Web browser

[6] This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such as https://en.wikipedia.org/, into the browser.

Cached items are usually only stored for as long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages.

[10] However, others are used for tracking user behavior over long periods of time, so browsers typically provide a section in the menu for deleting cookies.

[12][13] He then recruited Nicola Pellow to write the Line Mode Browser, which displayed web pages on dumb terminals.

[15][16] Its innovative graphical user interface made the World Wide Web easy to navigate and thus more accessible to the average person.

Within a few years, Microsoft gained a dominant position in the browser market for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular Windows operating system and did so as freeware with no restrictions on usage.

[18] In 1998, Netscape launched what would become the Mozilla Foundation to create a new browser using the open-source software model.

[23] Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and multimedia capabilities.

Another factor is the significant increase of broadband connectivity in many parts of the world, enabling people to access data-intensive content, such as streaming HD video on YouTube, that was not possible during the era of dial-up modems.

[2] The vast majority of its source code comes from Google's open-source Chromium project;[25] this code is also the basis for many other browsers, including Microsoft Edge, currently in third place with about a 5% share,[2] as well as Samsung Internet and Opera in fifth and sixth places respectively with over 2% market share each.

[31] Web browsers are popular targets for hackers, who exploit security holes to steal information, destroy files, and other malicious activities.