Iron is a free Internet browser from SRWare. This is based on Google’s Chromium core, which is the basis of several internet browsers, which includes Google’s own Chrome. Just like Chrome as well as the others, Iron is certainly super-fast and also will take extensions, themes, and developer tools.

Exactly what sets it apart is an absence of the Google-centric features which quite a few have criticized with regard to violating users’ privacy, for example reporting your browsing behavior and recommending content (and advertising) based on the results. Iron’s start page offers quick Web and Image searching and a Quick Access section that let us upload pictures, access Chrome-compatible extensions and themes, rate our home page at a ratings site, view info about our IP address, and even watch funny videos at Epic Fail. Of course, you can personalize the view, including the Quick Access links, using the usual Chrome-style options.

The user is able to import or export bookmarks, create application shortcuts, and manage search engines, to name a few. Iron is loading the web sites as fast as other Chromium-based browsers, which is to say about as fast as browsers get nowadays. There are no functionality issues that seem to be because of Iron’s breaking the connection to Google HQ, or any functionality issue at all, for that matter.

The program installs conventionally and leaves some user data behind in its program folder when you uninstall it. That is not necessarily a bad thing since many users may prefer to delete such data securely. It appears the homepage has not been updated in some time, although it may be a case of, “if its not broke, don’t fix it” as this browser still seems to work perfectly.

Check it out at Srware.net.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.