Image: Apple Safari 3 browser
Safari 3 is stripped down compared with the big-name browsers but it is fast and includes some clever features

Review: Apple Safari 3 browser

A fast browser, now available to Windows users

Written by Anthony Dhanendran, Computeractive

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Verdict:

Overall: A good, quick alternative to the big-name browsers

Rating:

4

Price:

Free

Safari is Apple's browser that, until recently, was restricted to Mac users.

The company has recently released a version for Windows users as well, though, and it can be easily downloaded using the Apple Updater if you have iTunes or Quicktime installed (otherwise it's a free download from the Apple website).

It looks almost identical to the Mac edition, to the point that Windows users will feel a little disorientated at first – there's no status bar, for instance (page loading progress is shown in the address bar) and no borders on the sides of the browser window.

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It's quite stripped down compared with Firefox and even Internet Explorer 7 – while it does tabbed browsing and ad-blocking and has a search box, there are no add-ons so those who like to customise their browsers will be disappointed.

That aside, Safari does some things very well – the RSS feed reader is much better than the one in Firefox, for instance, and there are some clever touches such as spell-checking in all text-entry fields. It's fast, too, and text in pages looks good thanks to Apple's font-smoothing technology.

Manufacturer: Apple 0800 039 1010

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