If you have ever wondered which is the browser to choose, we will help you find an answer to that. If you are a heavy internet user e.g. a blogger it is a matter of downright productivity. Are you upto doing this?

Here is what were are trying to do – kill most of the add-ons in IE and then test it against FF. Here are the step by step instructions -

1. Make sure you are running the IE8 (the released version): To make sure that you are on this version, just go to IE Help menu and click on “About Internet Explorer”. you should see Release Candidate 1 mentioned as follows:

If you don't see the same version no. (8.0.6001.18702) for your browser, you are not running the latest release of Internet Explorer. You can download the latest version of IE8 from Microsoft site.

2. Go to Tools –> Manage Add-Ons. In the Manage Add-Ons window, click on each Application and disable the add-on. You can can disable the add-on by clicking on the “Disable” button located at bottom right, once you have selected the application in the upper window.

3. Next, change the home page for both browsers to the same website of your choice.

4. Finally, close all the browser windows on your machine. You are all set for the challenge to start.

Browser load test: Start both the browsers by clicking on the shortcuts on the taskbar one after the another. What browser did you see come up faster?

Browsing Speed test: Type your favourite website address in notepad and copy it in memory (Ctrl + C). then in each browser, paste the URL (Ctrl+v) and press go button. Watch for the status bar at the bottom of browser window to say “Done”. Which browser completed loading the website first?

Here's a shortcut if you are not averse to typing a single command line:

To start your Internet Explorer 8 RC1, without any add-ons simply type iexplore -extoff in the run command (Win + R).

The above tip is thanks to Ramesh's Blog.

Once you have completed the tests in your machine, report your findings and take the quiz/ challenge located at the right hand side of this page. [Can't See the Quiz? You will need to be registered at the portal to cast your vote.]

Here is what Microsoft found in doing the above test: Recorded in a video.

If you wanted to do a more detailed study on how to test the browsers yourself (much detailed than the one detailed above) read this study.

Take the “Naked Browser” challenge now and tell the community what you saw!

Prizes will be announced soon!