Several alternative browsers look like IE but add tweaks that may make the browser meet your needs better—if you're willing to shell out some dough. The four that we look at are all tabbed and have multiengine search capabilities.

Fast Browser ($19.95) includes options to speed the loading of pages (like a toolbar button with check boxes that control whether items such as images, sounds, and scripts do or do not load), quick access to security options, and preset, configurable groups of pages that load with a single click. The Pro version ($29.95) reads a page aloud in any of ten languages.

If you're going to mess with IE's interface, you've got to keep it intuitive. Fast Browser is simple and extremely usable.