Ninetails

Surfing the web is a commonality of our century, and to do that, you need a browser. Browsers are pretty much an indispensable tool on everyone's system, so it's only natural for users to want something capable and easy-to-use to handle and support their web-browsing sessions.

It's more than likely for people to use Chrome or Firefox than anything else, but what if you're looking for something new and different? With its main focus on user privacy by providing a tracking-free experience, Ninetails makes for an interesting proposition.

In an age where tracking and privacy-invading measures can creep up from all corners of the web, having a browser expressly focused on curtailing those practices can go a long way. This is immediately observable with Ninetails: the default search engine is Startpage, a privacy-first initiative appreciated by many. If that's not your thing, solutions from DuckDuckGo, You, Bing, Yahoo, or Google can be implemented in the Settings.

The installation process is automatic, and the browser will immediately boot up right after. It's a rather lightweight, minimalistic solution, and the interface and general experience exemplify that. Use it as you would any browser: visit your favorite websites, bookmark what's most important to you, and so on.

As the browser is still in the earlier stages of development, it's worth noting that some facilities you'd take for granted on Firefox and Chrome are missing here. There's no incognito mode, and there's also no way to check your browser history. In addition to that, add-ons cannot be added, and the way you're supposed to open tabs might seem cumbersome to some — you have to expressly move your cursor to the Plus sign, nested closely to the rightmost side of the interface, far away from your tabs.

For what it is, however, Ninetails is an alternative whose existence is worth appreciating: the initiative is great, there's just a bit more refining to be done to get it up to par.