Ravencajun...thanks ...I didn't know you could have two browsers....I learn something new everyday...LOL Jean Mi....yes, I know about the 3 horizontal bars but I was looking for IE Menu...with File-Edit-View-Insert-etc...but I could live without it because Google Chrome is so fast.... Thanks again for your help.....

Hi owbist good question. I did a search. "The main advantage of Google Earth is the huge amount of resources that it can use since it is running locally on your machine. This allows the Google Earth application to perform much faster and with better features. Browsers were designed to have limited access to resources to prevent malicious people from gaining control of a computer that visits their site. For this reason, Google Maps are restricted to the browser. Users of Google Maps also need to have a speedy internet connection in order to talk to the Google Maps server. It the connection is very poor, the images make take a long time to load or even fail to in certain instances." http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-google-maps-and-google-earth/ And "They differ primarily in Google Maps being based on a 2D model and Google Earth using a 3D model. The other significant difference is that Google Maps is a Web application, while Google Earth is a stand-alone program that connects to the Internet." https://sites.google.com/a/kimbridges.net/google-earth-workshop/Home/background-information "Google Earth provides a more powerful, interactive user experience and offers more tools for learning about a location. The Google Earth experience is one of fast, fluid flight -- zooming and rotating and tilting imagery to view the geographic data you're interested in. You can wind along hairpin turns, view buildings in 3D, and fly to businesses near your favorite location," the Mountain View company explains." "Also, Google Earth allows you to easily measure distances and areas, draw lines and shapes, and even import your own data." http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Earth-vs-Google-Maps-65440.shtml

there is a thread here about it http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/comphelp/msg0914250819103.html?13 I have not tried it, I have my firefox so customized I would miss too much stuff. I have looked at a lot of screenshots of it and did not like the look much, but have heard it is fairly quick but it already has a few security holes that have been found. It will be another good alternative browser and any competition always makes everyone in the field work harder to get their browser on top so we should all profit in that aspect.

Despite the drawbacks mentioned above I decided to give it a test. It has some nice features. It is small and fast. Opens much quicker than firefox and then opens pages faster. Easy install and during the install it imported all my bookmarks (even the bookmarks toolbar) and even had the sites I had visited in firefox marked in red. Two things (in addition to the previously mentioned concersn) convinced me to discontinue using it for now. Distracting ads that I don't see with firefox and the fact that I didn't find a way to change the default font. In firefox I have verdana font as the default and the default size as 20. Much easier on my eyes than the original default. Changing the size using Ctrl + didn't help enough in Chrome. I did like it well enough that I will try it again later.