Web browser with a simple interface and multi-tab support, along with download, plugin and filter managers, which doesn’t need to be installed.
- XBrowser (formerly XWeb)
- Version :2.1b
- License :Freeware
- OS :Windows All
- Publisher :Ralphsoft
XBrowser (formerly XWeb) Description
XBrowser is a lightweight web browser equipped with tab and plugins support, along with download and filter managers. It has intuitive options.
No setup necessary, besides .NET Framework
It’s not wrapped in a setup pack, so you can save the files anywhere on the disk to launch the web browser. However, it requires .NET Framework installed. An option is implemented for installing the application on NTFS-formatted flash drives as a portable product.
Simple UI with multiple tabs and plugins
As far as the interface is concerned, the tool opts for a simple look and doesn’t put emphasis on graphics. It adopts several elements from older Internet Explorer editions, such as a drop-down list for viewing visited websites.
The only plugin supported at the moment adds a transparent background to the web pages, and it can be disabled. While it’s possible to add and remove multiple tabs, we have noticed that pages which should open in new tabs are launched in an IE instance instead.
There is no right-click menu available, nor support for looking up information on search engines directly in the address bar. Although there is a bookmark bar displayed, there are no options for creating or importing bookmarks; the only one listed is Google, which is also the default homepage.
Download and filter managers
XBrowser has a built-in download manager that lets you specify the saving directory and file name on the hard drive, as well as a filter manager for protecting children from inappropriate content by adding keywords.
Furthermore, you can view a page’s source code, close all tabs with one click, enter fullscreen mode, switch to simplified viewing mode by hiding all menus and bars, save and print pages, view page properties, and modify the default homepage. By default, the utility automatically checks for updates, but you can disable this, as well as ask it to delete all scripts on exit.
Evaluation and conclusion
It loaded webpages and downloaded items in decent time in our tests while remaining light on system resources consumption. However, XBrowser is still a work in progress (beta) and has plenty of issues and missing features. At the moment, it cannot be used as a primary web browser.