Mac and iPhone users will be familiar with Safari, but for a long time the web browser race for PC owners was a two horse race between Firefox and Internet Explorer. With the addition of Opera, Google Chrome and Apple Safari to the competition, there is now plenty of choice for web surfers. Available for both Windows and Mac, Safari boasts a familiar Apple look and feel, and brings a number of interesting features to the table.

Integrated support for PDF files means that there is no need to install a dedicated tool to view such documents when they are encountered online and the browser also makes it easy to return to sites you have previously visited. Safari logs each of the sites you visit and presents them in an iTunes style interface known as Cover Flow. This means that as well as using keywords to track down sites, it is also possible to browse through site preview images to allow for quick identification. In a similar vein, the Top Sites feature provides a graphical representation of your favourite web sites which can be visited with a single click.

With support for new, emerging and established web technologies, Safari is a browser with a strong focus on performance as well as security. Features, speed and good looks mean that Apple's web browser is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore and is well worth taking for a test drive.

The latest Safari 5 ships with a Safari reader to make browsing news and other text, more clear. It also has improved HTML5 support, Bing search engine support, hardware acceleration support for Windows and much more.

Safari 5.1.7 is a minor update. New features include:

-Improve the browser's responsiveness when the system is low on memory
-Fix an issue that could prevent webpages from responding after using a pinch to zoom gesture
-Fix an issue that could affect websites using forms to authenticate users
-Disable versions of Adobe Flash Player that do not include the latest security updates and provide the option to get the current version from Adobe's website.