All these browsers are free. You do not need to make an immediate choice, but
can download several to see which one you like best. You do not to stick with
your first one, but can change again later.
That said, here are a few brief remarks to help you choose.
Opera is small, fast and fairly minimalist. It is highly standards-complaint and available on practically every platform from desktop system to smartphones. It can be used to read mail and new feeds, and even sports a BitTorrent client. Its main drawback is that it does not support add-ons, but the benefit of not allowing third-party add-ons is increased stability.
Firefox is pretty fast and supports every important standard, but what makes it really popular are the many add-ons to change the look or add the particular features you want. It is a safe browser already, but the NoScript add-on makes it even safer, and the IE Tab add-on allows viewing IE-sites.
Safari is Apple’s web browser. It is a favourite among MacOS users when they have to use Windows. Apple Software Update is annoying. Safari's setup installs a Bonjour service you do not need.
Chrome is Google’s browser, and Google likes to stress how fast it is. Its user interface seems copied from Opera, but is even more minimalist. There are privacy issues. The Google Update service it installs is seriously annoying, and hard to remove.
Seamonkey isn't just a browser, but an Internet Suite that includes an e-mail program, newsreader and HTML editor, just like the Mozilla Application Suite it replaces. Seamonkey is very similar to Firefox and compatible with Firefox extensions.
LunaScape is a browser originally based on Microsoft’s Trident engine, and it still defaults to the Internet Explorer compatible mode, but it also includes the Gecko (Firefox) and WebKit (Safari, Chrome) browser engines. It is not unlike Firefox or Chrome with the IE Tab, except that it is already built-in, no add-ons necessary. Available in Amglish and Japanese.
RockMelt is a "social browser", not unlike the Flock browser of the now terminated Flock project.
It features built-in support for many web 2.0
services such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.
If you are a heavy user of such web 2.0 services, RockMelt may be your browser.
RockMelt is based on Google Chrome.
The Mozilla browser and the Mozilla Application suite are no longer supported. Mozilla recommends switching to Firefox or the Seamonkey Internet Suite.
NetScape Navigator is no longer supported. AOL recommends that you upgrade to either Flock, Firefox or AOL Desktop, but AOL Desktop is essentially Internet Explorer.
Windows 7 is the current version of Windows.
All major browsers run on Windows 7.
Windows Vista is well supported.
All major browsers run on Windows Vista.
Internet Explorer 9 requires Windows Vista Service Pack 2.
Windows XP is well supported.
Microsoft's own Internet Explorer 9 is the only mainstream
web browser that will not run on it.
Internet Explorer 8 runs on Windows XP, but does not support all major web
standards.
Windows XP is the minimum system for Google Chrome.
The latest version of Safari demands Windows XP too.
Firefox 3 does not work on Windows 2000.
The latest version of Safari that works on Windows 2000 is Safari 3.0.3.
Both NetScape 9 and Firefox 3 still support Windows 2000.
The latest version of Opera still supports Windows 2000.
Other options are NetScape 9.0.0.6 (based on Firefox 2.0.0.12) and the latest update of Firefox 2.0.0.x.
Firefox 3 does not work on Windows 2000.
Safari does not work on Windows NT.
The latest version of Opera still supports Windows NT 4.
Other options are NetScape 9.0.0.6 (based on Firefox 2.0.0.12) and the latest update of Firefox 2.0.0.x.
The latest version of Opera still supports Windows ME.
Other options are NetScape 9.0.0.6 (based on Firefox 2.0.0.12) and the latest update of Firefox 2.0.0.x.
The latest version of Opera still supports Windows 98.
Other options are NetScape 9.0.0.6 (based on Firefox 2.0.0.12) and the latest update of Firefox 2.0.0.x.
The latest version of Firefox to support Windows 95 is Firefox 1.5.0.12.
The latest version of Opera still supports
Windows 95, but it is heavy application for a typical Windows 95 system. You may
prefer to use Opera 3.62 instead.
Most modern browsers are Unicode-based, and cannot run on Windows 3.1.
Your best option for Windows 3.1 is probably Opera 3.62.
The Flock project terminates on 2011-04-26. The new RockMelt browser is another take on the social browser idea.