INTERNET EXPLORER
The browser included in our Windows 98 and Windows XP PC doesn't hog resources. However, it takes forever to load a page and if it did load, it will just mess around the layout of the page.
MOZILLA FIREFOX
It was slow and unstable at first but it has drastically improved over time. It features add-ons that opens new experience in web browsing. It's also secure and user-friendly. The downside is it hogs resources to himself and still vulnerable to crashes.
OPERA
Many features like tab browsing first appeared on Opera. It has many built-in features. It has a session manager, download manager, torrent downloader, and other features I don't use. It used to be the fastest browser until Chrome came along.
SAFARI
The Windows version of the popular Apple browser does great. It has a lot of eye-candy like font smoothening and transitions. It doesn't catch up with Chrome's speed and missing some features here and there but nonetheless, it proves to be a worthy browser.
CHROME
Simplicity at its best. The Chrome interface looks neat and it load pages faster than any browser I had used. Though it doesn't have advanced features right out of the box, it provides with basic features for browsing. Chrome support extensions, but it doesn't offer as much flexibility that Firefox has. It also has horrible download manager (for a dial-up connection). There have been reports that Google is "spying" you while you are using Chrome. I use the dev build of Chrome called Chromium which eliminates any big brother-ish behaviors.
K-MELEON
I once thought of a browser that is as fast as Chrome but has the features I need from Firefox add-ons. I got K-meleon. Though Chrome's speed remained unrivaled, K-meleon is faster than Firefox. The only slowdown is the Javascript, which is almost as slow as Internet Explorer. It also crashes on me sometimes and doesn't support most Firefox add-ons.
MAXTHON
This is a faceplate for Internet Explorer. Maxthon has a handful of features but the fact that it is based on Internet Explorer's crappy engine makes it slow to a crawl.
FLOCK
It's like Firefox but with integrated easy access to your favorite social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. But like Firefox, it hogs resources twofold as fast.
