hi, a browser (firefox, internet explorer, chrome) is a program to display websites. a search engine (google, bing, yahoo) is a particular website that provides you with search results.

Thank you so much  ! But now I'm even more confused: I thought Internet Explorer was the search engine and Bing the browser - but you're saying it's the other way around (I'll have to let that sink in for a while). When f.i. I want to go to YouTube and not use the icon on my desktop, but Google instead: Google is the searche engine, and once I'm on YouTube and I want to hear a certain song, that's where Firefox (browser) comes in; right so far  ?) But: when I do the same with Internet Explorer, all of a sudden iE is a browser  ??? And once I'm on YouTube I distinctly see Bing 'getting involved' ..... (I don't like iE and certainly not Bing, but that's beside the point). I just want to know, cause it bothers me ... (You don't happen to speak Dutch, do you ?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_search_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Search

Google started out with its search engine back in 1997. Then many years later in 2008 the Google company released their Chrome web browser.

Mozilla does not have a search engine site of their own.

Hi ! I sent you a private message earlier (don't know if I'm supposed to do that or reply on this site only ... ?) I've been going over your answer, and I think I get what you're saying (sort of). But somebody else on this forum just told me that Internet Explorer is a browser and Bing is a search engine, while I thought it was the other way around .... and now I'm REALLY confused ........ I was always thinking: search first; than browse - like: when you want to buy a guitar and you want to know where you can find a shop that sells them: that's when you use a search engine. And once you're in the store and you're looking at all those guitars, trying to figure out which one to choose: you're the browser now. Or am I completely off  ??

Many newer users may think a web browser is a search engine because the default homepage a browser may use is often times a search engine site.

The default homepage in Firefox is about:home unless the user changes it in Options/Preferences. The about:home uses the search engine that is set in Search Bar.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-set-the-home-page https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-search-bar-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-popular-search-suggestions-firefox-search-bar

Firefox for a time before Firefox 4.0 (four.zero) Release used a default homepage of http://www.google.com/firefox that looked like https://start.mozilla.org

Bing is indeed a web search engine as it is owned and operated by Microsoft. This is why you may see Bing in say IE. Microsoft has a new web browser in Windows 10 called Edge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing