Yandex Web Browser

On my Windows 7 computer, the one I work from, I need a good, fast reliable browser as part of my workflow.  I recently got rid of one that I really loved for a while, called Torch Browser.  Torch has a lot of great extras, such as music and video players, torrent downloader, facelift for facebook; basically it's great for play.  Don't get me wrong, it was great but my focus on this computer is productivity and I need a web browser to match.  I like using Chrome based browsers as well as Firefox, but I hate having Google involved in everything (like this blog *grumble*) so I go for alternative browsers based on Chrome, minus the Google.  (Sorry, Google dear, but you brought this on yourself)  I was a rabid fan of Opera prior to what I like to call the Operocalypse, where Opera gave up everything that made it stand out from the rest (and made it the best) to yet another Chrome clone.  I have it, out of habit, but only use it on my most secure sites; it sits idle 90% of the time.  When it tries to be more awesome like the old Opera I will likely use it again.

My search for a daily use browser led me to Yandex Web Browser.  I had tried it once, very briefly about a year ago and uninstalled it; I don't remember exactly why but something about it was a deal breaker at the time.  Loving my Yandex mail as much as I do, I thought I'd give Yandex Browser another try.  When I installed it, Yandex transferred my extensions over from Torch, which was a great surprise.  Only two things didn't work right.  As it turns out, Yandex uses the same extension system as Opera so I was able to download what I needed, including a vital extension called Download Chrome Extension.  This extension enables the user to download any extension from the Chrome web store.  Using this I was able to reinstall my Evernote web clipper with no problems whatsoever.  Likewise, no issues with my Raindrop.io extension or Adguard Adblocker.  The things that make it different are few but interesting.  First is the tableau.  This is the name given to the new tab page.  Mine looks like this.  As you can see, there are 4 choices: Tableau (which it's on when you hit the new tab option), Downloads (showing a list of all your downloads), Recently closed (History) and Extensions (showing all extensions and browser settings).  This last is my favorite.  So much easier to get to the extensions list this way.  They are grouped according to type.  Underneath is a 'speed dial,' which allows shortcuts to favorite sites and bookmarks.  As you can see, I have the Yandex Help page for when I first started using Yandex, I was confused about a couple of things. The other is to my Start.Me page, which contains all my bookmarks, so I can access them all from any browser.  For those of you who prefer more traditional bookmarking/speed dials, you will have a lot more than just two.  The background is changeable as well.  Here's a screenshot showing the various items.

 

So far, the only thing that bugged me at first (now I don't even notice) is the lack of a home button. I like to have my Start.Me page as my home page.  So as a workaround, I added it to the bookmarks bar and anytime I want to 'go home' I just click that.  Usually though, I keep my Start.Me page open in a tab, which is pinned (right click on the tab to select pin) It's simple to use and I can use all the extensions I have with any other browser I've used.  Yandex Web Browser has been my default browser now for about a month and I have no desire to change at this time.