TenBrowser

Surfing the web is an integral part of using a computer. Needless to say, you'll need a browser to start surfing the web, and though the mainstream offerings are outfitted with everything you would want in a browser, users who wish to do things a little differently do have their options.

Looking to number among those options is TenBrowser, a Chromium-based solution, whose design is quite similar to Opera's, in the way it uses a sidebar for users to quickly access some websites of interest. It comes packaged with an ad-blocker, as well as anti-mining protections, so that you can have a smooth, worry-free web surfing experience.

The design here is a minimalist one, and there are no options to tweak or anything like that. What you see is what you get. This can be both good and bad, depending on what type of user you are: if you're looking for modularity and customizability, you won't find it here. But if you want something modest and simple, this one will do the job.

Having built-in solutions to tackle advertisements and background mining is to be appreciated, but despite the Chromium core of the browser, you cannot install any extensions, be they from the Chrome Web Store or elsewhere. This greatly hampers both the versatility and usability of the browser, as it's quite normal — even for a casual user — to have a few browser extensions they cannot live without.

The built-in ad-blocker isn't very good. While it will block some advertisements, that won't always be the case. Ads on YouTube, for instance, will appear as if you had disabled your ad-blocker.

It's quite clear that the design is appealing. The interface is clean and modern, and the sidebar can assist with navigation. Shortcuts to WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube are present, and you can also access your bookmarks and history, as well as open and close tabs. This is your navigation bar, to put it simply.

The browser uses Microsoft Bing as the default search engine, and from the looks of it, you cannot change it. There seems to be no way to access any settings — at least for now — so you're very limited in terms of customization.

TenBrowser is an interesting new browser to assist and accompany you in your web surfing experiences, but too much of it seems quite limited, even for a casual user. It's got form, but it needs a little more function, so a little more polishing on that side of things would be greatly beneficial.