you about an interesting feature called Casual Surfing. Since it was pretty hard to find it, I will give you a hint: look to the right of the address field, there's a small button with a house and an empty page behind it, that's our tool. Its drop down menu gives you the chance to choose one of the six categories available, and when you press the button, you will be taken to a website from that category. I only had one problem with this tool: after finding over five dead links, I got bored of trying... Anyway, if properly updated, this one can be a worthy tool to have, especially since you don't see it in every browser...
Next stop: the voice function. Voice? It seems so; I have finally found a web browser that can read aloud the text from the pages I am surfing. To be more specific, Fast Browser has some really nice animated characters (the only one built in is Merlin, the wizard, but you can download lots of others) that will read the selected text or the text from the clipboard, and all you have to do is press the required keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+K and Ctrl+L, for the two situations that I just told you about).
The bad part about the voice function is that it uses some external components and you'll have to spend some time downloading them, but the result may worth your sweat - of course, if you enjoy such features. I can't say that I am crazy about this, especially since I am not blind yet, but it was a pleasure to find this here. After all, if I have to choose between two quality products, and one of them has something special to it, I always choose the one that stands out from the crowd.
Getting back to the tabs, I have to add that this program claims to be able to open 180 at once, but I don't know how many people on this planet usually browse more than 50 sites, at most... While playing with this program, I also noticed that the system load is pretty low, and this is absolutely great!
I found it really strange to notice that this program can recognize mouse gestures but you can't configure them...or at least I wasn't able to find the mouse gestures settings...
If you're looking for a translator for your webpages, there's no need to worry, because Fast Browser Pro has such capabilities, although I found some of the links to translation sites to be dead...
Advanced security features, the ability to clean your tracks from the browser, built-in groups, built-in notes editor, cookie manager or the ability to use proxies are only a part of the other features you can discover and use while enjoying this excellent browser named Fast Browser Pro. Are you ready for this challenge?
The Good
Fast Browser is fast enough, easy to use, highly customizable and full of interesting features that you don't find every day. The best part about this program is that you don't have to pay anything for it and comes with a lot of built-in Web locations awaiting for you to discover them!
The Bad
I have only two requests to make from this program. First, I would like the Help file to be more detailed, because there's a lot to write about, and some beginners may feel frustrated while using this program; second, it's really a pity to see so many dead links built-in...
The Truth
I can only imagine the feeling of the medieval explorers when discovering new lands, but I can experience my own discoveries today, and the software field is one of richest when it comes to hidden treasures. Fast Browser Pro is one of those treasures I am talking about, and I highly recommend it. Any other words are useless, so press that download link and enjoy this program!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
