Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

Dapple reviewed v5.2.5.400 Beta on Sep 19, 2018

Pros: Once it was a great browser small and fast

Cons: Now is bloated and unsafe.

Bottom Line: I was a long time user since it was called MyIE , but with the latest versions wanting too much control of your service and system . the constant popups are just getting worse. Sometimes it starts up in Chinese language.

All I wanted was the small and fast browser it was once , now it is just a bloated and unsafe mess.

Zootopia3001 reviewed v5.2.2.1000 on May 9, 2018

Pros:

Cons:

Bottom Line: Now has a service running that you can't disable, nags you with a deceiving popup in systray warning you may not be secure, but what it's really doing is tricking you into making Maxthon your default browser. Got rid of Maxthon promptly.

krgood reviewed v5.1.2.2000 on Sep 26, 2017

Pros: lots of features but still craps out frequently

Cons: Phones hone with my data

Bottom Line: no way jose!!

CyberDoc999 reviewed v5.1.0.1900 Beta on Jul 6, 2017

you need to update that screen shot above.... it is from version 2 of Maxthon... that was 10 years ago.

Zootopia3001 reviewed v5.1.0.1900 Beta on Jul 5, 2017

Lots of little bug fixes and improvements being made with this 5.x version. Now my main go to browser. Hope this project sticks around. My prior main browser Firefox went south on me somewhere between version 45 and 52,and not a big fan of Chrome, and Edge is still flaky, even more so with the Creators Update.

Zootopia3001 reviewed v5.0.4.3000 on May 26, 2017

Improvements since last review. Disqus comments load on certain sites where before they would not.

If it had sidebar bookmarks I'd give it 5 stars, I hate pop-downs.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v5.0.3.2000 on Apr 5, 2017

still not very good

CyberDoc999 reviewed v5.0.1.3000 on Oct 30, 2016

this thing is a little bloated and the e-mail app does not work at all
chrome is way better and faster

krgood reviewed v4.9.4.1000 on Oct 12, 2016

Maxthon was reported to "phone Home, China) sending personal info to who knows where/whom. Opera browser does the same thing. Not interested in pgms that do this...Turned all windows 10 report back options off as well.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v4.9.2.1000 on Apr 16, 2016

2 things
first the google voice search does not work
and
second it runs buggy lots of time outs
went back to version 4.8.8.1000
and these problems do not happen
so 1 star for this version

Zootopia3001 reviewed v4.9.2.1000 RC on Apr 8, 2016

4 1/2 stars...
Just tried out this 'Cloud' version browser this last week after having left Maxthon quite a while back. Not bad, pretty snappy. Couple somewhat drawbacks... Disqus comments will not load on a particular website, so would assume maybe some others as well, and see no way to add a list to its built-in AdBlock, so for now no Fanboy Annoyances list, thus having to put up with all the stupid social networking gadgets that so litter webpages nowadays. There is a Flashblock extension for this browser, so that's a plus, so no more autoload of flash content.
Maxthon does have a forum, and I will make a request as to how to add Fanboy's Annoyances list to compliment Easylist. If they can get that resolved, this might get 4 1/2 stars out of me.

UPDATE:..... Maxthon forum was quick to point me as to how to add Fanboy's Annoyances list. Had to specifically direct it manually to the txt file.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v4.4.8.1000 on Oct 29, 2015

10 stars ********************************

YanAnaY reviewed v4.4.6.2000 on Jul 31, 2015

This browser has included features which are not common in other browsers, I can not understand why everyone love chrome so much - it is scrap.

boopie reviewed v4.4.6.1000 on Jun 26, 2015

Crashthon used to be good. Every new version had less features. Wat? Works like crap with 4K.
I finally switched to Google Chrome. Super stable and fast and great extensions!

CyberDoc999 reviewed v4.4.5.1800 Beta on May 15, 2015

my favorite

Orhin reviewed v4.4.2.2000 on Sep 12, 2014

While no Open Source, Maxthon keeps the candle of customizable browsers high and shows with Slimjet and Seamonkey that Google will not win that easily with their customization less stupidity!

cltx99 reviewed v4.4.0.1200 Beta on Apr 3, 2014

I used MCloud for a while as a second browser. It is good and fairly fast. Out of curiosity I tried out Maxthon 3 and found it to be more responsive and more customizable than MCloud 4. And, in my opinion a better browser, which I now use as my second browser.

plasticpig72 reviewed v4.2.2.1000 on Feb 19, 2014

Skins! I am sorry, functionality is far more important to me that window dressing. The advantage of this for me is that it works with pretty much all the business sites that I have to use, sites which cannot cope with the latest incarnations of iexplorer. It could be improved with more add on support, which is why I am marking it down slightly.

winamp reviewed v4.1.3.5000 on Nov 9, 2013

i put my hope on maxthon, since Opera have gone crazy and left my computer with pain..

CyberDoc999 reviewed v4.1.3.2000 on Oct 26, 2013

I could have been more than this..... where are the skins?????

b3taisadonna reviewed v4.1.3.1600 on Oct 21, 2013

einfach nur gut!!

bobad reviewed v4.1.0.1600 Beta on Jun 14, 2013

Great browser, my favorite by far. I love the built in ad blocker, spell checker, and search engine customization. It has a "download manager", which works OK but needs multi threading and sound notifications, and to minimize to the tray. Lately Maxthon has added global ad blocking rules, but stupidly took out ad filtering by clicking the offending ad. . Makes no sense at all. This release is fast and stable, and a good time for new users to try it. The portable version is great for that.

extremely well reviewed v4.1.0.600 Beta on May 23, 2013

Was waiting for Page Mute for quite some time. AWESOME RELEASE. Luvv the built-in webpage snapshot of long pages..the user/password filler...the undo of page close...drag to open pages...search one of several custom "search engines" (I have "a product"=Amazon search, "e product"=eBay, "y clip"=YouTube search, etc), address bar custom shortcuts ("fb"=facebook, "gm"=gmail, "b"=betanews, etc.) and most of all the stability, and speed.

Dark_Diver reviewed v4.0.6.600 Beta on Apr 14, 2013

Agree with the others.
Maxton 2 was a very good browser.
Mx3/4 - disappointment.

Fred G. Sanford reviewed v4.0.5.3000 on Apr 3, 2013

Those "tiny little features" were the only reasons to use Maxthon rather than Fiirefox, Chrome or even IE.

Vivek Kowshik reviewed v4.0.5.2000 on Mar 30, 2013

I don't understand why the gripes. This browser has no issues like Opera had in rendering certain websites. It has improved on its html5 score in every new release and is far ahead of any other browser, including Chrome. I suggest every new comer try this out at html5test.com and verify this for himself. This version also boots up and renders faster than the previous ones.

I personally would not care about skins and other small issues, which do not in any way contribute to its overall performance. I think people should be more objective and look at the package as a whole, and not trash it just because it misses some tiny little feature that they liked in an earlier version.

Betanoob reviewed v4.0.5.2000 on Mar 28, 2013

Fred is right. Maxthon has become a turd!. Max 2 had so many good features. Max3 took years and had less features. Now Max 4, which is the biggest turd yet, has no features. They won't even give their users the one featue that they really want. Skins. No one wants a stupid dock! They want the features that were in Max 2. Get a clue!

Fred G. Sanford reviewed v4.0.5.2000 on Mar 28, 2013

Just a complete mess at this point. Maxthon is possibly the only software which downgrades (removing features) for every update rather than progressing. Version 4 is worse than Version 3 was, which in turn was considerably less functional than Version 2.

cltx99 reviewed v4.0.5.2000 on Mar 28, 2013

Another Maxthon piece of crap.

DatabaseBen reviewed v4.0.3.3000 RC1 on Feb 2, 2013

works pretty good on win7 64. seems to have lots of bells and whistles that are masked behind icons, like night mode.

not sure if i will give up my pale moon however, this maxthon cloud browser is definitely a keeper.

cltx99 reviewed v4.0.3.3000 RC1 on Feb 2, 2013

Good page rendering. But, no adblocking, ad-hunter sucks, no skin support and extensions are few and pretty poor at that. too bad that Maxthon always focuses on the wrong things.

nilst2006 reviewed v4.0.3.1000 RC on Jan 9, 2013

I did test v 3 and v 4 - junk in my opinion. Some favorites i have are re-directed to the main page of the site....LOL ! Nope, this is too much junk ! There is needed a lot of work on this.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v4.0.0.2000 Beta on Dec 15, 2012

How could they take the best browser in the world and turn it in to the worst browser ever made .... stay with version 3... the interface on version 4 is just bad... where are the skins?????

Fred G. Sanford reviewed v3.5.2.1000 on Nov 29, 2012

According to the Maxthon forum this is the final release of version 3. In other words, like version 2, it's been abandoned by its developers while still in an unfinished, bug-ridden state. Absolutely ridiculous.

Supposedly we're going to hear news about Maxthon 4 soon. Some beta testers in their forum are already showing 4.x version numbers in their profiles. But based on the history of this browser, you have to wonder if version 4 will even be worth trying out at all.

Music4Ever reviewed v3.5.2.600 Beta on Oct 14, 2012

@d***brain - Your foolish / moronic / infantile / idiotic / stupid / childish / brainless reviews in the past render anything you type now invalid - Get a new name (and a brain)

Good browser, still wondering whether to keep it or not.

Fred G. Sanford reviewed v3.4.5.1000 on Sep 13, 2012

Another week, another empty update with no genuine productivity improvements.

beatmakershq reviewed v3.4.5.600 Beta on Sep 12, 2012

an interesting browser but not great.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v3.4.3.1800 Beta on Aug 17, 2012

click on get more skins
then download the chrome skin
it has an option to remove the status bar
(right click on the status bar)

Music4Ever reviewed v3.4.3.1800 Beta on Aug 16, 2012

Sadly it does not support either 'DoNotTrack or Ghostery which from my point of view are essentials, why not have the option to remove the side bar etc. without hunting for skins? II can see what people like about it though & will continue to try to get on with it. So mixed feelings still.

Edited:

CyberDoc999 usually makes valid points & I respect that.

Edit:
It is easily possible to remove the side bar, the bar at the bottom for me is not needed & I can't find a way to remove it, inconstancy of skins where some skins give the option to have tools having where some don't is an annoyance, though with a little messing it can be sorted more or less how I like it.

It actually reminds me off how Opera used to be years ago when it actually worked. I will be using this browser most of the time as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Worth 5 stars if you spend a little time messing with it.

Edit:
@CyberDoc999 - Thanks for that advice, works fine :-)

CyberDoc999 reviewed v3.4.3.600 Beta on Jul 27, 2012

Maxthon is the fastest browser .... look at the latest tests...
even complex pages take .02 sec to load....
all the other browsers took 4 or more seconds to load

life is too short to wait for the web
also change the skin to chrome and you can customize all things
like status bar and hide the side bar

Fred G. Sanford reviewed v3.4.2.1000 on Jul 12, 2012

Maxthon 3 is little more than a toy full of gimmick features. There have been about two years' worth of weekly releases, but it still isn't remotely close to the depth of functionality that was in Maxthon 2. The devs add one marginal feature after another (night mode, save page as app, online notepad with cloud syncing?) while ignoring all user requests in their support forum.

Still waiting for them to implement some useful -- and one would assume obvious -- features such as global ad blocking, one level up button, switch off images/Flash, etc.

I'll continue to follow the progress of Maxthon 3, but at this point I've switched to Pale Moon for regular daily use. Very disappointed in what Maxthon has become.

cltx99 reviewed v3.4.2.900 Beta on Jul 6, 2012

In a previous review, I lavished praise on Maxthon. But after a period of using Maxthon, I began to think otherwise. Yes, it's fast and page rendering is very good. However, after using it for a time one begins to see how unrefined it is compared to Chrome, Firefox and others.

You come to realize that you're stuck with a goofy side bar and a status bar you can't get rid of. You have a choice of skins, but for the most part they're simply awful. As for extensions, they are few and awful as well.

It could be an excellent browser, but little has been done to refine it and make it competitive or really useful. It seems to cater to the "bubblegum chewers" and not to main stream users.

As of now, I'll have to give it a rating of "cheap and cheesy". Having said that, I'll still be checking it out in the future.

sajjansinghania reviewed v3.4.2.600 Beta on Jun 28, 2012

These days you can not live with a browser which is no support.Maxthon has no worthwhile user support forum which made me uninstall it. I hope makers take note.

Vivek Kowshik reviewed v3.4.1.1000 on Jun 20, 2012

Wow!!!! Deserves a place in heaven. No issues with any sites I visited so far. The speed - Faster than a bullet!!!! Tried Opera12 also and got rid of it immediately, when it would not even show the CNN website correctly.

I still wonder why this browser switches to IE rendering when I visit their own download site, and even uses the outdated IE download dialog box with no pause or resume options. Why not make it even better security wise? Get it pitted against the other heavy weights at Pwn2Own???

I sorely miss it in Ubuntu Linux. Are you dudes listening??? You cannot afford to ignore us.

cltx99 reviewed v3.3.9.1000 on Jun 3, 2012

I recently bought an HP DM1, 11.6 (inch) Notebook. It runs on Windows Home Premium-64 bit. It ´s a great little pc, but underpowered. I´ve been using Firefox, Chrome and Waterfox for browsers. They all work fairly well or so I thought. I decided to give Maxthon a shot and it outperformed the others hands down. Superior page rendering, faster and no more jittery pages.

Albeit, extensions are few and not very good at that, but there´s enough to get one by with good solid performance. I advise all of you out there with underpowered machines to give it a thorough try. You may be both surprised and pleased. As of now, unless Maxthon runs amuck, I use it as my default browser.

Music4Ever reviewed v3.3.9.600 Beta on May 18, 2012

A Linux version would be nice - But 5 starts for the Windows version, if you haven't tried it give it a whirl.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v3.3.8.1000 on May 11, 2012

It gets better ... so fast now...
try the new chrome skin

Betanoob reviewed v2.5.18.1000 on Apr 19, 2012

Notihng new here. This has been out for a while.
It has bugs that will never be fixed. It is abandoned.

cltx99 reviewed v3.3.7.1000 on Apr 13, 2012

Surprisingly, a very good browser. Quick with excellent page rendering. However, the extensions, well, are pretty crappy. Otherwise I would have given it a 5 star.

Music4Ever reviewed v3.3.7.800 Beta on Apr 6, 2012

My first time to use this browser & it's fast with a nice uncluttered interface, it's fast too - A new convert.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v3.3.7.600 Beta on Mar 31, 2012

Best of the best
faster than Any
never had 1 crash
you must have a buggy CPU

wjf152 reviewed v3.3.5.600 Beta on Feb 24, 2012

Way too many crashes , staying with Comodo Dragon .

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v3.3.4.600 Beta on Jan 12, 2012

@bopb99: If you care to look to the change log you'll notice that the WebKit was updated.
It actually used both Trident and Webkit, but WebKit is the default. You can use Trident only if you explicitly ask him to.

And while we are this subject, Trident is not a bad render engine, is certainly not the worst outthere... IE is the problem., with its lack of customization, etc.

bopb99 reviewed v3.3.2.1000 on Dec 28, 2011

Uses Trident so no.

bobad reviewed v3.2.1.600 Beta on Oct 29, 2011

This is an excellent browser. It uses both Trident and Webkit engines, so is the most compatible of all browsers. It manages to do this in a very light, compact package with endless features. Keep in mind it's still in beta, so there will be glitches from time to time. Report the bugs, ask for your favorite feature to make it better. Rating 5/5, it's very good to be an early beta.

DoHickey reviewed v3.1.7.1000 on Sep 8, 2011

Nope!

nilst2006 reviewed v3.1.7.600 Beta on Sep 1, 2011

Poor.

MikeTechno reviewed v3.1.6.600 Beta on Aug 18, 2011

I love the program but unfortunately the integrated screen capture tool isn't working properly yet. You can screen capture something to the clip board, then past it into an e-mail message, and it will appear correctly on the screen (unfortunately in a reduced size from the original screen capture though, not full size like it should be) but when you send the e-mail with the attached image, it comes through as garbage on the other end. Still need to work some kinks out on this feature guys. Other than that, this version is terrific.

DoHickey reviewed v3.1.5.600 Beta on Aug 5, 2011

Still not a fan of this browser. I just don't like it.

MikeTechno reviewed v3.1.5.600 Beta on Aug 4, 2011

Wow! The new Screen Capture feature that they have built into the latest release of Maxthon 3.x is great! They really did an awesome job on it. Far and away the single best integrated Screen Capture tool of any browser out there on the market. They took their time and really put a lot of thought into it. If you frequently snap shot clips of web sites you will not find a better, easier to use tool than the one built into this browser. Excellent job guys. Very well done!

rip_pit reviewed v3.1.4.600 Beta on Jul 21, 2011

The latests releases enable a lot of the wanted features

* spellchecker: working fine, only with one dic at the moment (so just replace the english dic with another language dic file and you're done).

* Roboform : works when in switching to "Retro" Mode.
It's up to the Roboform devs to integrate into maxthon.

Plugins : support url based plugins

Rss manager/reader : enabled

Other:
- Screen capture,
- New "reader mode",
- Private mode,
- Smart adress bar,
- url aliases and shortcut,
- multisearch,
- split screen,
- integrated developper tools (similar to firebug or dragonfly)
- Dual engine - Including button fast switch between "Retro" (compatibility) and "Turbo" Modes.
- Integrated Notepad with online storage
- Online storage and sync favorites or other settings
- Multiple Skins installed and more to download...
- Detach videos from page with "always on top" button switch
- more and more
- Adblocker (still missing global rules)

It goes the good way and it's now my main browser

The 4 stars is because it does not yet integrate all my loved maxthon2 features.

DoHickey reviewed v3.1.2.600 Beta 1 on Jun 16, 2011

It's not been good enough from the start.
It's just bad.

Doubledoom reviewed v3.1.2.600 Beta 1 on Jun 16, 2011

Bala7 is wrong. Maxthon 3 is an early beta that has very little functionality at this stage. Things are getting added with each update but its got some way to go yet to be called feature rich. Good potential certainly. But not yet good enough. I would like to see roboform or lastpass suport and a spell checker before I use it more (I have it installed and check updates as I wait for those). For an early beta project its 5. For comparison against released browsers, its a 3

pjb reviewed v3.1.1.1000 on Jun 9, 2011

Don't like it. Can't custom the interface much.

Bala7 reviewed v3.1.1.600 Beta on May 26, 2011

For those that are power-users or Internet junkies, Maxthon is the most feature- rich browser out of the box. Also, toggle on/off two rendering engines (webkit & Trident) on the fly.

skdjkooltoad reviewed v3.0.24.1000 on May 19, 2011

Awesome browser and very user friendly,
Much better than the likes of Google Chrome and Opera...

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.22.1000 Beta on Mar 26, 2011

This is a forum pick with 3 stars? really?

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.20.4000 on Feb 19, 2011

This one I have trouble with.
it won't keep the skin I select after closing the browser and reopening.
It won't keep the changes after I configure it.
It still has that stupid happy face in the top left corner.
When uninstalling I get a DLL error and it won't uninstall.
I have to do a recovery to get rid of this piece of crap.
Never again will I try Maxthon 3.
Come on Firefox 4, get the lead out and finish so I have a reason to drop Chrome.

Doubledoom reviewed v3.0.20.3000 on Jan 27, 2011

Project is looking good but is still clearly a beta and missing features you would expect nowadays. However, updates are fast and things being added in periodically. Lacks Roboform support on the webkit engine but is present in trident. You can switch between the two modes cleaner than any other browser I have tried.

I see this is a possible contender in the future but for now its not quite there for me to use as my main browser. Rating it 4 on potential. Although 3 it should be on current beta position

J_s_u reviewed v3.0.19.2800 Beta on Jan 1, 2011

I used to use this back in the days of MyIE1 and somewhat MyIE2, tried this Maxthon 3 couple of weeks ago, just awful.

More hassle than it's worth. Looks horrible, and takes a lot of memory.

Been using Opera around last 4 years, I just install it, apply fanboy adblock list and that's pretty much it. (With v11 have to move around the bookmarks toolbar and set it to display full url in address field) these other browsers you have waste so much time setting it up to work exactly as you wish. I also used to use Firefox v1/v2 and needed like 20 extensions to do what I wanted, with Opera I didn't miss any of them (except maybe bugmenot login).

extremely well reviewed v3.0.19.2000 on Dec 11, 2010

Overall a really great browser, but it's still missing one critical feature from Maxthon2: URL Aliases. Another problem is the half-done Magic Fill which is missing "match url" and fine-field granularity from M2.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.19.2000 on Dec 11, 2010

Oh, what's this? we actually get to see a proper screen shot.
It's about time.......

I like how fast version 3 is.
What I don't like is the stupid smile face in the upper left corner. That sucker is huge.... The tweaker didn't work for me with the previous build to get rid of it.

MikeTechno reviewed v3.0.19.2000 on Dec 10, 2010

Ah, FINALLY they have added back in the screen capture functionality! Now I am switching back over from Chrome 9 to Maxthon 3. Every bit as fast as Chrome and a very handy screen capture utility right inside the browser. You just gotta love that! (Why other browsers STILL don't incorporate that functionality I will never understand. Probably the single most useful utility to have built into a browser today)

egg83 reviewed v3.0.18.2000 on Nov 13, 2010

Have come back to this browser after having such great problems with Internet Explorer on my computer. IE just keeps crashing for no apparent reason. So far, have had no crashes yet. See that this browser uses two engines for rendering now, Trident and Webkit, if I am not mistaken. Anyhow, have had no crashes, but am trying to figure out interface a bit. Guess I am oldschool, but have to figure out how to put menu thingy on top (File-Edit-Etc). Settings menu does not have as many options as I thought, guess they piggyback upon IE settings. Not bad as an IE "alternative".

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.18.2000 on Nov 12, 2010

CHANGE THE SCREEN SHOT TO THE MAXTHON 3 !!!!!!

I tried all the settings available on the tweaker and nothing will hide the user sign in avatar on this build for me. It wouldn't change anything.
I don't want to sign into maxthon and I don't want to see that stupid smiling box in the top left corner of my browser. We don't have to sign in to maxthon to use the stupid browser. I don't use the online favorites and I don't use the maxthon forum, so I have no use for the item and I don't want it sitting there smiling at me. Make it removable.
I know it's a small thing to get upset about, but when you don't like having things like that shoved in your face, it can make you mad & you want to slap somebody.

beautifulyao reviewed v3.0.18.1000 on Nov 10, 2010

Maxthon 3 is unstantable. Please stop working on it but go back to fix the previous mentioned performance issues. For now, I’ve switched to Avant Browser 2010 build 123, which is fast and the memroy leak never happens to me.

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v3.0.18.1000 on Nov 3, 2010

I remember when Maxthon v2 appeared first, every single Maxthon 1 user complained about it and discard it. I've tried it at that time (v2) and it was obviously that was better.
Now, we reached version v3 and it is again the same tiresome discussion. Maxthon 3 is a step forward and in the same direction like Chrome and IE9... different but nevertheless practical.
I'm not using Maxthon for primary browser for a long time now (since Chrome), but I have it installed (v3) and occasionally using it and I can say that I'm pleased about the result, with some observations:
1. Size of buttons/tabs: I see is it a common practice lately that the bigger screens we get the bigger buttons. We get bigger screens for fitting more not for you to enlarge the controls!!! Keep it small and minimalistic and remove the big useless logo on the upper left corner please!
2. Please port also the settings from Maxtion1 & 2: that was the power of Maxthon and the reason it prevailed for such a long time while using the outdated Trident engine. Now there are serious competitors out-there, please be competitive or you'll die.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.17.1109 on Oct 18, 2010

We shouldn't need to use a ( tweaker ) to hack the browser user interface.
It's a shame that they have left out so many things in options in this browser. A hack for this and a hack for that, no thanks.
I tried all the options for tabs to get a new tab to come forward when it is created. Nothing I changed made that happen. I have to admit, the missing tab option was the deal breaker for me on the maxthon 3.
It was just too irritating.
Most of those tweaker settings should be already built into the browser.
It was fast, but for me that wasn't enough to make up for the user interface.

ghammer reviewed v3.0.17.1109 on Oct 18, 2010

Version 1.x, excellent
Version 2.x so so
Version 3.x awful.

And try asking about something that does not work well/at all in their forums. Rude, obnoxious replies are the order of the day. Sometimes the main posters will later tell one another "Thanks for having my back but this happened to me too"

And, as others have said, what'd the point today?

ZoNi reviewed v3.0.17.1109 on Oct 18, 2010

Maxthon 3 is based on WebKit, not on Trident (Internet Explorer)!!! Biiiig difference...

You can remove that log-in avatar using MX3 UI Tweaker http://forum.maxthon.com/viewthread.php?tid=79197

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.17.1101 on Sep 21, 2010

I have stopped trying to like this browser.
The options aren't the only thing that it lacks.
Visually it's not a very pleasing thing to work with.
I couldn't find a way to get rid of the stupid member log in thing in the top left corner of the browser. You don't need to be a member to use this thing, why not have that removable. It's stupid.
It won't reuse a tab window from favorites & I didn't find a setting for that.
It's a visual mess and the settings suck.
I give this a 1 star just because they don't have a zero star rating.

Speaking of a visual.........
BETA NEWS PEOPLE........PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING..
Please use a screen shot of the Maxthon 3 for this software.
The screen shot you are using is of the Maxthon 2 software.
It's misleading not to get what you see here.

Lare2 reviewed v3.0.17.1100 on Sep 14, 2010

I would understand the need for something like this in the IE6 era, but in this days of Firefox, Chrome etc... I really don't see how this program makes sense at all.

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.17.1000 on Aug 27, 2010

I was a big Maxthon fan but not any more. Moved on to firefox. For me, NEXT VERSION = PREVIOUS VERSION FEATURES + NEW FEATURES + UI CHANGES (not mandatory). M3 has not even 30% features of M2 and I dont believe in releasing a new version built from scratch with no features and then adding features as time goes by. No offence, developers might have time on hand but that doesnot mean end users will have patience.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.17.1000 on Aug 26, 2010

CHANGE THE SNAPSHOT ON THIS BROWSER TO THE 3 VERSION !!!!!!!

I still don't like using this browser.
It's does not have the options I want to use.

mlazzaro reviewed v3.0.17.1000 on Aug 26, 2010

Can't block advertise.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.15.1000 on Aug 17, 2010

Been using this for almost 6 years. Started having problems with M2 but still managed. Cannot deal with this anymore. A great software but not for me. Moving on to Firefox. I know about plugin compatibility and issues but I dont have the problems I was facing with Maxthon.

One such issue is http://forum.maxthon.com...78450&goto=lastpost

I have to do that every time I start Maxthon which is a pain.

FreeSpeech reviewed v2.5.15.1000 on Aug 16, 2010

Still the best browser there is! Love the portability!
Don't listen to the stupid noob IE haters. They don't try this and don't have a clue. Just a bunch of Firefox fanboyz.

Richardky reviewed v2.5.15.168 Beta 2 on Aug 8, 2010

browser shells are obsolete , IE Firefox Chrome , all have personal customization thru addons that just simply make shells like this of no use anymore.

stevvie reviewed v3.0.15.300 RC on Jul 22, 2010

Seems to lock my system up when running, stop maxthon and the system is back. This seems to on thier forums as well. So all the bloat and crap thats being added is killing what once was the best browser.

pforbes reviewed v3.0.15.300 RC on Jul 16, 2010

Being very fast and simple I use it as default browser.

I hope the developers use their knowledge and apply to it the good things of the old Maxthon 1.6, in special:
- A perfect control of ads reflected into the down left corner counter.
- SmartUrl should never change the shape in which the webpage is shown. I've had to delete the SmartUrl folder from the user (Windows 7 64 bits) to recover the normal shape of some web pages.
- The mail option means nothing for users, not allowing you the use of hotmail, yahoo or any other everyday used mail provider.

Let's hope the definitive version deserves the confidence that we users had towards the 1.6 version. IMHO it works much better than version 2.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.14.6 RC on Jul 8, 2010

I've said this time and time again.
It's become the thing that bothers me most about this forum
The screen shot is not one of version 3.
It's a screen shot of version 2.
I'm done.... Moving on.
I don't like version 3 at all.
It just doesn't do it for me.
It's not just a couple of things about it that I don't like.
The whole thing, I just can't stand it.

DaComboMan reviewed v3.0.13.7 RC on Jul 5, 2010

@soldier1st

Did you really look close up at the specs of this browser?

Webkit it has. + a retro mode.

Read before you write.

soldier1st reviewed v2.5.14.277 on Jul 5, 2010

junk app. it is based on ie. it gets a 1.

soldier1st reviewed v3.0.13.7 RC on Jul 5, 2010

anything based on flaky/garbage ie is only a skin but nomatter what but they all share and inherit ie's flaws and security nightmares. this app gets a 1 but if it was based on something else like webkit or gecko then it would get a 5.

shrekorfiona reviewed v3.0.13.7 RC on Jul 2, 2010

Reviewing 3.0.13.7 RC

Go to the home page listed above. The website is real impressive. In fact here's a quote from the website, "Maxthon2's Ad Hunter is enhanced in Maxthon3. It's much more powerful and efficient."

Hmm, Ad Hunter doesn't exist in v3! It's a shame they are promoting fantom code.

I used to be a Maxthon fan, but not anymore.

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.13.6 Beta on Jul 2, 2010

3.0.13.7 out! This is supposed to be RC. Very disappointed! Does not even have 10% features of M2.

bobad reviewed v2.5.14.277 on Jul 1, 2010

This is the best Maxthon yet! Best features, fewest bugs, no Win7 incompatibility, Simply the best!

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.11.8 Beta on Jun 23, 2010

Still long way to go to be complete solution and yet stable.

3.0.12.8 beta is out. In this version, Multi-Search, Developer Tools, and Anti-Phishing are added. Search Engines and Mouse Gestures can be configured now. There are also many other improvements and fixes. Please refer to the changelog below for the details.

More here http://forum.maxthon.com/viewthread.php?tid=78945

Richardky reviewed v3.0.11.8 Beta on Jun 22, 2010

I used the original Maxthon for years but in reality browser shells are not even needed .. addons that allows you to choose what and what not functionality to suit your needs has made this obsolete my opinion , in fairness i tried the latest release and its time to bury the dead horse .. sorry maxthon

shallot reviewed v2.5.14.198 Beta on Jun 8, 2010

One time user. Ever since I figured that that the browser was redirecting certain traffic to their servers in china...I stopped using...better safe than sorry.

dumars reviewed v3.0.11.8 Beta on Jun 3, 2010

v3.0.11.8 feels like it's come a long way since its earlier releases. Much more stable and with good rendering times. Need mouse gestures and ad filter customizations before I can switch back full time.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.13.166 on May 21, 2010

Good news for some who wanted windows frame back as posted below.

Dagl, if you are seeing few blank screens, try this fix. It might work.

http://forum.maxthon.com...romuid=117844#pid474306

FreeSpeech reviewed v2.5.13.166 on May 20, 2010

Woohoo! Get the window frame back :D
1. close Maxthon
2. open ...Maxthon\ or SharedAccount\Config\Config.ini with Notepad
3. add SeperateWindow=0 under the line [Advanced]

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.10.11 Beta on May 14, 2010

Its light years away compared to features/options of M2. Its definitely not yet for day to day usage.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.10.11 Beta on May 13, 2010

I give it a 1 just because the screen shot is still not a screen shot of the 3.0 version. If I could give it a zero, I would.
It's still not something I feel good about using. It has nothing to draw me in it's direction from Firefox.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.9.10 Beta on Apr 23, 2010

This is still missing the options that I want in a browser.
It has no way to remove the download manager window to keep it from coming up.
I don't like having to have the favorites bar showing to get to my favorites.
It only lets me import Internet Explorer favorites. Not Firefox or any other browser. We shouldn't have to use a html file to do this.
I can't find a way to control my pop up and ad block managers.
This lacks all the options that other browsers give us.
It's a shame that Maxthon has decided not listen to it's user's wants and needs. It shows pigheadedness and just a lack of good customer relations.
It only took me 30 minutes to make up my mind about this product.
I'll never try Maxthon again, this was their last chance to impress me and they failed big time.

pdail reviewed v3.0.9.10 Beta on Apr 23, 2010

Well, now this is getting some place. Looking and working like a Browser should. Very fast, and passes the Acid 3 test. This I like.

dagl reviewed v2.5.12.4586 on Apr 1, 2010

Dang. I forgot - this version (2.5.12) doesn't work. As with the last (.12)update, the screens display no text at all. The 'Last Visited Pages' page on startup is completely blank except for a vertical line and a checkbox.

I had to reinstall 2.5.11 over the top to get back where I was. The old version works great, just no more updates. Bummer....

RWW reviewed v2.5.12.4586 on Apr 1, 2010

Great update! I have no idea why the last couple versions crashed so much that I quit sending reports. This seemed to have corrected the problem.

AlphaRoman reviewed v3.0.8.11 Alpha on Apr 1, 2010

LOL In the year 2525 if men is still alive there will be a Maxthon 3.0 release

bobad reviewed v2.5.12.4534 on Mar 23, 2010

It's back on track! This is a great release, not a single problem. Spell checker is back! I'm still bummed about the title bar not being theme compatile, but it's minor.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.7.9 Alpha on Mar 16, 2010

This is what happens when they don't listen to the customers.
An endless line of Alpha releases that do not show any promise.
It seems as though they are doing this as a hobby and not as a serious project for the people who have used Maxthon for a very long time.

For me, the Sea Monkey all in one suite is a more comfortable choice.
I don't like all the new looking stuff with no window frame on a machine running Windows XP. When something looks too different from the native windows XP interface it seems out of place & makes me uncomfortable.
Maxthon should just fade away into browser history.

AutoBot reviewed v3.0.7.9 Alpha on Mar 16, 2010

Not really improving fast enough, I've decided to use ChromePlus....now this is how you do a browser with webkit and trident.

AlphaRoman reviewed v3.0.7.9 Alpha on Mar 15, 2010

I was a great fan of Maxthon then it got bad. I tried this version 3 a couple of times. I was disappointed. I hope the final release will be there before Microsoft will come with Windows 8.
1 star for now. I use Opera and Chrome now.

wognum reviewed v2.5.12.4513 Beta on Mar 10, 2010

Maxthon used to be my browser of choice for many years, but since a couple of months its crashing more and more...please do something about it!

bobad reviewed v2.5.12.4513 Beta on Mar 9, 2010

Spell checker is fixed, less crashes, but the Windows Title Bar is still broken. What good to have nice Win7 Ultimate if you can't even use themes?

alphanews reviewed v1.6.7.33 on Mar 3, 2010

Been using MyIE2/Maxthon (Classic) since longer than I can remember. Never felt the need to use any other browser. Superb.
Full changelog :

1.6.7 build 33 [2010-02-24]
* focus address bar after new tab is opened
* fixed some search engine compatibility problem
* fixed problem that tray icon may not show
* fixed problem that selecting address bar dropdown list does not open address
* fixed problem that pressing return on search bar may not search
* fixed search alias problem
* fixed crash problem when search

1.6.6 build 32 [2010-02-03]
+ added Quick Access
+ added custom error pages(404 etc)
+ added option to use server supplied search engines
+ added user experience improvement program option to installer
* fixed some context menu problems under IE7/8
* default installation folder moved to "roaming" folder under win7
* optimized default settings
* middle click works the same as IE8
* removed language selection dialog on first run
* removed "Automatically download new security enhancement update" option in Maxthon Options > General > When Starting
* removed "Default" button in Maxthon Options > Address Bar > URL Alias
* removed "Arrange Icons" command from Windows menu
* removed "Allow Flash" command from Download Control Menu
* added "Remove All" command to Undo menu
* when a tab window is minimized, it is shown on top initially (not disappear)
* links list now always opened maximized
* Organize Favorites dialog is resizeable now

Second Shadow reviewed v1.6.7.33 on Mar 3, 2010

Maxthon 1.x is much better than any of the versions that came after it (v2, v3). I'm glad it's still being updated.

MikeTechno reviewed v3.0.6.32 Alpha on Feb 27, 2010

This is a great, very fast app (in Ultra Mode) and I love it. But there is a bug in the cursor's operation in the URL line. Click the URL line to highlight the currently displayed URL. Then hit the right arrow key on the keyboard. Instead of placing the cursor at the end of the URL line as the browser should after you do that, it places the cursor at the beginning of the URL line. An easy mistake to make and fortunately a very easy one to fix. Very annoying. Once that gets fixed, this browser rocks! Can't wait for them to finish adding in all the other features that haven't been put in yet in this version. Keep an eye on this app. It has great potential!

dlaws reviewed v2.5.12.4456 Beta on Feb 27, 2010

Installed the new version and it didn't display most pages - including the 'last pages visited' tab on startup - just empty white screen. Reinstalled twice with same results. Finally reinstalled 2.5.11 and everything works great. Whew. Upgrade with caution....

jetz reviewed v3.0.6.32 Alpha on Feb 26, 2010

Another window frameless turd. How long will this pos be in alpha? Why is there no window frames in v2 and v3?

AutoBot reviewed v3.0.6.32 Alpha on Feb 26, 2010

I was a long time user of MYIE2 and it's previous incarnations, I even added some programmers sites to the initial search functions. I haven't used Maxthon before and decided to give the Dual mode Maxthon 3 a try, it's in an infancy stage but is coming together nicely.

The ability to dynamically switch between IE Trident engine and the WebKit engine is awesome, you can get an IE tab in Chrome but not dynamically..not like this works. And it's fast in WebKit (Ultra Mode)..I would say equally fast as Chrome if not faster once Chrome is running a few extensions.

Don't download this expecting Maxthon, download this expecting a new experience from the same developers of Maxthon. Now rate it on that basis, not that this is the progression of Maxthon 2 or even 1.

I only rate it at 5 because it doesn't deserve such low ratings, as a beta I would give it 3 stars.

jetz reviewed v2.5.12.4456 Beta on Feb 26, 2010

Sucks with no window frame! Looks like that will never come back. This is terrible! Bring back the window frame!!

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.6.27 Alpha on Jan 28, 2010

Why is the screen shot not one of the Maxthon 3? From the look of the picture, it looks like either the original or the Maxthon 2. It's a surprise & not always a good one when you don't get what you see in the screen shots.

I have no use for any Maxthon product anymore.

dhry reviewed v1.6.6.29 on Jan 28, 2010

ZOMG! Did they really release a newer version of Maxthon Classic? Hooray!

bobad reviewed v2.5.12.4200 Beta on Jan 21, 2010

Used to be the best, but going down badly of late. It crashes a lot now. The Dev. decided to remove the spell checker, and decided to do something silly to the title bar, making it non standard. I'll move to Chrome, and hope the Dev restores Maxthon to its former greatness.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.12.4200 Beta on Jan 20, 2010

Interesting new additions there! Still solid to me.

RWW reviewed v2.5.11.3390 on Jan 9, 2010

Always a big fan but this particular release crashes frequently. I have not sent error reports, shame on me....but most of the crashes do not result in an opportunity to send the error.

RoSmecher reviewed v3.0.6.9 Alpha on Dec 30, 2009

this should not be released. I know it's alpha but they should at least wait until Beta... It is completely useless. It has no features at all and nothing works. Do not download this, if you expect to use it day to day.

bobad reviewed v2.5.11.3390 on Dec 22, 2009

The missing window frame is bad, the missing spell checker is awful.

FreeSpeech reviewed v2.5.11.3390 on Dec 7, 2009

Maxthon sucks without the window frame! Still using 2.15 the last one that has it. Bring it back! Even version 3 does not have a window frame. Looks like it never will.

TedWest reviewed v2.5.11.3390 on Dec 7, 2009

Maxthon is simply THE BEST, and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't done a fair comparison. I've used them all and only Firefox even approaches the foothills of Maxthon,

However, that doesn't mean that Maxthon and its developers aren't infuriating. The two biggest problems are that Maxthon 1x is better than Maxthon 2x at what it does, but Maxthon 2x does so much more that you can't use 1x anymore, so you have to sacrifice things like a better "groups' function in 1x, and a much easier and form filler in 1x as well.

Even worse is the fact that Maxthon has no help file and trying to get in in their forum has become impossible as you now have to have some rank in order to even post a question and there's no explanation as to how to get that - IMMEDIATELY! because they recently screwed up their most convenient feature - the auto-hiding sidebar so the only way to get it to work properly is to not use the browser in fullscreen mode and move it left so a few pixels are of-screen - and Maxthon doesn't hold that position when you reopen it. A little program called WinSize solves the problem for the most part.

So what then Makes Maxthon 2x better by far? Just about everything, including the defective sidebar that gives you quick and better access to favorites than Firefox. And the Speed Dial plugin is terrific, though the one that comes built-in is merely good.

I love the aforementioned groups function (though 1x is way better, but you can look under "File" in 2x, and create a "Save Sessions" button that approximates the 1x group function), the plugins selection is terrific and very few are needed since the browser itself does so much. Ad-blocking is as good and simple as any available.

So I'm hopeful that Maxthon 3x will incorporate the best of 1 & 2, but in the meantime, Maxthon 2x is the standard by which all others are measured - and fail.

xsnred reviewed v2.5.11.3353 on Dec 6, 2009

Hmmm tekk. I could have got a lot out of your review if you didn't waste it all on slamming other browsers. Your key words, "for the masses", is correct. They will not use Maxthon because they have other things to do, unlike yourself. The "masses" use IE cause all they do is go to Facebook and check their Hotmail. I use Maxthon and have talked to others about it and all they ask me is if they are as good as Maxi Pads. I give it a five just for that.

tekk reviewed v2.5.11.3353 on Dec 6, 2009

Version 2.5.10.2994 - I have used every browser ever made, and given them hours and months of test time to make a fair assessment, and Maxthon is by far my favorite browser of all time. Farewell to all the cry babys who go to Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Yes, the Trident engine of Internet Explorer does leave many things to be desired, but the intuitive intelligent interface of Maxthon cannot be beat, and nobody can touch it. I have spent months and months over the past 5 years with the latest Firefox releases, it is up to 3.5.5 now. I have pored over thousands of extensions, plugins, and add-ons, and done my very best to build myself a custom Firefox user interface that can run as intuitively and fast, as I have come to rely upon using a Maxthon installation. I have spent 18 hour days, weeks at a time, with little to no sleep, and nothing but time on my side. It simply cannot be done. By the time you get Firesux more than a dozen or so extensions, add-ons, toolbars, and plugins, the user interface looks ugly like it was drawn by a drunken, cross-eyed, photoshop-phile on a meth binge. Firesux runs slower than a 15 year old FORD truck on a 20 below zero morning in Anchorage, and I'm sure it leaves as much a carbon footprint with all the cycles on my quadcore processor and 6GB of RAM, which literally grinds to a halt under the load. The masses can have their browser, those of us who know Maxthon is superior will be happy with our secret, and not be weighed down with that stoned, sinking, fuel burning albatross known as Firesux.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.11.3353 on Dec 4, 2009

Inniosoft, next version of Maxthon(v3) which is still in alpha phase has dual engine support (both trident and webkit) and so it will cater for wider audience.

This version(v2) works fine for me.

dhry reviewed v3.0.5.21 Alpha on Dec 1, 2009

I completely agree with Dudeboyz. This thing is a crock of sh1te. They should never have stopped development on the v1 series. Then again, this sort of thing happens time and time again. Example: Filezilla. 2.2.32 is still the best version. Sigh.

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.5.10.2994 on Nov 16, 2009

dudes, what happen with the CTRL+W or CTRL+F4 for clossing the tabs???!!!!

RWW reviewed v3.0.5.7 Alpha on Nov 15, 2009

I would be happy if Max 3 could be the Max 2 interface with the Webkit engine. For those who want the sparse Chrome-like interface a button could be installed to go to that interface or stay with the feature rich Max 2 as it is now.
I have been with Max 2 since the start and have seen it evolve into the browser it is today and I use it constantly. I'm anxious to see this evolve.

Inniosoft reviewed v2.5.10.2994 on Nov 13, 2009

Have said it before, and I'll say it again: Why enumerate IE? It's the world's worst browser. Full stop.

Maxthon would be great if it had its own rendering engine.

I'll give it a three for performance and useabilty.

microFawad reviewed v3.0.4.8 Alpha on Oct 27, 2009

Maxthon 3 is simply the best version so far. I don't like Maxthon 2 because it's bloated with too many features which majority even don't use. I wanted it to be clean, simple, and lite. With Maxthon 3 they are going in the right direction.

Plus the greatest thing they did is they moved away from Trident. Now they are using webkit as a browser engine which is more faster, and follow 100% web standards.

I am simply loving this version it so far. Lets see what happens next in later releases :)

Aegis69 reviewed v2.5.9.2246 on Oct 15, 2009

If you still insist on using IE, get IEPro and install it. Thats a lot better than installing this mess.

Better yet, get Firefox or Opera. Once you see the list of addons for Firefox, you will never go back to something like this.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.2.2 Alpha on Sep 13, 2009

It's been a very long time & still it's an Alpha.
Bring this sucker into beta already.....
slow pokes !
Not to say that I'd like the Maxthon 3 anyway, but if it's better than the 2.0 version, well maybe I'll mess with it for a while.
As it stands right now, I have no use for it..

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.7.1162 on Sep 13, 2009

Why don't these people at Maxthon just give up & go home.
I've moved on from the mess that the browser has turned into.
Firefox has blown the out of the picture totally.

DudeBoyz reviewed v3.0.2.2 Alpha on Sep 11, 2009

Huge Maxthon 1.6.x supporter, but they started going in the wrong direction with version 2 and now version 3 seals the deal.

No Window Frame should NOT be a requirement. At the very least, users should be able to toggle that feature on and off.

The stability problems and in my opinion poor development choices in both versions 2 and 3 have finally pushed me away from the IE platform entirely and I have switched completely over to FireFox 3.x

It's sad to see what was a fantastic program end up so horribly mangled like it has been in 2 and now 3. Incredibly disappointing.

olirosee reviewed v2.5.7.1162 on Sep 10, 2009

Have been using Maxthon 2 for over 2 years now (changing from version 1) and I still prefer it over Firefox, Opera and Chrome because I can customise it much more to the way I need it to work, without any third party add-ons. It loads (at least on my machine) slower than Chrome but at least 3 times faster than Firefox (which now takes not less than 45 seconds to become available).

However recently I am experiencing many problems - up to 10 crashes a day (I am a heavy user) of which 90% happen when I try to close a Window in which a Flash application is running, and about half of the time it takes not less than 3 minutes to unload after closing it - generally I am using task manager now to dispose of Maxthon.

Favourites menu needs up to 30 seconds to open (I have a lot of bookmarks, but all sorted in groups and folders) and it brings my work to a halt if I accidentally mouse-over the menu. Perhaps it is rendering the bookmarks tree each time before dropping down the menu?

Every now and then, it completely forgets my passwords, loses my cookies...

And still it has the features I need which I can't get from the competition (no mention of IE 7 or 8 here - that's not competition) and I will keep using it, hoping that with each new revision some of my problems will disappear.

jblane reviewed v2.5.7.1162 on Sep 10, 2009

At least for me: quick, complete, customizable to the max, useful features, working like a charm.

ZenoLabs reviewed v2.5.7.1143 Beta 3 on Sep 9, 2009

No more reasons to use this one now.

emanresU deriseD reviewed v2.5.6.350 on Sep 7, 2009

I installed Maxthon.

I exported my Firefox bookmarks.

I tried to import them in Maxthon. Maxthon crashed.

Great stuff.

cltx99 reviewed v2.5.6.350 on Aug 26, 2009

At least for me, very buggy and slow. I quickly uninstalled it.

stevvie reviewed v2.5.6.350 on Aug 25, 2009

A very good browser ruined by the removal of the STANDARD window frame. I used to love this browser but they seemed to of alienated some users by removing the window frame. I for one have moved to Firefox and wont look back easily. If you can live without the window frame (most users can) and want an IE front end then this is the best browser for the job.

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.6.349 on Aug 23, 2009

The work around for the removed window frame is crap. It makes most of the skins look bizarre when you move the file menu to the left side.
Until they bring the option back, I'm using Forefox & forgetting about my old favorite browser.
Maxthon has turned into a bundle of crap & I'm not going to try it anymore.

tomcass00 reviewed v2.5.5.308 on Aug 19, 2009

Ive used this program for 8 yrs or so and with the exception of version 3 I have had little to no problems with it and those problems I did have were with crashing which considering how much faster pages load and the many add ons and skins available along with the built in downloader, I have little concern with the crashing problem

compared to the other browsers out there I find this a much better product I have tried them all Opera, Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla and a slew of others and they all are slower with loading and with displaying webpages than the Maxthons

even though it loads on top of Internet explorer and isnt a true standalone browser its a good product also I have found in my own experience with Maxthon that its very compatible with all versions of IE and has little problem with migration to the new versions

some versions of Maxthon do have some issues more so than others but those do get addressed and have caused little to hardly any problems in my own experiences

I have used this browser on pentiums II III IV at 300 mhs to 2.6 ghz machines as welll as amd processors and found it to be very adaptable

I have used it on machines that had other products on it and when those product failed I went back to Maxthon and it prevailed.

this is one browser that unless drastically changed like in version 3 I will continue to use

however if it goes primary to the version 3 I ll be finding myself looking for another product.

I highly recomend trying this product if not using it primarily as a browser of choice.

alohanela reviewed v2.5.4.159 on Aug 6, 2009

I have been skipping all updates since 2.1.5 versions. Thinking that perhaps the bugs had been ironed out, I installed this version yesterday. All seemed ok until I noticed that the RoboForm bar had developed some sort of amnesia. It failed to recognize ALL the log-on pages, and it quickly became a real annoyance. I promptly uninstalled and returned to the previous version.

italyx reviewed v2.5.4.159 on Aug 4, 2009

What a bore this whimpering on the window frame! (to say nothing of the fact that there is a workaround. Read Maxthon forum and find the solution).
This version solves the only glitch I had, some page freezing without any reasons. Keep up the good work.

darthbeads reviewed v3.0.0.140 Alpha on Jul 31, 2009

I don't understand why all the people lambasting Maxthon 3 for not having a window frame aren't also lambasting Chrome and the latest renderings of Firefox 3.7 for the same....

stevvie reviewed v3.0.0.140 Alpha on Jul 28, 2009

Maxthon 1 was amazing maxthon 2 a little bloated and then they REMOVED the window frame and this version (maxthon3) is dreadful. When you think this is up against chrome and Firefox it looks and feels VERY dated and sluggish.

alohanela reviewed v3.0.0.139 Alpha on Jul 24, 2009

As a long time Maxthon user, I took this baby out for a brief ride. I was quite impressed by the browsing speed and compatibility with websites. Of course, this "baby" has a ways to go before it qualifies as my main browser, but I most certainly see the potential. I'll revisit when it enters beta and/or it offers ad blocking options, etc. Keep up the good work.

dhry reviewed v2.5.3.80 on Jul 21, 2009

Forget v2. Stick with v1.

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.2.7058 on Jul 3, 2009

It has become freakishly clear by Maxthon that the window frame option is gone for good. I and many others feel cheated by the people at Maxthon by refusing to give us back this feature.

If they want to release it without the window frame, they will loose many long time users. To keep us happy and to keep us using Maxthon, Go ahead and do what you are doing, but also publish a version for Windows XP that has the window frame option.

It is bull headed and a bad business practice to ignore so many users of your product. Not just ignore, but to mean mouth them on the Maxthon forum website, saying posts regarding feature this will be deleted.

I tried the ALT drag little fix to put my file, view, favorites & so on onto the left side of my browser. That was a nightmare, they went right next to the page Forward and back arrows & when I tried to fix that they vanished.

If the window frame doesn't come back within a month, I am through with using Maxthon for good. I've been a long time fan of the browser but I've had it with the superior attitude I receive when I inquire about things on the Maxthon site.
Oh, I also noticed that they took away the CPU usage option in the tools.
Maxthon in total control of the way it uses my CPU, no thanks.

jetz reviewed v2.5.2.7058 on Jul 2, 2009

Still no window frame. Fail!

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.2.7058 on Jul 2, 2009

Whatever I am expecting from a browser, I am getting it.

jetz reviewed v2.5.2.6929 Beta 5 on Jun 26, 2009

Bring back the window frame!!

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.5.2.6929 Beta 5 on Jun 26, 2009

For the first time, I am disappointed with Maxthon seeing the next minor being in beta for over two months. I wouldn't complain though, its a freeware and all the developers have their own priorities. Will stick to last stable version as for me none other browser has come par with Maxthon yet.

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.2.6929 Beta 5 on Jun 26, 2009

I agree with ghammer, I don;t like the file, view, favorites, groups, tools being over on the right side of the browser either.

We are told that the window frame option was removed for beta. But the current full version available for download on the Maxthon site doesn't have the option either.

So many people want the option for the window frame, it is a mistake for Maxthon to remove it, I feel they won't put it back for any reason because they are a bunch of bull headed people that don't care about th user anymore.

I will and must say this. The post of the Maxthon forum regarding window frame posts was put on in very bad taste and it's an in your face statement that
we are being ignored by them.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.0.119 Alpha on Jun 17, 2009

Why is the screen shot a picture of the Maxthon 1 version?
I'm not trying this again till it's in beta & not alpha.
Why? because the you can't give constructive criticism on the Maxthon forum about the Maxthon 3 without being called an idiot. I'm tired of the I'm better than you attitude of the people that are in charge of that forum.
Don't get me wrong, I think when the 3.0 version is released into beta it will be a good product. The people at the Maxthon website just need to cool off and come down of their high horse & get real.
People won't use your product if you treat them like filth.

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.0.118 Alpha on Jun 17, 2009

Good to be skeleton browser. Long time before it gets somewhere. There is already an update available.

http://dl.maxthon.cn/mx3/mx3.0.0.119.exe

sn0wy82 reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on Jun 6, 2009

Excellent for an alpha edition! Noticed quite a few bugs, but thats obviously predictable. I've been a fan of Maxthon for years, will definately use this when it is more stable

ghammer reviewed v2.5.2.6608 Beta 4 on Jun 1, 2009

This build:
No I.E. Plugins (Roboform, etc)
No 'frame' around the window.
Same crashes as the past three versions.

With I.E.Pro, I have no reason to use this any longer.

Too bad, Maxthon was once a nice tool.
You know, the tone on their forums has went downhill recently too.

PraetorianGuard reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 26, 2009

Grow some brains, you morons. Dissing an alpha is like walking onto a construction site and saying that the unfinished house is uninhabitable.
You obviously have no idea of the concept of development.

dhry reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 23, 2009

I agree. This is complete rubbish. It's apparently not enough that they destroyed Maxthon in the 2.x series by turning it into bloatware, now they're adding the useless concept of Webkit into it. Pointless. Google Chrome is out there if you need Webkit rendering (or Sa-farce-ri). There's absolutely no reason for Maxthon to jump on this bandwagon. Plus, this alpha hasn't got any menus at all! Firefox supports its own engine as well as Trident (with the IETab extension). The Webkit engine brings nothing to the table except barely noticeable speed increases in rendering on modern CPUs. Oh, and apparently injecting the Webkit rendering engine into your browser framework spontaneously makes coders forget to add any options into your program. Avoid this, Maxthon 2 and Google Chrome. Go with Greenbrowser for a quick-loading, frequently-updated IE shell with great features, FF for everything else. Honestly, Fileforum's staff must be on crack to have chosen this as a "pick".

Blaxima reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 22, 2009

I wish people would grasp the concept behind sites like this because if they did they wouldn't be rating something based on what it might be in future releases but what the one they are downloading is! That type of feed back helps the community here decide if they will give this release a try or not.

Maxthon has never been as good as it was back in version 1.6. Since then it has become more and more unstable for me and it has far too many annoying bugs that have made this quite honestly a steaming piece of rubbish with little bits of corn in it.

There are much better alternatives and even the other IE clones have crept past this one. Shame really, this use to be my favourite browser

paulm84 reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 22, 2009

very cool so far it looks like maxthon is starting from scratch.

i'll be happy once it's reaches beta

reddy.shyam reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 22, 2009

Very stable for an alpha. Impressive UI. Highlight is dual engine (Trident: IE; webkit: Google Chrome).

DoHickey, its alpha for a reason. Developers mentioned on M3 page that features will get added as and when they make this stable and in coming releases. So please be patient or use just M2.

DoHickey reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 22, 2009

This is a joke isn't it?
I expected more from the Maxthon team than this.
After all there was an alpha 1 & 2 already.
No settings to choose from at all.
What about pop ups? Ad blocking?
A way to get to favorites without having them all displayed on the toolbar.
It's suppose to be faster, Well I can't see it at all. I have Comcast Cable internet & IE-7 and even Firefox 3 is much faster than the Maxthon Alpha 3.
The Maxthon team have a hard road ahead to get this thing into shape for the average users of the product.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Maxthon 2 browser, I've tried many browsers & wouldn't use anything else.

In addition, the whole point of this site is to try the software & rate it as it is at this point of it's development. Not what it could be later. As it is at this point, I'm inclined tell people to pass this version of the application up. Wait till later on & try it again. From what I experienced with the alpha 3, it's like Chrome with a different skin, only worse.
I'm a long time Maxthon user & I still use a version of the M-2 but not as my default, it use to be my default, but M-2 also has issues.
I'm a Firefox user until I can find anything better to replace it.

cekicen reviewed v3.0.0.112 Alpha 3 on May 21, 2009

It's an Internet Explorer shell, but Maxthon 3 is using webkit (chrome) engine too...

grants reviewed v1.6.3.80 on May 15, 2009

Best Browser in terms of Memory Usage- Maxthon v1
have been testing browsers to find the one that works best for an older computer. Not a difficult chore for anyone. Simply run your selected browser with a similar selection of resource hungry websites open and watch the memory usage in Windows Task Manager. Maxthon V.1 is consistently the lowest memory usage. I noticed Maxthon has a selection in the advanced options to allow for memory management, whatever the reason it's by far the fastest IMO. Features are good but perhaps not the best compared to Maxthon 2 or Opera. In order of rankings by memory usage, Maxton 1, QT Web, Maxthon 2, Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer 7, Google Chrome. My tests were not comprehensive but proved to me Maxthon was best.

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.1.4751 (Updated) on May 13, 2009

I have an issue with the people at Maxthon. Regarding the Maxthon 2 browser.
The window frame option has been taken away from the interface.
In the Maxthon forum, they put up an announcement about the posts regarding this issue. It was mean spirited, in other words they were talking down to the users that posted the issue with the missing window frame option removal.
The whole point of having browser customization is for the customer to have his or her browser look the way they want it to look.
My point is this. Maxthon was a very nice browser, I used it for a long time and was very happy with it. I now have to use someone else's Idea of what it should look like.
So I as of today will no longer be a Maxthon 2 user. I am moving on to FireFox with Ad block plus. I suggest that people think twice about using the Maxthon 2 browser in it's new form.

ZenWarrior reviewed v2.5.2.5442 Beta 3 on Apr 27, 2009

What has happened to Maxthon, the mighty king of browsers? A steady decline in quality over the past several months continues. Freezes, crashes, lost preferences--those are now commonplace.

I had hoped with more recent releases that mighty Maxthon might return to its former glory, but with this release I am giving up hope. I've even made Firefox my default browser now.

I will miss you, Maxthon. I loved you dearly, but somewhere the train derailed and seems unable to get back on track. The king of browsers seems dead in the water. 'Tis a sad day for power-browser users.

McAleck reviewed v2.5.1.4751 (Updated) on Apr 24, 2009

too bad! this browers has hands-down the best usability features but the never-ending bugs make it often painful to use! I'd like to give this a 5, really, but lack of stability and the fact that these issue pop up in earch and every verison force me to take off two points

wognum reviewed v2.5.2.5442 Beta 3 on Apr 16, 2009

Getting better...finally!

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.5.2.2801 Beta on Mar 4, 2009

Question of personal preferences I think, but on my computers is the first choice browser, second is Chrome (and yes, I'm having also Opera and FF and use them occasionally).

No problem with this version for me tough, it seems more stable then the very previous one - I'm always updating to the latest night build/beta/RC if available somewhere to download - and also checking the same problematic sites, bookmarks like the previous reviewer... tough the issues he reports does not occur here.

I'm also using it against IE 8.0.6001.18371 (RC1)... maybe this why.

Blaxima reviewed v2.5.2.2801 Beta on Mar 3, 2009

This browser seems to get worse and worse. I installed it and went to the site that always gives it problems to see if it has been corrected and it crashed my system. The embarrassing part for max is that the site is their very own plugins and skin site!! What a joke. Now you can argue that it's a IE problem but if maxthon is going to be a clone the least they should do is make the script on their own site compatible with IE.

Also, why the hell are there little x's instead of images on the preferences page? This has become one buggy piece of rubbish

DoHickey reviewed v2.5.2.2801 Beta on Mar 2, 2009

Won't install using run from current location, I get a warning that says windows has found a problem with this file. Nothing to click on but the OK & then the warning closes & nothing happens. Will try downloading first to my drive.
It did install after downloading to my hard drive. Still no option to show the window frame & the menu, file, view, favorites, Groups & so on are back on the right side of the browser again. I will keep the older version and not try a new Maxthon again for quite a while. Or at least till they listen to the people that want the option I spoke of.

PraetorianGuard reviewed v2.5.1.4751 (Updated) on Feb 11, 2009

As much as I adore Maxthon - I use nothing else for its unrivaled customisability - this one still has some minor bugs: most notably, page redraws cause the screen to flash to desktop for a small fraction of a second and there can be some hanging problems with a select few websites.
This update doesn't appear to fix anything so stick with a slightly older version (pre-2.5.1.*) if you have it.

dolcesculacciare reviewed v2.5.1.4751 (Updated) on Feb 11, 2009

this is still broken... if there's any difference at all (the file signatures do have different dates), it's minimal at best... Maxthon is now Crapthon !

mike_diack reviewed v2.5.1.4751 (Updated) on Feb 11, 2009

The new feature in 2.5.1 that prevents tabs from hanging the browser (ala IE8 and Google's Chrome) is impressive - it's here and works now, ahead of IE8, even though this is based on IE6/7.

Kudos to the developer.

Mike

firs73 reviewed v2.5.1.4751 on Jan 24, 2009

I always love Maxthon-the only browser I wanna use.No Maxthon,no surfing.
SInce this Maxthon2.5.1.x has released,the biggest issue hauntin' for years which named "Freeze"'s gone forever.No freeze,I love Maxthon more then before.

Long life Maxthon!

rip_pit reviewed v2.5.1.4751 on Jan 22, 2009

2.5.1 series are not the best from Maxthon. Still contains little bugs.
Better stay to 2.1.5 till next release.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.5.1.4751 on Jan 22, 2009

Still as buggy as heck. Maxthon 1.6 is so much more stable it's almost laughable.

They even took out the Window Frame in the previous version. I don't know if that was a mistake or intended, but users were not happy about it.

I fear this thing won't even come close to matching what 1.6.x has become.

Jammerdelray reviewed v2.5.1.4751 on Jan 22, 2009

I like this browser, offers a lot of built in features and custumization.

Cnns: could be a bit more user frieldly

alohanela reviewed v2.5.1.4751 on Jan 22, 2009

Weird. I've been using Maxthon 2 since they worked out most of the original bugs. I'm reluctant to install this update based on the comments I'm reading here. In all, I prefer Maxthon 2 after being a longtime user of the previous version (still a great browser). It took some getting used to the features, and how to best customize the browser, but it is indeed better than the first in my opinion. I have tried FF, Opera, Chrome and even Safari, and I'm always ready to come back to Maxthon. I will skip this update. Looking forward to the next less-buggy version. =) Cheers!

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 16, 2009

My opinion matches few others around: Maxthon 2 has never been as user friendly and user driven as the older original. Although I was a fervent supporter of Maxthon 1, I never liked nor adopted v2.
About stability, the latest Maxthon v1 builds also had some serious crashing issues that were never resolved through the numerous later builds I tried. Since Firefox 2 appeared when Maxthon 2 was showing its commercial drive and when Maxthon 1 seems to be hopelessly buggy with not much progress in further builds, I've now been using Firefox ever since. I didn't like Firefox 1, but I liked Firefox 2, and it happened to be at the right time at the right place.
I still give Maxthon v2 a 2, but only because of the glorious days of the original version.

BruddaMan reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 15, 2009

my brother showed me maxthon2 and then he showed me maxthon1 and maxthon1 was more like a regular browser. internet seven and eight dont look right but maxthon lets you use it with a normal look. maxthon1 has the file menu at the top and tabs are on the whole line like firefox and i like it better. my brother pushed maxthon hard but i dont like maxthon2 and im not used to it. i liked the way he set up maxthon1 best and even on the maxthon page they say 1 is more stable than 2. it says "Use less system resources, more stable, better compatibility," so just use maxthon1 and not maxthon2. even the maxthon makers say maxthon1 is better.

sweathog reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

Among other things, breaks roboform.

bobad reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

Excellent program. It has power and convenience features that no other browser has in their entirety. I'm totally hooked, and can never go back to browsers without the features and power. This release and the previous one have a few bugs. This happens periodically to some of the betas, and has happened throughout the program's development. The developer always comes through and rights the ship for a quality final release.

Please don't downgrade the program because of beta bugs. Report them to the developer, that's why he releases betas. If you get your panties in a bunch because betas have bugs, the developer will probably stop releasing betas to the public, slowing the development cycle. If you don't like bugs and don't like to help develop this fine program, stay away from the betas and wait for the finals.

dolcesculacciare reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

have to agree... this version's bug riddled and breaks more than it fixes... shame... posting the review via firefox ... i used to LOVE maxthon... it's arbitrary bug snot now :(

updated... pay attention... version 2.5.1.4075 is NOT beta per maxthon's own web site... it's listed as the "latest version"...

pheeew reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

Thank you so much horsecharles, you say the things my english skills are not good enough for. I was a huge fan of MyIE and Maxthon 1.x for years and currently still use 1.6x on Vista. Maxthon 2 has never been my cup of tea but I still have it installed on my machines in the hope to see it grow into a mature browser. I'd never set it as default tho. It's not just that I don't like the interface and menues of v2, but also I feel like being forced to something. I've used plain old favorites forever (and still do!) and never had any issues importing/exporting or even carrying them with me. (USB, www...)
Now they tell me I shoud upload them to some online-service I know nothing about. Why? My favorites are private, they are mine! They are even in an encrypted file on my hdd, so that I will never have an option to manually edit them.
One of the great features of v1 has been crippled: groups
I better not start talking about all the crashes I've experienced in v2...

I was sceptical when the change from MyIE to Maxthon v1 happend and in the end it worked out good but v2 keeps me searching for a new alternative to the alternative. Firefox is not an option for me. Opera is great but lacks plugin support - take it as it is or leave it. IEPro is pretty cool, tho a bit basic but in the end it simply works.

Well as the saying goes: All good things come to an end.

RIP Maxthon.

DaComboMan reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

My second choice after Firefox.
Just wish they had the "ahsum" bar.

horsecharles reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

BOBAD: it's not about getting one's panties in a tizzy over bugs-- as a lot of those bugs are Maxthon's fault for illogical reasons:

Ever since Maxthon was lauded by Microsoft-- they have eerily copied their modus operandi of arbritrary & proprietary changes & formats galore.

Tell me when you see in their forums a discussion such as: We're thinking of redoing Favorites, Tabs, ETC. for x and y reasons-- what do you think, what location would be best for you, etc.
Even if only as a warning not to install a particular build because it's a major change in some area would be very helpful.
Instead, we get a surprise after upgrading-- for something that was not broken to begin with-- but now is causing some buggy or unwanted behavior. Then, after complaining, we still don't get an explanation for the change in the first place.
_______________________________________________

FYI this latest build will either crash at some previously-opened sites OR will lose last unsaved session completely.

FYI2 Close / Maximize / Minimize / etc. buttons missing...

I second Blaxima and DudeBoyz almost word for word.

This was at one time my default browser-- but between arbritrary changes(some of which have been admittedly reworked after user clamor) and some site incompatibilities(again, admittedly, this affects all browsers-- even IE on some MS sites!-- and fault can be attributted to individual sites)-- i regretfully had to find other options, although not voluntarily:

Maxthon used to be a perfect alternative to IE-- especially after security patches dumbed down / arbritrarily disabled various functions-- "while actually being a lot safer w/o having to resort to / depend on those tactics".
I work on the web with a kazillion different websites, many with embedded multimedia / live content-- Maxthon was perfect, esp. for those sites that demand IE exclusively...it would still render all pages / content correctly, while IE would be hit or miss.
Sadly, that is no longer the case, no matter how permissive the settings / everything enabled / popups & ads blockers disabled / sites added to Trusted Zones.

This latest release hangs and/or crashes when attempting to open-- with a handful of sites from its last session on previous build BTW.
That is just an FYI more than anything...it is a Beta release...although its previous build(and other installed browsers as well) had no issues with those sites.

I have zero time to troubleshoot, so it's wait until subsequent releases...although such an older, established browser shouldn't be undergoing all that-- it's like back to square one / newer browsers don't have such issues.

Maxthon developers need to take a good, hard reassesment of priorities and goals:

1. Stop with arbritrary changes, especially proprietary ones, that are more cosmetic(ergo annoying) rather than useful. Couple of examples:
A. Bookmarks-- either use standard IE folder locations(and for history / cookies / logins / autofill & autocomplete / etc.) or develp a module to periodically import / sync data.
DITTO FOR MOZ browsers.
Just this one step will get many more users and a chance for many of them to set Maxthon as default.
B. Search-- stop trying to make a few dollars with this, while making it very hard for the average user to change default...
the money will come with improvement and higher browser share.

2. Take a good, hard look at main + innovative competitors and combine their features 'while improving each".
Many users are forced to use a different browser, whether for work, site compatibility reasons, or a couple of great features not found in other browsers:
the browser that most implements steps 1A & 2 will win the browser wars. Some examples:
A. How FlashPeak SlimBrowser and FF TileTab Extension are able to tile / adjust tabs-- improve on this by having the browser remember the tab sizes and positions upon reopening.
B. Include Groups functions in initial Restore Last Open page--I may not want to reopen all those pages / put up with that long wait, but because i don't want to lose them(not having saved to group last open session)-- this forces me to open up a competing browser!!!
C. Useful Context Menu Addons like found In Avant/extensions/misc...take it a step further with things like Go to Url, Search With for plain text(even misspelled text).

And of course, fix current problems re site incompatibilities and:
restoring from last session takes too long AND disables browser completely until all / each tabs load entirely.

Partner with or acquire(or at least look at their features) BaoBau IE Sessions, IE7 Pro, etc.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

Sorry. Maxthon 1.6.5.18 is just flat out a better product. You can install it over IE 6, IE 7 or IE 8, on XP, Vista or Win 7, and it works just great.

Same IE engine, but with an interface you can control.

By the way, Maxthon 1.6.x is still in parallel development with 2.x. They are two distinct products, and if you want to use the IE engine but need more than the lame IE 7 / IE 8 interface, Maxthon 1.6.x is a great option, especially if you add the More Options 1.x addon.

Maxthon 1.6.x has all of the benefits without 2.x's weeknesses. That is why it is still in parallel development. 1.6.x is Just That Good.

Blaxima reviewed v2.5.1.4075 on Jan 14, 2009

Lets get one thing straight here, the bugs that are in Maxthon are not IE bugs. This crashes at sites IE simply does not.

I wanted this to replace firefox as the browser I would used for the sites Opera would not render but the constant crashes and cumbersom navigation through the options was too much for me and being a long time My IE user I can say that they've really fudged up this browser.

Thankfully the new Opera (10) even in alpha stages is more stable and is rendering all the pages I use to have problems with so no need now for a second browser.

Maxthon has really lost ground to the others

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.6.5.18 on Dec 31, 2008

A fantastic application. I'm glad that they keep developing 1.6.x in parallel with Maxthon 2.

BTW, I've been told that you can install Maxthon 1.6.x in Vista and IE 7 and even Windows 7 and IE 8 and not lose one single bit of functionality. If that's true, then I can keep using Maxthon 1.6.x for many years to come!

Nice...

biggeo reviewed v2.1.5.1250 on Dec 25, 2008

A must have browser ,with a very good download manager, with a clever accelerator future, one of best AD blockers in the market and work flawless with Windows as it is based on IE.
Less safety problems than IE has, faster than IE, COMPATIBLE WITH ANY SITE, easier to use than firefox, and absolutelly FREE.

Some bugs fixed with the new release some still remain and need to be fixed. But that was expected as it based on IE.

Using browsers from 1991, for me Maxthon make my every day browsing easy and fast.
I love alliases and drag and drop futures. User friendly, extremely customizeable.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.5.1250 on Dec 14, 2008

Unfortunately, Maxthon is still very buggy (freezes, page rendering problems, UI crashes, stalls, etc) and while their development team is adding nice new features to each version, the browser has underlying flaws, which have never been dealt with. (Basically it's the IE at fault) With Opera and Firefox doing serious improvements (not just sprucing up), Maxthon is losing touch. It has been my main browser for years, but I'm serious thinking of giving it up.

kimandrichard reviewed v2.1.5.1250 on Nov 30, 2008

I hear you bobad, FF stinkbugs should take another honest look at it. Maxthon,as it stands, gives me the best of both Opera and Firefox. Its hard to believe its built on IE - which still sux

Second Shadow reviewed v2.1.5.1250 on Nov 20, 2008

Maxthon 1.x was very good (I used it for years). But Firefox 3.x is WAY better than Maxthon 2.x

Blaxima reviewed v2.1.5.1170 Beta on Nov 13, 2008

I use Opera as my main browser but a couple of the sites i visit STILL do not get rendered properly so for them I'd use firefox, but I just hate firefox so much that I decided to give Maxthon another try....and....well....Its still very buggy. Now I was a user of the pre 2.x releases but as the 1.6x version was updated more and more it seemed to crash more and more.

This release works at the sites I want it to but wouldn't you know its very own skins site crashed it!!

It will replace that awful firefox for the couple of sites I need it to but Opera is far better than this for everyday use

bobad reviewed v2.1.5.1170 Beta on Nov 12, 2008

Best browser shell out there. Nothing is close. The tabs and tab grouping are far more sophisticated and easier to use than the competition. No silly plugins needed for dozens of powerful features. Even a spell checker and download accelerator and manager. Pay no attention to the low ratings. The FF stinkbugs feel threatened and rate Maxthon far too low. I give it six bars out of 5!

ModderXManiac reviewed v2.1.5.1170 Beta on Nov 12, 2008

Changes from 2.1.4
General
- fixed magic fill data lose problem under some circumstances
- fixed some ntdll related problems
- fixed a problem which may cause IMM32.dll error on exit
- fixed extra blank tab problem when opened by external applications
- can drag drop external document when no tab is opened on startup
- fixed a problem that Paste & Go in address bar with shortcut may initiate search
- Fixed that timed out links are reported as working in favorites checking
- Fixed a performance issue in the last internal version

Interface
- if simple collector is outside visible area, will be visible again after restart
- auto refresh frequency is shown auto refresh menu
- fixed a favorites bar display problem after delete of favorite
- fixed freeze problem after enable/disable split view repeatedly
- will show New Tab button if no tab is opened on startup
- Fixed a Undo items counting problem
- Feed are renamed to RSS for uniformity

Find In Page
- fixed a performance problem
- removed finding hidden search for improved performance

Capture
- default saving format is changed to JPG

AdHunter
- fixed a floating ad problem

Maxthon Downloader
- fixed a batch download speed problem

FreeSpeech reviewed v2.1.5.1170 Beta on Nov 12, 2008

Best internet browser on planet Earth!

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.1.5.1170 Beta on Nov 12, 2008

Its been a while since an update. So far so good.

italyx reviewed v2.1.4.443 on Oct 18, 2008

Great software and just what I was looking for: the IE engine with a more powerful and (a lot) more customizable interface (buttons, skins, etc.)
Plus, plugins and banner/AD hunter.

pforbes reviewed v2.1.4.443 on Sep 3, 2008

Using dual boot, is looks to be similar to precedent versions, but doesn't load on Windows 98 SE option any more, so I keep using my old Maxthon 2.1 which runs perfect on both of them.

DoHickey reviewed v2.1.4.443 on Sep 2, 2008

My system: HP Pavilion (a810n),
512 MB PC-3200 DDR ram,
AMD 3300+ Athlon 64 Processor.
Windows XP SP-3 with all the updates except for the windows search.
That means I have Microsoft silverlight,
MSXML 4.0 SP-2,
Microsoft .net framework 1.1 with the hotfix and Microsoft .net framework 2.0, Windows Media player 11, Microsoft Office 2000.

This version of Maxthon works with Internet Explorer 8 beta-2. I didn't open IE-8 after the install of the beta-2, I just went to one of my Favorites & Maxthon popped right up and loaded the pages & did it very well.
I haven't tried opening more than one tab yet, The problem with the IE-8 beta-2 that I had was it froze up trying to close a second tab, and that was a constant event.
This build of Maxthon seems to be doing all that it should be doing for me.
I'm a big fan of Maxthon, the only beef I have is that they took away most of the skins for Maxthon 2. Please bring back all the compatible skins for Maxthon 2.
It's just not the same when the look of the browser isn't the way you like it to be.
I haven't found any skin that comes close to the look of a couple of the old ones that aren't available anymore.

darthbeads reviewed v2.1.4.443 Beta on Sep 2, 2008

While I have recently switched to Firefox 3 for my daily browsing needs, I do love Maxthon and think it's an exceptional piece of software.

The IE8 beta compatibility is welcome.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 31, 2008

I must say I have a love-hate relationship with Maxthon. But this is only because I always take it for granted that it's best browser so it must deliver! And it does, better than FF or Opera, even though there's always something to gripe about. Today I'm in love! Tommorrow? You never know!

DoHickey reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 31, 2008

Not bad, a little slow starting up. Lots of toolbar icons I don't use or need, I'm a minimalist. It takes a while to customize them. Speaking of customizing, They have taken away a lot of the maxthon 2 skins. The skins that are available are not the best that they have had, Come to think of it, they are some of the worst skins I've ever tried. Please bring back all of the skins that work with Maxthon 2 and I'll be very happy.

extremely well reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 29, 2008

My favorite browser! ...until I'll have time to fully customize and script-program Firefox 3.

bobad reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 29, 2008

Excellent! If you haven't tried this browser, you must try it. It's feature-packed, and has many browsing and security enhancements. You will get addicted to all the convenience features, a few of which are a spell checker, screen capture, and download accelerator/manager. Plugins are not needed for most enhancements.

I see the FF hit squad has been here to downgrade Maxthon. The other popular beta site rates the program a 4.66/5.

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 29, 2008

back on track! good job!

davana reviewed v2.1.4.238 Beta on Aug 28, 2008

This beta works with IE 8b2 now

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 28, 2008

Well, is doesn't work with IE 8 Beta 2 (with Beta 1everything was fine).

Jammerdelray reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 18, 2008

I'm a firefox fanboy, Maxthon is also a great browser. Speedy, reliable, no compatability issues with any website.

Only thing I wish they would change is the settings menu so it's not in like a webpage but a popout window.

bobad reviewed v1.6.4.20 on Aug 15, 2008

Wonderful program! Not as feature-packed or snappy as Maxthon 2.x, but definitely the 2nd best IE shell out there. I don't know what all the squawking is about "security". Stay off the pron, gambling, and kiddie gaming sites and you're 100% safe. Even if you do sleep around, Maxthon will protect you from phishing, ActiveX, and scripts. Your firewal and AV will get the rest. I think it's just FF fanboys doing doing all the complaining. Interestingly, tests show that there is virtually no difference in security between IE7 and FF, and IE is faster. Try Maxthon 1 or 2. They do everything that FF should do, and without needing to wrangle a bunch of silly plugins.

betasun reviewed v1.6.4.20 on Aug 15, 2008

im with this version .

sturgess reviewed v1.6.4.20 on Aug 14, 2008

These shells would be more acceptable if they were built on a secure foundation. IE7 isn't that secure foundation, so as you go about your business you are running the same risks as all who use any version of IE7. Fortunately IE8 is just around the corner and that may be the secure foundation you and We have been waiting for. I gave it a 3 as I have tried it in the past, but will never venture out with it until it's safe to do so.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.6.4.20 on Aug 14, 2008

Oh man! This is FANTASTIC! I use 1.6.3.80 every single day that I'm on my computer, and the fact that they would kick out another update is just AWESOME!

I will need to test compatibility with the More Options 1.6.1 plugin, but if all goes well, then the rating of 5 stars will stand.

Folks - seriously - for people who started with MyIE2 and / or Maxthon 1.x, Version 2.x just ain't happenin'.

So I'm very glad that they are not only still making 1.x available, but actually working on it! Bug fixes - well, yeah, maybe - but I now feel relevant again. :)

I like the Maxthon Standard without all the combo plugin type stuff. Lean, mean and clean. That's what Maxthon 1.x means to me.

Happy browsing.

Brian49 reviewed v1.6.4.20 on Aug 14, 2008

I much prefer this version to v.2 - it has all the features and options I need, as well as being fast, reliable and light on system resources. Nice to see the developers still taking the trouble to fix bugs.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 13, 2008

they still haven't addressed Maxthon's serious memory leak woes! BTW, memory outpour would be more appropriate to call it, what with all the 500 megs consumption it gets stuck at occasionally

pforbes reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 10, 2008

Very good, as always. BTW, would it be posssible to make it compatible witn Windows 98 SE for those of us who use dual boot? Thanks.

bobad reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 9, 2008

Maxthon 2 is an excellent product. The only people that rate it low are the Firefox fanboys that feel threatened by it. On the other popular beta download site, it's rated 4.65/5. That proves to me that the FF Fanboys are mobbing it on this site.

Maxthon 2 doesn't need plugins to spell check, screen capture, manage downloads, etc. It's all in there, and not severely bloated like the competition. The program is clean. There are no ads or spying activity. Accusations of such are ridiculous. Also ridiculous are Maxthon 1 users that claim it has fewer features than Maxthon 1. That tells me 1 thing, they haven't used the program more than an hour. M2 is absolutely packed with speed, convenience, and security features that M1 never had.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 9, 2008

EDIT: I am only a fanboy of one program - Maxthon 1.6.3.80. But I am aware of the momentum that the competition has behind it and was seeking only to acknowledge that reality.

I use Maxthon 1.6.3.80 every single day that I use my computer and have been a LONG time user and member of the Maxthon community. Over four years, in fact, which is quite a lot in the computer world. I have spent countless hours testing it as it has gone from MyIE 2 to Maxthon 1.x and now to 2.x, and I would think there are few people out there who wanted it to succeed more than I did. So in this particular case, I would think your anger / frustration may be a bit misdirected.

Original Post:

I think Maxthon 2's window of opportunity is closing. Version 1.6.3.80 set the bar high and I believe Maxthon 2 may never be able reach it. But even if they continue to try, the app may no longer be relevant.

With the competition having just released version 3.x, I believe any browser built on IE 6/7 technology, as Maxthon is, will have a hard time trying to convince potential users that it is a better solution. Not to mention what may happen when the underlying Maxthon tech hits version 8.

Maxthon 2 is just too little and too late, even with the improved pace of development. I wish things could have been different for this app. I really do.

DKDude reviewed v2.1.3.2430 on Aug 8, 2008

I'm a long time Maxthon user, I've used Maxthon from the very early versions (MyIE), and used to love it, but this 2.x is crap, FireFox used to be a crap-browser IMHO, but FF3 has changed that, I've dumped Maxthon and started using FF3 so far I won't look back.

BTW. one of the things that made me change, Maxthon started to "phone" some odd IP's on regular basis,
http://forum.maxthon.com...46&page=2#pid432705

Popup-ad's was implemented, the pluginsite does not work, plus a whole bunch other problems, take a look at the MaxthonForum, for a complete list of problems.
http://forum.maxthon.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=81

Is Maxthon trying to post spam?
http://forum.maxthon.com...46&page=2#pid433050

Here is some fact about the P2P download accelerator Maxthon is using, read (Operation Mechanism)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xunlei
That is not good :-(

I have to say R.I.P. Maxthon, used to be the best, but no more.

Rated 2 for the effort.

moserw reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Aug 8, 2008

I had used Maxthon in past and now have d/l it again to give it a shot and I really like what I see. It's fast and quite light on the resources too. Must give it a thorough spin for a few days though to make sure it holds up to its promise.

http://www.nela.in/

bobad reviewed v2.1.3.2418 on Aug 8, 2008

Excellent release, as usual. Works with every useful program I can think of. Shame on people that downgrade the program 4 points because 1 obscure program doesn't work with it, and causes a tiff with his boss.

snoecks reviewed v2.1.3.2418 on Aug 7, 2008

@ E.T. probably tested it under 2 minutes?

Disable gif animations is something different than disabling images...
Next time choose setup centre, general and select Disable GIF Animations.

/on topic

Maxthon is a very good custumisable, stable browser which isn't bloated like others.

pforbes reviewed v2.1.3.2353 Beta on Aug 7, 2008

Perfect running XP. Doesn't work any more under Windows 98 SE (dual boot).

bobad reviewed v2.1.3.2353 Beta on Aug 7, 2008

Works perfectly. Awesome features, doesn't need a jillion plugins, the best IE based browser by far. I especially like the built-in speller, screen capture,and download manager. What is "Webex"? It's lame to downgrade a fne program because it doesn't work with an obscure program.

dhry reviewed v2.1.3.2353 Beta on Aug 7, 2008

Still doesn't work with WebEx.
@bobad: WebEx isn't a "lame program". It's an online webinar/webmeeting system used by hundreds of corporations. We use it for corporate training sessions, screen control with customers and more. From WebEx's control panel, you start a meeting and then some javascript/ActiveX starts up a separate window which contains participants and gives you the option to share applications, record the session etc. Maxthon 1 up to build 82 works with it. That's an OLD version. Later versions of Maxthon 1 page fault and crash with WebEx. Maxthon 2 doesn't even do anything now - the meeting simply freezes and doesn't appear at all. Some browsers work with it, such as Greenbrowser which I'm using now. Firefox works with it perfectly. Avant doesn't work with it, nor TheWorld nor several other browsers. I'm not saying it's a problem for you but if Maxthon doesn't work with something as major as WebEx then plenty of business users will laugh at it and simply move on. Maxthon's screwing up with WebEx basically made my boss move to Firefox and now it's a pain in the arse for me because he wants me to change the entire intranet at work because it looks different in Firefox. Pfft.

MikeTechno reviewed v2.1.3.2353 Beta on Aug 6, 2008

Once yet again, the guys over at Maxthon continue to impress. The is an excellent browser that just continues to get better and better with every revision. Very fast, very reliable, very stable, very secure. The built in Screen Capture utility (under Tools) is still the main stand out feature for me. No other browser on the market has this and it is very convenient and useful. I am sure all browsers will soon copy this feature and possibly even improve on it, but Maxthon led the way on this. These guys are clearly innovators!

E.T reviewed v2.1.2.649 on Jul 31, 2008

Downloaded, installed and tested..

Result: Not really good!

some website can't display properly.. and disable Gif animation not working!

Bad things:

- no history sidebar.
- no floating maxthon download.
- no disable pop-up and pop-up manager.
- no active-X filter manager.
- no disable video.
- no disable Java applets.
- disable gif animation doesn't appear in content control button.
- customize buttons not complete.
- The super acceleration mode (Super-MSA) activated on per site basis???? which it I really don't like it.

...Don't waste your time...

Bad Idea if you want to make this browser as your default browser. Just get avant browser instead or opera.

Give 2 cause: abit improvement over ver 1.X.x

rip_pit reviewed v2.1.2.649 on Jul 1, 2008

Works fine. I was a bit disapointed when i had the message "you need to enable javascript" to access "last visited" or "maxthon options" ...
But this was due to some "custom" settings in internet options > security panel.
The settings worked till 2.1.x but not with 2.2. I just set them back to "medium > default" and maxthon rocks again now !
Good update.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.2.649 on Jul 1, 2008

2.1.1.1717 has been working great (knock on wood) so I decided to stick with that version. I can't afford another foul-up!

csb.milky reviewed v2.1.2.649 on Jun 30, 2008

It's a good piece of software but it just sucks that they don't listen to the users when they have to decide how to implement a new feature and that we are waiting more than year now for some features of Maxthon 1.

I'm with Firefox 3 until the Maxthon team grows up and let the users decide what they want.

pforbes reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 30, 2008

It allows you to enjoy the best of IE7 without feeling the total control of "Big Brother". It also allows me to use the same browser on both components of my dual boot system. Thank you very much!.
BTW I use Win98 essentially to copy all XP files, including hidden ones, to an external HD. In case of need you can rebuild all from scratch in a few minutes by simply copy-paste.

DrJ reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 30, 2008

Maxthon keeps improving. I've started using this for the tabbed-browsing but eventho IE7 has tabbed browsing, I dont want to use IE7 as Maxthon has a lot more features. I love the ad-removal, popup control, gestures. It's my favorite browser and it keeps getting better.

FreeSpeech reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 29, 2008

Best browser there is. Easily blows away Firefox. FF is a feature less pos that is only good if you can find plugins.

MikeTechno reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 27, 2008

Not exactly sure why but this particular build of Maxthon seems much faster than previous builds. Regarless, this is one of the best browsers out there. I put Maxthon on every single machine I use. It is an incredibly good, solid, fast and capable browser that everyone should have on their system. This is every bit as good as the latest releases of Opera, Avant, Safari and Firefox. I simply wouldn't ever be without it. The built-in screen capture utility really makes Maxthon stand out from the crowd though. Very usefull and very innovative. Can't wait for the other browser makers to follow Maxthon's lead here on that feature.

ModderXManiac reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 27, 2008

Excuse the ignorance of improvelence, IE 7 has a terrible default interface with horribly limited options for customizing. This can be customized ad-infinity, thanks in part to hundreds of available skins and plugins.

This is the best IE front-end, hands down...and I hope in the future it stays that way, it always has something that pulls me away from Firefox's sluggishness and lack of a multi-threaded rendering engine.

snoecks reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 27, 2008

Complete changes in this version:

[browsing]
- fixed security issues arising from an IE WebBrowser Control vulnerability

[accessories]
- fixed problem that favorites are not imported when online favorites service is disabled
- fixed problems relating to system directories, like send to desktop
- fixed slow Maxthon exit problem under some circumstances

[find in page]
- can use up/down arrow or mousewheel to scroll through matches
- the input field will be highlight if no match is found
- fixed problem that match result dialog sometimes empty
- fixed problem that skin settings are not used

[Others]
- fixed a crash problem of AutoUpdate when DEP is enabled
- added a print page setup menu command (have to reset menu bar)

improvelence reviewed v2.1.2.589 Beta on Jun 27, 2008

IE7 has a better interface by default. I don't see where this is needed any longer.

aaronjreid reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 26, 2008

I've been a huge fan of MyIE and Maxthon for years and there's not another browser that even comes close. HOWEVER, lately, I've been really disappointed. This new version is constantly using system memory like crazy and I always have to close my browser because it's over 100,000 K and sometimes 200,000 K!!!

It's brutal and sad because I've been a real fan for years. Time to look elsewhere...

NotSoSkilledUser reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 23, 2008

The following bug hasn't been fixed: when you try to open a bunch of html files at once from your hard disk by selecting them and clicking on "open with Maxthon", some files are randomly opened twice or even more times in separate tabs, while other files aren't opened at all.
You have to open one file at a time, which is very annoying.
However, great piece of software.

Tao2005 reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 18, 2008

Good easy to use browser. So now your wondering why I gave it bad marks. I did an upgrade and it fouled up the browser. When I decided to install the previous version, couldn't find it. Their support is lousy.

bobad reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 18, 2008

Great app! The group feature spoils you by saving lots of time. No need to find and set up a plethora of silly "plugin's", as M2 has everything built right in. My favorite is a spell checker for checking my software reviews. The find-in-page feature (Ctrl+F) is also just great. I also like the bilt-in download manager. Whoever says M2 has fewer features than M1 has no credibility. The fact is, M2 has many more... and more powerful... features than M1.

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 18, 2008

can you please bring back the Find in page like it was two releases ago? or at least the option to enable it again... you finally made it right an now you're moving to the "cannot move it, stick it to the top, no keyboard shortcuts, not skinable, mozila like" ugly find bar :(...

Please fix it, or give us the chance to use it again, thanks!

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 18, 2008

No issues my end. Another excellent release. Well done guys.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.1.1.1717 on Jun 17, 2008

It's never lived up to the high standard set by Maxthon 1.6.x.

Less features, less stable, less enjoyable to use.

Maxthon 1.6.x with IE 6 and the More Options add-in is still a good combination, but Maxthon 2.x with anything just makes me want to give up and use FireFox.

I just can't understand how the same team that produced Maxthon 1.x failed so miserably with version 2.x

It is pretty darn sad.

extremely well reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on Jun 12, 2008

Developers keep ignoring the few annoying & reproducible bugs reported. Other than that - amazing browser. No stability issues at all and I have it installed on numerous machines by numerous users. If you have stability issues it most likely has to do with some IE extensions or other browser-related-software conflicting with Maxthon somehow.

Note though, that some sites that are heavy on JavaScript/Flash will get the browser totally frozen for upto 30secs at load time unless you 'Enable Multi-thread Tab Support'. Once I made that discovery a few weeks ago, browsing has been completely smooth.

etalmar reviewed v1.6.3.80 on May 24, 2008

I have been reading all of these wonderful reviews about Maxthon on this forum as well as other forums, when not one reviewer bothered to mention that there isn't a 'paste' button in the toolbar! There is a 'copy' button, but no paste button?!

Why would a company make a browser with so many sophisticated features, yet intentionally omit a basic (and necessary) feature such as a 'paste' button? Terrible oversight in design IMHO.

Sure, you can paste via the dropdown Edit menu, use Ctrl+V, or right-click and paste from the context menu, but that isn't my point.

My point is that cut/copy/paste buttons should be standard on ALL browsers, but it isn't so with Maxthon.

Also, I couldn't use my password manager (Password Agent) with this browser shell. When I tried to 'Autofill' both the username and password, the command would open either the Favorites menu or Help menu?! Weird little browser Maxthon has created. Makes me curious as to why so many rave about it?

ZenWarrior reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 19, 2008

Maxthon has previously always received a 5-rating from me, but others here are right--the browser has recently become very unstable. Maybe this release is a fix, but the last release crashed at least once per session. I even started using IE7 and Firefox!

Also, and this is greatly a function of popularity/awareness/number of users, but I am now very impressed by the plug-ins offerings available for Firefox and seem to notice even fewer plug-ins being developed for Maxthon. That said, however, it is still the *best* "out-of-the-box" browser (i.e., needs no plug-ins to do 99% of tasks)there is.

And somewhere in it, there appears to be a small and long-present bug which prevents some video and Flash sites from working when they work very well with either IE7 or Firefox. That needs to be fixed yesterday.

As for someone's remark about Maxthon2 becoming less customizable, they must be on drugs. Maybe the problem is that Maxthon is even more customizable than ever and that user is now overwhelmed by the ability to place pretty much everything anywhere you wish.

Don't like the default menus' layouts? Create your own menus and layouts *exactly* as you prefer from scratch! Want certain toolbar functions on another toolbar? Absolutely no problem. Any toolbar will accept any button or input field from any other toolbar. There is still no browser more "personal" than Maxthon.

Only very recently has Firefox even begun to approach such similarity. IE7 *knows* what is right for you and you'll never be given chance by Microsoft to change it beyond its own myopic view of what your browser should be--an essentially static POS.

In sum, IE7 still pales in comparison to Maxthon2, but Firefox has to be appealing these days to even long-time Maxthon users. Bloodchen, watch out! They're gaining on you (us)!

One more thing: The browser's new downloader *really* sucks. That has to be the worst implementation of any feature I've ever seen added to Maxthon. Did Maxthon let Microsoft have a go at something there?

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 17, 2008

From my point of view, this product has been going downhill since early v1.5 builds: it got less user driven, customisable, and more importantly, less stable. I switched to Firefox and haven't looked back since. One of my biggest gripe is the new handling of bookmarks in 2.0.
I have to admit that if you want a browser based on the IE engine, that is probably still the best choice, hence the 3. One good thing about Maxthon is the many plugins available, but to be honest, Maxthon plugins are a very far cry from what's available for Firefox.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 17, 2008

bobad,
you're wrong there. I've been using Maxthon since it was MyIE. And it's still my favorite browser. I just get really frustrated seeing all these excellent features added, while basic stability issues are not solved! I don't know about you guys but my Maxthon unfortunately freezes, stalls, hangs, crashes on a regular basis. And memory usage creeps easily above 300 megs and never comes down even if i close most of the open tabs. Now I also have cookie and sign-in problems to boot, which even my IE7 handles properly. And no, it's not my system! All my other installed browsers work fine, except Maxthon is by far the most convenient to use. Some day maybe! I haven't given up on Maxthon for years and I probably never will. Unless... Firefox 3 looks very auspicious thus far.

bobad reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 16, 2008

Minor release for a major program. Can't say enough about how excellent this program is. Saves me 30 minutes a day making my browsing rounds. Very stable and reliable. Has the features and ease of use that IE6 and IE7 should have had to begin with. I see some of our friends aren't using Maxthon's excellent spell checker. I think most of the low ratings are from firefox fanboys that feel threatened because Maxthon is totally functional without all those bothersome and silly plugins. :)

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 16, 2008

Another excellent release. So far so good.

McAleck, it used to go above 100MB but not any more since 2.1 series. Regarding IE engine, it was always based on IE and the main reason to start this project was to get multi tabbing. There are alternatives like firefox or opera, if you have IE.

wognum, just left click on 'spanner' icon on Tabs bar, to hide web tool bar.

statm1 reviewed v2.1.0.2082 on May 15, 2008

@McAleck... Memory usage has nothing to do with the Trident(IE) engine. That is strictly the browser itself doing that. And plus, once IE8's engine becomes final the reason to have firefox wont be valid anymore because they will both render standards compliant pages the same way.

McAleck reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 13, 2008

there are always some serious bugs in each version. very annoying ones too!

reddy.shyam,
memory usage back under control? you must be joking! just had to terminate Maxthon after it froze (again) using 350 megs when only 5! tabs were open.

why, oh why does this superbly customizable web browser have to use IE engine, pray somebody tell me! this alone whacks the whole idea of a good browser!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

wognum reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 12, 2008

5 stars again.

Only problem is that i cannot remove the new Web toolbar...?

belthurgp reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 12, 2008

Been using Maxthon for over 4 years now and Maxthon 2 for over a year and half and what can I say ! The best browser out there...the best thing that could have happened to IE. Beats opera and firefox silly. I once tried to mimic the features this has on firefox with extenstions. FF met a very painful death when it's XUL got corrupted. I didn't have the patience to redo 2 weeks worth of work.

Yeah sure there are some pages which doesn't get rendered properly but that's like probably .01%. Compare that to Opera...my previous browser.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 9, 2008

Excellent release! Well done guys. Memory usage is back under control (

zridling reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 8, 2008

What rip_pit said. It doesn't get any smoother and easier than this. Highly addictive, and working so long to tweak Maxthon's UI has really paid off for its users. Despite my long-winded protestations, I'm glad they didn't rush this.

rip_pit reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 8, 2008

I agree, they are correcting actual bugs instead of bloating the app. This is my prefered browser.

Full changelogs here:
http://www.maxthon.com/changelog.htm

pforbes reviewed v2.1.0.1870 on May 8, 2008

(Sorry, repeated)

pforbes reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on May 8, 2008

Excellent work, as all previous versions. I've had no problem at all.

dwby reviewed v2.1.0.1870 Beta on May 8, 2008

I am actually very happy with this version. They are concentrating more on stabilising everything. This browser is so stable for me now.

darthbeads reviewed v2.1.0.1870 Beta on May 8, 2008

2.1.0.1870 is actually the FINAL version of Maxthon 2.1.

====================

Maxthon 2.1 Released

After dozens of 2.0.x official and beta versions, Maxthon is glad to to release the first 2.1 version. Maxthon 2.1 series will focus more on improving and refining the usability and stability.

In 2.1, the Web Tools bar has been re-organized for more convenient use and cleaner look.
Now it has Forward, Backward, Font Size, Encoding etc on the left. Often used tools like content control, Magic Fill, and capture etc are moved to the right and accompanied by text labes.
Yet as usual, Maxthon's user interface can be fully customized to any way the most convenient to the users.

And in response to enormous requests, the Last Visited Pages is changed to "cumulative basis".
If a page in the Last Visited Pages list is not re-opened and the Last Visited Pages is not closed, it will be carried forward.
Besides the above changes, this version has also fixed a lot of interface bugs and several crash problems. Please refer to the change log before for all changes.

Happy browsing!

You can download it from Maxthon website: http://www.maxthon.com

Appendix 1: 2.1 Change Log

[User Interface]
* re-organized Web Tools Bar
* fixed address bar slow redraw problem when tab change
* fixed external tools and plugin buttons tooltip problem
* fixed an address bar icon drawing problem
* fixed problem that dropdown button may not work when toolbars are locked
* fixed a focus problem of the Block Page Content toolbar
* fixed a notification display problem of Maxthon Downloader status bar button
* fixed a gdi leak of undo menu
* fixed problem that Super MSA site list cannot be edited
* fixed a slow interface problem if favorites contain intranet sites
* fixed text display problem when web toolbar is reset
* fixed problem that some tabs cannot be closed
* fixed a https site favicon display problem
* support Vista big size icon
* added exit fullscreen command to the system menu under full screen

[Browsing]
* changed Last Visited Pages to cumulative basis, un-reopened pages will be carried forward
* fixed some ajax not working problems
* fixed a flash related blank page problem
* improved performance when several tabs are opened at the same time
* fixed a "memory cannot read" problem when Maxthon is closed

[Assessories]
* fixed upload user data crash problem when online favorites is disabled
* fixed crash problem when checking url of non-exist local page
* fixed problem of repeated bug dialog after improper shutdown
* fixed problem that new tab may be blocked due to magic fill form save dialog
* status bar date/time display uses the same format as system tray
* changed sniffer notification to "Show Notify icon in Address Bar"

[Maxthon Downloader]
* added unicode support
* added option not to activate download tab
* changed order of download task list
* fixed a task list display problem
* fixed save directory list incomplete problem

[Shortcut/Mouse Gesture]
* fixed problem that scroll page/down, scroll to top/bottom sometimes may not work
* fixed problem that right Alt key sometimes not work
* fixed problem that saving form by mouse gesture may not work

[Plugin]
* fixed problem that HTMLbutton plugin in webtoolbar cannot be dragged under customize...

[Webpage Sniffing]
* fixed problem that when a RSS is subscripted, the remaining RSS are not shown

[AdHunter]
* support filtering xsl document
* fixed problem that some text filter entries may not show in filter log
* fixed a content filter whitelist problem

bobad reviewed v2.1.0.1814 Beta 2 on May 7, 2008

Excellent browser shell. The features are priceless and addictive. Maxthon 2 has spoiled me, and I'm very unhappy using any other browser. Features in M2 are far better than M1. Anyone who believes otherwise should hasn't looked since early M2 betas. The spell checker alone is worth the upgrade from M1 to M2.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.1.0.1814 Beta 2 on May 6, 2008

I still prefer Maxthon 1.x with IE 6, but it is nice to see them working hard to update this new version.

Hopefully, someday, it may be as useful and functional as their 1.x product has been.

darthbeads reviewed v2.1.0.1814 Beta 2 on May 6, 2008

Personally happy to see the Plugin bar restored.

Changelog follows:

Changes from 2.1.0.1595 Beta1

** restored plugin bar (if install on top of 2.1.0 beta1, need to delete ui.xml)
* improved performance when several tabs are opened at the same time
* fixed problem that some tabs cannot be closed
* fixed a "memory cannot read" problem when Maxthon is closed
* fixed a content filter whitelist problem
* fixed a https site favicon display problem
* fixed problem that plugin dialogs may be blocked by popup blocker
* fixed text display problem when web toolbar is reset
* fixed a slow interface problem if favorites contain intranet sites
* changed sniffer notification to "Show Notify icon in Address Bar"
* fixed problem that saving form by mouse gesture may not work
** fixed status bar time zone problem

gmartau reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on May 1, 2008

Tried on a Vista 64 bit. First, the installer wants to install the program in the admin user profile folder!?. Program started and worked as admin but no icon for other users. As a standard user it can't save the options. Favorites not imported by default, but with a hidden option. Roboform don't work with this version.
Incompatible with Vista and multi-user environment. Back to version 1.6, waiting for version 3 for Vista.

davana reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 30, 2008

Best of the best internet browsers! Sets the standard by which all browsers compare to. No other comes even close.

darthbeads reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 30, 2008

Works great, as always. Though, I have to admit that I am moving more and more towards Firefox 3, I do still love my Maxthon.

Changelog for the 2.1 beta:

Major changes include:

* plugin bar is removed, plugins and external tools are shown in web toolbar

* fixed Last Visited Pages tab always open problem
* fixed problem that scroll page/down, scroll to top/bottom sometimes may not work
* fixed problem that right Alt key sometime not work
* fixed some ajax not working problems
* fixed address bar slow redraw problem when tab change
* fixed external tools and plugin buttons tooltip problem
* fixed an address bar icon drawing problem
* fixed some Maxthon Downloader problems
* fixed problem that HTMLbutton plugin in webtoolbar cannot be dragged under customize...
* fixed problem that new tab may be blocked due to magic fill form save dialog
* fixed problem that when a RSS is subscripted, the remaining RSS are not shown
* fixed a flash related blank page problem
* fixed a gdi leak of undo menu
* fixed crash when user data is uploaded after online favorites is disabled
* fixed crash when the link of local page is checked
* fixed a focus problem of the Block Page Content toolbar
* fixed repeated crash dialog after improper shutdown
* fixed a notification display problem of Maxthon Downloader status bar button
* text filter also filter xsl document
* fixed some filter log problems
* fixed problem that dropdown button may not work when toolbars are locked
* fixed problem that Super MSA site list cannot be edited

preinterpost reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 30, 2008

I go back and forth with Maxthon. In the current incarnation I prefer IE7Pro. It has better ad blocking (no distorting the page with large empty planes), better inline find (Maxthon broke that for me in combination with Google TB) and I prefer its transparent behavior as a plugin.

bobad reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 30, 2008

No other browser is even close. The features are endless. Maxthon's properly implemented tabbed browsing and groups speed up my daily browsing chores by a factor of 2.

DarthVeda reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 30, 2008

It's 2.1 series and not 2.0.

RWW reviewed v2.1.0.1595 Beta on Apr 29, 2008

I take it that number is incorrect. I'm using .1640 now.

hunterb reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Apr 28, 2008

I swapped up from 1.6 as that development is going no where and has annoying issues. M2 seems to have it's own issues. The popup windows have non-viewable and editable address bars, no icon or menus. Integrated Search is driving me crazy - you can't really control where is goes - no matter how much to configure the thing (same in M1.6). Tabs, menus, options etc are all good. File download is a little buggy. I can't use any IE toolbars. As a web developer, i can't use it. Since IE7 is has a horrible interface, i'll have to go back to Avant.

digitalking reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Apr 18, 2008

Multithreaded Tab Support!

McAleck reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 30, 2008

bugs, bugs, bugs

no rollback possible!!! when I reinstalled the older version it did not warn that old configurations would be overwritten. what!!!!

extremely well reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 29, 2008

Superb browser. It's just a shame the developers don't bother reading their own forums and fix REPRODUCIBLE bugs their users report again and again. My own MINOR bug reports have been tagged "confirmed" by Maxthon forum admins NUMEROUS times yet the dev's priorities are elsewhere. Oh well...

why hello there reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 26, 2008

IE garbage, use Firefox

cannie reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 25, 2008

Very good, as all the precedent versions. Tried on different OS, an excellent surprise: this version is valid again for Win98.

maxstep reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 25, 2008

Why? With so many far superior rendering engines, why use ie-extender?

dwby reviewed v2.0.9.1640 on Mar 25, 2008

I have been using this browser since the old MyIE2 days. God I love it!

sorlag reviewed v2.0.9.1545 Beta on Mar 22, 2008

really nice browser

pdail reviewed v2.0.9.1545 Beta on Mar 21, 2008

Have been using this wonderfull browser, for a long time now. Very seldom, does it show a problem. I also, use, IE7, alot, but it is no match, for the workings of Maxthon. Maxthon, just works!! Even, the Beta's, have all worked well. IE 8, no way!! I love the Tabs, on Maxthon. This browser, will be my favorite, forever.

RWW reviewed v2.0.9.1545 Beta on Mar 21, 2008

Maxthon 2 and Opera take care of all my needs, excellent work done on these browsers.
Something wron on this beta, though, as it comes up with an error box and immediately shuts down. I have sent an error report and cannot use Max 2 until the fix. Be advised before loading it.

davana reviewed v2.0.9.1545 Beta on Mar 21, 2008

Wow this is nice! No other browser comes close Max 2. Split view is a godsend on widescreen monitors! Max 2 has come a long way since the first betas.

darthbeads reviewed v2.0.9.1545 Beta on Mar 21, 2008

My browser of choice. Changelog for 2.0.9 beta:

2.0.9 beta changelog

Browsing
+ super drag and drop supports opening multiple selected links (enable under Mouse Control -> Drag&Drop to Open All Links in Text Selection)
* fixed problem that "Back" key can work in Flash
* fixed problem that dropdown menu of address/search bar may show while the dropdown button is not clicked
* fixed page zoom not inherited, and default zoom ratio not working problem
* fixed some encoding problems with Website Booster
* fixed problem that address bar url may not be updated
* fixed some browser freezing problem
* Use enhanced page context menu option now works
* title of detached tab is updated according to web page
* fixed problem when image is saved or downloaded by dragging

Accessories
+ new Find in Page dialog
+ simple collector button now supports drop and save of resources (need to reset status bar)
* Ctrl + left click and float button save can save up to 999 files of the same name
* fixed a RSS display problem
* Maxthon Guardian, Online Favorites, Maxthon Website Booster can be turned on without restart
* the "root" directory of favorites and RSS is renamed to "Favorites"
* fixed some shortcut not working problem
* fixed crash if collector service is used without login
* fixed problem that disabled mouse gestures continue to work before restart
* context menu "Add to Favorites..." will add the url of image if the image has no link
* fixed shortcut conflict between plugin and Maxthon commands

Maxthon Downloader
+ support drag & drop to save multiple selected links
+ added "Maxthon Downloader" button in status bar for showing download status and downloading dropped links?need to reset status bar?
+ added "Download all links by Maxthon Downloader..." command in web page context menu
+ added "Delete to dustbin" option in download settings
* improved support for downloads
* fixed character encoding problem in non-Chinese operating system

Popup Blocker
+ added popup blacklist
+ added option to block suspicious popup
+ added "Send to Popup Blocker..." command in tab context menu
+ added "Add to Ad Hunter" command in image context menu

Others
+ added "Set as Home Page" command in tab context menu
* fixed focus problem of Ctrl + O when address bar is focused
* some changes to advanced proxy (please delete ProxyConfig.xml if advanced proxy is not working)
* fixed problem that advanced proxy not immediate effective after change
* fixed some web page drawing problem
* fixed a crash problem of Socks proxy under IE7
* fixed some login dialog problem
+ added com_global button type plugin support and putMaxCommander function
* fixed mscript script plugin problem
* configuration documents (.ini) are changed to UTF-8 for full unicode support (eg. in last visited pages and undo menu)

Forum post about the 2.0.9 beta here:
http://forum.maxthon.com...7&extra=&page=1

CoMike reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Feb 20, 2008

Using latest version (v1.6.3.80).

IMHO, it's best and most complete browser I've tested. Firefox and Opera are great browsers too, but I miss on them a few features available on Maxthon Classic.

It hasn't crashed for months, perhaps other people having crashes should try with a clean install.

It's a little sad there's a lot of people entering here and writing bad reviews without having tested the browser.

Fanaticism isn't good at any life aspect...

extremely well reviewed v2.0.8.1720 on Feb 6, 2008

Highly stable and feature-packed, yet still a few annoying bugs such as ctrl+o not opening and other really minor bugs that weren't present in 2.0.7, and some that were and haven't gotten fixed yet. They were reported numerous times on Maxthon's forums by mutiple bug finders.

CyGhoSoft reviewed v2.0.8.1720 on Feb 4, 2008

Great browser and developing in a very good program.
Lots of handy stuf on board. In combination with an account Maxthon becomes an online favorite storage. Very handy...

Avion Airplane reviewed v2.0.8.1605 Beta on Jan 31, 2008

works great for me ! I like it

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.8.1605 Beta on Jan 31, 2008

(Hey, Betanews, the above screenshot isn't of v2.0.x, it is of v1.x, you might want to change that out)

This is a wonderful browser. For me, the best feature remains the built-in screen capture tool (under Tools on the menu bar). Not perfect, but VERY good for an early stab at this. Right up there at the top with the other GREAT browsers like Avant v11.6

bobad reviewed v2.0.8.1605 Beta on Jan 31, 2008

Excellent, and getting better! Love the built-in spell checker and D/L manager added lately.

darthbeads reviewed v2.0.8.1605 Beta on Jan 31, 2008

The beta addition of IE COM addins is wonderful and welcome. The new beta download manager seems ok -- I generally use Orbit, which I am pretty happy with, but will play with this new feature for a bit. I wish the download manager opened in the sidebar rather than a new tab....

McAleck reviewed v2.0.7.1245 on Jan 2, 2008

oops, my bad. still freezes, stalls, big time.

pforbes reviewed v2.0.7.1245 on Dec 29, 2007

An excellent substitute for IE 7 and a real pleasure for those who like to have a lot of features. Nevertheless I'll keep using the 1.6 version because it is more simple, has the features that I need and keeps the classic Favorites folder of MS, allowing you the use of many existing utilities based in it i.e. to check the validity of collected links or to create a webpage using them, and also to carry the Favorites folder in a pendrive to use it anywhere and under any OS.

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.7.1245 on Dec 28, 2007

I started off using Maxthon 1.x a while back and was foolishly persuaded to try FireFox because everyone was going on and one about how great it was. Well, I tried FireFox 1.x and 2.x, and it was OK, but it was no where near what everyone had hyped it up to be. I have even recently tried FireFox 3.x and it is good but it still doesn't really blow me away. I decided to go back to Maxthon and tried the new 2.x version. Needless to say, I won't be going back to FireFox any time soon. Maxthon 2.x is light years ahead of where FireFox 3.0 is and it is much easier to use and to figure out. Everything is already in Maxthon and it is right where you would expect it to be. Once you have used Maxthon 2.x, you won't have much need for FireFox anymore, especially since it now has spell checking built in.

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v2.0.7.1245 on Dec 28, 2007

I have to admit that this has finally started to shape up a little bit. Unfortunately for them I have made Firefox my browser of choice. I was a Maxthon evangelist for years. Then came the pre-beta previews of v2.x (which should never have seen the light of day). To make matters worse v1.x went from what I thought was hands down the best browser available to a complete train wreck. In fact it got to be so bad that I eventually decided to give Firefox a second chance. Even with the problems that it has, I've finally come to terms with it and have grown to like it. And I discovered it's pretty nice to use a cross platform browser. So I don't know how many others followed the same path I have, but I'm not going back again. Aside from the several hours that I kicked the tires with Maxthon today, I probably won't know if it shapes up like glory days of v1.x.

Oh and whoever claims that this isn't a resource pig just isn't being honest with themselves or others here. This is every bit as much of a drain as Firefox could ever dream of being. And with FF v3.x on the way, I have a feeling it will severely out perform Maxthon no matter how you look at it.

If I spent some serious time with Maxthon I might be tempted to give it a higher rating, but from what I've seen of this version three stars is pretty generous. Alienate your users and watch them leave... not the best way to go.

DKDude reviewed v2.0.7.1245 on Dec 28, 2007

GREAT Browser, thanks.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.7.1030 on Dec 27, 2007

shaping up at last

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.7.1030 on Dec 27, 2007

WTF? "Favorites are exported to IE root folder instead of a subfolder (Note: existing IE favorites will be overwritten)"

Website Booster interesting concept...

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.0.7.1030 on Dec 26, 2007

Still a memory hog! Will stick to 1.x for now.

bobad reviewed v2.0.7.1030 on Dec 26, 2007

Simply amazing. Maxthon 2 has lapped the field when it comes to tab and group functionality. The way M2 handles groups enables me to visit 20-30 sites every morning in 30 minutes. It would normally take me an hour to visit all those sites. The 2 latest versions have a spell checker, so nothing will be misspelled in this review. That's a worthwhile and unique feature. No plugin required! The default search and search aliases are priceless! I also like the "save picture" feature, where you can ctrl-click on any picture to save it to disk. The screen capture is also very convenient. Remember, Maxthon's features run natively with no plugins to find, download, and wrangle.

@reddy and any complainers about high resource usage: M2 has a 35K memory footprint as I write this. If I open several tabs that have lots of graphics and Java applets, yes, it shoots up to 90K or above. Is that M2's fault? I hardly think so!

DakotaSunRunner reviewed v2.0.7.1030 on Dec 26, 2007

Excellent browser, simple as that.

pforbes reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

Excellent browser, I keep using it since long ago. Nevertheless I'll keep using the 1.6 version because it is more simple, keeps using the old Microsoft favourites folder system, which allows you to create your own personalized start page using bookmarks.exe (freeware obtainable from http://www.moonsoftware.com/files/legacy/), is very stable and has averything I need.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

Still a memory hog! Will stick to 1.x for now.

madcats reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

to add to "Mike's review, it should be rated 5 not 2.5 I've used them all since 1992 and find Maxthon the best of all. I find new tricks and features all the time. Forget the whiners try it!

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

Simply an AMAZING browser. One of, if not THE very best out there. Fearture rich, flexible, stable and constantly being updated and improved. How can you beat that? If you haven't added Maxthon 2.x to your list of available browsers on your system, you are missing out. I would think of using a system without putting both Maxthon and Avant browsers on them. A simply great product that just keeps on getting better and better with ever update.

DakotaSunRunner reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

I like this browswer and have had no problems with it at all. it works well and that is all that is necessary. If all you complainers can do better, write them and tell them that. There certainly is enough complainers for something that is offered to them free. There is no such thing as a perfect error free browser, get over it, and not likely there ever will be.

preinterpost reviewed v2.0.7.979 Beta on Dec 21, 2007

Please abandon the 2.x version and focus in 1.x. It is all I need/want. Thanks.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.6.9024 on Dec 20, 2007

stalls/freezes again and again and again

Darkman00 reviewed v2.0.6.9024 on Dec 6, 2007

Finally!!!

After installing this version - my Maxthon 2 shows the correct version (and not some old version telling me constantly "do you want to upgrade to new version" - and if i said yes.. was same thing) :(

But after intalling this one!

It's most current finally (i am on Windows ME..and it gives me all the time some ANSI version) .. Most current now ... and doesn't tell me that i am "Not running the newest version" :)

I guess the bug or whatever was fixed!
Good job!

pdail reviewed v2.0.6.9024 on Dec 4, 2007

This Browser is just getting better & better. These guy's have fixed, approx. 31 fixes, this time. They are, really on top of there game. I have used, a lot of the Top Browsers, and this is at the top. It's faster than the Fox. And not as sleepy, as IE7. This Browser sings!! Go, Go, Go

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.6.9024 on Dec 4, 2007

UPDATE: WOW! Have you seen the new screen capture utility built into this browser? Now THAT is impressive! If you haven't tried it, you need to check it out. Slick!

With spell checking now added to this new release there is no reason left to use keep using FireFox. Maxthon goes right back to the TOP of the browser list and regains its #1 ranking in the browser wars. Best browser on the market (with Avant a very close second behind it).

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.0.6.9024 on Dec 4, 2007

I am a basic user, alls working fine for me but mem usage is not acceptable. On v1.* same sites I browse, mem usuage is ~20mb but on v2.* its ~90mb.

snoecks reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Dec 3, 2007

@ Kokol: Put in the least standard compliant and most bugged rendering engine you can find on the market? Since when is IE the least standard complient rendering engine? Gawd and you dare to call yourself a developer? Glad you're not working for my company!. Sure this versions still has some minor bugs, hence why they decided to name it a... wait for it ... Beta. Who would have guessed that huh.

Koko123 reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Dec 2, 2007

I actually got the recipe for this "browser":
1. Pick a bowl
2. Put in the least standard compliant and most bugged rendering engine you can find on the market
3. Put in some eye candy
4. Put in some more custom bugs (sorry, "features"!)
5. Mix and stir

As Maxthon somehow (i just cant imagine for what possible reason) gets installed on more and more computers we (web developers) started to receive complaints about bugs we just couldnt track back to anything or reproduce on any possible browser. Then it always turned out that its a "Maxthon user"... God i hope this thing dies out quickly.

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Dec 1, 2007

Last working version: Maxthon (v2.0 Beta) 2.0.6.8942 Beta (even if it's BETA).

On my computer no setup issues, it installs correctelly over the previous beta
analphatester: have you stopped the Maxthon before updating it? (this may be a reason why the exe was not updated... altough an dialog is displayed: Overwrite faile "abort/ignore")

analphatester reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Nov 30, 2007

setup install all file except maxthon.exe
???

last working Version=1.5.6.42

I very log time wait for working setup

Blaxima reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Nov 30, 2007

This use to be my browser of choice but when they released v2 they took a turn for the worst and it doesn't seem to be looking up anytime soon. This once great browser is now only an average one with stablilty issues.

Wintings reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Nov 30, 2007

Still no proper support for Roboform. They had it in v1.6 so why not in v2? Until they fix this problem I can't rate it better than a 3.

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.6.8942 Beta on Nov 30, 2007

Easily one of the BEST browsers ever made. Love the features and the flexibility. Always being updated/patched/revised/fixed as needed by the developers to keep it current. Should be present on every PC you use. I use it every single day and wouldn't want to be without it. Highly recommended for anyone that surfs daily. Great program all the way around.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 24, 2007

some bugs eradicated, others rearing up their ugly head

jackpots reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 19, 2007

Used daily and had recommended this browser for years. Current revision should be alpha. It is feature rich but unstable and subsequent revisions often result in worse or obscure funtionality or poor perormance. Has the potential to be great in 6-9 months but depends on devs. Great skinning and powerful content and Ad-block. Doesn't matter if your intern is attractive or bring some need skills, if they are a pain to get along with, you just can't use them.

RoSmecher reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 14, 2007

this build has some serious errors. i wish they would move forward more often rather than moving forward and then taking two steps back

FmlyRnn reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 13, 2007

Simply, amazing! This Browser is a keeper. I have tried most of the Browser's that come out but this one makes what I do on the Net easier and faster.

ahjefri reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 7, 2007

excelent shell ot IE,, as matter of fact I like it the best,

but am still using opera for security reasons,,

FF is also an excellent browser,,

but if you want to use IE this the best shell ,,,

bobad reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 6, 2007

Excellent browser shell! The only browser that is even close is Maxthon 1.x, which it beats handily. M2 has several great features that can not be found anywhere else, even in M1.

extremely well reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 6, 2007

Splendid browser. Still getting better. A few minor bugs in it such as ctrl+o not working the same as "address bar" (it won't go to CAPITALiZED url aliases from ctrl+o), and ctrl+w (close tab) leaves the ALT key stuck (say you close a tab with ctrl+w and press F - you see the File menu), and Babylon's hotkey is being ignored in Maxthon, and other minor glitches.

Earwicker reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 6, 2007

"The ONLY thing FireFox has that this doesn't is the built-in, on-the-fly spell checking."

- FF also has correct CSS behavour - Trident V is better than its predecessors, but Gecko is still out in front. Web masters still have to contend with poor compliance from what remains the most abundant browser.

zridling reviewed v2.0.5.7845 on Nov 5, 2007

wognum, I'm dying to know which features Opera "does not have." Please share, since Opera is far more powerful than Maxthon 2 and is multiplatform, including mobile!

Now that Maxthon 2 is finished, it's really, really nice. It would get a 5 if they would have finished this a year ago. And please, someone update the screenshot!

wognum reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

Still the best browser for me. I tried Opera a couple of times, but it still lacks a lot of features that Maxthon has and i cannot live without.
Opera comes close, and is better in some ways, but i'll stick with Max!

belthurgp reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

@improvelence,

Just because you cannot *understand* a product, it doesn't mean that you have to mark a good product down.

And this is not the forum to disclose the limitations you have.

bluerave reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

I love Maxthon. I don't normally use Internet Explorer, but when I do it's with this program. It has a ton of features, easy to use, and its never crashed on me.

MikeTechno reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

I absolutely LOVE this browser! So much better than IE 7. The ONLY thing FireFox has that this doesn't is the built-in, on-the-fly spell checking. Maxthon is just wonderful. I give it the edge over Opera and Avant but those each would be a very close second. The only reason to use FireFox would be that real-time spell checking which is a very cool feature indeed. I am sure the others will soon be adding that feature though as well. This browser is just great and keeps on getting better. If you haven't tried it yet, you really need to. You will LOVE it!

improvelence reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

For the life of me I just cannot understand the point of this.

snoecks reviewed v2.0.5.7684 on Nov 1, 2007

Be aware that this is the Forum Build and not yet the public release.

[New Feature]
+ New Split View Mode
+ button plugins can set default location in plugin.ini (DefaultLocation=MenuBar/ToolBar/StatusBar)
+ plugin icon support png, jpg, bmp format
+ improved tab dragging in the tab bar

Plus a dozen or so changes and a dozen or so fixes.

some guy reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 14, 2007

to far behind opera and fire fox, might as well use netscape

monzi reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 13, 2007

Why use this crap when there is Firefox and even IE7. What a waste of harddisk space.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 13, 2007

I'm very glad they are still updating this app. I don't like version 2.x, but am a HUGE fan of the 1.x effort. Anytime they can make the app more stable and efficient, it's gotta be a good thing.

That said, I do wish they would do a bit more testing and optimization. This latest update to 1.6.3.80 is more stable for me than previous 1.6.x releases. It seems to work fine with More Options 1.6.0 and updates properly if you use the Check for Updates option in the Help menu. Some previous releases did not.

Maxthon is good enough to keep me on IE 6. Makes it usable and functional in ways IE never was. Don't need to upgrade to IE7 with the IE 6 and Maxthon combo, or so it would seem.

bobad reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 12, 2007

Simply the best IE shell out there. The latest releases have been very stable. Hasn't crashed in weeks. As good as version 1.x is, version 2.x is even better. With the right skin, the look, feel, and features are beyond comparison.

billweh reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 12, 2007

This used to be a fantastic product. But the last three versions have been crashing like crazy. It's random sites and not all the time. It doesn't appear to be a flash issue - I have disabled all of the IE plug-ins so that I'm not conflicting with them.

Version 2 blows big time - I have tried several iterations of that and each one gets progressively worse.

I put IE7Pro on my machine yesterday - and I almost felt like I was in Maxthon - so maybe I'll just go back to plain old IE because I'm really getting tired of this crashing all the darn time.

Eeyan reviewed v1.6.3.80 on Oct 12, 2007

I hate version 2 of Maxthon. Good to see its predecessor supported. Well done, keep it up.

Richardky reviewed v2.0.4.5799 on Oct 6, 2007

Runs fine for me its no more buggy than IE7 itself :) i prefer firefox but this is my choice when i have to open something ie based.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.4.5799 on Oct 4, 2007

yeah, bugs, bugs, bugs. so why give 5?

Blaxima reviewed v1.6.2.60 on Oct 2, 2007

Hate v2 and had been sticking with this but the last 2 releases have been crashing at some sites that it never use to crash at.

Every since the ownership this browser has gone downhill.

So long maxthon

RWW reviewed v2.0.4.5799 on Oct 2, 2007

Anyone else not able to browse with this latest one?

RWW reviewed v1.6.2.60 on Oct 1, 2007

I do!!

zeeZee reviewed v2.0.4.5799 on Oct 1, 2007

years of trying all browsers and browser shells. guess what. i run ie6 stock. super ultra fast, what a workhorse. i have discovered this. when using a tabbed browser, i still need to click a button to see all the open tabs. if i have 80 tabs open it is like looking through a favorite folder. all i do with ie6 stock is look through folders. it is like looking through a 80 tab open list. i must say after not using ie6 for 6 months and going back, it is real fast and a work-a-holic.

bobad reviewed v2.0.4.5707 on Sep 30, 2007

This is the Maxthon I know and love. For the past few months, M2 has been quagmired in instability, and features that don't work or only half work. If you spend several hours a week browising, Maxthon can do wonders at organizing and speeding things up. No other browser or IE shell has the powerful tab and group features of Maxthon. I'm totally addicted to the powerful search aliases, which again, no other browser can touch. With 2 or 3 keystrokes in the address bar can bring up instant results on Youtube, Google, Amazon, IMDB, Newzleech, UPS tracking, or anything your imagination can conceive of. Maxthon affords as much security as you wish. If you turn on all the security features, it's actually too secure for me. For those who say that it hasn't caught up to M1.x yet, well, you're not paying attention. It does everything M1 does and more.

snoecks reviewed v2.0.4.5707 on Sep 29, 2007

@ horsecharles, if you don't have unlimited time than why bother using a beta version? You do know that it's still beta right?

Back on topic* This version is more stable than the previous one and has added features to it, such as uploading/downloading the userdata.

The only thing i still miss is the splitscreen option but they said it will return in a later update.

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.4.5707 on Sep 28, 2007

Version 1 was my default browser... then this propietary-leaning mess came along, then the different username / password glitches between storage account/forum account/maxthon account... then the further mess of combining forum and maxthon accounts-- one's always getting a sign-in glitch either when opening browser or when visiting forum. Further, pre-combine forum messages/threads got archived & are hard to search.

I don't have unlimited disposable time to be troubleshooting/solving problems of others' ill-advised decisions.

improvelence reviewed v1.6.1.50 on Sep 27, 2007

yea right.

who actually uses this crap.

farrio reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Sep 7, 2007

May cause non-response while I've installed Thunder(a multi-thread download tools) but not start yet when I click a download link.

Dwarden reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Sep 3, 2007

I don't get the whine M2 is completely rewrite and change from M1 yet M1 is also still supported (with tweaks and fixes etc). Noone prevent M1 users to keep using M1.
M2 needs some time to mature yet last 2 releases are quite stable, fast and offers most of needed features.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Sep 1, 2007

could be worse! :)

seriously, still missing some features from 1.x, like 'set as most favorite', simple collector customization, etc.

I'm giving four because it's definitely better than it's current rating.

sacredsinpt reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Aug 31, 2007

well, maxthon its a very good browser.
speedy, blocks well ads and popups and loads pages fast.
my cons are:when closing it takes a while and sometimes it crashes when loads some pages. It should existe europena portuguese translation for this version

dolcesculacciare reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Aug 31, 2007

Not perfect, but still the best browser by far !

roj reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Aug 31, 2007

Usng IE in 07. BECAUSE I was paying attention. Not shortsighted or masochistic enough to use FF (or any other ZillaLand product - their configuration interfaces and plugin architecture remain juvenile in design, break with each new iteration of the products they're designed for and are singularly unpolished).

That being said, Maxthon is passe. IE7 + IE7 Pro are the ticket or Opera is you want zillions of features you'll never use.

This program's relevancy is now non-existant, especially in light of it's bloat over 1.x.

Oh, and I never give programs time to evolve. If oyu have the 2.0 monnicker and need time to evolve, it's not cooked yet so don't release it. There's FAR too much of that crap going on (Vista comes immediately to mind).

ONE Star.

zridling reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Aug 31, 2007

Too little and way too late, Maxthon suffers by using IE. If you're still using IE in '07, you haven't been paying attention, and probably think MS-OOXML is a good idea, too. You know the alternatives, which start with 'O' and 'F.'

Shrekmachine reviewed v2.0.3.4643 on Aug 31, 2007

All you lowraters!
Why do you don't give it time to evolve. It is now that M2 just got Release candidate and almost all feature are back and stable.
Besides dealing with IE7 engine for sure raised additional effort and Hey! It's still free;)

madcats reviewed v2.0.3.4552 on Aug 30, 2007

Just beautiful! Happy to escape all the ads and pop-ups. The shanni blue skin looks great. I have forgotten about Opera already. This is one programme that keeps improving. It's funny they dont don't have the contributor link. I supported the old MyIE years ago but now the security features are for everyone, not just contributors.

DoHickey reviewed v2.0.3.4020 RC on Aug 24, 2007

Maxthon 2 is my preferred browser. Try it with the silver looking Longhorn skin (the one with blue buttons on it, Just search the skins for Longhorn & it's the last one in the list) Use the Office 2003 interface, It's beautiful.
I take everything off the toolbar but just what I need for the minimal browsing that I do & only have (forward, back, refresh, stop & home) No favorites bar search or sidebar. Just because it's offered, you don't need to keep it in view all the time. We all know how to get to things that we don't use often if and when we need them. To all of the people who hate IE, get over yourself & go away.

Doubledoom reviewed v2.0.3.4020 RC on Aug 23, 2007

Its a competent browser but after living with the beta releases for about 6 months on one machine and running avant browser on another, I have taken the decision to go with avant.

Main reason was compatibility issues with secure sites with mx2 being a pain. I want to run one browser. Not have one for most sites and another for certain sites. If I wanted that, I would use firefox. Another reason was only lower toolbar support for roboform.

These are personal reasons and anyone reviewing browsers will have their own needs and requirements which will see them favour one over another. I would say give mx a go.

ubaisoft reviewed v2.0.3.4020 RC on Aug 23, 2007

Maxthon2 Cannot run on Windows2000 Profressional..

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.3.4020 RC on Aug 22, 2007

I just can't support this finished 2.x version.

Maxthon 1.6.1 build 50 STANDARD (not the larger Combo version) is what I'm sticking with.

Why?

2.0 lacks features found in 1.6.1.50 is one reason. 1.6.1.50 supports standard IE 6 Favorites, groups in the expected way, and has a TON more useful working features than 2.x.

I can't believe that they even released a final 2.x version when it still lacks so many features that the 1.6.x version has.

I use the More Options plug-in for 1.6.x and that gives me a few key things I just don't want to live without. Don't have that going for the 2.x setup, so that is another strike against it.

Thankfully, they are allowing downloads of Maxthon Classic as they call it (1.6.x) from their site. I hope that sticks. I hope they continue bug fixing 1.6.x when needed too, cause if I am stuck with 2.x as my only Maxthon option, I may have to give up on Maxthon and go with another option.

1.6.x is FAR superior to 2.x for me and I just hope I can continue using XP, IE 6 and Maxthon 1.6.x for a long time to come.

I don't think that they are going to ever get 2.x where it needs to be to satisfy 1.x customers. They don't seem that interested in making that happen, sadly. :(

Major bummer. 1.x was SUCH as great app (and still is I guess) and to see the future of the app become so clouded and cut-down, it's just really disappointing.

bobad reviewed v2.0.3.4020 RC on Aug 22, 2007

Maxthon2 has a fabulous set of features, far surpassing the features of ver. 1.x. Anyone that disagrees is simply not looking at all the features. This program saves me an hour a day on my daily browsing rounds. No other browser or browser shell handles groups as elegantly as Maxthon. It also adds very good security and many other convenience features to IE6 and IE7 that you can't get anywhere else. EDIT: This is a GREAT release. So far 100% stable. I'm delighted. DudeBoyz's review above mine is dead wrong about the features. M2 has all the features of M1, and many more. He just needs to learn the new configuration.

Myon reviewed v2.0.3.3958 RC on Aug 22, 2007

Sorry Maxthon guys. I totaly agree with the ones here. I used maxthon (MyIE) for years and was very happy with it. Till Maxthon 1.6 it was a very good product. I tried v2 several times, but I do not like it. The old version is much better. And then I also find IE7 Pro. For me I say goodbye to Maxthon and switch to IE7 in combination with IE7 Pro.

Latz ! reviewed v2.0.3.3958 RC on Aug 21, 2007

Maxthon is obsolete.

roj reviewed v2.0.3.3958 RC on Aug 21, 2007

In its day with IE6, essential. Now with the bloat of 2.x and all the features added to IE7, moot. IE7 + IE7 Pro gives me everything I wanted from Maxthon without the bloat. Get that instead.

TWO stars.

kashin reviewed v2.0.3.3958 RC on Aug 21, 2007

It's just like the guys below me said, the older versions are much better. I'm still using Maxthon 1.6 and I doubt I will ever switch to Maxthon2. I tried a few beta versions and it was crashing left and right. There was no support for IE plugins (I can't live without Roboform) and new configuration menu was awkward and clunky. I thought, okay it's a beta and these things are expected. But then the RC (Release Candidate) started rolling out and all the same problems remain. It crashes and loses settings. I can't tell you how annoying it is when I have about a dozen tabs open with different articles I happen to be reading and then Maxthon crashes and cannot restore those tabs on the next startup. After this happening several times and having to go dig around in my History to try and find what tabs I had open before the crash, I simply gave up on it.

Also, I heard that some Israeli company invested money in the development of Maxthon. So, even though they pretend Maxthon is free, there's commercial backing hidden behind the scenes. I find "freeware" and "donation ware" works best when they're truly free and made with a passion.

chiptotec reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Aug 15, 2007

I used to love Maxthon when it was still named MyIE2 and alongside the 1.0 version. I used it for 4 years and talked about it to my friends and co-workers. But I just couldn't stand this 2.0 "version", which appears to be worse than a beta. The browser crashes a lot, loses your custom settings and some bookmarks and the new sync service just won't work at all. It's a shame, but after all these years I'm gonna have to change to another browser. If you wanna use Maxthon, do yourself a favor and download older versions (even the first MyIE2 is better than this version, since many old features are gone, like the support to IE toolbars and Groups. I, for one, miss StumbleUpon and Furl It).
By the way, I totally agree with bobad: the Maxthon forums nowadays are useless. The mods are arrogant and couldn't get out of their ways to help no one (but are gladly to point you that you "posted a question at the wrong place" ou "should have done a search before"). This ship is sinking.

The Seeker 11 reviewed v1.6.2.60 on Aug 8, 2007

Finally they added the build number to the exe file. No more grabbing 'msetup.exe' to find it is the same as your currently installed version, as has happened often (even from Maxthon's own file server).

bobad reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Aug 6, 2007

Very nice program. Does everything I need to do in a browser. It handles groups in a way that no other browser or browser shell can.

Unfortunately, I have to downgrade it because of stability problems. It crashes on me several times a day, and will not save my custom settings.

Also, the Maxthon forums are worthless and controlling. The mods will type 100 words fussing about not posting or explaining things to their exact liking, when it would only take 50 words to give you some help. That will be the downfall of Maxthon. If they are serious about developing an excellent program, they need to take lessons from the Comodo and Spyware Terminator forums.

DoHickey reviewed v1.6.1.50 on Aug 5, 2007

After doing a system recovery from an unrelated happening on my computer. I thought, well I'm just going to use the Maxthon 1 for a while.
So doing a first time install on a fresh XP-sp2 home system was interesting, BUT I can't read Chinese. That's what I got while doing the Maxthon 1 install. Having to guess what to click on to get the next window & the plug-ins were unreadable, it felt very odd. Wrecked my nerves.
Then after installing it, every little thing that can be added to the toolbars was activated, every selection was on that thing.
It took a long time to get the browser looking and acting like I wanted. A lot longer from my other Maxthon installs.
The official download should be like it was before. English....

DoHickey reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 31, 2007

The only problem I have with this program is that some pages stall out before loading all the way.
It looks like it's loading in the status bar & then nothing but a blank page comes up.
I've found that if I see it doing this, I click stop and then click refresh or I open the link again & it will load the page like normal.

I've used Maxthon for a long time & This version (if they fix the problem above) works really well for me & for what I want to do online.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 27, 2007

a real disappointment :( a lot of features from 1.x are still missing, while others (plugins, favs, magic fill, etc.) are not working properly. bad even for a beta.

Dwarden reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 25, 2007

There is still lot of work to do, this release was most likely to 'reach' milestone and to stop whining about 'omg another beta'

i'm especially missing better way to organize favorites, history/favorites search previews on the fly, external COM plugins support, favicons paths w/o encryption etc.

i'm not alone who thinks this way see e.g. http://chris.pirillo.com.../24/maxthon-20-problems/

Eeyan reviewed v1.6.1.50 on Jul 24, 2007

v1.6.1.50 appears to be Chinese only. Last English version appears to be 1.6.1.22

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 24, 2007

Still has some bugs. I have it crashing on me for no reason from time to time. I'm still unhappy about the proprietary favourites storage, but well...
I'm not moving back to v1.6 because it has some bugs which have not been fixed in the last half dozen releases (i.e. 100% CPU usage on some pages such as eBay).
So overall I give it a 4: good enough for me not to move to an alternative, but not quite perfected yet.

madcats reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 24, 2007

I now use Maxthon instead of Opera because of its security feautures:ad-blocking & pop-up blocking. I like Favorites in a Top Bar.And with Flashget the speed is great and no more broken download links in Opera.Oh yeah Firefox uses floating ads

ModderXManiac reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 23, 2007

I think there are far too many bugs to consider this a final build, but it shows much promise and might be a worthy replacement to 1.x soon.

lhdal reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 23, 2007

I've used Maxthon for a very long time now.

I also wanted a better GUI like this. And GUI was better in many aspects but they disabled some options later on.(e.g. Undock sidebar items)

I was aware of the fact that previous releases were Beta.
But now this is final and it is a major blow for me.

There is no toolbar plugin support. I'm not dying for such toolbars but still I find daily use in some of them. (Roboform, Stumble) And many people like to use Google toolbar.

I really don't care if Maxthon has a form filler. I use Roboform which can be used in many different platforms, portable, etc)

Also the favorites mechanism is not for my liking. I want to use built in IE favorites. There must be a way to use local IE favorites.

User account login requires online validation. Why why why? (I know once you login it won't do if you don't use online services but still I want LOCAL login)

Popups are either opened as a tab or a different program window. You can't do both.

Also bugs are everywhere.

Sadly this is not a final as labeled or RC but a Beta at its best.

I think Maxthon development team forgot many of the features that made Maxthon.

Maxthon used to be an upgrade or replacement to IE. 2.0 is just a competitor. It lacks IE features and that's a major setback.

In 1.x I had no doubt to switch to. Pretty much everything IE has to offer was there. But now those are gone.

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 23, 2007

@Boolah:
stop writing reviews If you don't know how to use it, Groups is here, you just don't look hard enough.

Boolah reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 23, 2007

Groups still dont work. Groups have never worked right in Maxthon 2.

@Mamoun, groups are there but do not import from Maxthon 1. Also, tab groups you manually save reopen in reverse. Dont make sarcastic comments assuming everyone is a moron, you just make yourself look stupid.

zridling reviewed v2.0.2.2961 on Jul 23, 2007

Can't believe I lived long enough for the full release. Still, it's disappointing; too little, too late. Another browser is running circles around Maxthon as this is written.

snoecks reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 23, 2007

Good and stable release, Magic Fill works just fine once you manage to fine tune it. This release seems faster than the previous releases. I can't wait to see what the final is going to be like...

McAleck reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 12, 2007

this is getting really frustrating. magic fill has never worked properly in M2, but this latest release screwed it even more. I don't know what these people are doing, but Maxthon has gotten consistently worse since they announced collaboration with MS. And development(?) is painfully slow. Were FF less of a resource hog and had URL alias i would've long abandoned Maxthon.

dhry reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 11, 2007

To the previous reviewer: Just use one freakin' browser and quit complaining about trivial rubbish!

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 10, 2007

Major sticking point for me is new proprietary Faves format....and no end in sight for release of sync & import tool... + to boot: small prospect of it being automatic.
NO WAY am i going to be constantly syncing in manual fashion... no matter how many extra / better features the new format "supposedly" brings.
Whoever decides to create a proprietary format in whatever app / function, better as heck make it compatible, interfacing & auto-updating(data) with all/most other major formats-- in this case: auto-synced w/ Gecko, Safari, Konqueror & IE(& perhaps Opera).

Changelog
Over 100,000,000+ downloads
2.0.2.2324 RC 4 [2007-07-09]

Solved several Browser Lockup Problem
You can test it at: http://forum.maxthon.com/uploads/lockuptest.htm

More consistent Favorites
We had fixed some bugs in the Favorites system that might cause data lose.

Improved Magic Fill
You can import the saved form data from Maxthon 1.x version. And you can edit the saved data and Match URL in Setup Center.

Fixed a bug that cause browser lockup when it called by third party program, such as MSN Messager.

Other Changes:
* Fixed could not select 'set as destop background' command in browser context menu problem.
* Fixed could not delete individule search history problem.
* Fixed set sticky name did not work problem
* Fixed could not select text in address bar problem

2.0.2.1360 RC 3 [2007-06-18]
Major Changes
+ Collector Service
+ Restore Favorites from Backup
+ Float Ads Filter
Important Changes
+ CPU Saving Mode
+ Feed Links Checker
+ Search bar history
Other Changes
+ Added "Arrange by Site" to tab context menu.
+ Added "Fill form", "Save form" to web context menu, when right clicking input box.
+ Collector Service (Users could upload/download collector, Found in the collector)
+ Restore Favorite from a backup (Favorite > More Actions > Restore Favorite)
* Made it easier to drag HTML plugin on webbar.
* Go button adds the entered url to the address bar history.
* AdHunter menu (Tools > AdHunter)
* Highlight button can display state.
* Right click AdHunter button on status bar to enable or disable all filters.
* Hold Ctrl to bypass filtering current page (Disable ad hunter on the current page)
* Added an option to use IE find in page dialog (Tools > Maxthon setup center > advanced)
* Added an option to show close button on all tabs on hover (Tools > Maxthon setup center > Tabs bar)
# Fixed separator problem under multi-column menu mode
# Fixed images folder always be created problem
# Fixed "force open link in new tab" only work after page complete problem
# Fixed Could not Open local file problem (the last character was missing)
# Fixed a bug that caused browser to crash when auto-run plugins
# Fixed several RSS related internal bugs
# Fixed the "auto select" did not work on webbar problem

2.0.2.615 RC 2 [2007-05-16]
+ Added File Sniffer (FLV file etc.), supports most websites
+ Optimized CPU usage in multi-thread mode (must enable Open Tabs in Separated Thread)
+ Added Multi-Search and Highlight to Search Bar
+ Improved Search Bar: Ctrl+Enter - Find in Page, Ctrl+Shift+Enter - Highlight, Shift+Enter - Multi-Search
+ Major changes on Tab Bar: Fully customizable, you can add and remove buttons on Tab Bar now
- Due to the changes of Tab Bar, Split Screen and Tab Manager features are temporary disabled
+ Added custom Useragent setting in Setup Center (Require restart)
+ Tabs of Collector can be arranged by drag&drop now
+ Some buttons supports right-click action now (Refresh and Stop, etc.)
+ Drag & Drop text and url to Address Bar and Search Bar will work fine now
+ Added "Copy URL" for menu items in Favorites Menu
+ Added "Open in New Tab" in Float Button
+ You can resize the Search Bar by drag it now
+ Right-click Web Toolbar button will show Tab List
+ Sidebar items can not be dragged out unless you hold the Ctrl key
+ In fullscreen mode, a Exit Fullscreen button will be shown on Tab Bar
+ Added Force Open Links in New Tab option in Setup Center
+ Added Hide Buttons in Sidebar title drop-down menu
+ Added Enable All and Disable All command in Auto-Refresh Menu of Tabs
+ Added several utilities in Plugin Bar
+ Added Maximum Favorites Menu Width setting in Setup Center
* Tab Bar will auto-flip when placed on bottom
* Improved New Tab button on Tab Bar: Left-click - New Tab, Right-click - Paste and Go
* Fixed several drawing problems on Tab Bar
* Sidebar moved below Tab Bar
* Items in Undo List will show their URLs on status bar
* Fixed Web Toolbar random move problem
* Added No Proxy settings in Proxy Manager
* Optimized performance when opening or closing a large number of tabs
* Favorites Bar Root Folder settings is also saved on the online Favorites server
* Fixed a Ad hunter related bug
* Fixed Last Vist Page List missing bug
* Fixed a bug which will crash the browser when too many Filter Packs are installed
* Fixed a problem the right-click menu won't show up
* Fixed a bug that unexpected space character appears in search keywords
* Fxied Status Bar tooltip problem

bobad reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

Good release. If you spend 1/2 hour or more daily browising the web, Maxthon can do wonders at organizing and speeding up your browsing. No other browser or browser shell has the powerful group features of Maxthon. I'm simply addicted to the powerful search aliases, which again, no other browser can touch. It also affords as much security as you wish. For those who say that it hasn't caught up to M1.x yet, well, you haven't looked. It does everything and more. It has very useful features that m1 can't touch.

extremely well reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

It's getting there..painfully slow...

I'll give M2 a try only when it's not only in "final" release, but a month or two after that -- once they fix almost all the little things that'll get caught AND ADDRESSED by digesting user input of mass deployment only...

From being a master user of Maxthon 1.6 (I know it inside out), I can tell you that FOR SURE there will be workarounds (forum tips) to essentially all things that'll annoy you with v2 of the browser (and aren't software bugs).

Then again, maybe Firefox 3 will be a better choice by then..with decent Trident (IE) engine compatibility (a la IETAB, but better).

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

mamoun: you are correct, most of the stuff I was looking for is indeed there, but I was expecting them to be exactly like in v1. I'm much happier with how it's setup now, thanks for the help.
The only thing I couldn't find is the "Content" button (which was called "Download" in v1 IIRC).
I'll crank it up to a 4 and I'll see how I get on :)
*EDIT* nevermind, got the "Content control" item in my toolbar now :)

JeremyGNJ reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

Just tried it. It's still pretty poor compared to what 1.x was.

Like others I don't like the "favorites" changes they made. They chose to make their own "special" way to store them which supposedly adds more functionality. I dont see why they couldnt have done the same thing with an XML file to describe the added functionality. This just makes things not backward compatible, since favorites you add in Maxthon, dont appear in normal IE. Lame.

I guess this is what happens when you drink the google-juice.
http://www.betanews.com/...thon_Browser/1176236856

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

It really is a tragedy that it has come to this. I'm a long time Maxthon user and I'll continue to use 1.x as my everyday browser. I just hope development and at the very least, bug and security fixes, continue for that generation.

This is like Windows Vista. An upgrade just for upgrade's sake. There's no benefit to the user.

kashin reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

I love Maxton/IE2 and have been using it for a long time, but this new Maxthon 2 is not a worthy successor to Maxthon in my opinion. I tried RC1/RC2 despite the fact that some IE plugins don't work properly. Yes, this *is* a deal breaker for me, because I use RoboForm daily for example. I really don't like the new Favorites and some of the other things they did with this release. It crashes on occasion, even though it's a "Release Candidate". I didn't mind the occasional crashes, because it would recover all my open tabs after restarting. Except a few days ago it crashed and all my tabs were gone upon restart. This has never happened with the old Maxthon. After that I switched back to Maxthon 1.6.1 and I have no intentions of trying Maxthon 2 again any time soon. I'll just stick with Maxthon 1.6.1 and Firefox. I heard some Israeli company invested a bunch of money in Maxthon and that might be the reason why this new version is sucking so badly. I was really temped to give this a rating of 1, because of all the annoyance it has caused me, but I went with a 3, which I consider "neutral" I guess.

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.2.2324 RC4 on Jul 9, 2007

@McAleck:

"announced collaboration with MS"? where on Earth did you get this from?

McAleck reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 8, 2007

I totally agree with cricri_pingouin. Lot of stuff missing or still buggy. They're into RC3 but it feels more like a beta 1. Used to be my favorite browser. Sad! :(

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 7, 2007

This Maxthon v2 is irritating me very much to put it midly. A lot of the customisations available in Maxthon v1 is gone down the drain. I'll start with the "search" box: it contains Yahoo and Google by default. First off, I don't want Yahoo. Can I remove it? No. Then there's Google, I want it, but this version is a CUSTOMISED (referred?)search. Thus I don't have the links to search in Google images etc. Fortunately, I was able to modify that in Config.ini. And why can't I clear the history in Seach and Find anymore? And why the heck did they get rid of the good old favourites for a custom favourites list? If I wanted to be bothered with proprietary favourites, I'd have swicthed to Firefox! In fact, it's not even a proper XML file, despite what you might be led to believe. And where's the "Download" button? I could disable scripts/ActiveX in a click, now I can't. I also liked the "Open all" in the favourites, but now we need to right click to get it, why? And so many other small inconveniences that I can't bother listing here.
To summarise, I miss some of the stuff which made the original Maxthon my browser of choice. Maxthon is mutating from a browser made for the users to a browser made for the company which makes it.

ahjefri reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 7, 2007

Simply ,, excellent ,, nice added features ,, I wish they can interface with firefox ,,

Dwarden reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 5, 2007

I don't get it why if You use M1 whine about M2 ... who stops You from using M1 :) ... You should be thankful that M1 development was not ceased for M2

wognum reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 5, 2007

Getting better and better each release! good work!

bobad reviewed v2.0.2.2165 RC3 on Jul 5, 2007

This release is packed full of speed, convenience, and security features. It's already 95% stable. (Remember, it IS beta!)

Give it a try, and set up a few groups of tabs. It can save you a lot of time and hassle doing your morning browse!

ZenWarrior reviewed v2.0.2.1360 RC3 on Jun 20, 2007

With this release (Maxthon Preview 2.0.2.1360 RC3), Maxthon can once again claim the throne and easily shame IE7 and Microsoft. Forget the earlier beta releases which definitely left much to be desired, and even had me looking for another browser. Maxthon at its best is back!

internetworld7 reviewed v2.0.2.1360 RC3 on Jun 18, 2007

It's decent but has a moderate obtrusive feel to it. Avant is much better and nearing perfection. :)

dcarter reviewed v2.0.2.1360 RC3 on Jun 18, 2007

I Love this version 2 RC3....It has been stable, reliable and most important to me, all plug-ins work great! Last version I used, vers 1.6 was anything but, particularly within any version of Vista.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 14, 2007

If it is recoded from Scratch, then it seems to have lost most of the good stuff from Maxthon 1.x, including the ability to be stable.

Man, how could they have butchered this product this bad?

I still use Maxthon 1.x every day on the PC, but this 2.x is just horrible and shows no signs of getting better. It's headed in the wrong direction - downhill. :(

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 14, 2007

It's just taking so long because it's coded from the scratch.
Use it now, It's already stable enough IMO.

zridling reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 14, 2007

World's longest beta. Used to be great, but where it formerly expanded IE's capabilities in version 1.x, version 2 now suffers from the inherent limitations of IE7. Maybe by 2011 this thing will be ready.

rseiler reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 13, 2007

They tend to float at least one limited-distribution build before declaring a milestone. I'll likely follow soon, if this doesn't turn out to be it.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 13, 2007

funny, the latest official version is 2.0.2.615. And that's RC2

digitalking reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 13, 2007

Excellent browser, but name reminds me of a maximum strength tampon.

Metshrine reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 13, 2007

Early stages of development at RC3?

bobad reviewed v2.0.2.1226 RC3 on Jun 13, 2007

For those who are used to the excellent features and security of Maxthon 1.x, version 2.x may seem spartan. However, the features are all there, but rearranged in the configuration. Although this product is in the early stages of development, it works just great. The only issues I have are an occasional crash. So far, none with this release. I don't downgrade for an occasional crash in beta software, so it gets a 5.

McAleck reviewed v2.0.2.615 RC2 on Jun 1, 2007

not quite there yet!

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.6.1.22 on May 31, 2007

This release does not seem as stable as the 1.6.0 release I have already installed. Is anyone else noticing this? I will contact the authors and report this information in the hopes they can explain it to me. Perhaps a fix of a Vista bug did something to the XP stability?

Dystopia. reviewed v1.6.0.30 on May 29, 2007

Best layer for IE ! ++
But it's a layer --
.. for IE --

There are fast and secure browser elsewhere !

tannman1 reviewed v1.6.0.30 on May 25, 2007

Feature Rich and plenty of add ons as well as skins. The learning curve though there is low so new users should have no issues.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.6.0.30 on May 25, 2007

Much better than the Maxthon 2.x effort, imo. This particular release seems just as stable, if not more so, than past releases, and I do not notice any slowdown or increased memory consumption.

Running IE 6 is SOOOO much better with Maxthon that I would not want to run IE without it.

Tabbed browsing, groups, flash toggle - it's got a lot of fantastic features and the thing is 100% free. I'm very glad to see they are still updating this excellent app.

pforbes reviewed v1.6.0.30 on May 25, 2007

Fast, reliable and simple to configure. Excellent.

sauzee reviewed v2.0.2.615 RC2 on May 19, 2007

really like this.

i think v2 is much better than 1.x

betabillybob reviewed v2.0.2.615 RC2 on May 16, 2007

In my considered opinion, and I have used Maxthon for several years, this upgrade is CRAP. When MYIE2 had GROUPS and the added versatility to save complete tabs to a group I was hooked. Then the upgrade to Maxthon came and still had GROUPS I was ecstatic. But in Maxthon-2 some dodder head decided to eliminate that feature to conform to IE7 which is a back slide itself, they lost my vote completely. I will use the older version until it becomes completely incompatible.

Using OPERA as second browser now and will probably switch to it as time permits.

stevvie reviewed v2.0.2.615 RC2 on May 16, 2007

Version 2.0.2.615 RC2 is MUCH faster and more stable than earlier beta's. This is now a joy to use just like Maxthon 1 is.

hardgiant reviewed v2.0.2.615 RC2 on May 16, 2007

Maybe you should update the screenshot since it is a very old screenshot of MyIE2 and NOT M2.

NEW: http://img136.imageshack...36/7831/maxthon2oj9.png

bobad reviewed v2.0.2.566 RC2 on May 16, 2007

It's getting good. This release is lots more stable.

The Maxthon developer did himself a disservice by flooding the Internet with early preview releases. People tend not to understand that early releases tend to be unstable and feature-incomplete. Thus all the low ratings.

I will assure you that M2 will be an excellent app after a little more development. Try this release and see for yourself. It's finally about 90% stable, and very usable. In fact, I think I will uninstall M1 now. I don't know how they do it, but this browser is blazing fast... faster than IE7.

Shrekmachine reviewed v2.0.1.9008 RC1 on Apr 21, 2007

I simply loved it.
Just one application fails to my knowledge in conjunction with M2
Interwise participant
So I can't use it in office :( Therfore I'm just giving 4 Stars

Blaxima reviewed v2.0.1.9008 RC1 on Apr 20, 2007

@Mamoun- I don't know what username you use over at Maxthon fourms but mines the same. Look and you will see that I was one the original members over there so spare me your mind readers speech. I was able to test Maxthon 2 when only a few of us could and I expressed my concerns then.

I don't know if Google and an Israeli firm owning a lage part of Maxthon now is a reflecton of the new direction it has taken but I don't like it. It now performs worst than its rivals and that is how we should be rating things. On how they perfom now and not on how they say it will.

Oh well there will always be version 1.5 for my hotmail because I have found a new home with Opera for everything else.

3* for the RC which does perform better than the betas which shows I was being generous before

extremely well reviewed v2.0.1.9008 RC1 on Apr 20, 2007

The amount of bugfixes and additions is too big for my taste. I'm waiting 2-3 more months before giving M2 a try. For now 1.5 has been doing a fabulous job.

2.0.1.9008 RC 1 [2007-04-20]
* Fixed a bug that causes opening infinity tabs
* Fixed a bug that RSS feed won't display on Windows Vista
+ Improved Program Interface Performance
+ Added Float Button
+ Added Feed content Web Page View
+ Added Screenshot button to Web Toolbar
+ Added Clean History button to Web Toolbar
+ Toolbar labels can be placed under icons now (in Customize dialog)
+ Added "Send To> Groups" in Tab right-click menu
+ Added delete single item in Feed History
+ Added option: Ad Hunter> Dont show notification window
+ Added option: Download> Default download folder
+ Added full title in Favorites menu tooltips
+ You can use mouse-wheel while hovering mouse oover Feed sidebar
+ Added delete single address bar item in Clean History dialog
+ Show URL of Undo List items on Status Bar
* Hide Recycled Bin in Favorites sidebar
* Refresh button in Feed sidebar changed to Refresh All
* Re-formatted hover tooltip view for Feed sidebar
* Use IE Proxy by default installation
* Dont export Recycled Bin when export favorites in HTML format
* Add quotes for parameters automatically while adding external utility
* Fixed Qzone images won't load problem
* Fixed a bug when passing parameters to external utilities
* Fixed a bug in RDF format support
* Improved support for malformed RSS 2.0 feeds
* Fixed $max_handle in Filter Pack won't work problem
* Fixed popup filter white list won't save problem
* Fixed a bug wich will display 2 Screenshor button in Customize dialog
* Fixed a crash error when importing OPML file
* Fixed add IP display won't work in Status bar
* Added URL Filter Result into Filter Log
* Removed HTTP Header Filter support for better performance
* Mouse wheel will work when hovering on RSS Feeds
* Improve Text Filter performance and added several functions ($MAXPATH and $MAXFILECONTENT)
* Fixed program crash when using IE proxy settings
* Fixed sometimes Ad Hunter won't work bug
* Fixed Mid-Click crash the program bug
* Fixed a bug that prevents disabling and deleting Filter Pack
* Fixed a bug when overwriting item with Add Favorites dialog
* Fixed crash problem with several Filter Pack
* Fixed Feed url won't show up error
* Fixed several bug that prevent online Favorites won't update
* Fixed crash error when visit localhost
* Fixed proxy setting comfilct with ie7pro
* Fixed a bug when clean all browser history
* Fixed random order problem in Tab Mananger List
* Fixed scrollbar display problem while zooming
* Fixed order error when customized serach engine exceeds 10 in setup center
* Fixed program crash when adding utility
* Fixed a bug in Tab Manager which may cause crash
* Fixed a bug which prevents saving tabs to group when there is no group
* Fixed scroll text won't display problem with some online chat room
* Fixed a bug that cause browser window becomes inactive
* Fixed a bug that the alert/confirm window of last tab cause freeze

CyGhoSoft reviewed v2.0.1.8990 RC1 on Apr 19, 2007

This version isn't 2.0.1.8990 RC 1, allthough the beta page says so. It's 2.0.1.9003 RC 1.
This RC version is way better then the previous beta's. I have no lockups anymore and the mem usage is lower then the beta's.
It has an excelent filtering system, flexible and strong.

I use it as default browser now.

RWW reviewed v2.0.1.8990 RC1 on Apr 19, 2007

This version will not install. Tried with two different browsers, says corrupted installer.

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 18, 2007

@bobad:
"Oh, and don't waste your time on the Maxthon forums. They're more interested in their little power trips than improving the product."
FYI, Most of us there are only mods not developers.

So far this build fixed some little bugs, Still uses a lot of memory but it's O.k for unfinished software.

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 17, 2007

I too am unhappy with the direction chosen by Maxthon with this second release (in particular with favourites handling as the previous reviewer).
If this is the way Maxthon is heading towards, then newer Maxthon builds will not sit on my machines.
I'm still sticking to 1.5 while nervously considering other options (Avant is quite far behind, but I might give Opera another go).
I still give it a 3 because it's very decent, which is the step down from v1.5 being the best in my opinion.

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 17, 2007

I hate the proprietary BS they've done with Favorites...besides to boot not having solved the bugs & latency issues with them; as well as the sneaky hijack of Search-- if one changes from the default Yahoo, it will stay changed for a while...then revert back.
Apart from that- once every few searches the search results will be hijacked to one of the specialized sites like allofmp3, lyrics, etc... then subsequently revert back one or two searches later to the default....
My conspiracist antennae lead me to believe this behavior's on purpose to make some referral money; the latter move is particularly, diabolically ingenious...

JeremyGNJ reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 16, 2007

Seems to be the best build yet. I wish they made the maxthon config pages look like a normal windows dialog....its ugly as hell.

Recently it was said that Google has invested in this project....I hope they dont muck it up!

Would also be nice if they spent a little more time on the "unskinned" style. It doesnt look right in Vista at all.

bobad reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 16, 2007

Better! Still unstable, but far more stable then the previous release.

I really don't have confidence that M2 will ever be totally stable, because M1 was never completely stable. In M1, the developer just couldn't control the stability of the browser with popup and content blocking enabled. Same with M2 so far!

Oh, and don't waste your time on the Maxthon forums. They're more interested in their little power trips than improving the product.

csb.milky reviewed v2.0.1.8893 RC1 on Apr 16, 2007

This is an INTERNAL relase which is very unstable! Do not use this for every day work!

bunghole reviewed v2.0.1.8313 Beta 5 on Apr 13, 2007

Maxthon 2 is horrible. The betas keep getting worse. Just let it die.

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.1.8313 Beta 5 on Apr 5, 2007

People will you stop complaining?

First of all, It won't be beta If it was as good as RC, If you want a feature to be implemented or a bug to be fixed, It would take 5 minutes to post it in the forum, The developers can't read your minds.

IMO, I like the latest beta, It's not 100% stable or have no bugs, But I'm sure the developers will take care of these before the final, For a beta software, It's great, Stop comparing it to a final software.

softforum reviewed v2.0.1.8313 Beta 5 on Apr 3, 2007

I don't think a stable Maxthon2 will ever be released. I've already switched to IE7 + IE7pro.

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.1.8313 Beta 5 on Mar 26, 2007

Don't like how/why they arbitrarily redid Favorites(no, not referring to multi-column for this release).

zridling reviewed v2.0.1.8313 Beta 5 on Mar 26, 2007

Have to back up Blaxima on this one. Maxthon ruled my world for many years, and then they dumped 1.x's best features to submit almost entirely to how IE7 works. I don't mind IE7, but like Blaxima, I've been using Opera in the interim, and after a little customization, it's fantastic! WHY? Because Opera lets me customize it so that it works just like Maxthon used to.

C'mon Maxthon, just finish this thing already, and stop "promising" to add old features you removed.

Blaxima reviewed v2.0.1.7022 Beta 4 SE on Mar 24, 2007

From Myie to Maxthon this browser progressed nicely(except for the name). The more I use Opera the more I see all the features that Maxthon is trying to incorporate that Opera already has. Use FF and you see other things that Maxthon is trying to add. So its obvious that they want to lure users away from those browsers but they're doing it at the cost of losing loyal users like myself. All the things that made me love Maxthon are slowly being fazed out.

Still uses to much memory
Still very buggy with random crashes

Anyone saying that its just Beta and turn around and give it a 5 I ask you what you base that on??
I've used betas that where just as good as RC so really what's your rating scale other than bias?

Hellcat_M reviewed v2.0.1.7022 Beta 4 SE on Mar 17, 2007

Its still a good browser, I've always liked Maxthon. The one feature they left out that I liked though (even though simple) was the quick tab exit, where you hover over the tab and an X appears and you just right click on the X (instead of left click) so you don't accidentally exit a tab. Other than that so far so good. I'd also like to see an option where you can right click on a tab and have it block the page if its a pop-up from another page or program.

DaComboMan reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Mar 5, 2007

@McAleck,

Also had problems.
Uninstalled/reinstalled ;
went over the donation window on second start up then everything seems to have fallen back into place.

bob04 reviewed v2.0.1.7022 Beta 4 SE on Mar 4, 2007

I like it, it will be great. But, right now, it has a lot of bugs, it freezes and I have to kill the process very often.
At this moment, i give it a 3

McAleck reviewed v2.0.1.7022 Beta 4 SE on Feb 28, 2007

this version is still full of feckin bugs!!!

McAleck reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 21, 2007

This last version has crashed on me more times than the previous ones all together ever did

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 14, 2007

Very nice that they are still updating and squashing bugs. Reduced crashes noticeably - the previous release had some flash bugs.

More stable = mo' better.

bobad reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 13, 2007

Simple, powerful, useful, and it cuts 30 minutes from my morning browsing ritual. Adds functinality and security to IE6 and IE7 that should have been included in the first place. No other browser or add-on has the powerful and logical group functions that Maxthon 1.xx has, and that includes Maxthon 2.xx (so far). A little known fact about Maxthon is that it's portable! Drag it to your USB flash drive and take it along.

ShafuyZ reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 12, 2007

What's up with the "?" at the end of the build name?? Anyhow..another great release... Changelog of last two builds for you curious ones.

1.5.9 build 80 [2007-02-11]
* Fixed several bug under Windows Vista, Vista is fully supported now
* Fixed a rare bug which may cause losing of settings
+ Added Navigator, you can hide it in Customize dialog

1.5.9 build 30 [2006-11-28]
* Improved Content Filter
* Improved Web Dialog Filter
* Solved several IE7 related problem
* Improved stability.

extremely well reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 12, 2007

If you don't wanna spend YOUR WHOLE LIFE tweaking a DAMN BROWSER (*ehm* Firefox *ehm*), this browser is for you. And unlike Opera, I'm not gonna get pissed off daily while visiting an "incompatible" site. It gives me the most features while annoying me the least. I shall upgrade to v2.0 final when that one's out...

roj reviewed v1.5.9.80 on Feb 12, 2007

I'm glad to see the author has not abandoned the old release in favor of the pig-in-a-wig that is Maxthon 2.0. I also hope he's finally managed to fix the sporadic dump-to-desktop nonsense this browser occasion does iwth sites that IE7 has no problem with.

We'll see.

Aegis69:

Yes it is indeed IE + plugins. And you know what? They're all integrated so you don't have to hunt and peck for them unlike Firefox. They all have a common management interface unlike the hodge-podge amateur effort that is Firefox. They all continue to work when the browser is updated, unlike Firefox. And they all are managed under the same roof so there are no incompatibilities, unlike Firefox.

Now, explain to me again why I should waste time on the product of a poorly designed, badly sustained overrated project managed in a clearly and oft demonstrated amateur fasion when I could have this?

FOUR stars guardedly, assuming the aforementioned long-standing bug is fixed. If it isn't I'll be back to adjust my rating accordingly.

ahjefri reviewed v2.0.1.6526 Beta 4 on Feb 10, 2007

It's been while since I have not used Maxthon ,, I though I can use IE7 instead, but this version is realy an excellent improvement by all means. Now I am back to Maxthon. No more IE7 with limited option.

Mamoun reviewed v2.0.1.6526 Beta 4 on Feb 9, 2007

The new beta is great. :)
Love the live searching as you type in the new history viewer, Thumbs up!
IE plugins support is all what Maxthon 2 needs and we will have a fully featured browser!
Kudos to the developers for the great piece of software. :)

ecold reviewed v2.0.1.6526 Beta 4 on Feb 5, 2007

I also had the loss of my favorites but I used the import to at least get my old IE favorites back. I hate to have lost my newer ones since I began using 2.0.
If it wasn't for this, it would have 5 stars. This is still the best browser. Firefox and IE7 have a lot of catching up to do.

alohanela reviewed v2.0.1.6526 Beta 4 on Feb 5, 2007

I waited for this update anxiously. Thanks for adding multi-column display for long favorite folders. I did have a problem installing: it only saved some of my settings, such as magic wand data, and general settings. Favorites did not transfer automatically, and I think they are deleted! I'm not sure if it's the program or my system's fault. Do yourself a favor: back up your favorites before installing this one, just in case. The groups did not transfer either. I don't even see the default Maxthon group.

Now, the reason for the "4" rating: after I imported some favorites from an old back up file, they were again deleted when I closed the program. I repeated all steps again, and now I'm afraid to close the program. I also was unable to set the root folder for the favorites bar.
Am I doing something wrong?

extremely well reviewed v2.0.1.6526 Beta 4 on Feb 5, 2007

Can't wait for the final version!
[img]http://forums.ort.org.il/files/30/2346087/8057721.gif[/img]

betasun reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Feb 4, 2007

I like the new version 2,its faster than 1.5 .

alohanela reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Jan 13, 2007

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

I decided to give 2.0 another try, and I'm happy I did. It is much better than the last time I checked it out. It imported my 1.5 settings without problems, and I was able to customize it easily. It is very fast (even without the accelerator option). It also blocks a lot more tracking cookies than 1.5. I can't wait to start finding more skin options, but the default is decent.

How safe is the magic fill data? I'm reluctant to use browser password managers.

I would like to see the non-scrolling favorite lists in large folders. Having several columns of data makes it easier to find links.

I also gave IE7 a try with the IE7Pro plug in, but it was very slow and seemed bloated. The only advantage I found it to have over this program: it blocked the sneaky ad banners, such as in the Yahoo website, etc.

Even on BETA, this is now my default browser! Thanks for your efforts in improving on an already superior product. Great job!

neo101 reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Jan 12, 2007

Great browser!

This latest release is very stable for me and all the new Maxthon 2.0 features are really cool & useful.

People who complain should not forget it's still a beta, and that not all the features of Maxthon 1.5 are implemented yet. A lot of things will improve.

belthurgp reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Jan 12, 2007

@DudeBoyz...note sure you read the title. It says "Beta". This is only for people who don't mind testing a software and not mind a crash here and there.

Apart from that, I stopped using 1.5 almost 6 months back. This is such a good browser even in Beta...it puts firefox and IE7 to shame...

For a beta, this has been absolute stable till now.

CyGhoSoft reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Jan 12, 2007

I follow the development of Maxthon 2 close by. And it's developing real good. People should keep in mind that developing a program from scratch isn't an easy task.
When i compare it to IE7 (just the shell) i think it's lightyears ahead. And it's a beta...

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1.5462 Beta 3 on Jan 12, 2007

I love Maxthon 1.5.x but this version 2 is just buggy junk. They are RUINING this product.

They'll have to pry Maxthon 1.5 out of my cold, dead hands if they plan on releasing code like this...

jgra reviewed v2.0.1.4986 Beta 3 on Jan 4, 2007

Okay I was a Firefox fanboy for a while but still downloaded many other browsers, now I found maxthon, now I uninstalled firefox, minefiled beta, opera and don't really use ie7 but still left it installed nonetheless if you can tell me something that firefox, ie7, opera, avant browser, anything other browser that maxthon can't do?

csb.milky reviewed v2.0.1.4986 Beta 3 on Jan 3, 2007

Lock tab works fine, where is the problem?

zridling reviewed v2.0.1.4986 Beta 3 on Jan 2, 2007

Lock tab still doesn't work, and it still has that idiotic and quirky tab behavior. I'll stay with Opera and Maxthon 1.5.9 until they fix it, and if they don't, then I'm very happy with Opera's broad customizability — from its UI to its keyboard shortcuts.

utomo reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 31, 2006

mysoft need to listen to what user complains, but need to keep improving the products.
otherwise people will use older version or run to alternative browser, such as IE7, mozilla, opera and others.

dwby reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 27, 2006

I have to say I love the improved browsing. That was something I've been waiting for ages. Lets hope they keep trying to make it better.

Here is the official changelog: http://beta.maxthon.com/changelog.htm

billweh reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 26, 2006

They took a great product (Maxthon aka MyIE) and ruined it. After playing around with version 2 for about two weeks, I uninstalled it and reinstalled the latest version of the 1.5x product.

Features like being able to tell it where to load the new tabs, grouping, etc are missing in the new version and the interface is very kludgy. I think they're trying to mimic the IE interface (which is one reason we run alternate shells (WE DON'T LIKE THE IE INTERFACE) .

I hope they keep working on 1.5x as well - 2 is for the birds.

ghammer reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 26, 2006

I am disappointed with this 'improvement' on a good browser.
It used to be a nice way to run IE, tabs, groups, easy proxy usage, nice way to present RSS feeds.

Now, looks more like a FF wannabe.

Don't really care about ad hunters, I have Ad Muncher and nothing is close to it.

Don't really care about magic wands. My wand is plenty magic, and I have RoboForm for form filling.

But venture capital has killed more than one promising project. Why should this one be different?

Shrekmachine reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 26, 2006

Version 2 is Getting better and better.
Compared to M2 3018 (what I noticed)
[ is working
Proxy is working
Autofill is working
seems to be faster and less mem consuming.

Blaxima reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

I agree with most who say that Maxton 2 is headed in the wrong direction if this beta is what they are aiming for.

High (almost Firefox like) memory use
Bloated
Unstable

I will not be changing my 1.5 anytime soon if this is what I have to look forward to. Its a shame really becuase I have been using this browser for years and its always made improvements

cannie reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

Very good. Thanks! Excellent news for all who keep using the simple and cool Windows 98 SE, like me, in spite of the pressure against it done by its authors and the hardware makers.

roj reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

I'm assuming the performance issue is due to this being a Beta and not final. I'm expecting a RADICAL perform,ance increase when the final comes out.

That boing said, if the author would fix the dmanably annoying "let me crash abruptly to the desktop with sites that display perfectly well with IE7" bug with 1.5x, I'd not be leaving 1.5x any time soon.

THREE stars for a work in progress.

wickedfeel reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

It's funny how easily programs forget what made them so good in the first place. PERFORMANCE! Instead everybody and their uncle thinks it's better to waste time on all these sugar coated looks and features, like microsoft does, instead of focusing on universal stability and a solid core featureset. I've got to agree with previous posters. SO FAR it's looking as though Maxthon 1.xxx is gonna be miles above 2.xxx for eternity.

bunghole reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

Ditto to everything DudeBoyz said. Maxthon 2 sucks hard. 1.5 forever.

betasun reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 24, 2006

everything is ok ,i like the GUI and most of the features ,ofcourse some of them doesnot work for me.ex.Modem speed in status bar .also i like the OPEN LINKS in a NEW tab option in Maxthon which is absent in the new version .keep up the good work !

Vongalin reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

Excellent alternative browser. Been using this browser for a loooong time, back in the MyIE days, etc., currently running 1.5.9 and this latest beta.

The 2.0 betas are shaping up nicely. This release is much improved over the last beta. You can also have the 1.5.9 and 2.x installed at the same time, no problem.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

With each release of this 2.x version, I'm getting more and more disappointed. When I compare this latest build to the Maxthon 1.5.x version I use every day, it just doesn't hold up.

The redesign is becoming so foreign that it is a pain to use by comparison. The feature set is not nearly in a state ready for a Beta, imo, and the product is incredibly slow and buggy.

It's genuinely sad to see what was a great product be ruined by a poor development path. Incredibly sad. Each version is diverging from the established path in such a way that the product is nearly unrecognizeable. Maxthon 1.5.x is fast, stable, functional, easy to configure and can be easily set to show a familiar GUI.

If this is the future of Maxthon, I'll stick with 1.5.x as long as I possibly can, then give up on Maxthon alltogether.

I'm going from a Fanboy to a non-fan at a fast clip.

wognum reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

getting better and better!
still using 1.x but i think i'll switch soon

zridling reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

Love the new UI, but still hate the quirky tab behavior. Still no lock tab like in 1.5.x, which I'll keep using. Oddly, if you're willing to do a bit of customization work with Opera 9.1, you can make it work almost exactly like Maxthon 1.5.x. The "Setup Center" is the best implementation of customizing a program I've ever seen. Every browser should just steal this — it's clear, easy to find options, lets the user customize his brains out.

And no, I don't buy into the argument that "It's beta, don't criticize it." Betas are just that and require feedback, especially negative feedback from its users. If something isn't right or just plain blows chunks, the devs need to hear that, whether they change it, fix it, or not.

Ary reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

amit_i3 you are very correct.
Ever since I got hooked by MyIE2 I can't get used to any other browser, and I've tried them all.

But, I must say Maxthon2, at least for now at it's beta, doesn't feel as comfortable as Maxthon.
I have them both installed but I can't leave my Maxthon 1.x.

amit_i3 reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

IF U R NOT LOOKING to go with IE anyways, then what r u doin here stupid Picaflic. This browser only works with IE n thatS it.

N if u search all over the world - tumble open any site or review - u will only come to know, that this is the BEST N I MEAN THE BBBBESTTTT IE SHELL - EVER.

So only ppl who just dont hate ie that much + need all the most that security can ever happen when usin IE, this browser is for em. It just is able to -

BLOCK ACTIVEX,
BLOCK JAVASCRIPT,
BLOCK ALL ADS,
BLOCK FLASH ADS,
BLOCK POPUPS,
MOST SECURED SHELL - WITH ADDITIONAL SECURITY ADDED EVEN FOR IE WEAKNESSES.

+++

HAS AUTOFILL,
BEST SKINS OUT THERE - ATLEAST 300+,
400+ PLUGINS - GORGEOUS PLUGINS - FOR ALL THE FIREFOX-EXTENSIONS-FANS
U WILL NEVER EVER WANNA SEE MEMORY CONSUMPTION LIKE FIREFOX
HAS A HUGE FAN-FOLLOWING n COMMUNITY AT
http://forum.maxthon.com/
http://blog.maxthon.com/

-----------
JUST USE IT, DWD UR CHOICE SKINS FROM http://res.maxthon.com/

GET SOME OF THE BEST PLUGINS FR
http://res.maxthon.com/

ENJOY --- THE MAXTHON EXPERIENCE ---

PicAFlic reviewed v2.0.1.4577 Beta 2 on Dec 23, 2006

Sux. Just like IE. It lets in back door Spyware and viruses in like crazy. Just stick with Firefox, it blocks everything automatically and you can get a lot of little plug-ins for it.

Turas reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 7, 2006

Much further than previous beta. Almost same feeling as with 1.x but with new ie-7 features.

zridling reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 4, 2006

How come none of these new browsers can lock a tab like they did in previous versions? I use that feature alone more than any other. PITA!

belthurgp reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 2, 2006

People who crib should never touch beta software.

I have been using Max2 for months now and never looked back. Yes, still many features are missing..but none that will keep you from your daily jobs...it's even got a self syncing favs..for gods sake...either keep away from beta or keep quiet...

kubesa reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 2, 2006

Guys :

Note: This is a pre-release version, does not represent the features of final product.

So please be patiente, I think it is on good way.

cannie reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 2, 2006

I have used Maxthon (MyIE2) for years, and I love it. I had problems to load this version in Windows 98 SE, but at last I could load and try it. Of course it is a beta version and must be tried as that. I'm sure that the final release will be a real masterpiece, as it happened in previous versions. Thank you, Maxthon.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 2, 2006

Belthurgp it's not fair to ask us to shut up when we report problems with the program. Testing is why they do prereleases.

That said, it is still not near a finished product, lacking features and stability.

AlbinoAsian reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 2, 2006

I always look forward to seeing these betas improve. This beta is considerably faster than the last, doesn't feel so sluggish to me. Its still got a few things coming that will make this better so be patient guys!

dwby reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 1, 2006

Come on guys, it is still in BETA. The GUI is VERY customisable. And the reason there aren't as many features as in the 1.5.x versions is because this one has been built from the ground up. Totally new.

Give it a break guys. I for one am liking it more and more each day! And they're developing it so fast!

EDIT: WOW I love this new version. It keeps getting better and better for me!

alohanela reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 1, 2006

Since Beta News does not insist on giving donations for freeware, I feel they prefer honest feedback (good or bad) on the products they publish. We can all agree that it is important for any company to be able to improve its product(s) to keep up with competition. I am ready to move up to the next Maxthon, when I feel its shortcomings have been addressed. In that sense, I feel I'm helping by pointing out my concerns. If they have a hard time convincing me (a Maxthon user), it may be much harder to attract new users. The browser war is only getting hotter.
Please don't try to censor other's opinions. Even on the items I would not rate high, I learn much by reading contrarian opinions. This really is the wrong platform for fanaticism.

Eeyan reviewed v2.0.1.3018 Beta 2 on Dec 1, 2006

I prefer the 1.5x inteface to crappy IE7 lookalike. So its 1.5 driven by IE7 for me at this stage.

Aegis69 reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 29, 2006

You dont wanna download and have control over your plugins? The way you have it in Firefox??? What the hell do you think Maxthon is?? Its IE with 20 plugins, thats it. Nothing else special there, so since Firefox is more flexible and has thousands of plugins that you have control over, why would anyone use Maxthon anymore?

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 29, 2006

Hey, Maxthon is an AWESOME app - has been since it was MyIE2. But this is the first release since 1.5.2 that doesn't bog down horribly when opening some tab groups.

It does crash at odd times, but so did 1.5.2, and it sort of seems like they are pushing too much on the 2.x version instead of really shoring up the 1.5.x series.

But all things considered, this update works well and actually makes IE 6 worth using for me. The built-in tab functionality is outstanding compared to Firefox, and even Mozilla's original default features, and even though the "ADD TO AD HUNTER" feature requires scripting to be on to work properly, it is still about the best thing out there to supplement IE 6, imo.

roj reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 28, 2006

Got two incidences of not being able to load this site (with an error message) right after upgrading. Hope that's not indicative of the stability of this release.

FOUR stars pending confirmation.

As to FireFox, I don't waste time on very poorly architected software projects run by obvious amateurs. The hype is undeserved as evidenced by the fact stated here that one has to hunt, peck and download the Ten Days Of Christmas and an elephant in a tutu just to get *baseline* Maxthon functionality - only to have them all break with monotonous regularity wth each subsequent release of that browser. As I said, amateurish - move on.

EDIT:

Still having occasional issues loading BetNews pages. This needs to be fixed. Also, IE7 compatibility is lacking - Maxthon crashes to the desktop unespectedly on sites that display perfectly in IE7 and this behavior started since IE7 was installed. A quick glance at the Maxthon forum reveals that I am not the only one experiencing this annoyance. Despite these shortcomings, the browser is still head and shoulders above the overhyped, under[powered and chaotically "engineered" Firefox (theever pervasive memory leaks in Gecko that date back to Mozilla 1.x remain tot his day and the plugin architecture management is best desbied as ill-conceived).

Downgrading rating to FOUR stars until these issues are dealt with.

WoGra reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 28, 2006

Maxthon is a very comfotable and reliable browser. And it is safe - if you can handle it. I use only the rendering engine of IE. The rest has gone to hell, with the help of nLite.

zridling reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 28, 2006

Oh yeah, I'm dying to download and install 17 different "extensions" to Firefox (that break every time the program is updated and that Mozilla refuses to certify) just to do what I do with Maxthon 1.5.9. Have you checked out the 2.0 version? You might want to dump Firefox for good.

stopbuggingme reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 28, 2006

Attention Maxthon users who want to get all the same features in Firefox, get the following add-ons

Minimize to Tray
Morning Coffee
Mouse Gestures
Tabmix Plus (single window mode enabled)
Adblock Plus
Super Dragandgo
Add Bookmarks here.

Other add-ons that make things just nice are;

Fasterfox
Fission
Bugmenot
errorzilla
forcastfox
google preview
splash

JEdwardP reviewed v1.5.9.30 on Nov 28, 2006

Those of us who prefer Firefox, should try to keep that preference out of the equation as much as we can when rating this product.

I love Firefox, and have used it as my primary browser for years, but there are still instances when use of an IE-based browser may be forced on us (my work requires an IE-based browser, for instance), and for those times, Maxthon can be a Godsend.

As other reviewers have observed, the IE 7 interface is horrid. Thanks to Maxthon, however, I need NEVER expose myself to it.

4 stars for the best of all the IE front-ends.

yanike reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 23, 2006

4 Rating

It's still in beta people. They've come along way from the preview releases. This browser is extremely fast with IE7. Too bad I don't have IE7 anymore because it doesn't show pages right. IE6 people use Maxthon 1.5.

cricri_pingouin reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 9, 2006

Tried it, back to 1.5. Tried it again, back to 1.5 again. This is less customisable and more confusing. It looks like it was made to have users use the software the way the author wants them to rather than letting the user customise it inside-out. If this is the future of Maxthon, I have two options: sticking to 1.5, or switching to Avant Browser if/when it becomes better.
From what I've seen with the last 2 betas of Maxthon 2.0, I give it a 3.

ajua reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 8, 2006

this new release is far more usable that the last one. finally maxthon is taking over avant browser. I prefer firefox but always installed avant for some IE pages. now im switching avant for maxthon. the new interface is nicer and has many new features that when final version comes out, will be very handy.

dwby reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 8, 2006

Remember people, this is a preview. I'll say it again, a preview! Yes, I know it says BETA but it is a public preview.

It's before BETA, it's before ALPHA. Which is why there are so few features. BUT! Maxthon 2.0 is going strong. From what it use to be, it has grown so much. I can't wait to see what is next.

MikeDiack reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 8, 2006

I agree with what others are saying. I give Maxthon 1.5 a 5 but this a 3, since they've lost sight of their goals.

- They've worked to make it look nice

BUT

- Have removed many previously useful features - eg ad/popup/content/active x control blocking is much less clear and straightforward than before.

- The stupid Maxthon accounts thing is also a timewaster. The complaint that everyone had about Maxthon before (and in 1.5) is not really resolved in the way everyone expected (i.e. as per Firefox, IE, Avant Browser - where every Windows user of the application gets to keep their own settings)

cannie reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 8, 2006

I use Maxthon at home since long ago, but this new version doesn't work. My home computer runs under Windows 98 SE and I won't buy a new muchine for as long as I can.

ZenWarrior reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 7, 2006

Update: This version is crashing all over the place. The new Maxthon actually has me preferring IE7!!! Bloodchen, Oh Magnificent Creator of Maxthon, please come back from the dark side. I have always preached Maxthon, but this variant really, really sucks.

What happened? Did Microsoft pay off Maxthon? This version is a step backward from the Maxthon that kills all other browsers.

I must be honest and state I have used the new version only barely. However, that is a function of it simply not being a great browser anymore, or at least in this variant. It's as if Maxthon actually thought it should compete with IE7.

Bloodchen, Oh Powerful Creator of Maxthon, do not be led astray. Follow the path of Maxthon of lore.

zridling reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 7, 2006

I agree with DudeBoyz below — they've removed some of Maxthon's most beloved and useful features. Why?

Dreimanis reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 7, 2006

i actually like it! new interface is great. the way it imports bookmarks from firefox is great. built-in ad hunter is great. waiting for next versions. i like this 2nd version better than opera 9.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1.1276 Beta 1 on Nov 7, 2006

I am concerned with the changes in the way they are handling GROUPS. It is totally different.

The interface changes are also pretty unnerving. Yes, it is a preview but if those are going to stay changed, then I'm not happy with the direction it is going in.

I use 1.5.x every day, and am a very devoted fan of Maxthon, but this 2.x thing is different.

lhdal reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Nov 3, 2006

This is a preview. Many features are missing.
So don't criticise anything yet.

One of the major changes is the interface.
It will be a modern interface with dockable toolbars, panes and etc.

For IE engine questions, what ever IE is installed in your system, Maxthon is going to use that. It doesn't have own engine and that's what many people like about it. You don't have flaws in viewing web pages like other own-engined browsers.

dwby reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Nov 1, 2006

@CyberDoc999
I bet you didn't even try the browser.

I'm glad they're keeping up with the 1.5 builds. Keep fixing those bugs! I love this browser!

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 29, 2006

from the description: " It is based on the Internet Explorer engine which means that what works in IE". Moreover, it seems to work with version 6 and 7 as well.

What is different from the engine , is the improved interface, which in my opinion is the best.

Now with IE7, it is a serious competitor to Firefox, Opera, etc... (some may not agree however)

Blackhole8746 reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 29, 2006

Is it based on the IE7 engine now?

horsecharles reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 29, 2006

Great work....however, should edit OS: Windows All

Previous build(not released here) did not allow creating account on win9x, this one does not even let it start up at all.

PS hopefully win9x flamers will contain themselves.

yanike reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 28, 2006

The best advanced browser period :)

It's way faster than IE7 and Firefox. Ever since IE7 released the power of M2 has been incredible.

4 rating because it's not done yet. It's definitely getting a 5 when it's done.

utomo reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

Maxthon has done great job.
but they need to improve it. especially since microsoft also releasing the IE 7 with tab.
more people will use IE 7.

Maxthon need to improve
- Stability. many times it is like hang, no response for long time, just showing white screen.
- Security. Test to work in many security or cracks website. it must survive in all famous website. try to search something is aslatavista, and follow the website such as cracks.am it will install something without warning.
- need to optimize the code so it become faster.
and need to prepare to work better together with the IE 7

Metshrine reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

Maxthon 2.0 is what 1.x should have been. In 1.x, features felt tacked on and the UI was very sloppily designed. (Example, the address bar search setup screen is a pain in the butt to get entries to store). Maxthon 2.0 has a much smoother, more robust design and feel to it. I cant wait to be able to rate this a 5 when all of the features (or a majority of them) are ported from the 1.x code base (something the dev team claims will happen before this gets RTW).

Good job Maxthon team!

AlbinoAsian reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

Awesome! I've been watching the progress of this little beauty and this preview release has many improvements over the previous one.

Its a good sign it means that the team is working hard at implementing features. No need to worry all of the 'old' features that you love are sure to added back in.

I'm very impressed with this and have decided to use this m2 as my default browser instead of m1.5 Really starting to love this baby!!!

ratpackid reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

It has a greatly improved interface, but it seems a lot slower than IE7 or Firefox 2. I look forward to the next beta to see if there are performance improvements.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

I really appreciate the effort, but it is fairly obvious that this is in development.

Particularly, the toolbar is grossly inconsistent, with some entries having graphical icons, others not, the icons look good in some, horrible in others (like when you add Maxthon Options to the toolbar).

Toolbar does not have an option to place TEXT UNDER ICONS like almost everything else does, which is less space efficient. Text is either to the side of the icon or non-existant. I hope they fix that soon.

The interface is vastly different, and it is taking a long while to sift through what is different. What used to be Download Control is now Content Control, and the group management is different also.

It's just going to take time to figure it all out, but it does seem to be very stable and usable, just very unfinished.

I am very glad that it can install side-by-side in a different folder without goofin' up your Maxthon 1.5.x stuff. It should ease the transition.

Please keep up the good work.

zridling reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

The UI is incredible and the program has been greatly simplified. I love how they've moved the toolbar out of the way to give more screen space even when it's displayed. However, one feature that I use all the time, Lock Tab, no longer exists. Nor do tabs close like they used to, even when importing the settings. Still beta, and I've made the forum complaints, but man, don't take this away!

csb.milky reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

Please remember it's only a PREVIEW. A lot of features are not yet implemented (but the "new" features of Firefox 2 were in Mathon since years ^^).

sn1p34 reviewed v2.0.1 Build 460 on Oct 27, 2006

Very nice, I have never liked Maxthon do to its interface, and other issues. But this update is amazing I love the new interface, and it runs perfect! Very fast, and efficient good job!

CyberDoc999 reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 27, 2006

I tried it and most of the skins and plug-in's
do not work
IE and friends of IE are NOT for me
Fire Fox all the way!!!!
Fire Fox 2.0 will be the #1 browser by this time next year!

Browser12 reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 26, 2006

Since i hate the latest version of IE7, Mainly for visual reasons, I broke down and installed both Avant and now Maxthon. Both do a nice job of adding features, Buttons, you name it. I don't understand the higher rating for Maxthon over Avant though. There both the same. One has different features verse the other, but nothing to warrent such wide difference in ratings. Either way, both are good choices to spruce up that nightmare IE7 user interface. Its now a browser war on my desktop. I have Maxthon, Seamonkey, Firefox, Avant and of course IE7.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 26, 2006

You can get some of that tab functionality with FF and the TabMixPlus thing, I believe.

This latest version of Maxthon has one major problem on my two systems that I've found so far. It is DOG SLOW when opening some of my tab groups compared to the 1.5.2 build 21 version I'm using now. It just SUCKS up all the internet bandwidth too and sometimes just sits there never finishing the loading of the group.

I mean, I LOVE this app - I use it every day like crazy, but I'm a bit annoyed when stuff like this happens. I'm also pretty annoyed at their lack of feature additions, but I do understand that they are working hard on Version 2 and are focusing mainly on bug fixes.

So, a small step backwards for me with this particular release, but I'm still a huge, huge fan.

philosopher_dog reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 25, 2006

Looks like an interesting browser. I just loaded the latest version. A couple of very quick thoughts on testing this. I tried using the send page by email feature. It's one of my favourite things in IE. It works, but what a huge mess the email message is. I sent a newspaper page and it throws tables all over the place. Not useable really. Then I tried the zoom feature, something IE7 has really improved in their new release. You can now zoom both text and images just by holding the cntrl key down and using your scoll button on your mouse. Works amazingly. In Maxton it didn't really work. Some pages it zoomed, others it couldn't handle it, and they shortcut keys didn't seem to work for me. I had to do the dirty business in the menus. I think this browser still has some way to go before I'd consider using it. Right now, I'm back to IE7 from Firefox. I'm finding it's rockin so far. I do have FF 2 loaded in case I'm not happy. I'll give it a 3 for a good effort.

zridling reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 25, 2006

Tell me why other browsers like FF and Opera (and IE7) do not just copy Maxthon's tab behavior? It's so simple and easy to hit ALT+X to lock a page and have all other pages open in the background. Why is this small behavior so difficult to mimic in other browsers? I know you can spend time programming them to do so or using a plug-in/ext. to do so, but that doesn't count. If for no other reason, this is why Maxthon remains my first choice among all of them.

JEdwardP reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 25, 2006

It could never dethrone Firefox as my primary browser, but I need an IE-based browser for work, and Maxthon is hands-down the best among the myriad of IE front ends.

With the Advent of IE 7, Maxthon became even more important to me, because it saves me from having to deal with that HORRIBLE new IE interface.

bobad reviewed v1.5.8.120 on Oct 25, 2006

Every morning, I hit about 5 news sites, 5 sports sites, 4 software sites, 7 weather sites and maps, and 10 web forums. It takes about an hour with Maxthon. That nearly cuts my browsing time in half. It's worth it just for the groups feature, not to mention the security and form filling.

The search alias feature makes search bars or visiting Google totally unnecessary. I have aliases set up for finding low gas prices (type "gas +city name" in the address bar)tracking UPS and FEDEX packages, dictionary, thesaurus, movies, Yellow Book, instantly creating Tiny URL's, reverse phone #lookup, etc. etc. I'm totally addicted to it. 9.9 out of 10!

saadsaleem reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 24, 2006

Sorry, I tried the new browser version of 1.5.8 build 120, and now it works fine. Cheers!

bugmenot reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 19, 2006

Well, maybe Maxthon it's ok, but previous user (amit) wrote a bunch of crap regarding the memory usage about Maxthon and Firefox!
I dunno how he measured, but allow me to explain:
I'm using Process Explorer from sysinternals, and having Firefox with 5 (five) open tabs and the same for Maxthon (with IE 7 - final), I'm getting these memory readings:
APP - WORKING SET - VIRUAL SIZE
MAXTHON - 74,040K - 196,028K
FIREFOX - 37,496K - 89,570K
Now, maybe it's my fault and I have to use IE 3.0 with Maxthon, open 150 tabs and use only 102Mb of ram?
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not 100% happy with Firefox also, that's why I'm also considdering Maxthon and IE, but let's try and stay objective...

amit_i3 reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 18, 2006

NOW THIS I AM WRITING OUT OF MY WHOLE EXPERIENCE out of atleast 6-8 browsers.
a). FIREFOX - I have gone thru firefox for atleast 18 days - chews my system with all memory hogging.
b). OPERA - good for memory but no customization
c). many more smaller - like crazy browser, netadviser ....
d) MAXTHON - GOODNESS ME! itS the biggest deal of the century !! u say memory - i have opened up 148 tabs right now n it is usin only 102 MB memory - no small cheap sites opened - all are good sites including amny download.com tabs, this fileforum one + tensports etc. + u get all u can think of in firefox or whatever - all the customizations ---

PLUGINS - ATLEAST 400 PLUGINS
n ALL BETTER THAN FIREFOX - ALL ABSOLTULEY WORK N NOT PERFORMANCE HINDERING AS IN FIREFOX

SKINS - 200+ SKINS

MOUSE GESTURES

STOP FLASH ADS + ALL DIFFERENT ADS WITH ADHUNTER

Big maxthon community - it will soon surpass many
developers

block popups automatically

many many options

customize status bar

shows ip + memory + real links in status bar

I AM A PROUD USER OF MAXTHON n HAVE BEEN USIN IT FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS - JUST LOOKOUT FOR MAXTHON v2.0 - COMING UP SOON TOO n IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO RIP OFF THE BROWSER WORLD.

JUST TRY IT - www.maxthon.com

Thx Guys !

BlackDragon64 reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 17, 2006

I am still using (Amend that WAS using version 1.5.6.42).
I got rid of the stupid thing for 2 BIG reasons:
1. Even AFTER disabling the clear memory regularly checkbox it STILL would sit there and access the HD and just stop responding for a while.
2. Sometimes it would JUST FLAT OUT STOP RESPONDING. I would click and in the title bar it would STATE VERY CLEARLY NOT RESPONDING. And it would sometimes hang like this for a long time (>30 seconds).

I also use Firefox, and Opera. NEITHER have ever done this kind of stupid behavior. Hell I even use straight IE6 and it doesn't even HANG.

So, I deleted Maxthon. Everybody else seems to like it, but with this behavior I can't tolerate a piece of software especially a web browser that want to go off to la la land anytime it seems to feel like it.

zridling reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 17, 2006

saadsaleem, the Google Toolbar issue is fixed. Try it now.

zridling reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 17, 2006

What DudeBoyz said!

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 16, 2006

There is simply no better shell for IE around, and in fact, I don't think I'd want to touch IE at all (except for Windows Update) if this excellent program wasn't around to make it better.

I'm grateful that they keep developing and improving an already stable and feature rich program and that they continue to offer it for free.

If you use IE and you haven't tried Maxthon, I honestly think you are depriving yourself of a great browsing experience.

mc4ever reviewed v1.5.8.116 on Oct 16, 2006

I have tried all the other browsers but I always come back to Maxthon. It's ease of use and speed cannot be beat.

saadsaleem reviewed v1.5.7.82 on Oct 6, 2006

Browser works fine but it doesn't work find with Google toolbar. It hangs the browser and gives strange errors after sometime. It is a must for people like me.

maxwyler reviewed v1.5.7.82 on Oct 1, 2006

Maxthon is a brilliant browser, and is very intuitive and easy to use. I liked it a lot. But I had to switch back to Firefox, due to the importance of a handful of extensions. If only Maxthon could gain a larger plug-in community to match that of Firefox, it could've won the browser wars.

dwby reviewed v1.5.7.82 on Sep 28, 2006

I love the mouse trails.

@InSuboRdiNaTioN
Maxthon 2.0 is a preview. It is exactly that. It's before an Alpha. It's in its VERY early stages of work. So don't mock it now. Give it time.

InSuboRdiNaTioN reviewed v1.5.7.82 on Sep 28, 2006

darthbeads below link is an older build. Here is the latest:
http://forum.maxthon.com/index.php?showtopic=49873

Maxthon is all around excellent, and much more stable than Avant. I found the 2.0 Preview slightly dissapointing, but perhaps I just didn't play around with it enough.

darthbeads reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Sep 5, 2006

A beta of Maxthon2 is out:

http://forum.maxthon.com/index.php?showtopic=48970

zeeZee reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jul 27, 2006

the best custom ie shell out there.. my favorite is the super drag and drop. i drag links on websites and they open in the background. the option to size tabs is my second favorite. no browser out there can compare. avant isn't even close to custom options. firefox is nice, no custom options. opera is the fastest, but it has to many rendering problems. i have tryed them all, over and over, switched back and forth. maxthon is it, for now, lol. GoSuRF is my second favorite.

yanike reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jul 20, 2006

Best IE shell period :) IE7 beta 3 is impressive as well.

I'm testing Maxthon 2 right now and it's great. I like the new look and features. By the release, I'm sure it'll be up-to-par like 1.5.6.42 and even better.

GO Maxthon :)

JEdwardP reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 28, 2006

I'll never use an IE-based browser full-time, but I need one for work, and Maxthon beats all the others I've tried, including Avant.

If a newer one comes along, I'll try it, but Maxthon remains the best of the lot for now.

robmanic44 reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 24, 2006

I just spent a long session uninstalling Firefox. Never again! Maxthon isn't perfect, but its way ahead of that browser that was going to take over the net. You remember, the one with all the names.

rip_pit reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 18, 2006

the best browser since i tryed a lot.
maxthon 2.0 will be released soon with a 100% rewritd code.
here's the french maxthon 156b42 download page : http://www.maxthon-fr.com/logitheque.php?cat=1

kaikara reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

For those worried about IE 6's security problems then run Maxthon with IE7 Beta 2. I have been doing it since beta 2 came out and it runs great.

Have Firefox and opera loaded and Maxthon is the program I use the majority fo the time. It is quick and you don't have the problems viewing some sites that you do with Firefox and Opera. For me it is the best option.

horsecharles reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

EDIT: This version is much faster than all previous-- esp. in starting up, but also in surfing. Great job.

Josepingo:
You just stated Maxthon's razón de ser / existir...yet you contradictorily pan it just for that. And btw, this is way more secure than IE, w/o just eliminating common functions in order to achieve that.
The engine type should not go into the rating, the comparison should be to all non-IE browsers that still utilize its engine: you'll find none better.

josejosefo reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

It's no secret that IE has big security issues. I don't understand why someone would want to use the core of IE as a base for a "new" browser.
The only thing that stops me from using FF 100% of the time is because some websites don't render correctly on it so I'm forced to use IE from time to time. Hope IE7 does a better job...

Isys reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

"no adblock"
does too

"no download manager"
they're bad for you

"no crossplatform"
who cares?

Ie6....no tabs 'nuff said

Ie7....works ok on vista, little functionality

FF.....does'nt render my most visited sites as well as IE, ongoing problem with password manager, not bad tho.

Maxthon...does everything I want it to.

Metshrine reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

Mobeius, I know MANY users that want their browser to act the same across various platforms and pc's. The ability to do so is a commonly used feature. Show me, how can you transfer all of your maxthon AND IE (Since the IE engine is used by maxthon) to another pc to sync up functionality. YOU CANT.

dwby reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

Full changelog:

v1.5.6 build 42 [2006-06-16]
* Fix the bug of Address Bar height
* Update Rss Icon for sidebar

Love this Browser!

MoebiusStreet reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

Contrary to previous "reviewer", Maxthon DOES have a built-in adblocker. And if you think you need a browser that runs on 3 O/Ses with the same configuration, you've got bigger headaches than deciding what browser to run.

Mystenes reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

no adblock, no download manager, no crossplatform

i use FF on Win/Lin/Mac, same configuration, same plugins.

try it with maxthon.... impossible!

snoecks reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

@ Lurifax: There is an easy way to uninstall Maxthon, control panel -> Software -> Maxthon (remove only).

I like maxthon and is my number 1 browser. The interface is great, has lots of plugins, and is faster than FireFox and Opera. They also have a superb support forum.

Lurifax reviewed v1.5.6.42 on Jun 16, 2006

No "instant back" = not useful.

saadsaleem reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 16, 2006

I don't know why my computer works fine with older version and stucks with this one after sometime????

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

After getting really sick and tired FF, I tried Avant, Maxthon, and Opera. This is hands down the best browser I've ever used. I realize saying that risks provoking a religious war with the FF people out there, but it's true. Try it for a month and you'll never go back.

templar™ reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

ZenWarrior did an excellent write-up on Maxthon already. I fully agree that it is the best browser so far. FireFox comes second but not close.

1. For those who know javascript, the Collector is extremely useful for debugging and manipulating web pages to suit your needs. Combine with Ajax and you have a very powerful surfing experience.

2. It takes only about 10% - 25% of FireFox RAM consumption. This also makes it blazing fast.

3. Its tab browsing feature itself is one of the best I've seen.

4. It supports plug-ins too. I've been using a few very nifty ones.

5. Of course it also detects RSS feeds automatically. But that's a given for any good browser nowadays.

6. Tons of other features that you will discover along the way.

I hope Maxthon will someday replace IE permanently.

ZenWarrior reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

I have and use both Opera and Firefox in addition to Maxthon. However, hands-down Maxthon is the best browser on the market these days. There are features I am still discovering after using it for years now.

Imagine, one guy sitting alone somewhere in China is kicking Microsoft's thousand or more people working on IE7. As I have said many times, this is one time Microsoft did not copy a product, but should have. Yep, there's nothing like being wrong about being right.

Also, believe it or now, it is the most secure of all browsers. Look under its Options menu and you will see why. Turn on or off whatever you feel safest using. For some sites, I turn off Active X, scripts, pop-up blockers, etc, and for "safe" sites I can turn them all right back on. No restart required even. To sum and clarify, Maxthon is the most secure browser for advanced users who do not mind using their brain when sitting in front of the computer.

Yes, it has IE's engine, but that's comparing the engine of a stock showroom car to a NASCAR. With a showroom car, you likely get seriously hurt in an auto crash, but far more times than not, you see the driver walking away from a 150 mph NASCAR crash.

For those who do not understand Maxthon's excellent security--primarily because it takes a brain to use Maxthon--I hope the NASCAR example will illustrate why one might think twice about dismissing it simply because it uses the same engine block.

Some Maxthon features you may not be using but should try:

1) Simple Collector -- I threw away all but one of the many "note jotters" I've tried and use it instead. It has transparency, auto-save, save to disk, auto-close, tabs, color selection, and likely some feature I still have not uncovered.

2) Save form data/Autofill Forms -- I threw away AI Roboform and no longer use IE's form completion or password saver. Maxthon's built-in filler works like a charm.

3) Toolbars -- Maxthon's are far more customizable than any other browser. You can essentially put anything anywhere. No big blocks of toolbar space wasted at all. I can put items on two toolbars with Maxthon that take at least four with *any* other browser--and will still find plenty of unused space on at least one of those four bars.

4) Super Drag & Drop -- This one will hook you. It is as revolutionary as tabs were at first. Highlight any text on a web page and drag with your mouse, a search is automatically performed with that text. And, with a search engine easily selected by you. Highlight and drag a link on the web page you are viewing, it opens in a new tab. This is one feature every browser should adopt.

QBgreen reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

This is currently the best way to use IE. In my experience, the best front end available.

matt2971 reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

I'm now a firefox user, but Maxthon is my favourite front-end for IE, and I used it for several years (when it was MyIE2).

It's easier to setup the excellent features than FF because they are built-in, but of course, less open to such a wide range of possibilities because there are not the same plugin options.

My main reason for switching to FF is that any IE-based browser (even using IE7) renders pages slower than FF... especially on slower PCs where you notice the difference.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.6.39 on Jun 15, 2006

This is still the very best way to make use of IE, I reckon'. Outstanding app.

radiomaffia reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Jun 2, 2006

Do not use Maxthon as the Default Browser. I believe because it is a plugin for IE it is why you can better leave IE as the default browser. MSNMessenger-users : When you have post, for example: 2 messages, and Maxthon is default browser it wil go to your startpage and not to your hotmail when you click on the 2 messages-link in messenger. Because Maxthon has great futures I will keep using it, but it needs improvement

QBgreen reviewed v1.5.2.21 on May 7, 2006

A "5" for being the best front end for IE6. Excellent built-in ad and pop-up blockers, well thought out. Who the hell cares where it originally came from!

nRadeo reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 26, 2006

I dont like Internet Explorer, the only thing wich make him love to me is that he supports sometimes better appereance on homepages (like colouring scrollbars and so).

But! Maxthon rocks, it extends the badass IE and make him to the queen of browsers, but ... still, the firefox browser is the king of browsers. But for lovers of IE the best choice.

dwby reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 21, 2006

@horsecharles
The reason why FileForum hasn't been updated is described here: http://forum.maxthon.com...w=findpost&p=256759

There are some links in there I think that will show you to the latest version.

dwby reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 21, 2006

@administrators
Maxthon was build off the code of MyIE. Now, what was Firefox built off of? Man I hate fanboys! Try the browser for a good week before you decide to post.

@horsecharles
The reason why FileForum hasn't been updated is described here: http://forum.maxthon.com...w=findpost&p=256759

Just wait till the next version comes out, 2.0. It's going to be awesome! Go Maxthon!

eddie reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 21, 2006

horsecharles: If you notice, the Authors Website shows a new version is released... but if you download the file from ANY of the mirrors you will noice that they still has the old file. Apparently the author has not updated the file yet.

horsecharles reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 20, 2006

Update to the update!
Found fix for the yahooligan search stick issue. It's actually not difficult at all, just the very lack of intuitiveness about the options & as well the unclear & seemingly contradictive descriptions & directions can trap one in a maze.

But all is good again(top rating back up)-- I can endure any minor bugs outstanding-- and Maxthon now goes back to being #1 & main browser, w/ IE as its backup, FF 2nd w/ Netscape as its backup, Opera Beta 3rd.
I have to use many, many different sites in the course of work, here's the rationale:

1. Maxthon's tab & session browsing is much superior to any Gecko variants'-- for the type of work I do.
2. Too many sites are still IE. We don't need to rehash why not to use IE itself, it's been done ad nauseum, except to note that two further issues work against it:
A. Too many of its functionalities have been removed or extensively disabled in the name of security. Some long-standing issues have either: not ever been satisfactorily fixed, or: only in the very latest service pack of the very latest OS...bottom-line: switch to another browser is required for certain sites(issues such as with xml / css, etc. necessitate a switch from an IE-type browser to one of the Geckos)-- and all this is further exacerbated by the next point:
B. IE7-- not only being in beta & not available for other OS, but requiring websites to code up an additional version. In some ways it will be as if a totally different company worked up a browser adopted by many-- even less chance now that one single browser, whosever it may, can access all sites & interface 100% with all standards and plugins...at least it will be a long, long time in happening.

I'm not married to any particular browser(or OS), just don't have a single one I'm able to use exclusively at all sites-- the day that animal is born is the day i will adopt it as my pet.
End of update.

DWBY: Thank you very much!!

UPDATE: Buggy release: browser locks up completely at times, requiring hard task manager close-- one of those instances occurs when clicking Help/About Maxthon...

But what's egregious: I jumped the gun re the claimed fixed search-- Yahoo is still hard-coded as default searcher, no matter what options settings one changes. Sucker me trusted their claim and got burned.

Read our lips Maxthon: We do not wish to be forcefully stuffed up the kazoo, like the Easter Turkey, with trailer trash-quality Yahoo!!!!!!!!! And on top of that- we do not want sweet lies to be whispered in our vulnerable & trusting ears, that this can be changed in settings-- you may as well just remove search options AND just candidly announce that we collectively must obligatorily bend over and submit, without even the benefit of some Crisco or Land o' Lakes, if we wish to use the browswer!!!!!!!!!!! So ixnay the 5 rating to 1!
End of edit.

It's already 3 days since last update & nothing here: what's going on???!!!!

Latest release is substantial imo because it fixes a pet peeve of mine: default search engine change from Yahoo, etc. to whatever would not stick.....

Back to recommending this over any other browser!

Rating: 5 to Maxthon, big 0 to BetaNews for not having latest...........Yay!! Boo!! Yay!! Boo!!

horsecharles reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 20, 2006

It's already 3 days since last update & nothing here: what's going on???!!!!

Latest release is substantial imo because it fixes a pet peeve of mine: default search engine change from Yahoo, etc. to whatever would not stick.....

Back to recommending this over any other browser!

Rating: 5 to Maxthon, big 0 to BetaNews for not having latest...........Yay!! Boo!! Yay!! Boo!!

wlados reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 19, 2006

Fair, rock-solid, high performance

sheppe reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 19, 2006

After years of using it, this is still my browser of choice. Keep up the good work.

roj reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 19, 2006

snakefoot:

Everyone else's security risks are unacceptable too and claims that the others don't have risks are fantasy. So what's your point?

No Maxthon doesn't have its own rendering engine. Who cares? It uses THE industry standard rendering engine (which is patched regularly) and it gets the job done. That's all that matters. No elitist fodder, please.

FIVE stars.

administrators reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 9, 2006

This browser was actually built using browser-bob proffesional, so its not original.

Secound i have IE 7 Beta 2 and it more horible than the first IE, FireFox Rules , enough said

AdenCloud reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Apr 7, 2006

Great Browser. It has the ability to switch to Gecko Engine as well.

It looks great with the "Bypass Litetium" skin.

mr_mr_007 reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Mar 24, 2006

It should get 3 point because it works with IE and it kan get Virus eazy. But if you have a good Virus protection on your computer Maxthon almoust pefect. Becouse you kan make it to work beter it gets 4 not 3.

photonboy reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Mar 23, 2006

An EXTENSIVE and recent review rated Maxthon number 1 compared to IE7, Firefox and Opera.

Is this a final battle in the Browser Wars?
Will IE7 bring back the deserters who left for Firefox once Vista's 2007 release happens?

I've Beta tested IE7 and the new operating system Vista. IE7 actually looks a little better in Vista with its cool new graphics.

I've been a die-hard Firefox fan for quite some time but I still find web pages where I need to switch back to Internet Explorer. No big deal, especially if you use the plugin to open IE with your current page.

All things considered, I expect I'll eventually swing back to IE7 when I buy Vista in 2007 (it's been delayed) mainly because it is tied into other applications that I use. The bottom line is that if IE7 can do everything that I want then I'll use it because I only want to use ONE BROWSER.

But after reading the review I tried the little known Maxthon and for now, Maxthon impresses me.

review link (page 18 of 18)
http://internetweek.cmp....d=179101486&pgno=18

wognum reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Mar 12, 2006

love it!

TheBeastH6 reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Feb 17, 2006

As a longtime user of Maxthon, I'd recommend it to the user that wants to keep it simple with an IE-based browser. Not necessarily the most secure thing on the planet, but good at keeping out ads and cookies as someone like me would see fit. The program itself is nothing on memory, but, naturally, it has its bulk on the appendaged processes it runs to utilize the 'net.

It's not Gecko engine, but for those who are decently careful on the world wide web, you're not in any grave danger for taking up an IE upgrade. :)

bunghole reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Feb 15, 2006

Maxthon is great.

Also to Insubord, you probably already know, but go to Options...Maxthon Options...Tab...New Tab, then put a check next to "Middle mouse button click on links."

RoSmecher reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Feb 1, 2006

great browser, uses little amount of resources, runs smooth on most sites, best part about it is that it runs on IE engine so everything works from the beginning (media players, flash). Also i think security is over rated, people that don't use this browser just because it uses IE engine doesn't make sense, because in fact it runs faster then firefox, loads faster, and in my experience even uses less resources.

can't wait for Maxthon 2.0 expected to be released in February.

InSuboRdiNaTioN reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Jan 13, 2006

After using Avant Browser for the past 2 years, I finally got sick of all the minor bugs and inaccurate popup blocker, so I made the switch. I loved Avant, but I've made the switch to Maxthon and haven't looked back. The popup blocker is top notch, and relatively bug-free. It's highly customizable and does just about everything I want it to do. My only quirk is that the middle mouse button (clicking the mouse wheel) isn't set up to open a link in a new window, like it is in Avant.

snakefoot reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Dec 29, 2005

Maxthon does NOT have its own HTML-rendering engine. Instead, it uses the Internet Explorer engine to render HTML. For this reason, it has all the security weaknesses of IE. Maxthon is cool, but the security risks are unacceptable.

snakefoot reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Dec 29, 2005

Maxthon does NOT have its own HTML-rendering engine. Instead, it uses the Internet Explorer engine to render HTML. For this reason, it has all the security weaknesses of IE. Maxthon is cool, but the security risks are unacceptable.

RoSmecher reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Dec 28, 2005

simply amazing!

cap737 reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Dec 28, 2005

I have to admit, this program is pretty cool. I tried to stay clear of IE and stuff like Maxthon and MyIE and used firefox. I love firefox but the memory thing is sometimes too much, but the plug-ins make up for it.

For this program I give it a five because of it's embedded features, most notably the Ad blockers. Pages load faster because the bandwidth isn't hogged loading ad scripts. Very nice. Tabbed browsing and utilites bar are a nice plus as well. Try it and see how you like it!

The Seeker 11 reviewed v1.5.2.21 on Dec 27, 2005

I have been using this for the last couple of weeks as I've found Firefox's memory usage to be unacceptable (usually between 50-100 MB). Maxthon on the other hand averages around the 4 MB mark.

Custom search engines can be added, auto refresh tabs, RSS support, re-opens tabs you were viewing if it crashes, a good ad blocker plus many other tools.

Once you delve into all of its features I'm sure you'll find it a more than adequate browser.

bobad reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 18, 2005

This is a good, solid release. Much smaller and faster than FireFox because it utilizes existing system files. This release fixes some minor bugs that weren't really that bad. I like Maxthon mainly because it is so configurable. If you like very powerful features, it will give them to you. Like a simple, spartan GUI? You can have it. Like plugins? No? You can have it either way. How about security? You can make it like a tank, or make it wide open if you have good AV and firewall programs. If you choose, it's just as secure as any browser out there. It's very easy to configure the popup manager, and very easy to erase your tracks automatically or with a click.

hadv reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 18, 2005

I love MYIE2 or Maxthon Now, & Forever! So many functions, so comfortable & nice interface!
Be No 1 plz!

ibod reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 18, 2005

that's not all the memory it uses, Numbnuts.
try parts of explorer and other services too.

good browser though

yanike reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 18, 2005

I changed my mind about Opera and Avant when this version came out. This is a very solid program. Cheers to Maxthon!!!

agapecpus reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 18, 2005

- Firefox freezes and uses too much memory
- Tried Opera but just didn't like it
This is the most solid browser (enhancement) I have used with the least memory use and most features. Have used since MyIE2 and it even looks like Microsoft has taken notice.

dwby reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

@ horsecharles

Lower memory and resource usage? It's the best browser at keeping it low in my experience!

Right now I have 10 tabs open. 7 plugins which load when the page loads. Guess how much mb it is using? *checks* 5mb (EDIT: whoops just dropped down to 3mb)! Yes Maxthon is using 5mb of memory.

Though I wish this build had stayed in testing for a bit longer. It still fixes an annoying bug which I reported.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

Still the best alternative interface for IE, even though it is not as lean and stable as when it was called MyIE 2. Sometimes can be a bit sluggish when you have more than about 15 tabs in a group, or thereabouts, at least on my XP and 98 SE machines. Still no group sorting (a long-standing feature request), but for what it does, it does pretty well.

TheBeastH6 reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

I've been using Maxthon for a good year and half, from the times of MyIE2 through the latest builds. It is, indeed, the best of anything based on an Internet Explorer engine. And I like it--my net is use is fully compatible with what I'm using and I find it safe and efficient.

orizng reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

JEd. IeTab extension for firefox allow u to open IE in firefox's tab. Did u try it?
For Maxthon, i do not understand why, as a IE shell, it take so much RAM?

horsecharles reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

Coupla small complaints: buggy favorites, once in a while multiple tab browsing gets quirky, & don't know if possible, but would like to see less memory/resource usage.

JEdwardP reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

I'd never like it well enough to replace FireFox with it, but for those times when IE MUST be used, which for me is a few times a week for work purposes, Maxthon makes IE bearable.

I rate it as highly as I'd ever rate an IE-based browser. There're many---maybe even too many---IE front-ends, but this one continues to be the best of the lot.

ZenWarrior reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

Maxthon is superb. As much as it does, I seem to find some neat new feature every couple of months. (The latest is its auto-save/fill forms feature. And I wholeheartedly agree about its URL drag-and-drop for using the web. I cannot count the number of times I've cursed aloud when suddenly faced with that missing using someone else's computer. Yes, that magical feature alone almost makes Maxthon worth it.

Yes, I think bloodchen could improve its visual first impression, but get beyond that and one has the most customizable out-of-the-box browser available. I have only two plug-ins installed and have far more features than Firefox offers with several [sometimes/often problematic, conflicting, nonworking, or out-of-date] plug-ins. And with the most customizable menu bars, bar none, I get on three bars what takes no less than five in either Opera or Firefox.

Productivity-wise, Maxthon is the most efficient and productive browser option I've found. And if that is defined by some as plug-in support, that is slowly increasing. Pluck support is already offered. And now that Maxthon has Microsoft's de facto "unofficial" support, that may well accelerate plug-in compatibility.

SirMango reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

I agree with bernis.
Plugin integration is minimal in Maxthon. However, this browser is superb without them (it had most things you would need). I never use any plugins, because, like firefox, it slows the browser down. I really like it's popup and content blocker (very easy to use and fast) and the drag and drop feature for fast surfing. In the end, I would use this instead of IE, Firefox and Opera because of that drag and drop feature!!

Shrekmachine reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

I'm using it for years now. Getting better and better all the time. Amazing

lordnaastik reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

A very good IE based browser.

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v1.5.1.39 on Dec 17, 2005

Frustrated with IE I turned to Firefox. After six months of that I couldn't take it anymore and decided to give Maxthon a shot. It's been about 6 months that I've been using Maxthon now and I could never give it up. I think the way Maxthon appears by default is kind of lousy and that may turn some people off who couldn't be bothered to customize it to their liking. If people took the time to figure out some of the features and customization options offered by Maxthon, I'm sure it's usage would go way up.

horsecharles reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Nov 14, 2005

Totally agree w/ modder*. If you have to have an IE front end for compatibility purposes, this is the best-- you won't suffer IE's usual vulnerabilities & you won't lose functionalities in exchange for tighter security.
To compare it vs non-IE-front end browsers is comparing apples to oranges. Anyhow, i rate it the equal of Opera, FF, Netscape-- they each have strengths & weaknesses, & none beats all others in all/most categories.

bernis reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Nov 9, 2005

I stopped using maxthon after 2 years mainly because lack of integration with various useful plugins (google toolbar, google desktop).

I switched to firefox though I don't like it that much and it's still quite unstable ... but with growing number of useful extensions it's just getting better than maxthon in my opinion. It also got recognized by Google so now even before mentioned plugins work in firefox (but not in Maxthon).

"Plugins" for Maxthon are not really plugins ...

matt2971 reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 6, 2005

quote modderx/maniac: "Firefox APPEARS faster, but it really isnt, the only thing it does better faster than IE is PAGE RENDERING TIME, which will be completely compromized once IE7 comes public."

Surely for anyone who browses a lot, page rendering is +the+ most important thing? I certainly don't download huge amounts of big files with my browser - that what's P2Ps for :-) And anyway, raw downloads are much more down to internet connection speed than what browser you're using.

As for IE7 - as I've said, when I tested the beta it was a lot faster rendering than IE6 - but it was still slower than FF. I have to admit I'm only using a (highly tweaked) Tualatin celeron 1.2ghz PC, so I'm not sure if IE shells perform better with faster hardware....

Is this becoming off topic? lol

Don't get me wrong - I'm not an IE hater (well at least not the core - I used Maxthon for years and agree it's great) or open source fanatic.

For those who want the same kind of functionality in FF that you get in Maxthon, here's some plugins I use for FF:

Tab Mix
Super Drag And Go (lol)
Add Bookamrk Here

I don't think all this FF hating or IE core hating is really productive... at least as Maxthon/Avant/other IE shell users or FF/Opera/other users, we can all agree that anyone that sticks with that M$ abomination of a shell is a prize prune... *chuckle*

PS: Aegis69: what RAMdisk app do you recommend? I havn't used one of those since my Atari ST days! Forgot about them in the PC world, but with the amount of spare RAM we all have these days it sounds like a great idea!

Aegis69 reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 6, 2005

Maxton makes IE semi-useable and sorta-safe. But its a hack of IE make no mistake. On that note it does launch quick and renders quite fast, however if you want real speed out of your browser try aiming the cache at a ramdisk, that will speed up any browser regardless.

This program is still good, but its marginal at best because of the flaky IE platform its based upon.

Update: Superspeed and Cenatek make good ram disks, I think some of them are even free for up to 20 megs or so which is fine because a browser disk cache of than 20 megs on a high speed connection is kinda useless. Check out the freeware ones here; http://aumha.org/freeware/mfram.php

The other advantages of moving a browsers cache to ram disk are, less hard drive accessing of millions of little files from web sites, which will extend your HD life. And less disk fragmentation, not like 99% of people out there ever do a defrag anyways...

I do not believe there is a realy good Ram Disk solution for PC at the moment, back in the Amiga days I had one that dynamically allocated ram as you needed it, so I copy copy things into the ram disk till all my free ram was gone if I wanted to, but if I had nothing in there it would not use any. I do not think anyone has made such a beast for PC. But it sure would be handy, you could setup your TMP and TEMP envioronments to a dynamic ram disk, unpacking files would be incredibly fast, Photoshop would be as well. Anyhow, I can keep dreaming I guess.

sheppe reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 6, 2005

I've been using Maxthon (MyIE) for years, and I still think that it's the best browser available. I use FF for testing my websites for compatibility, but it just can't compare to Maxthon for functionality, security, or speed. FF is a fine browser, but it's not the best browser, IMO.

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 5, 2005

Are these NIGHTLY BUILDS instead of actual betas?

If so, shouldn't they only put BETA's up?

Based on this "build", Maxthon seems to be working fine still, with just a few extra bugs thrown into the mix.

Going back to the last stable release seems to fix those for me.

zridling reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 5, 2005

What I love about Maxthon is that it does what you tell it to do, no more, no less. Firefox can no longer claim security since it's hacked every week, nor does its extensions work with every update. With Maxthon, you just plugin and browse, and you're not wasting your day trying to part-and-piece together a workable browser.

ModderXManiac reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 5, 2005

Sure, underneath it all its Internet Explorer, but with the patching it provides; this browser is ACTUALLY more secure than Firefox, and doesnt require tons of half-assed plugins like Firefart does.

Best IE front-end next to Avant. i'm still comparing the two in overall quality, this is so far in the lead for stability, addblocking, but Avant actually speeds up page-rendering time, but has been known to cause unicode issues.

THE COLD HARD FACTS. By default, n00bs, Firefox is no faster than Internet Explorer 6. both can be modified to reach incredible speeds, but I digress....Firefox APPEARS faster, but it really isnt, the only thing it does better faster than IE is PAGE RENDERING TIME, which will be completely compromized once IE7 comes public.
Firefox actually downloads SLOWER than IE, since it doesnt access the networking aspects of Windows on a core level as well as IE does.

Firefox has nothing on this.

xpose reviewed v1.5 Build 95 on Oct 5, 2005

I agree with matt2971. Maxthon is a great addition to have a more powerful IE. However, it is simply not as fast as Firefox that does the same things. ( i have a 2.6gz athlon 64 with a gig of ram) I have just switched less than a week ago. Not because I am an open source nutjob but rather, it REALLY is that much faster. If you make the switch you will see.

Dont give up looking for extensions and plugins to make FF act like maxthon. They are all there, you just have to look. In about two days I have everything I could want and them some (greasemonkey extension). Give it a try !

ZenWarrior reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 4, 2005

Trying to be as fair as possible, I stopped using Maxthon completely for just over one full month in favor of Firefox and Opera. As the month progressed, I found myself using FF much more than Opera, although Opera has some nice features. However, I never found either to function as well as Maxthon across different web sites. I also greatly missed many of Maxthon's features. I don't know how many times I forgot and attempted to drag an URL on some web page thinking it would automatically open in a new tab. Not! The need for countless plug-ins with either FF or Opera to function as well as Maxthon invariably presented compatibility problems. The solution offered by both communities was to do without the plug-ins--and lose functionality. Opera occupied far too much screen real estate. Everything that I can fit on two toolbars in Maxthon took *five* toolbars in Opera. It took three toolbars in FF. However, the very worst thing astounded me. After years of using either I.E. or Maxthon and not once finding malware on my computer, I scanned after using FF one day and there it was!!! Yes, malware with FF! Needless to say, I trust Maxthon now, and certainly not FF. Opera just never really felt right. I stated in Opera forums that there seemed some significant usability issues. Needless to say I was crucified. Neither FF nor Opera handles tabs as well as Maxthon. Neither offers the level of real-time control over individual web sites that Maxthon does. In many instances, it's either global or nothing--or a pain in the butt. All of this is not to say Maxthon is perfect, but it is indeed the best browser out there. I will admit, however, there are a few things Maxthon could learn from each. And before you go off, let me ask if you've thrown away either FF or Opera for a full month to truly give Maxthon a run through its paces? Do so and you may well be very surprised. Far different from what many FF and Opera users seem to think, Maxthon is much more than mere window dressing for I.E. It's what Microsoft should be building as their next browser. With Maxthon, the future is already here.

matt2971 reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 4, 2005

I used maxthon for years (well, MYIE2) and agree it's a great replacement for the crappy IE shell with the stability of the IE backend.

However, I've changed to Firefox for one reason alone - page rendering speed.

I agree, it's a pain in the a** that I had to take mountains of time and trouble finding the right combo of plugins to match Maxthon's features - most of which +should+ be standard in FF, but it's worth it for the speed benefit if you're a quick browser..

In every test I did FF beat page rendering of IE/Maxthon or IE straight by a long way - and that's even against the IE7 beta (which is quite a bit quicker than using it with IE6).

Four stars for a great IE shell - and if you're looking for a quick and easy fix to IE without hassle of looking for extras - then Maxthon's your best bet :-)

templar™ reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 4, 2005

TO: rijp
There is no need to get racist here. But I do agree that Maxthon rocks!!! :)

TO: SamiChang
I'm using both Maxthon & FireFox. I can tell u that although FireFox is a great browser, Maxthon is better for normal surfing. But if u cant live without tons of plugins, then FireFox is the best. Maxthon's plugins are limited and not very useful.

Maxthon takes up like a quarter to a third amount of RAM that FireFox requires. In my line of work, this is very important because my browser is running like 80% of the time.

Maxthon is also (much) more stable than FireFox.

cool_guy reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 4, 2005

I am not sure what is the difference between build 53 and build 90 but either way, I give this browser five stars. Trully outstanding.

wat0114 reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 3, 2005

rijp probably needs to lighten up a little on the negative reviewers, but I can understand his frustration. People have to realize the developers of Maxthon do not pretend that it's a non-IE based browser, such as FF and Opera; It's based on the IE engine and they fully admit it! The review should be based on how well it performs its basic functions as a web browser, along with its inherint feature set. As a browser, it's outstanding. The speed is first-rate - probably faster than even Opera. It renders pages beautifully and doesn't ever seem to freeze, such as FF will sometimes do. The features such as tabbed browsing, skins, Ad Hunter, RSS Feed and Mouse gestures places it amongst the most feature packed browsers available. Worried about security? Well then, get yourself good antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware software and learn how to use it. Furthermore, use common sense - if you have it - while you surf.

rijp reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 3, 2005

Why are people so ignorate? WTF is with that comment? you give it a 1, because you THINK Firefox is better? Maxthon is not a Mozilla application its an IE variant. Its a very good tabbed browser with support for many download managers, and its very stable, I even registered it and donated to the author. I use this browser daily.

Firefox sucks. Mozilla is crap. SamiChang is total dork. Can we block IP addresses from Korea, China, Taiwan, and France please? Those people need to step in front of my car one day . . . . .

SamiChang reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 3, 2005

Well if Maxthon was the best then FireFox and Opera can only be better!

"Firefox sucks. Mozilla is crap. SamiChang is total dork"

rijp: then you are a completely ignorant idiot, everything in your life is a sad f**k so are you?

"Its a very good tabbed browser with support for many download managers, and its very stable"
SO is Firefox and Opera!!
Maxthon is a just an imitation!
rijp:btw I am a Finn! and why should they block the IP from Korea, China, Taiwan, and France?

still the same nonsense... RAM RAM RAM :\ RAM usage is not the only way to determine whether a product is good or not! No one can really tell where is Maxthon better than other browsers? Prove it with real details!
a list of Opera's features http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/
a list of Firefox's features http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
a list of browser speed comparisons http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html

tp reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 3, 2005

maxthon is the best

Zoroaster reviewed v1.5 Build 90 on Oct 3, 2005

@dwby
ALL systems are vulnerable, there is no such thing as a SuperSystem or SuperEngine as there is no Superman. Seems obvious, still history is against IE as future is against FF or any other engine. To *every* security measure there is a counter-measure, as there is good and evil, ying and yang. Of course there are different levels in security as always, but having no problem is just a moment in time, like sunshine before rain. So, let us never forget or neglect our umbrellas, neither believe we are in greater safery here or there. Perhaps the future of computing is in lucidity rather than in more or less hysterical fan clubs and sometimes members, which neither one here is. Of course.

SamppaX reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 3, 2005

Some Good Features... Not bad...

mdew reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 3, 2005

kashin, firefox can be as big or plain as you want, not everyone *needs* a feature-full browser. Anyways, Maxthon is nice for IE frontend, once Microsoft upgrades the IE engine it will be a worthy competitor to the other browsers.

ModderXManiac reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 2, 2005

Best IE-frontend, period.

ZombieREA reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 2, 2005

1. This's UnReleased Site. It's mean some download from this site you can't found on Offical Site.
2. And now Maxthon Offical Site release 1.5 build 90.
I have just updated last night 10.01.2005

Dwarden reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

No official build or install version of Maxthon contains spyware or adware, please do not spread false informations!

Kramy reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

Interesting browser. Lot better than IE, but I still prefer Firefox over this, since I can completely get rid of tabs with it(hate those things), and my main computer no longer has IE installed anyway. :P

240mb Win2k on HD! :D

Firefox is the browser that comes closest to how I want things customized. The only thing I would have liked better is the ability to move the "Adblock" word up to the bookmarks toolbar. For the 85% of people relying on IE though, this is a good thing.

kashin reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

SamiChang are you kidding me?! I've been using this browser for years and it does not have *any* adware or spyware. There are some optional add-ons, which you may or may not want to install, but that is all. Since you spent so much time talking about Firefox, I will return the favour. Firefox would be a great browser, but it's just too vanilla for my taste. I want a feature rich browser that does everything I need, and that's why I use Maxthon. After spending three days trying to get Firefox to behave the way I want, I simply gave up on it.

I am very particular about how I want my browser configured. I don't want to edit text files, toolbars, hidden configuration menus, and intall a bunch of plugins and crappy skins to find out a new version of Firefox is out and all those things are broken! It's ridiculous, confusing and a waste of my time.

So stop trying to besmirch the name of this amazing program. If you want to recommend Firefox or some other browser, that's fine. Simply state that you tried Maxthon and did not like it and then recommed what else people should try. Quit making up BS stories about adware/spyware, because you're only making yourself look stupid.

RWW reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

After reading I must put my two cents in. I have written here before and said Maxthon and Opera were the two browsers I use.
Nothing has changed, they still are the two fastest, feature rich browsers out there. I load others including Firefox periodically and test them and come right back to the same two.
I have never experienced any spyware, adware, nor any other problems with Maxthon.
The only problem I have had is the fact I am disabled and cannot afford to send in a donation. I have turned many people on to Maxthon so I hope my word of mouth has helped some.

bobad reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

People like SamiChang are not reviewing Maxthon. They are Firefox fanboys, and no matter how great Maxthon would be, they will rate it low.

The fact is, Maxthon is a great browser shell. It turns IE into a safer, more convenient, more powerful, and highly featured browser. Group handling is better than all other web browsers. Page rendering is fast, and nearly 100%. While I certainly like Firefox, about 1 or 2 pages out of 10 render incorrectly. Maxthon has no spyware. It does have some optional partner software that you can choose to use or not. This is a great build. Very stable so far, and has a couple of good updates. I give it a 4.5/5.

lotsamosi reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

The abxtoolbar detection is a false positive. I have used Maxthon/MYIE for a couple of years and have never had any spyware from it.

lab-techie reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

Seems to work ok. I didn't realize that this had some form of Adware or Spyware embedded in it. I'll have to look into that. Although the author's site doesn't say that it doesn't contain any. Unforunately, a lot of free programs do contain adware to help pay for the program. I guess there's a trade-off there.

I use Firefox too, but there are some sites won't work correctly unless you use a browser that utilizes the IE browser engine. Maxthon is probably safer than IE.

SamiChang reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

Cr@p :/ Who would like to use a damn browser that came with spyware in it when there are such many other excellent broswers like FireFox and Opera? here is the log of eTrust PestPatrol: 10/1/2005-12:18:09 , Detected , abxtoolbar , Browser Helper Object , Key "hkey_current_user \software\maxthon" , -1
Opera is FREE now!
For Blaxima: " it is still the best browser. EVERY site opens unlike firefox. Its far more customizable, its faster and best of all its offered in a zip form and with the built in updater (which is recognizing the latest core engine) you never have to recustomize it after every new release like in FF and its stupid plugins" dude are you drunk or something talking about browser speed ? Either Firefox or Opera can blow the crap out of Maxthon. don't even need to mention of the customization in FireFox and Opera.Opera has got million of fully customizable skins so does FireFox? Let's talk about security, Maxthon itself comes with damn spyware,and weird features like Privacy Protection; AD Hunter; wtf it is? does it hunt all the ADs to your browser? FF and Opera both has tabbed browsing, and Opera has extremly useful and customizable mouse gestures, pretty much nothing new in Maxthon than just a imitation of Firefox and Opera. and one more thing is that how come you said FF has stupid pluggings ? have you even used of them? the plugging from FF aren't spywares like it came with Maxthon.
Download the Opera browser http://www.opera.com/
Download the FireFox http://www.mozilla.org/p...irefox/products/firefox/

Blaxmia READ this before you talk http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/

"And have you ever looked how much Opera needs memory for 20 tabs open at the same time? I don't like that at all, too much.
And Firefox uses more memory than Maxthon too."

kebabi: I don't spend time on watching how much RAM do my browsers use than get my works done and surf, why can't people stop whining RAM? RAM usage is not the only way to determine whether a product is good or not! RAM usage is a factor in speed and system responsiveness when multitasking! and RAM are rather cheap nowaday so get 2GB for a standard, and the cache setting in Opera is adjustable! So what was your point kebabi? it doesn't mean it's a good browser when it uses less RAM,security is one of the most important thing alright? so would you like Maxthon to loads more spyware on your pc than using more of RAM? and wtf is stardard version and combo version? it's noting more than a imitation!

lmao only Combo version contains spyware, do I even need to mention more? None of Firefox and Opera's version contains spyware?(btw FF and Opera don't provide any stupid Combo or standard verion) Maxthon talks about security while even their own products contains spyware!

bobad: did u know that i am not only a Firefox fanboy I am also a Opera fanboy! and so what if i am a FireFox and Opera fanboy! i support such great piece of softwares like Firefox and Opera not this Maxthon cr@p! try yourself Firefox or Opera! either of them will blow the Maxthon cr@p out of your head!(btw i have tested Maxthon, even though there is nothing to test about this imitation-ware, so don't say i wasn't reveiwing this software)

kebabi reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Oct 1, 2005

Now official site shows 1.5 build 90, but I did update through Maxthon and I have build 83.
So there is three different builds of Maxthon now... 53, 83 & 90.
But FileForum's Standard isn't yet updated to 1.5.
About the program:
Have been used few years already (it was MyIE2 back then) and I have never thought about changing my browser.
This is fast, light, very customizable and it shows every site properly (thanks to IE core).

EDIT: "Cr@p :/ Who would like to use a damn browser that came with spyware in it when there are such many other excellent broswers like FireFox and Opera? here is the log of eTrust PestPatrol: 10/1/2005-12:18:09 , Detected , abxtoolbar , Browser Helper Object , Key "hkey_current_user \software\maxthon" , -1"
- Only Combo version has spyware, use standard version.
"Opera is FREE now!"
- So is Maxthon, always have been.
"Let's talk about security, Maxton itself comes with damn spyware,and weird features like Privacy Protection; AD Hunter; wtf it is? does it hunt all the ADs to your browser?"
- No, it hunts them off, and it works great.
"FF and Opera both has tabbed browsing, and Opera has extremly useful and customizable mouse gestures"
- So does Maxthon.
"the plugging from FF aren't spywares like it came with Maxton."
- Once again, use standard version.

And have you ever looked how much Opera needs memory for 20 tabs open at the same time? I don't like that at all, too much.
And Firefox uses more memory than Maxthon too.

cool_guy reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

This version is real. I just installed it. Help->About=1.5.0 (Build 53). This version takes over the links in MSN Messenger and Outlook Express. So if you click on a link in MSN Messenger such as checking your hotmail, Maxthon opens up. Of course, it asks you if you want it as a default browser. There is also a new Start pages, very useful. It lists the ten most frequently visited web sites so you can just click for the web site to be loaded in a new tab. There is also some bug fixes. Go here and read: http://forum.maxthon.com...p;st=0&#entry170747

I love the new features. Maxthon is what IE should have been. I would rank it 10 if there was an option.

Blaxima reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

Heres an obvious FF lover who is speaking out of predjudice. Maxthon/MYIE DOES not have spyware. Neglected to respond to the comment I made about the 20% of web pages that will not load in FF. Cant read the simple fact that you must download newer plugins each time FF is updated cuz all the customizing you've done wont work on newer builds. I have tested them all and beleive me the IE engine is the most compatible for surfing and Maxthon adds extra protection and customizing abilities and the ability to work with MSN messenger is finally here. Haters are all the same. They talk sh8 about windows vulnerabilties but OSX has them too just like FF does.
Best tabbed browsers are
1)Maxthon(only one offered in ansi.zip)=5*
2)Opera =4.5*
3)Avast =3.5*
4)FF =3.5*
of course like everything there is always room for imrovement.

templar™ reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

TO: SamiChang

PLS TRY THIS VERSION OF MAXTHON B4 COMMENTING ABOUT IT. NO SPYWARE.

Anyway, this has been my favourite browser for some time. Highly recommended. It takes up only a third (or less) amount of RAM that Firefox requires. :)

hardgiant reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

http://forum.maxthon.com...dex.php?showtopic=27216

They are talking about on the forum.

ranasrule reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

whats the guy below talkin about ?

zridling reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

Build 90 is out now.

Iria reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

My opinion of this browswer is great, but this release? There's no standard version, no autoupdate either, and the people on the forums at Maxthon are mystified as well. Is this real?

KenH reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

I have been using this great browser for years, but I am hesitant to install this version as there is no mention of it on the Maxthon site or it's forum. Also, it's unlike Maxthon to jump from 1.3.3 to 1.50. I may be paranoid, but that's my feel. Just be careful!

Zoroaster reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

When a dedicated forum doesn't even know what's going round with their own software, it's not a drama: it's hilarious!
All I know is it's a problem between Australia, China and Poland: who's who?! Gosh, I've never laughed as much in a decade!

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.5.0 Build 53 on Sep 30, 2005

Very good app, but I would like to see a changelog for this 1.5 release vs the latest stable release.

Not yet sure of the RSS implementation, some odd link sorting bugs seem to crop up for me.

XNeo``` reviewed v1.3.3 on Sep 23, 2005

If there is more then 5 stars to give to this browser i would give it 100. till now this browser is the best! i advise u all people to try it!

asaenz reviewed v1.3.3 on Sep 22, 2005

Would give a higher rating if it wasn't crashing once or twice a week on my system.

Blackhole8746 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 21, 2005

By such a great browser I am driven speechless, so much perfection, so much envy of perfection of the IE engine...

dwby reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 20, 2005

@maraskus
IEs rendering engine is safer than Firefoxs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/...lick_online/4145612.stm

Another great update to a great browser.

DUNSEL reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 13, 2005

Download this new version (1.3.3-build 50, STANDARD) and try this experiment. Open 30 tabs; not heavy scripting sites but regular old HTML pages. Check the resource usage in task manager, after it finishes loading completely. Then try those same 30 sites in Opera; and again, check resource use in Task manager. Then, get firefox, add to it all the extension needed to come close to Maxthon's features. Open the same 30 tabs, check resource use.

Maxthon will use anywhere from 1/10th to 1/3rd the resources of the other 2. This guy is a brilliant programmer. He must be destroying variables left and right, the moment they're not actively being used.

He also patches vulnerabilities weeks before MS does.

littlebits reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 6, 2005

After using this browser, I ditched Firefox altogether. I got tired of Firefox crashing all the time. It may not be as secure as Firefox, but it is much more functional and doesn't crash. I love the options to delete your temperatory Internet Files, Cookies, and History etc. when you close the browser. Also completely compatible with Microsoft Updates and microsoft programs like Hotmail. I love the Ad Hunter that blocks online ads without having to use your Hosts file and slowing down your browsing. Has many nine looking skins, a built in Proxy switcher, and an Active X blocker. Not to mention the tabbed browsing and popup blocker. Sorry Firefox just doesn't complete with this browser.

maraskus reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 5, 2005

it's very good but........it's MS IExplorer , and all yours security black holes, sorry , Mozilla (not FireFox that too slow, Mozilla 1.7.0.11) it's the best in all security , speed and versatility , and the great great browser that i use for 3 years is OPERA.

DUNSEL reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 4, 2005

Blown away by the new release. I've used this browser since it was MyIE2, and through all the incarnations of Maxthon, but this latest is a marvel. How the heck Chen (the author) managed to have this browser using an avg. of 12mb of ram with 30 tabs open, is quite beyond me.

This is particularly important to me because my work pc is slow and ancient, yet my job requires many sites be open in tabs, at once. This browser allows the machine to function almost like a real PC should. Never crashes, every feature known to man and computer, and now the most economical memory usage of any tabbed browser around. Stunning piece of programming.

Benco reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 3, 2005

And about the IE rendering engine ? nothing to say ?

five reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 3, 2005

This is still the best browser there is. much better the iexplorer or firefox! also best pop-up blocker!

l_p_4_7 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 3, 2005

I recently tried this after many years of using IE. I also briefly tried FF before and hated it as there are far too little features.
Maxthon on the other hand has loads!

One thing that has disappointed me about Maxthon though, is the fact that I have discovered several bad bugs. For instance, sometimes for no reason, all of the saved search engine settings (google, yahoo etc.) get erased and you have to imput them back in again. I searched the forums and found this is a well known bug, and has been for months but nothing has been done to correct it!

However, apart from a couple of niggling bugs, I really like Maxthon.. superb!

compugeek32 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 2, 2005

Great browser with everything except I get an "UNABLE TO SAVE CONFIG" error when closing it after running it under a Limted User Account[LUA]. I'll stick with Firefox until that is fixed.

How aboout a 4 for for effort end everything else it has to offer

Mystenes reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 2, 2005

i've tried it and... i'm dissapointed,

i will stay with FF/opera

cool_guy reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 2, 2005

TOP browser. Try it and you won't be dissapointed.

Also if you miss the FF-like search bar, there are two plugins available that work exactly like the FF one and better. Search as you type, the text gets highlighted. You can also have the highlighted text flashing like red and yellow background for example, plus you can customize the colors. You can position their dialog boxes on the same spot as the FF searchbar and they will stick there.

Maxthon has excellent tab management, you can drag/reposition tabs. Very good memory management. The RSS feeder works very well, you have it as part of the side bar. Super drag&drop is awesome. Drag links across the page and have the associated sites opened in another tab. Highlight a non-clickable URL and drag it, the URL will load in a new tab. Select some text and drag it, the text will be searched on the default search engine. Too many useful features. This browser is the best! Only a true MS hater would rank this browser low. It is a fact!! This browser beats FF in so many areas!!

zridling reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 2, 2005

Beats the crap out of Firefox. Maxthon is fantastic in every way.

dwby reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 2, 2005

The best. Uses even less resources now! This will be great for my Mums computer (766).

Podcasts work perfectly! Good job Bloodchen! Keep it up!

EDIT: This just keeps getting better and better! Way better than Firefox!

JEdwardP reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

It's absolutely no threat whatsoever to unseat FireFox as my primary browser, but for those times when IE must be used, which for me means a few times a week for work purposes, it adds features that make IE tolerable.

It now does that better than Avant does, in my opinion.

That's as much as I could reasonably ask of any IE frontend. If and when you HAVE to use IE, this seems to be the best way to do so.

I still think the name change was almost absurdly pretentious, but I can't bring myself to dock points just for that.

wat0114 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

I wouldn't say it beats the crap out of FF, but it certainly gives it a run for it's money. Because it is based on the IE engine you will get more cookies than when using FF. As for more serious vulnerabilities, I'm not sure of that. But it is based on IE's engine, so one would have to think Maxthon may have more security holes. However, all that aside, I still feel this an outstanding browser. It seems to load pages vey quickly, low on system resources, and a host of very slick features. I'm surfing with Maxthon and Firefox about 50-50 each, just to get a feel for which one seems the best. It's very close. They're both excellent browsers and certainly at the top of the class.

zridling reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

Beats the crap out of Firefox. Maxthon is and always has been nothing less than fantastic.

cool_guy reviewed v1.3.1 on Aug 1, 2005

The best of the best. If there was an option for 10 stars, I would rank this browser 10 stars.

matt2971 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

I've tried them all, and this is the best browser imo, just beating firefox because of the extra features. It's only bad point against Firefox was that it had slower rendering of the pages because of the dated IE6 engine at it's core. However, after this release I've just installed the IE7 Beta1 as advised below, and the speed is now top too.

I love Firefox, and the fact that people are still trying to make free viable alternatives to the all-powerful M$ atrocity of a browser, but it annoys me when people ignore Maxthon and Avant just because it uses an IE core. This interface is the best.

So kids, just add on the free local http proxy Proxomitron (http://www.spamblocked.com/proxomitron/) to remove all pops, adverts and annoyances from every web page, and you've got teh perfect package... IE7, Maxthon and Proxomitron.

sQin reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

Very stable, much features. Its one of the BEST browsers available!

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

I've become a Maxthon fanboy. I admit it.

For me, it makes IE 6 the type of browser it should have been all along, for the most part.

The tabbed browsing, the groups, the ad blocking, the ability to toggle on and off scripting and flash animations with a couple of clicks, mouse gestures, etc. have just made things totally productive for me.

It's like Firefox with the Tabbrowser extension, plus a bunch more stuff thrown in, and it is still a relatively small download.

On both Win 98 SE and XP it seems very fast to me, very stable too. I thought MyIE 2 was da bomb, but Maxthon has emerged as a more robust upgrade of that software and I'm very glad it is out and it is free.

I think it compares very, very well to just about every other browser and browser shell out there, and that plus all of the above is why I think it deserves a 5 rating.

sn1p34 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

I agree this is a awesome browser, and I'm currently beta testing IE7 and they work perfectly together, other then the phis-hing feature added to IE. IE now is much faster at rendering now! much faster then Firefox, and Maxathon makes it even faster. My browser of choice is still Avant, but Maxathon is the next best for me anyways.

Adrian79 reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

great stuff, only reason I still use firefox, is I like the way firefox handles saving password/usernames.

ModderXManiac reviewed v1.3.3 on Aug 1, 2005

The best Internet-Explorer frontend available.

The only thing that Firefox and/or Opera have over this in any way is page rendering time.

Which will change once Maxthon is able to patch IE 7. People that think Firefox is better than this because it seems "slower" need to get their head's examined. Few people understand the difference between actual page loading vs. page rendering.

In this case, Firefox doesnt download any faster than Maxthon/IE, only renders. Then you have to consider that Firefox is not as secure as IE patched with Maxthon, and there are still many compatibility issues with unicode in Firefox. Or code in general..

5 out of 5, I'm glad they fixed the error message issue, it got pretty annoying. And this uses a few megs less ram than the previous version, as the update promised of course.

wat0114 reviewed v1.3.1 on Jul 21, 2005

Hmmm...I quite like this browser. So far, just a very slight notch below Firefox (only because it's based on IE's engine), but still a worthy competitor. Far better than Opera. Holy cripe! What is it that people see in Opera? Anyways, I digress. Maxthon loads quickly, has a nice, clean interface and runs activex when needed. No problems rendering pages either. The options are quite plentiful and useful as well, especially the Add Hunter feature. Less resource hungry than Firefox. Seems to be buggy with the quick close buttons and one or two other minor quirks. But those are about the only issues I see with it so far. Very nice.

robmanic44 reviewed v1.3.1 on Jul 4, 2005

This is one of the few IE based browsers not mentioned in Panda's security warning which included Avant, Wichio, and SlimBrowser. I like it's flexability.

kooer reviewed v1.3.1 on Jul 3, 2005

This is the best!Really amazing browser.
Fast,Professional and Free.

I love it!

Nikkie reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 28, 2005

I use this alongside opera on one pc and the other its along side firefox .

i agree about some sites not showing up and this is needed for the time being ..

this and avant are the only ie based browsers i will go near ..

RWW reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 16, 2005

I switch between Maxthon and Opera and am quite satisfied. Had trouble establishing Google as default search, search bar will not activate from enter key. Toolbars slip frequently even though they are locked. These have just shown up in last one or two builds. Still a five, though.

reets reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 13, 2005

I am a Firefox user but there are some sites that only work in IE while @ work. This is an awesome product and would recommend it to replace IE. Microsoft should take some notes from this product.

petgamer reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 11, 2005

This program is amazing. You can make it look almost exactly like IE.. except it has tabs. I love this program.. there's so many things you can do with it. And for the ones that don't like the Internet Explorer engine because of security, you can even use the gecko engine. Best of all, this program is free and has no ads! This program even uses less memory than Firefox does. I absolutely love it.

Blackhole8746 reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 9, 2005

The best browser out there! although IE based I think it's even better than FireFox!! I love this browser, cheers to USA and its great software...
B|ackho|e™

RoSmecher reviewed v1.3.1 on Jun 8, 2005

yup, the best browser around, until IE 7 comes up with pop-ups. Really i find that Maxthon's anti-pop up engine is not as good as IE's and Maxthon has a lot of features which most people probably don't use, all I want from IE is tabs and that is what Maxthon gives. Unfortunatly when IE 7 comes out with tabs and perhaps groups then a lot of people will move from Maxthon, so I guess Maxthon better do something while it still has a large audience.

zridling reviewed v1.3.1 on May 31, 2005

Along with NetCaptor, the best browser around. Period.

zridling reviewed v1.3.1 on May 31, 2005

Along with NetCaptor, the best browser around. Period.

mfarmilo reviewed v1.3.1 on May 31, 2005

Very nice browser. But - why did I get Ver 1.2.5 when I clicked the link to download 1.3.1 ? Same thing happened last week with the new Ad-aware - it gave me the old version.

dudearama reviewed v1.3.1 on May 31, 2005

Absolutely amazing browser! I keep trying out all the others out there but keep falling back to Maxthon. The feature set is just too impressive. The only plugin that is really needed is easy finder since IE's internal search sucks. With this plugin however it's completely painless.

And those worried about security, you can use the gecko rendering engine (yes the one used by Mozilla and Firefox) as well! All you need is to install the Mozilla ActiveX Control (you can google it) and then in the Maxthon menus goto File->New Tab->Use Gecko Engine. Restart Maxthon and you're using the same engine as Firefox! Maxthon is just too good.

rich0 reviewed v1.2.5 on May 11, 2005

Love the functionality, perfect browser if you still like IE6 that *tiny* bit more than Firefox for its GUI/functionality. My default browser within 10 minutes.

wingo reviewed v1.2.5 on May 5, 2005

yes its good to know that this is a handy shell for IE nothing more nothing less. but i'd rather have it this way than the ancient IE way.

i used opera as my default browser since +3.x somthing and stopped using it before it got "less" opera, that beeing v6.

nowadays i stick to firefox with a few helpful plugins and more and more with maxathon combo.

unless opera shapes up i won't take it, and sertainly not with ads.

re: princeofpentacles

well can you onestly say that you pay for +30USD for an adfree opera then?.

RWW reviewed v1.2.5 on May 5, 2005

This build did not want to load correctly for some reason. Still a 5, though.

Isys reviewed v1.2.5 on May 5, 2005

I've used Maxthon as my default browser for a couple of years now. I've also used most of the current crop of alternative browsers (currently Netscape 8 for the rare occasions when Maxthon renders a site incorrectly). I've never had a problem with Maxthon or a security issue, nor do I believe IE is the only browser with those problems . Maxthon is what IE should have become a long time ago and while I think Firefox is a great browser, Maxthon is just as good if not better.

Gopal Singh reviewed v1.2.4 on May 5, 2005

it has a tab features which can be customized.

Adrian79 reviewed v1.2.4 on May 4, 2005

opera was the worst crap ever..i just my first attempt to use it and it crashed lmFao..firefox was great until it started acting g** after recent updates...gonna give this IE shell a try out..i'll edit post later ;)

-edit- so far so good..i like alot of the same options in firefox, i could get used to this..hmm...not bad at all :)

Tanya Tara reviewed v1.2.4 on May 4, 2005

It didn't take long to become maxthon my default browser.

princeofpentacles reviewed v1.2.4 on May 1, 2005

this is as good as internet explorer,if you want to load spywares and viruses go for this , else try opera.maxthon is not as secure as it claims to be,its just a shell over internet explorer, remember.go for opera today.

boogeyman reviewed v1.2.4 on May 1, 2005

I like it much, its fast, but sometimes i got problems with loggin in at some sites.
and iam not sure if it is safe, cos it runs on the IE engine. but its better then the real IE.

utomo reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 27, 2005

They need to add:
1. Right click, save this frame as.
2. Need to be more stable.
3. try to be able to work with other tab, meanwhile busy (saveing/ working with one tab)

Nikkie reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 24, 2005

Opera sucks . Maybe if it was able to load a page fully id use it but it seems to not be able to perform basic functions .. o well .

After the recent overload of firefox security fixes and lack of bug fixes ... i have come back to maxthon and i am comfy .. good browser .

zjuga reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 24, 2005

Good ... very good

betabetabeta reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 22, 2005

IE sucks...IE based browsers also suck (though I appreciate the effort on the UI)...go and use Opera.

bobad reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 22, 2005

Maxthon is the best IE browser shell by far. You can fiddle with Firefox for 2 or 3 days to get this level of functionality, or just install Maxthon and be done with it. It will take Firefox a year or 2 to become as polished, user-friendly, and functional as Maxthon. I have nothing against Firefox, I just happen to find Maxthon more useful at this point in time.

Klusternisse reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 22, 2005

this is just a shell to IE with some features that are included in most browsers nowadays.

use firefox for more security browsing

i rate this one 4/5

Klusternisse reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 22, 2005

this is just a shell to IE with some features that are included in most browsers nowadays.

use firefox for more security browsing

i rate this one 4/5

Win98crash reviewed v1.2.4 on Apr 22, 2005

Been using this since the MyIE2 days and it gets better all the time. Tabbed browsing, Groups, Super Drag&Drop, customizable toolbar and tons of options are key features for me. Simply awesome!!

thedukeofprunes reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 18, 2005

Ignore the "donationware" comment. This browser is totally freeware. You can uncheck the box that says "Show at startup" for the reminder to go away. This is a minor inconvenience for a great browser with frequent updates and improvements nearly every month (and lots of good plugins). Try it.

WoGra reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 15, 2005

to those who believe in non IE-based browsers: since IE is installed on each Windows system you may come in trouble even when you don´t use IE - as you can read in the latest MS-security bulletin. With Maxthon you can handle things easily.

The-Who reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 14, 2005

many wonderful features, but what y there isn't any Windows Users support? y does a user that it's not an admin can't use this prog easily? y there isn't separated home page & definitions for each user? it's time to solve this annoying issue.

georgeyklee reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 14, 2005

v1.2.3 (build 52) [2005-04-14]

* Fixed could not login gmail in some case problem.
* Speed up closing speed.
* Improved browsing kernel.

Squire72 reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 14, 2005

Getting better... but it's still using a crippled rendering engine. Maybe it'll improve with IE7.

zridling reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 14, 2005

Solid, fast, programmable, and loaded with features no one else comes close to. But with its reminders, it's more donationware than freeware.

zridling reviewed v1.2.3 on Apr 14, 2005

Solid, fast, programmable, and loaded with features no one else comes close to. But with its reminders, it's more donationware than freeware.

danniboi reviewed v1.2.2 on Apr 8, 2005

WOW !!!

Maxthon just gets better and better with every released. Their developer is always on the offensive in countering possible security issues and improvements to and already superb browser.

I love Maxthon !!!!!!!

Aaroniekins reviewed v1.2.2 on Apr 8, 2005

this is great..has firefox features with the compatibility of IE's engine
im still usin FX but maxthon is my ie shell of choice

dwby reviewed v1.2.2 on Apr 8, 2005

The best browser out there! Keeps getting better and better. Today I found out a new feature. And I have been using this browser since the betas!

SCoooBY reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 7, 2005

httpd.confused... You have confused me (imagine that).

"Powerful, Secure and FREE!" is usually a good thing...

Why the 1 rating... have you actually tried Maxthon for more than an hour?

I notice you going around posting low ratings for many freeware apps... complaining that they're only receiving good ratings because they're freeware.

Would you care to explain your rating?
Logically?

Asa Asher reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 7, 2005

Great browser for novices as well as geeks!

Jackrussel reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 7, 2005

Its the BEst!!

httpd.confused reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 4, 2005

"Powerful, Secure and FREE!"

Funny, that.

Sangeetha Varma reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 4, 2005

The pop-up blocker, groups and the tabbed view are just two of the features. The options are unending

JohnEric reviewed v1.2.1 on Apr 1, 2005

If you dont like Firefox, but want the features it offers, then Maxthon is for you

Arnold Appolo reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 29, 2005

I dont want to comment about other browswers over here at all i haven't used any except the IE and Maxthon is way better than IE and i completely enjoy all the features that if offers. Good work Maxthon!

Tom Thomas reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 28, 2005

Maxthon has good features and the rendering is also very good compared to what Opera was.

Liza Donald reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 28, 2005

Maxthon according to me is the very best browser even better than Firefox

bunghole reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 26, 2005

Even though the search bar still sucks, Maxthon beats Firefox by a mile.

Avant is still the king.

Blaxima reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 25, 2005

I've been using Maxthon for years now and it still is THE BEST way to surf the net. No need for plug-ins because it come out of the box with everything you need for fast and safe use. Highly customizable and updates are easy with out the loss of your previous configuration, unlike in Fire Fox where plug-ins and themes are useless until they are updated too. Best of all it comes in a zip version so it wont be installing files in places you don't want them ala Fire Fox. Don't believe the hype with FF, Maxthon is your best bet. I highly recommend it

zridling reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 25, 2005

If only Firefox had half of Maxthon's features. A fantastic browser by any measure.

zridling reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 25, 2005

If only Firefox had half of Maxthon's features. A fantastic browser by any measure.

WoGra reviewed v1.2.1 on Mar 25, 2005

Maxthon gets better and better. Though it uses the engine of IE you can browse quite safe with it - and it brings a lot of comfort.

Maya Mayon reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 23, 2005

Tabbed browsing!! and very stable!!

Stella Crow reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 21, 2005

Finally a relief from IE, its a great browser much much faster than IE and many more features.

csb.milky reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 11, 2005

Great browser, very fast and tons of cool features.

Nikkie reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 2, 2005

I have been using this since the old days of myie2 ..

It has never given me problems and has some great plugins . really nice skins too .

cant complain . it never failed me .

hannisen reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 2, 2005

Maxthon has been my choice of browser for some time now. I have tried pretty much all the browser alternatives, and shells, out there, but nothing beats Maxthon.

I highly recommend Maxthon to anyone, especially if you are an advanced user.

ahjefri reviewed v1.2.000 on Mar 1, 2005

mmm Finally I switch from CrazyBrowser,, I tried most of the freeware and the shareware browsers, I got stuck to CrazyBrowser becuase it does the job and it's not bloated.

Now Maxthon got a lot of features in addition to smaller memorey usage.
I give it straight 5.

Just for the record Mozilla and Opera are both excellent browsers, but IE engine still reneder most sites better(not faster).

B.R.

martboonen reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 27, 2005

Best out of all browsers and browser-shells!
definitly.

cool_guy reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 27, 2005

The best of its kind.

hardgiant reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

I just used the internal updater which is very convienant. The new RSS sidebar is a cool addition. There are also hundreds of plugins to choose from on the plugin page: http://maxthon.tarapages.com/

Between FireFox and Maxthon I find myself using Maxthon more. They are both GREAT browsers !!!!!

madk0w reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

Screw firefox and opera, i've used both and they can't beat Maxthon (Previous MyIE2)

Never had trouble with security issues and never will, firefox is really in such a hype but when i convince people to just give maxthon a shot (and i show them all the usefull features) because firefox is just a hype, they do get convinced and choose maxthon over firefox/opera anyday..

punkesito reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

use opera or firefox more secure fast and stable

darthbeads reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

Absolutely awesome. The RSS reader is an incredible new feature, and moves Firefox down a notch as my #1 preferred browser.

Richardky reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

The way a browser should be ...its perfect.Keep it free and it a l ways be the best.

Ziad270 reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

My main browser for many years.

I tried Firefox..one Month...trying to do everything i can do with Maxthon...

And After one month...it go back to Maxthon.
With Firefox I was almost able to do eveything like in Maxthon (execpt "socks Proxy"..) but...
even if i prefer AdKiller in Firefox, Favorites managing in Firefox.

I globally prefer Maxthon
(No Plugin to download...better with Symbol Commander, load Faster...)...Can be launched from an USB Key keeping all parameters...

Ziad O'Hanlon

sheppe reviewed v1.2.000 on Feb 26, 2005

As a long time user of MyIE2/Maxthon, I have to say that it keeps getting better and better. With its popup/ad blocker and features only improving, this is still the IE shell for me. The new RSS feed reader is nice to have as well.

freex reviewed v1.1.120 on Feb 24, 2005

Ok, overall if I had no prior experience with firefox and the 2 plug-ins I use then this browser would rock. Problem is the plug-ins site is poorly designed. There has been no real planning behind this browser. Secondly it has some time to go before this (BHO) becomes usefull. Thirdly anytime an application Llamas your browser up, well, its time to move on. I'll give this progie a 3 because for the nubie, and the intermediate it will rock.

Dont get me wrong firefox, mozilla, opera, and every other browser has serious problems. As a matter of fact every browser has the same weakness except this one. There engins have design flaws. This is not a browser, it is a BHO or shell application. When they design there own browser engine, that can support "IE" code and "BHO Objects" then this can be considered a player in the browser field untill then its just another NeoPlanet, waiting to die.

I'll leave off with this, conceptualize, redesign, rebuild, and get coding already. If you want to make a browser then make a browser not just a new paint job.

danniboi reviewed v1.1.120 on Feb 6, 2005

Maxthon is by far the best browser out there and it IS the most secure IE based shell out there, always has been and always will be. This software is continuously updated with additional features and more importantly they are features we all use and find handy.

This browser is so clean on set up and easy to use that your grandparents could use it if you know what i mean. There's no searching for extensions like other browsers make users waste their time on and everything is easily accessible threw it's Maxthon options menu.

* 100's of Plugins for all kinds of neat stuff.
http://maxthon.tarapages.com/
* 100's of skins for everyone
http://www.skinnable.com/maxthon/
* The best forum you'll ever be involved with, period. Post a question and it'll be responded by many knowledgeable Maxthon users that been involved since the beginning.
http://forum.maxthon.com/forum/index.php

Tabs in Maxthon are completely perfected with so many option available by simply right clicking on them.

I recommend this software to everyone and anyone and haven't had a negative feed back from everyone that gave it a try, there still loving everything it offers.

AntMR reviewed v1.1.120 on Feb 2, 2005

Too buggy - definitely has stability issues over time; doesn't work with google toolbar - WTF?

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 31, 2005

I have been a dedicated and hardcore user of MyIE 2 and was really bummed when they renamed the product, and even more uptight when the releases of Maxthon seemed to be noticeably less stable and efficient. I kept going back to MyIE 2 every time. Until this particular version, that is.

Version 1.1.120 seems to have FINALLY gotten things right enough for me to be satisfied. Doesn't stay in memory any more after you close, doesn't crash when I toggle Flash on and off (great feature, by the way) and seems pretty darn speedy compared to early releases.

One thing I do like is that over on their forums, they seem pretty willing to listen to concerns and suggestions. I've seen them include a ton of things posted on the forums in the final product, which seems rare these days.

Yes, I wish it was still a 700k download, but all things considered, this thing looks headed in the right direction and I use it every single day to browse forums and stuff.

The tabbed browsing is outstanding. I have it setup so I do like a "View new posts" thing on a forum, and that is in the first tab. It lists all the new messages there. I have Maxthon setup to use the Middle-Click button on my mouse to open a link in a new window (you can do Shift-Click I think too). That new tab becomes active, I read and reply or what not and when I close that tab, the master list is still right there and becomes active again. It makes forum participation about as easy as I could imagine it being.

To get this kind of functionality in Mozilla, you got to get that TabBrowser Extension, which is fine I guess, but I'd rather have this.

By the way, I set the program to NO SKIN so I can have tabs that actually look like tabs. :)

zelot reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 26, 2005

I have been using Maxthon (and its compadriate MyIE2) for over 2 years now and have never had a problem.

Maxthon is such an advance in web browsing technonogy, from its tabbed interface to its intuitive plugin system.

Although based around the core of IE it stands head and shoulders over IE in many ways. Maxthon handles favorites, history and many other standard IE uses much better.

From a Web Developer/designers point of view its standard 'VIEW SOURCE' plugin is undeniable. This allows to see not only the 'front' page of html code but also nested and back end sources, this is invaluable.

If you are a hard core designer, or general web surfer, this is the browser for you!

mancheeba reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 20, 2005

The fact that you don't have to waste time installing plugins or tweaks makes this the best hands down. So it uses IE's core, big deal. With a firewall and antivirus running like it will make much of a difference. I think the most addictive feature is the slight drag of a link to open ina new window. Scale it back, customise it, and don't waste your time with Firefox, Opera nor Netscape. Why, you'll be back to this in 2 days anyway. Brilliant

SCoooBY reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 15, 2005

L4zy1, no... Maxthon/MyIE2 is not spyware.
It uses it's own system to deal with Favorites links. What your reading is part of the "tooltip" that pops up in the Favorite's menu when you hover over a link.
Internet Explorer has it's own way of counting "visited" times.
Right click on a link in IE and choose "properities"... you'll see IE's "visited" times in the dialog box that pops up.

Maxthon just makes it easier to see how many times you've visited the site...

L4zy1 reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 15, 2005

Is Maxthon SPYWARE?
I had to edit one of the shortcuts in the favorites menu, so I droped it onto notepad
and this is what's in there

[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://www.betanews.com/
Modified=305124AB4CD5C20134
[MyIE2]
VisitTimes=22

as you can see it is counting the number of visits for each shortcut in the favorites folder.

brotherS reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 12, 2005

It's great, but since it's based on IE... 4/5

brotherS reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 12, 2005

It's great, but since it's based on IE... 4/5

tp reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 9, 2005

ive used every maxthon/myie2 release for about a year now and love it.. new releases have been a little problematic for me lately though.. i just had an issue with 1.1.120 where it started crashing when i clicked on bookmarks.. reinstall fixed it so far but also have had problems with the googlebar lately..

danniboi reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 9, 2005

by far the best browser out there. this update makes this fast, stable browser even faster.

BTW - FireFox is looking more like Maxthon now-a-days. you really should look at both browsers history before posting that comment, especially when trying to sound as if you now something.

kebabi reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 9, 2005

This is so great, 2 newest updates are very good.
Now you can see the site's icon again and the browser starts now very quick.
Still need some wokr on it, though.
I would give 4.5 but there is not that, so I give 5.

cool_guy reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 9, 2005

Simply the best of the best.

cyberia, you might have corrupted system files. Maxthon never ever crashes over here. I am on XP Pro by the way.

kashin reviewed v1.1.120 on Jan 9, 2005

I love Maxthon as well as MyIE2, I think they're the best tabbed wrappers for the IE engine. Maxthon adds many, many features that other wrappers simply can't match. I tried Avant Browser (which is another example) and I didn't care for it. I suppose it's all just personal preference. Also, I tried Firefox and I think it's an excellent browser. However, it's very vanilla out of the box (ie. you really don't get very many features) and even after digging through dozens of crash-prone plugins, I still wasn't able to get all the features I have with Maxthon. Anyway, try all three and decide for yourself, but my vote goes to Maxthon =)

bunghole reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 5, 2005

not perfect, but getting better

kiwibank reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 4, 2005

is it my imagination or is maxthon starting to look more like firefox as every day goes by?????

Zyxyx reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 4, 2005

Not so bad...
I prefer Avant...
And of course... FireFox !
No comparison (with some extentions).

WoGra reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 4, 2005

Nothing compares. Who the hell is Firefox?!

byronb3247 reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 3, 2005

Still can not get google toolbar to plugin. This is the best brouser out...

Eeyan reviewed v1.1.115 on Jan 3, 2005

Simply - its simply the best (browser)

RWW reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 17, 2004

All I can do is echo what I've read. Will continue to look at all browser technology as I always have but at this moment Maxthon and Opera give me all the tools I need.

andy03 reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 9, 2004

great front end for IE... it gets better in every build

QBgreen reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

"5" because it's the best IE shell that I've used, and I 've used all ( and I do mean ALL) of them. When you have to (or for some strange reason want to) use IE, this is how to do it.

zridling reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

Simply fantastic and customizable in every respect!

adamdawg reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

Love it. A few bugs here and there, but nothing too bad.

Very fast, stable and full of USEFUL features.

Yochanan reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

I use Maxthon at work instead of IE. Tabbed browsing is better than having seven IE windows open. It seems to be more stable with each build.

rijp,

It's true Firefox doesn't work with ActiveX, it's not meant to. I would use it at work, but one of my systems uses ActiveX, and Firefox doesn't work with it. However, AI Roboform has had a version for Firefox for quite some time now, I use it. There is also a Yahoo! Toolbar plugin, as well as hundreds of other plugins for it. You just haven't bothered learning about it. I bet I could mark off your laundry list in a paragraph flat.

hardgiant reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

I've had NO problem with stability since Maxthon went gold. The early alpha and beta were crash prone but the official release version have been very stable on two machines.

I find Maxthon to be the very best browser even beating the geek lauded FireFox.

cyberia reviewed v1.1.090 on Dec 8, 2004

I've been using MyIE2 since it hit the streets. Great and stable. Every version of Maxthon has crashed on my 'puter, so until a version comes out with "more stable" listed in the changes, I'm sticking with MyIE2.

But, of course, YMMV.