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Why Should You Upgrade Your Browser?

  • erik
  • | Mar 28, 2012

If you are reading this, then you are using a web browser. It's your portal to the web. Your surf board for surfing the net. Your car for driving the internet highway. Your... you get the point. It's what makes the internet work.

But does which browser and version you use really matter? ABSOLUTELY! And let me tell you why. 

Newer browser:

  1. are MUCH faster
  2. make pages look MUCH better
  3. are MUCH more secure

Ready to upgrade? Click here to download the fastest browser - it's FREE. Not convinced yet? Read on! 

The internet started out as just plain text. Then they added links. Then they added images. Then they added support for animated pictures of puppies wearing birthday hats. Then they added flash. And javascript. And java. And every year what can be done with a browser gets more and more amazing. It's no different from television. First it was just radio noise. Then black and white. Then color. Then VHS tapes. Then DVDs. Now we are at 2 inch thick HD TV's with 7 surround speakers playing theater-quality BluRay movies in 3D at home. 

If you are still using an old browser, you are using an old black and white TV. Or a beat up 1975 Toyota Celica car. If that's all you've ever used - that's fine - you don't know the difference. But now imagine that I can give you a brand new 2013 Ferrari and put a 60" HD 3D TV in your living room - and it's all FREE. That's what you get when downloading a new browser - a faster, better performing experience, and it costs you NOTHING.  


If you're still reading, you might be thinking "Hey, I'm fine. I'm not missing out on anything." I'm sorry, but I can only say that you don't know what you are missing until you try it out. If you are still on an old browser like Internet Explorer 7 or 8, you're getting a 10" black and white TV view of the Internet. Your pages are probably 5x slower than they would be on another browser, and they have graphical issues, and are open to lots of security issues. So, you are getting a much worse online experience.  

But in addition to that, I want you to upgrade because it helps Chess.com. How could that possibly be? Because when our users use old browsers, we have to try to keep supporting those browsers even though the code and technologies to do that cost us a lot of time and resources. If everyone were on a modern web browser, all of the time we spend making sure that things don't fall apart in a 5-year-old browser like Internet Explorer 8, we could instead invest in building more chess awesomeness - game modes, training tools, etc. But we spend at least 20% of our time trying to make sure that our code works for old browsers. That's like asking James Cameron to shoot the film "Avatar" with additional cameras and then edit it so that it looks just as awesome on square 10" black and white TV as it does in the huge IMAX 3D theater. 

Even Microsoft is desperately trying to get people to upgrade away from older version of Internet Explorer because it's embarrassing for them. Check out: http://www.beautyoftheweb.com

We have already stopped supporting IE6 and IE7, and after next month we will no longer try to make things work in Internet Explorer 8 either. Internet Explorer 9 has been out for a long time, and Internet Explorer 10 is nearly here. So if you've been on IE8 for the last 5 years, time to download a new one. 

Download a free faster browser today! →



STILL not convinced? Then let me explain some more! Web pages are nothing more than a bunch of text and instructions that are sent from one computer (ours) to another (yours), and then quickly rearranged to present you with what looks like a spiffy clean page. Ta da!

But that isn't really what your computer gets. This is what your computer gets - thousands of lines of: 

When you click on a link on a webpage, and that sends a signal to our servers (a bunch of super computers sitting in a chilly dark warehouse in Los Angeles, CA!). Our servers then figure out what you were trying to do, and then start building a webpage for you, and then send that web page back to you. That web page is a bunch of text, as well as a set of instructions for other things to download: images, code, data, buttons, etc. Your browser then takes that page and all of the other stuff and mixes it all up into the web page you are looking at. It's kind of like trying to bake a cake from a bunch of ingredients. When you are using a new, modern web browser then when we send you the instructions your browser knows exactly what it means and can handle all of the ingredients, mix them up quickly, and put them in a super fast oven... and within less than a second you have a nice cake! But when you are using an old browser, it's like we are sending instructions, but your browser/chef is a 4 year old child who doesn't have access to any sugar and has an oven that gets no hotter than 150 degrees. So it takes him forever to understand the instructions, then he mixes it all up without sugar, and it takes 8 hours to bake, and tastes bad when it's done. 


Well, that's about all I can do. If you're still not convinced and refuse to download a modern FREE browser that will make your internet life significantly better, there isn't much more I can do :) I don't gain anything personally from trying to give you a free TV and new car... I mean new browser. If you want to wait extra time for your web pages to load and look at uglier pages, that's your choice. But I promise you that it's well worth the 5 minutes it takes to download and upgrade your browser!

Here's a YouTube video that compares modern browsers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnt4A0t9HZw

Again, I personally recommend Chrome (as do most Chess.com users). It's the fastest and I think easiest to use, and it's now the #1 browser. Firefox is also nice, but it's a little bit slower and harder for older computers. Internet Explorer 9 is a step up from IE8, but is still much worse than Chrome and Firefox. Safari is also good. Opera is nice, but has some odd quirks that make web development painful. 

Download a free faster browser today! →



Best of luck and see you soon on Chess.com. Enjoy!


  • 2 months ago


    If your really talking about it, IE11 is already here(for Windows 8).

  • 3 months ago


    I normally use chrome but in schooli have to use IE7 or 8 or whatever. :(

    I wish they had better browsers. :(

  • 4 months ago


    my earlier comments about google was just some first impressions, however I must admit, currently I using google chrome and Im much glad at the present. I like quick. sorry google. I likeya.

  • 4 months ago


    Were you paid to endorse Chrome, Erik?
    Why not recommend a browser that respects its users freedoms like Firefox or Chromium?

  • 4 months ago


    apparently google wants everyone to surrender as they seem to keep actually atacking my ie8 browser. its pissing me off. i may have to make google happy and get chrome to avoid 'wierd' google hacks to my ie8.

    ok u win, since u have power to mess with people.

    the google searches are my issue. they seem to be limited' and paid for by big business. but corporations are not people. ok?  just dont hide ur money in the offshore banks.  and give us a raise. u win the class war but

    give us obamacare as a right, not an item. go spend ur money. be well.

  • 4 months ago


    google is so pushy, but somehow google causes ie8 to stumble, wtf????

  • 4 months ago


    google reminds me of greedy rich koch, walmart, and shell. dems will push u out no matter how much money u have, ha.  1 person, 1 vote.

    betcha dont want dems to vote, or allow gays, or abortions. get real, u better than u zealots.

  • 4 months ago


    I did what you suggested and it broke my PC and I can not restore and I can not use chess.com. Of course, the usual respond from you guys is going to be : well, this is YOUR issue, it works for everyone else. Can you just fix your back end such that I don't need to update my browsers all the time?

  • 5 months ago


    Why? What's wrong with chess.com on old internet explorer?

    Not to go off the subject, but I always use google chrome.

  • 5 months ago


    How is IE9 fast?

  • 11 months ago


    Thanks Sajay! I stopped using Yandex now.

  • 11 months ago


    no stop advertising

  • 12 months ago


    I use google chrome and it's best!

  • 13 months ago


    seems it is not an independant brower..


    Yandex has since released its own browser based on the Chromium open source project.[61]

  • 13 months ago


    I use a Russian browser called "Yandex" -> http://browser.yandex.ru/?from=prov_yandex_serv_o

  • 15 months ago


    chrome has glitches on chess.com

  • 15 months ago


    Bowser Browser !!!

    Firefox is fast..

    Chrome is faster..

    Browser Bowser = fastest

  • 17 months ago


    @rabbitrabbit: try adblock here https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom

    it gets rid of most ads - I've been using it for a couple of years.

  • 17 months ago


    to;  TheGusto,  if you still need the info, i believe you can fix your problem by using the compatibility view icon.  it is located directly below the bright blue bar at the top of the page to the right of the pull down arrow at the end of the long web page box.  it is a green icon that looks like a split in  the middle page.  a lot of stuff i know but just wanted to make sure you found it :)

  • 18 months ago


    @ bulletheadbilly:

    Hmm[!?] - 'interesting' stuff.  Thanks! [to say the least ... ]

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