Neoplanet - changing the face of browsing? (Neoplanet)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Neoplanet
Date:	14/08/00 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stable, skinnable, compatible with plugins

Disadvantages: Some minor niggles

Neoplanet is a web browser supposedly. What is actually appears to be is a method for skinning Internet Explorer 4 (and higher) – although it does not run on non-Windows versions of this software. Now on version 5.2, it has improved slightly over previous versions.

It does “add” to the features of IE though with integrated email, messenger service and download manager, although I cannot be sure, they seem to be “skinned” versions of Microsoft software. Skins are downloadable from the Neoplanet site, and tend to be around a few hundred K, so would be quite quick downloads (unless you’re using tin cans and string)

The download manager allows you to organise your downloads by type, resume interrupted downloads or even schedule downloads while you’re not at your computer. It’s easy to use and boasts some powerful features.

The in built e-mail client looks and feels like a skinned Outlook Express, and as such has all the advantages and disadvantages of that particular piece of software.

Neoplanet also has it’s own profile manager so that different people who use it can have their own preferences loaded automatically when they launch the program by simply selecting their own profile.

All of the different aspect and options dealing with Neoplanet are dealt with through its’ own Control Panel. Like the windows control panel, this enables you to customise Neoplanet to your tastes and needs.

For those users who still have Windows 95, Neoplanet has a modem booster (not needed with Win98 which automatically sets the optimal internet settings) which supposedly speeds up your browsing experience by interpreting the information you download more efficiently than normal, although I have to say that on my computer (before I upgraded to Win98), I never noticed any speed increase, and in fact, made the system more unstable.

Installation was, as with most modern so
ftware, painless. Like the newer Netscape 6.0 – you first download a “small” file (about 3.5MB for version 5.2) and then you can select to download the various extra parts if you wish. I found Neoplanet to be quite useful, although with the advent of Internet Explorer 5.5 (which Neoplanet is compatible with) I do prefer to use the bog standard browser, and my e-mail client of choice (Outlook 2000).

Summary: