Browsers
I wish there was one browser that had everything. Every feature that I'd ever need, perfect compliance with w3 web standards, etc. If there were, I would pay for it. As it is, there isn't. This isn't too surprising, because there's rarely something that outshines all competition in every way, but it's a sad state of affairs.
Internet Explorer: Frankly, Internet Explorer sucks. It doesn't follow recommendations, doesn't have frequent updates, doesn't do anything I want it to. It is the target for a billion different malicious sites out there, and it's also the most vulnerable to them. I'm not going to support a browser that is the bane of every web developer in the world. No thanks.
Safari: I don't know anything about Safari. It's only for Macs, so I don't use it. It looks pretty good, though.
Lynx: Lynx is a text-only browser. It is extremely fast, but isn't what I'm looking for. (No css, javascript, tables, images, etc.) It's great for the user it's designed for, but not for me.
Opera: Opera seems to offer the best standards support of any browser out there. It is faster** on windows and has better security than pretty much any of the alternatives.
Firefox: Firefox is open source, and has pretty good support for W3 web standards. It's not quite as fast as Opera. It's actually not as fast as Mozilla*, apparently. But, the one place where Firefox is brilliant is it's extensions. The open-source community is constantly coming out with excellent ways of improving the browser. Greasemonkey lets you customize sites through javascript. Adblock lets you define sites to block images from, or particular parts of sites to block images from. Web Developer adds some functionality for people who work with site design. Extensions are the reason I stick with Firefox.
Obviously this is all personal preference. If a browser works better for you than another, use it. Perhaps you don't need images or css or any of that silly stuff. In that case, use Lynx. Perhaps you don't care about extensions, and are happy with the basic features of a browser. In that case, use the free version of Opera (or buy it at the student discount). It all comes down to what you need from your browser. However, I want to encourage you not to use Internet Explorer. If you don't, web developers will love you, because when enough people spurn IE, they won't have to use all sorts of tricks to make things work with that devil of a browser. Things will be easier on everyone. So, if you love other people, and love yourself, don't use IE. Go download Firefox, or Opera.
* Mozilla is the old version of the browser. It includes an e-mail program, a html editor, and a browser. It's still being developed. Firefox is the new, slimmed-down version, without a bundled e-mail program or html editor.
** I used this page as a source for speed comparisons.