David wrote:

<<if you kill a running copy of IE from
the Task Manager, all of the sites opened from it in this manner (or from
which it was opened) also go away.  These multiple windows all belong to a
single running copy of IE.>>

Whilst this is undoubtedly true, and without wanting (or being able) to get
too technical, experience indicates that the native IE uses more resources
to open multi-links than Maxthon.

Not only does Maxthon claim that it is more efficient in this regard (or,
at least, they used to, I haven't looked lately) my own experience is that
when I get over about 10 new open windows in IE, I can be sure of running
into trouble.  Using Maxthon, I can frequently go to  20-25 or more
graphic-rich new windows without the slightest sign of a slowdown. I guess
there must be a limit, but I've never reached it.

Perhaps there are other factors involved, but I've always understood this
to mean that Maxthon, or indeed any tabbed browser, is achieving this
function in a more efficient way than the bare IE.

David says:
<<A tabbed skin for IE cannot possibly do this any more efficiently than IE
on its
own.>>

Agreed.

Maxthon and Avant must therefore be more than just a simple "skin". They
are a well-integrated and substantial re-working or perhaps re-writing of
IE, while retaining the integrity of the original browser. Perhaps they
could be better described as a "substantial overlay" rather than a skin.
Just how much of the browser is actually a re-writing, and how much is
simply overlaid is impossible to say without an analysis of the software.

My feeling also (I only vaguely recall having seen this documented so I may
well be wrong) is that Maxthon also tightens up at least some of IE's more
glaring security holes.  Or perhaps it just makes the security options that
much easier to find.  At least, I've never had any security issues since
using this browser, even though I occasionally jump into dangerous waters.
But that could also be due to some of the SP2 patches which I've applied.

Don Penlington






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