Which browser is less demanding. Which browser should I install on my old PC? Fast, secure and lightweight Comodo Dragon browser from Comodo

Since the emergence of the World Wide Web, called the Internet, surfing tools have begun to develop at a breakneck pace. Web browsers are used as the main tool. But not all of them are equal in their capabilities and the load they can put on the system. Let's try to figure out which browser loads the system the least, taking into account the main technical characteristics and reviews of ordinary users.

What is the load on the system?

To understand the meaning of the load, you should directly examine the currently loading content contained on a specific web resource. It is clear that if the site is a resource that presents exclusively text, there is nothing to talk about. The system reads text in any encoding and doesn’t really strain itself.

The question of which browser loads the system the least should be considered from the point of view of multimedia content or development tools provided by the browsers themselves.

If we talk about multimedia, it’s immediately worth considering that the processing tools provided in the main versions of programs are often supplemented by a fairly large number of special plug-ins. Take, for example, the same Adobe Flash Player, which is responsible for high-quality reproduction of animation, graphics and sound.

Thus, the relevant question will be not so much about which browser consumes the least resources, but about how resource-intensive the additional plugin is, because the browser itself in its pure form may not work with some elements of web pages.

Basic performance parameters

If we consider the main characteristics of the most famous and most often used tools, the first thing for any user or expert tester is the speed of launching the program itself from an executable file and the speed of opening pages.

Unfortunately, many users who are trying to figure out which browser uses less CPU or RAM, often ignore the application startup options. So to speak, in their pure form after installation, they all start quite quickly. This is only due to the fact that they do not have plugins connected, the cache is not full, there is no browsing history, etc.

Over time, any, even the most sophisticated browser with a bunch of bells and whistles turns into a clumsy hulk. The saddest thing is that even deleting temporary files does not help. And if you also take into account the initialization of plug-ins at program startup, in general, it’s worth thinking about the advisability of installing them.

Some applications have their own set that cannot be deleted, but can be disabled. For example, Chrome comes with built-in components like Adobe Flash Player or AdBlock. If everything is clear with the first plugin, the second sometimes causes legitimate complaints. It is responsible for blocking ads, pop-ups and banners, and can also prevent some auto-executing scripts and applets embedded in web pages from working. And all this takes a lot of time.

Opening pages with preliminary content analysis directly depends on the content. Any modern browser takes a fraction of a second to do this. Again, it all depends on the plugins - the more there are, the slower the program runs. And incorrectly installed or incompatible add-ons slow down the system even more.

Which browsers use less memory?

But let’s start checking the means of Internet access themselves. Here you should take into account the consumption of RAM, virtual and physical memory. If you understand the question of which browser loads the system the least, you should pay attention to the basic default settings and the size of the allocated cache.

Cached data, although it allows you to open the most frequently visited pages by saving some elements on the hard drive, is nevertheless capable of clogging up the system too much and causing programs to freeze. This is due to the constant analysis of loaded structural elements of pages. If there is a sufficiently large number of them, more time is required for analysis and loading.

In this regard, the best performance, judging by user and expert reviews, is shown by Internet Explorer 11, Edge from Windows 10, Mozilla and Google Chrome. Opera, although a very popular means of accessing the Internet, is much slower. In addition, today you can find so many versions of the program in unofficial sources that you don’t always know whether a given product is safe.

and reviews

If you look at it, you can make a list, which, as you would expect, contains only programs from the most famous developers:

• Internet Explorer;
• Edge;
• Opera;
• Mozilla Firefox;
• Chrome.

It would be possible to add here some programs like Amigo, Yandex Browser, 360 Safety Browser or something else. But they are specifically not included in the list, since they are built on the basis of Chrome and are not of interest as truncated or expanded derivatives of the main product. Often, due to unfinished technologies and algorithms, many more problems arise in them than in the parent product. This is evidenced by clearly unflattering statements from users.

Now let’s look at the question of which browser loads the system the least in a little more detail.

Internet Explorer

Users have an extremely negative attitude towards IE, which is part of any Windows operating system, since the early versions of the program were so unfinished that it was not even possible to talk about any ease of working on the Internet.

Over time, Microsoft developers revised the basic concept of the browser, resulting in the 11th version of the application. No matter what anyone says, Internet Explorer 11 in all respects surpasses Mozilla, Chrome, and even more so Opera. The load is minimal, startup is much faster than similar applications, clearing the cache and temporary files does not require user intervention, as it was before (you had to clean the Temporary Files folders manually).

Edge

The same Internet Explorer became the progenitor of a new generation browser called Edge, which appeared only in Windows 10 (a version is not provided for systems of a lower rank).

This application rightfully occupies the top positions in all ratings. Most of the background processes when starting the program are automated, the start takes place within a couple of seconds, opening pages even without installing the accompanying plugins is very fast. By the way, you don’t need to install add-ons - everything comes included here.

Another thing is that this browser is somewhat inconvenient to configure, especially in terms of disabling extensions. And the default start page (news, weather, advertising, etc.) is a little annoying. But all this can be disabled if you set the dummy at startup, similar to how it is done in IE.

Opera

The notorious "Opera", although revered by many, has recently lost ground. Despite the convenient and fairly simple interface, performance leaves much to be desired.

Even at startup, you may notice that it takes too long to access the hard drive, as well as when completely clearing the cache and deleting temporary files. True, one of the advantages is the ability to quickly configure, disable or remove extensions. But this in no way can affect the overall rating.

Mozilla Firefox

The search for an answer to the question of which browser loads the system the least cannot do without this browser.

Light and fast - that's what you can say about it. However, not all users appreciate it fully. The fact is that “Fire Fox” cannot be considered as the most primitive means of accessing the Internet. This browser is more suitable for web developers and can be used as a complete platform for creating web applications. The tools here are much wider than what other favorites on the list offer.

Chrome and browsers based on it

Chrome is considered the fastest of all existing browsers. Developments based on it are fast only after the first installation, but over time they begin to slow down incredibly.

The speed of launch, the speed of opening pages, and the ease of setup or management are excellent. Plus - the largest number of developed plugins and extensions. The question is different. Is it worth installing them? This is something everyone decides for themselves. Nevertheless, this browser is not inferior to Edge in all the main indicators in the popularity lists.

What to choose?

So, we choose Of course, preference (based on user reviews) could be given to Microsoft products, however, it is believed that the best option would be to install Chrome.

And here the choice is supported not only by technical characteristics or performance parameters with minimal load on the system. If you look more broadly, you will notice that the latest version of the application supports RDP (remote desktop) technologies and can be used as the main client for connecting to computers and laptops, even from mobile devices.

Thus, the balance in the question of which browser loads the system the least, is the easiest to manage and configure, clearly tips in favor of Chrome, although this assessment is based solely on ratings, nothing more.

What is the most necessary program on your computer? Of course it's a browser. If your computer does not have high system requirements or you even own a tablet computer running Windows, then your browser should consume as little RAM resources as possible so that the computer does not slow down and you can continue working with other programs.

Which browser uses less RAM? This issue worries many users for good reason. became much more functional and productive, which could not but affect the consumption of processor resources and RAM.

Which browser consumes the least amount of RAM?

Below we will look at the list of browsers in ascending order, starting with the most economical.

1. Internet Explorer. Oddly enough, Internet Explorer is the most economical browser for Windows. However, despite the modest consumption of RAM resources, with a large number of open tabs, the browser puts a heavy load on the CPU and simply begins to slow down catastrophically. Not the best solution for everyday use.

Download Internet Explorer for free

2. Microsoft Edge. Are you a Windows 10 user? Then the pre-installed Microsoft Edge browser is at your service, which is not at all similar to its older brother Internet Explorer. This is a truly powerful, functional and economical machine, which, unfortunately, can only be obtained by upgrading to Windows 10.

4. Opera. A powerful and functional browser that will be an excellent assistant for average people. Alas, on weak computers a significant amount of RAM will be “eaten up”, however, if you do not run several resource-consuming programs at once, then Opera will delight you with its performance.

Download Opera for free

We hope this article helped you decide on the main browser for your computer.

Choosing a browser is simple: just download any of the most popular ones and, sooner or later, you will definitely get used to it. But in order for the process of learning and further use to be as comfortable as possible, you must know what to look for and count on. Here is a list of the most famous free browsers for Windows 7/8/10. Downloading them and trying them yourself is the best option, but don’t be lazy to read the entire text and save time.

Google Chrome - the forefront of web technologies

Google Chrome is the most popular browser today, installed on almost every computer. At first, Chrome gained popularity for its speed and flexibility in settings, including through the installation of browser extensions. Now this is not the fastest browser, but the most functional with support for all innovations in web technologies. A truly huge library of add-ons allows you to get any functionality.

Chrome has the Chromium engine under its hood, which has become the standard for modern browsers. Most popular browsers are made using the Chromium engine. The engine is responsible for rendering the code of pages and scripts -> into a visible page on the monitor screen.

Browser advantages:

• All kinds of extensions that can replace standard programs
• Failure control allows you to keep your browser working even if there is an error in one of the open windows
• Warning the user about visiting malicious sites
• Import settings from any browser
• Multilingual interface
• Automatic updates
• There is a developer toolbar
• with a Google account
• The built-in task manager allows you to assess which tabs are consuming a lot of processor and memory resources

• Bookmarks are not very convenient, there are no built-in visual bookmarks, but there are
• Works poorly with many open tabs, and eats up a lot of memory, but frees it up the fastest after closing them.

Currently, Google Chrome is considered the best browser for Windows 7 and Windows 8/10. But to each his own. For example, I don’t like the uninformative download manager when opening many tabs. True, there is an extension called The Great Suspender, which, after a specified time, frees memory from unused tabs. But Chrome doesn’t close them, and to see these pages again, you just need to refresh them.

Chrome launches the fastest in Windows 7, but in Windows 7 and 10 things are bad - the loading time increases up to two times!

Opera is the best choice

There is perhaps no browser that is clearer, more understandable and easier to learn for a beginner than Opera. Although Opera now runs on the Chromium engine, it has everything you need for surfing without installing additional extensions.

I used to use Opera because of its convenient visual bookmarks (tiles with the most necessary sites on an empty tab) and the file download manager. Here it is done very conveniently and clearly. Opera is the best browser for working with many open tabs, and in general. You can keep several dozen sites open, and this will not particularly affect the speed of work.

Particularly useful in today's realities, built-in and unlimited traffic. And plus there is a “Turbo” function for compressing transmitted data for . But here you need to experiment. Sometimes, on a slow connection, the opposite effect occurs - the speed decreases even more.

Greetings, friends. A couple of days ago, one of my friends asked me for advice: what browser best bet on old PC? The question drove me into a dead end; somehow I had never thought about such things. And since my friend is still waiting for advice from me, I decided to delve deeper into this topic and formulate my answer.

Browser, or web browser, is application software for viewing web pages, the content of web documents, computer files and their directories; web application management; as well as for solving other problems.

Let's start with the most common browsers. The fact is that Google Chrome, Opera And Mozilla Firefox refused support Windows XP And Vista. That is, you won’t even be able to install the latest versions of these browsers on outdated laptops and PCs. And even if it works, older PCs will not have enough RAM to run these browsers properly. The option of using older versions is not the best solution. Web standards do not stand still, which means that using older versions of browsers we will see a distorted display of modern websites. Or we may not see individual elements of Internet pages at all.

However, there is still a choice. Today I will tell you about four modern browsers that will work perfectly on old PCs and laptops, successfully coping with all standard tasks.

K-Meleon

K-Meleon has been around for over ten years. This is a Mozilla browser that includes Firefox's Gecko engine. The browser's user interface design is very similar to that of regular Firefox. Like Firefox, K-Meleon has extensive options for customizing the toolbar, menu, and hotkeys.

Although you won't be able to add Firefox extensions to K-Meleon, the browser still has plenty of handy plugins.

K-Meleon is also the fastest browser that can even run on Windows 95, not to mention XP, Vista and other operating systems.

Of the minuses: K-Meleon is updated very rarely. The latest stable version of the browser at the time of writing this article is 75.1, released in 2015. There is Russian localization.

Download K-Meleon from the official website. Pay attention to the heading “Latest Stable Release” - select one of the versions: Download installer, which requires installation, or portable, which does not require installation.

Midori

The creators of Midori designed the browser as an alternative to more bloated software products. While other browsers are constantly increasing in size, Midori remains minimalistic - the browser “weighs” only 37.7 megabytes. And since older PCs usually do not have a large hard drive, this factor can be key when choosing a browser.

Despite its small size, Midori works perfectly with all the latest web technologies, including HTML 5 and CSS 3.

Midori was developed based on the webkit engine, which places it in the same family as Chrome. The browser does not have an extension repository, but it does have several settings available that you can use to tailor Midori to your needs.

Midori has both an installation version and a portable one, which can be used without installation on a PC, for example from a flash drive or CD/DVD disk.

Download Midori from the official website. Select one of the versions: installer, which requires installation, or portable, which does not require installation.

Pale Moon

Pale Moon – This browser is a fork of the Firefox source code. Essentially, it's a stripped-down version of Firefox that runs on Windows XP and Vista. Pale Moon requires only 256 megabytes of free memory and is optimized for modern processors. This browser efficiently uses system resources, which allows it to work on old PCs and laptops with enviable speed.

Pale Moon has a very similar interface design to older versions of Firefox. Many extensions that are available for Firefox will be compatible with Pale Moon. In addition, this browser has its own exclusive add-ons. The browser also allows you to customize many settings for tabs, page content, etc., just like Firefox.

Update article from 12/21/2018. As one of my blog readers correctly noted, after a recent update, the Pale Moon browser has become more demanding on computer resources. Now the system requirements are:
— Windows 7/8/10/Server 2008 R2 or later;
— 1 GB of RAM;
— at least 200 MB of free disk space.

Download Pale Moon from the official website. Hover over the “Download” menu, then “Pale Moon” and select one of the available browser versions.

Maxthon 5

The fourth and last browser for today that I want to show you is Maxthon 5. This is promising software that continues to actively develop. The browser's system requirements are very modest: a 1 GHz processor, 512 megabytes of RAM and 64 megabytes of hard disk space.

Lightweight browser for weak computers. Review.

“Lightweight browser for weak computers.”

This question “rose sharply” for me about a year ago, when my old netbook began to work worse and worse, when reinstalling Windows and completely cleaning the netbook from dust and dirt no longer helped to improve the performance of the netbook.

But I needed to continue using this netbook as a portable device for surfing the Internet.

To speed up the browser I saw two solutions:

1. Find a lighter browser for my old netbook.
2. Conduct a low-cost upgrade to your netbook to improve its performance

I’ll talk about these two simple solutions in the article.

Deciding to look for a lightweight browser for a weak computer, I went through and tried dozens of browsers and settled on the K-Meleon browser. This is a full-fledged, but little-known browser in Russian. But I also like some of the browsers listed below for their ease and speed.

Fast and lightweight browser for weak computers K-Meleon

Checking the browser operation K-Meleon on a netbook and making sure that it is really a lightweight browser for a weak computer, I decided to test it on my other computers to see how it works.

This check showed that the K-Meleon browser is indeed the lightest browser for a weak computer of all the browsers I tested.

I will not give you statistics comparing the performance of the K-Meleon browser in comparison with other browsers. This is my “purely visual opinion”. I compared how quickly browsers launched and how quickly identical pages on websites loaded.

Below in the article I will talk about other lightweight browsers for weak computers.

1. K-Meleon- it's very fast, lightweight browser for weak PC and highly customizable on the Gecko engine, developed by Mozilla and also used in Firefox.
The K-Meleon browser is Free Software, open source, released under the GNU General Public License. The K-Meleon browser is designed specifically for operating systems of the Microsoft Windows family (Win32).

Go to the official K-Meleon website, select the browser version, installer or portable version, download and run. Or you can download a lightweight browser for a weak computer K-Meleon in Russian on the website of the Russian-speaking team. Links below.

Select the K-Meleon browser with or without installation on your computer and download

The browser will launch. I’ll say right away that the browser interface has its own characteristics and, to be honest, it’s not very familiar to me.

For example, to export my bookmarks to K-Meleon, export from an HTML file is not provided, and I had to first export my bookmarks to the Internet Explorer browser and then from IE, export the bookmarks to K-Meleon.

But this is a minor inconvenience that you can ignore, the main thing is that K-Meleon is a really lightweight browser and works well on weak computers.

How to open VKontakte (vkontakte), Odnoklassniki and other sites in K-Meleon if they are blocked for you? At the top of the K-Meleon browser in the toolbar, find the button Ultrasurf and left-click on it or right-click on it and select enable. After a few seconds, the proxy mode will turn on and you will be able to visit blocked sites.

You can download the K-Meleon fast browser on the developer’s website.

Download the lightweight K-Meleon browser from the Russian-speaking team

Lightweight browser for an old computer SlimBrowser.

It has a lot of functions (Automatic form filling, fast download manager, translation of web pages and text, blocking pop-ups and annoying ads and much more) that you will like.

Just go to the official page and read for yourself, everything is in Russian.

You can download the SlimBrowser browser on the official website.

3. The next lightweight browser is probably a browser Opera. What I like most about the Opera browser is (free anonymizer), which allows me to visit blocked sites such as Linkedin. You need to connect the free VPN yourself in the Opera settings. You can enable free VPN in the Opera browser in Settings - Security tab - check the VPN box.

In fact, determining which is the easiest browser for a weak computer is a difficult matter. Since all browser manufacturers are striving to make them lighter, the lightest browser that was yesterday may not be the lightest today.

4. As an example, until recently I was satisfied with many things Yandex browser, but I didn’t like its “heaviness”, although even now working in this browser, I don’t see any significant differences in performance compared to the same Opera.

Lightweight Yandex browser

And I really like functions such as a built-in translator, the Protect security system, which checks sites and files for viruses, blocks fraudulent pages, protects my passwords and bank card data, and also protects payments on the Internet and other functions.

Starting with version 18.4.1, the Yandex browser has a “Simplified mode”, which is turned on automatically if the device has less than 2 GB of RAM and 1 CPU core.

In simplified mode, Yandex browser disables or changes not very important functions for users, such as:

• Background Animation
• Disables animation of those browser interface elements that waste a lot of CPU resources
• Reduces the frame rate of videos and games on the page
• Reduces background tab activity
• and other

And in simplified mode, Yandex browser becomes a lighter browser that works fine on an old and weak PC.

Fast, secure and lightweight Comodo Dragon browser from Comodo

5. Comodo Dragon is a browser based on the Chromium engine and redesigned by the developers for greater security.

Comodo Dragon, according to the developers, was specially created as a lighter, faster and more secure browser. Offering users all the features of Chrome plus the level of security and privacy that users can only get with Comodo Dragon. Including a level of privacy that is much higher than that of Chromium.

Comodo Dragon has domain validation technology that identifies and separates high-level and low-level SSL certificates.
Stops cookies and other web spies.
And prevents all Browser download tracking to ensure your safety.

On my own behalf, I would like to add that I used this browser for a long time on an old netbook and I liked the Comodo Dragon browser, it is really a very light browser for a weak computer.

Download the Comodo Dragon fast browser on the official website.

6. Avant is another good, fast and lightweight browser for a weak computer.

And if you are not satisfied with the fast K-Meleon browser, or the fast Comodo Dragon browser, which I indicated above in this article, I highly recommend trying the Avant browser. Don't forget SlimBrowser, it's also a pretty fast browser that's suitable for older PCs.

Moreover, on the official website of the Avant browser, there is a USB version of the browser, which you can use without installing it on your computer. Avant browser is a great option as a lightweight browser for an old computer, try:

Select the desired version of the Avant browser and download

Just download the archive, unpack it to the location you need on your computer or portable drive. Open the folder that appears after unzipping and run the avant.exe file, the browser will start and you can check how lightweight this browser is for your device.

The Ultimate and USB versions of the Avant browser have three built-in engines from IE, Firefox and Chrome.

In the Lite version only from IE. Please note this when loading your browser.

As I wrote above, the Avant browser has three built-in visualization engines: Trident, Gecko and Webkit, these are the engines of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

You can choose any default engine and switch to others if the current one cannot display the web page correctly. You can assign different engines separately for each site in the browser settings, which will allow you to automatically switch between engines while browsing sites.

Avant browser has many features such as:

If you need to change the interface language, customize the browser for yourself, click on the button as shown in the picture below, a window will open in which you can select the desired function.

Avant Browser Settings Screen

Download a lightweight browser for a weak Avant computer

For weak computers and laptops, try different browsers and choose one that turns out to be a fast and lightweight browser for your hardware. And of course, look at how convenient this browser is for you.

Ways to modernize and improve the performance of a netbook, laptop or computer:

1. Look at all the add-ons that are in your browser and disable the ones you don’t need. The fewer add-ons you have in your browser, the easier and faster it will work.
2. Reset everything, thereby you can clear your browser of unnecessary or malicious add-ons and speed up your browser.
3. Your device may be infected with viruses that prevent your browser and other programs from working properly. Check your device with the built-in antivirus and additionally an antivirus scanner. Small for your attention.
4. Really poor hardware performance of your device. In this case, I recommend adding random access memory (RAM) to your device. I would like to remind you that if you have more than 4 GB of RAM on your device, your device will require a 64-bit version of Windows. Your device will not “fly” with more RAM, but it will be able to better cope with resource-intensive applications. If you want the performance of applications and the operating system itself to improve on your device, you need to think about installing an SSD drive for the system drive.
5. There is not enough space on the system disk. If you have little space on your system disk, this may interfere with the correct operation of applications, including the browser. You need to clean the system disk of unnecessary programs and files (video, music, etc.), or simply remove it, including from the Recycle Bin, or move/reinstall it to another disk. To completely remove software from your computer and clean up unnecessary files, use the free Revo Uninstaller program.
6. After freeing up space on the system disk, you can defragment the disk (if you haven’t changed anything in the Windows 10 settings, defragmentation should happen automatically when you don’t use the device).

   To manually defragment the desired disk:
   open My Computer,
   select the desired drive, usually the system drive, this is drive C
   right-click and select Properties from the context menu,
   open the Service tab
   click the Defragment button
   in the window that opens, click Disk Defragmenter for the selected disk.

7. Old drivers can slow down your computer, update your drivers for free. This can be easily done by any person or other similar person.

In these simple ways you can improve the performance of your computer, save your nerves and you will no longer have to look for a lightweight browser for a weak computer. You will use whatever browser you like best.

This is where I end my article and I hope that in the list you will find a lightweight browser for a weak computer and laptop that you will like.