K-Meleon 0.9.12

K-Meleon 0.9.12

Sudeep Naik, Apr 16, 2006 1609 hrs IST

K-Meleon is a free, open source browser based on the Gecko engine and is light and feature-rich.

Light on memory usage, Supports Tabs, Fast loading application, Open source, Totally customizable, Lots of plug-ins to choose from, Extensive online help available.

Can only be used on Windows platform, Configuration files need to be edited for any changes in the layout.



There are many built-in web-search options including Google, Yahoo, IMDB, etc. You can also add any search engine you want and lock it as well, so that all the web-searches use that particular engine. K-Meleon provides options for changing skins as well as all the images as well. One more reason for the popularity of this browser is its unique macros plug-in which greatly expands its features and capabilities.

Performance
To prove our point that K-Meleon is "THE" lightest browsers around, we ran a small test by comparing it with the Avant Browser v10.2 and the ever popular Mozilla Firefox v1.5.0.1. We opened six websites on individual tabs in each of these browsers, and the results were astounding. Firefox and Avant took around 48,596 KB and 33,576 KB memory respectively while the K-Meleon browser managed the same in around 18,652 KB as we can see in the following screenshot.



Also, when we minimized the K-Meleon, the memory usage dropped as low as 3184 K as it turns off several controls and flash components which can be activated instantly when the browser window receives focus.



Limitations
Since there are not many developers within the K-Meleon community, frequent updates are not available. Also, it becomes a problem for general public to customize the browser or individual toolbars as there is no GUI for it. A user has to edit the configuration files for any changes in the layouts. But, lots of online tutorials are present on the web with clear and easy instructions for the same. This is the principal reason of the latest release, which also improves a number of K-Meleon related plug-ins. There are also unofficial versions and derivatives of K-Meleon which offer updates to the program

Conclusion
All said and done, although K-Meleon has its own limitations, it turns out that it is the lightest browser around. It may also be dubbed as the poor man's browser as it requires a lot less memory than any of the currently popular browsers. However when it comes to features, it is by no means poor. Also, K-Meleon being an open-source application, one can expect many add-ons, which when combined together, provide much wider range of functionality. We feel that Open Source is definitely the new face of things to come, at least on the browser front.

You can download K-Meleon from here.



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USER COMMENTS

OPERA RULEZ THEM ALL!!! ;D

by Papa Muerte, LALA LAND, on Apr 27, 2008 02:15 AM, Report abuse   Reply

a very good browser for older pc. fast

by calvin, granbury, on Apr 05, 2008 07:54 AM, Report abuse   Reply

it is good

by ramzan nasir, karachi pakistan, on Mar 15, 2008 11:08 AM, Report abuse   Reply

thank

by mallegs, AStar, on Nov 20, 2007 02:21 PM, Report abuse   Reply

The prob i see with k-meleon is that its not user-friendly enough.. the buttons are not intuitive nor are elements in the browser feel 'solid'.. Wish they can do a camino job, I'll dump firefox for that then..

by Anonymous, b, on Apr 14, 2007 07:18 PM, Report abuse   Reply

opera RULEZ MOUSE GESTURES QUICK SMOOTH LOW ON PC AND ABSOLUTELY SEXY IN LOOKS CLEAN AND QUIET AND LOT OF COMMUNITY SUPPORT NOTHING COMES CLOSER TO OPERA

by rOCKY LOVES OPE, oPERATOWN, on May 16, 2006 11:37 PM, Report abuse   Reply

Its a good browser.fast and needs low system resources.will get popular as it adds features.but it remains to be seen how it handles security issues.

by sachin, goa, on Apr 16, 2006 11:03 PM, Report abuse   Reply

opera RULZZZ

by vivek, devaiah, on Apr 18, 2006 01:06 PM, Report abuse

Has anyone tried Maxthon. That is an amazing tabbed browser as well.

by prashrash, Secunderabad, on Apr 18, 2006 12:31 PM, Report abuse   Reply

Nothing can come near the SPEED, FEATURES and PERFORMANCE of FIREFOX(including OPERA). FIREFOX ruleZ. :)

by kelvin_ps3, Chennai, on Apr 17, 2006 04:06 PM, Report abuse   Reply

Nothing to beat Opera.....

by Karthik Kumar, New Delhi, on Apr 17, 2006 09:08 AM, Report abuse   Reply

Opera is Free, Secure, Feature Rich & very easy to use. Supports tabbed browsing & fast reload. It Rulz!!!!

by Tehseen Ali, Bhopal, on Apr 16, 2006 11:53 PM, Report abuse   Reply

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