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It's probably the most important and debated piece of software on the modern computer. See how your fellow readers get around the net, and vote for your favorite web browser, in this week's Hive Five.

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The only proper way to follow up on the passionate flurry of voting that last week's Hive Five Best Linux Distributions created was to ask you about your favorite web browser. You didn't disappoint—Lifehacker readers came out in force, logging nearly a thousand votes to support their favorite browsers. We've tallied up the votes and we're here to share the top five browsers.

Chrome

Windows only (for practical purposes, but soon on Mac and Linux, if we're lucky): Some browsers have roots going back to the early 1990s—Chrome, on the other hand, is the new kid on the block. Although Chrome has a distant relationship to Konqueror and is a cousin to the Safari web browser—both share the speedy WebKit rendering engine—Google's browser is less than a year old. Despite its youth, it's already garnered praise for its minimalist interface and snappy page rendering. Chrome also handles site errors and quirks well, and each individual tab is a unique process, so a crash or lag in one shouldn't pull down or crash the others. In general, though, Chrome has caught attention for running a performance-focused JavaScript engine in a lightweight GUI. Also worth noting, Chrome has been holding its own in the recent Pwn2Own security challenge, with the distinction of being the only browser left standing after the first day of security exploits and attacks. For a closer look at Chrome, check out our screenshot tour.

Opera

Windows/Mac/Linux: Opera is a rock-solid browser with roots stretching back to 1994. Many of the features baked right into Opera are either not implemented in other browsers, or require multiple extensions at the cost of system resources—navigation by mouse gestures is one of the flashier examples. Despite being feature-packed, Opera has a fairly small market share, due largely in part to being trialware up until 2000 and advertisement-supported until 2005—many people were turned off by the expense, if not the ads. Still, Opera proponents have long claimed that Opera beats Internet Explorer and Firefox when it comes to speedy rendering. Another selling point for Opera is the quality of the built-in tools. For many users, the built-in RSS reader, email client, and BitTorrent client do their jobs admirably, cutting down on the number applications they need running at once. Opera is extensible, but the pool of available extensions is radically smaller than that available for Firefox. More screenshots and details on Opera's features are available here.

Firefox

Windows/Mac/Linux: Firefox is the grandchild of the venerable Mosaic browser and free-roaming son of Netscape. Although Firefox has a myriad of user-friendly, forward-thinking features, a decently secure framework, and an open-source ideology, its most prominent is extensibility. When convincing a Firefox user to abandon Firefox for anything else, even temporarily, you won't have to fight them over giving up the AwesomeBar or about:config tweaks—you'll hear a common, understandable refrain: "What about my extensions?" The repository of extensions maintained by Mozilla currently has over 6,000 entries, covering everything from blocking advertisements, to managing your clipboard, to allowing you to further customize your browsing experience with scripts a la Greasemonkey (here's 10 of our must-have picks). Combine the passion people have for extensions and the ability to sync those extensions across multiple computers and portable installations, and you've got a force to be contended with. For a closer look at Firefox, make sure to check out our power user's guide to Firefox 3 and the top 10 Firefox 3 features.

Internet Explorer

Windows only: Internet Explorer still commands a healthy chunk of the browser market, mostly because it ships with the most popular operating system on Earth and fits, if not exactly elegantly, into corporate computer plans. While many or most IE users stick with it for lack of wanting to try something else, Lifehacker readers definitely don't fall into that crowd—the majority of readers who voted in favor of Internet Explorer are sporting Internet Explorer 8. By contrast, nearly 20 percent of those surfing the web right now are using Internet Explorer 6, which had its initial release in 2001. Version 8 could mark a resurgence for the brand, though. It's the first version of Internet Explorer to have a strong focus on web standards compliance, as well as increasing rendering speed. And like Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 maintains a separate process for each tab to increase stability and security. Internet Explorer 8 has also beefed up its security measures from previous versions, including active filtering against malicious cross-site scripting and ActiveX isolation from the core of the browser. For more information about what's new in Internet Explorer 8 check out our screenshot tour and overview.

Safari

Windows/Mac: Safari is Apple's contribution to the web browsing world, built originally to fit snugly inside OS X. Like Chrome, Safari runs the speedy WebKit rendering engine for snappy page loads. In addition to its WebKit core, Safari also has the Nitro JavaScript engine, which lays claim to radically faster JavaScript execution than Internet Explorer and Firefox (in its own testing reports, anyways). Safari sports Apple's Cover Flow browser for perusing your history and bookmarks and an eye-catching display of the top 24 sites you've visited as the default page when Safari is loaded. For more features, check out our screenshot tour.

You've seen the top contenders. Now it's time to log your vote for the best browser:

Even before Thanksgiving, people were decking their halls with Christmas joy. Now lights sparkle at home, trees stand tall in offices and Santa's at the mall.

Let the Christmas countdown begin, and there's no better place to start than with holiday paraphernalia. Specialty stores across the country dedicate themselves year-round to fulfilling your Christmas needs. These stores are more than just shopping destinations -- they're an experience.

We asked a few of the best-known Christmas stores to name their top competitors, enabling us to come up with this list. Here are five to check out:

Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Michigan

As the world's largest Christmas store, Bronner's is 45 acres of fun. Each year, more than 2 million people visit the store in the idyllic town of Frankenmuth, Michigan.

Approximately 100,000 lights illuminate the salesroom. The store stocks "Merry Christmas" ornaments in more than 70 languages. Oh, and its electric bill averages $900 a day.

Bronner's began in 1945 as a window display-painting business run by Wallace Bronner. Over the years, business boomed and Bronner had to purchase three buildings just to keep up. By 2001, construction began on a building that would bring the total size of Bronner's to 5.5 football fields.

The store's location now includes a Silent Night Memorial Chapel and a half-mile Christmas Lane, decorated with lights. In April of this year, Wally Bronner passed on, but his family still manages Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland.

The Incredible Christmas Place, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

The Christmas Place began as a gift shop 22 years ago in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Since then, Hurshel and Marian Biggs' once-small business has grown into a 43,000-square-foot multi-store complex -- complete with hotel.

"Guests tell us that we are the most beautiful store they have ever experienced," marketing manager Janet Donaldson said.

Visitors can see more than 50 themed Christmas trees decorated by a team of designers at the store. The Inn at Christmas Place opened in 2007. The 145-room hotel is decorated year-round for the holidays and is located right across the street from the Christmas Place village.

Christmas Place is also home to Singing Santa. Santa Dean Townsend greets guests and offers the traditional photos with Santa. He also performs concerts at the store five days a week.

http://www.christmasplace.com
Store Hours (through December): Seven days a week 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Always Christmas in Canterbury Village, Lake Orion, Michigan

Another one of the world's largest Christmas stores also resides in Michigan. Always Christmas in Canterbury Village is located just north of Detroit in Lake Orion, Michigan.

Olde World Canterbury Village is a designated historical site and extends over 21 acres. Aldridge's Always Christmas shop, with more than 90,000 square feet of Christmas accessories, is just one of 18 specialty shops on the premises.

Always Christmas' Web site also boasts of their large collection of Department 56 items and one of the world's largest nativity displays.

"Stan Aldridge and his family have collected a wealth of treasures from around the world," said Teresa Miller, manager of Always Christmas. "The Always Christmas store features antique windows, doors, paneling and a host of other artifacts to add distinction to our beautiful store."

Other stores in the village include Whittington's Clocks and Home Accents, the Royal Confectionary and Canterbury Toy World.

http://www.canterburyvillage.com
Store Hours: Monday -- Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Christmas Loft, multiple locations in New England

The Christmas Loft is actually six year-round Christmas stores. Located in New England, the Christmas Loft has branches in Meredith, North Conway and North Woodstock, New Hampshire; in Shelburne and Stowe, Vermont; and in Hadley, Massachusetts. The largest branch is 12,000 square feet.

Two of the stores feature almost life-size, animated New England Christmas villages. According to co-owners Richard and Ronnie Vander Veer, each village includes a church, a country store, a covered bridge, and villagers scurrying to get their last-minute chores done as Santa and his reindeer hover above them in the sky.

"The stores are alive with the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas and are surely the best way to get into the spirit of the season," Ronnie said. "[The stores] sell more than Christmas merchandise; they sell memories."

http://www.christmasloft.com
Store Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

St. Nick's, Littleton, Colorado

When you walk into St. Nick's, you instantly feel the magic of Christmas, according to visual designer Chris Davis.

The Littleton, Colorado, store has 22 decorated rooms and more than 100 themed trees (designed on movie themes this year). St. Nick's is also home to a glittering assortment of ornaments, decorations and collectibles from all over the world.

"Many customers come here to feel the true joy of the Christmas spirit and to be filled with inspirations for their own homes," co-owner Susan Sealy said. "It is nice to be a part of that."

St. Nick's has been in business since 1976, according to co-owner Shawn Sealy, and "a family Christmas tradition for generations."

As U.S. stocks hit new 11-year lows on Nov. 20, many investors say they just don't know what's ahead.

There's a general lack of clarity on a wide range of issues—the state of the U.S. and global economies, problems in the credit markets, the plans of the federal government, and the fate of hedge funds that are being forced to sell off assets. Unfortunately, much of the fog of the financial crisis will not be cleared up anytime soon.

However, there are several key signals that traders, strategists, and fund managers typically watch closely in times of uncertainty. Given the unprecedented environment, it's not clear if any will be a reliable guide this time, but these signals do give investors something to monitor for clues to the road ahead.

Here's a review of five of those signals and what they're saying now:

1. Technical Signals

Technical strategists analyze and predict market activity based on previous market moves. This week, the stock market failed a key test: The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index not only fell below its October 2008 lows, but the big-cap benchmark also blasted below its lows during the nasty bear market of 2002.

On the morning of Nov. 20, the S&P 500 briefly tested these 2002 lows in the morning but then rebounded. But late in the day, stocks sank and the S&P 500 closed at 752.44. That's below the index's October 2002 low of 768.63 and the lowest level for the index since April 1997.

The 2002 lows are "a major support level," says Dave Rovelli, equity trader at Canaccord Adams.

Richard Sparks of Schaeffer's Investment Research says "you could see a cascade of selling" if stocks stay way below those prior lows. Before stocks fell to this level, people could "feel comfortable that that is a basement that the market might not go below."

2. Reports from Washington

Michael Yoshikami of YCMNET Advisors criticizes "a general lack of clarity from the Administration [and] federal agencies on what's happening and what the path out is."

On Nov. 20, Democratic congressional leaders said they would delay a vote on a bill to help the U.S. auto industry—efforts some Republicans have opposed—until December. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has raised eyebrows by changing the focus of the financial package a few times. Bush Administration officials are on their way out of office, but President-elect Barack Obama hasn't yet chosen his economic team, whose members would have no real power until Jan. 20 even if they were in place.

This flow of news from Washington is rattling investors, many market watchers say. "No one really has a good idea what the plan really is," says Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at R.W. Baird.

Chad Deakins, portfolio manager at RidgeWorth International Equity Fund (SCIIX), says he doesn't expect any clear signals from Washington until Obama takes office. "Until the new Administration comes to the White House and sets a tone and direction, it's hard to see strong upside in the equity markets," Deakins says.