My ISP is AOL. Presumably someone will tell me that there is a better choice but it works (most of the time) and I don't want to go to the hassle of changing my e-mail address. The AOL main page appears when I access the Internet and I can pick up my e-mails on it. I believe that it is connected in some way (?) or powered (?) by Internet Explorer - but I'm a bit (OK very!) hazy about the exact relationship.

Recently, I was offered a 'choice' of other Internet browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome etc.) but I didn't take up that offer because I had no idea what effect changing would have on my AOL main page or on my stored e-mail addresses. I note that a lot of software (e.g. image editing software tries to 'take over' your system these days - and it can be tricky - if you don't really know what your doing - to restore the system afterwards).

The other day I accessed a particular website which informed me that, if I wanted to interact with it, I needed a browser which is more 'modern' than Internet Explorer.

My questions are:

1. If I change browsers what consequences can I expect in terms of e-mail etc.?

2. Can I have more than one browser on my system and will they compete with each other to take it over?