In addition to strong privacy features, QTWeb also has an extremely tiny portable footprint that is ideal for a pocket USB drive.

QTWeb’s portable footprint is only 4.8 megabytes. That’s even smaller than Google Chrome’s at over 7 megabytes. That’s not the only reason it’s ideal for a take-anywhere USB drive, though. The two reasons I carry a pocket USB drive are: 1) so I can quickly create on-the-fly backups from wherever I am working; and 2) so I have my favorite applications no matter which computer I’m working on. If you place value on that last reason, and you frequently work on computers that are not your own, you’ll appreciate the privacy features in QTWeb.

QTWeb is designed to leave no traces of browsing history on a local machine while browsing or after the browser has been reset. Absolutely no information gets stored in Registry or User Profile files. You can also run the portable version directly from your USB drive, with no installation required. You can find a complete list of what’s new in version 1.5 here.

You also get a customizable interface with QTWeb. You can jettison all toolbars if you want, good for maximum screen real estate on a portable machine. You can also switch between a tabbed browsing interface and a non-tabbed one.

Finally, I had to admire the ecumenical spirit of QTWeb’s developers when I installed the new version. On the right of the browser’s home page, you get a set of links to the home pages of other browsers, as seen in the screenshot below. Hmm, Internet Explorer isn’t on the list. These must be open source developers.

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