Firefox or Chrome (Criteria: Speed, Privacy, functionality)

[caravel]

SRWare Iron, a modified version of Chrome that supposedly had Google's tracking removed

Well Iron is now pretty much widely regarded as "scamware".

Ads are what keeps the net alive.

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but the "net" is not fueled by ads, never was and never will be. There are of course those who are happy for you to believe that and to repeat it. There are several major sites which are of course completely ad/data mining funded, but that does not really equate to what you are claiming.

Adblckers are vicious things, if not for ads no totalwar.org :D

Yes the .org is ad funded, but I've pretty much always blocked them. If they were less intrusive and there was no flash or sound involved that would not be the case (quite ironic if you think about it). The problem with ads is that they're provided by the host, who in turn deal with third parties, so there is no direct control over what kind of ads appear.

Pop ups are different of course, but IE blocks them. i dont know about sounded ads, but ive never had a problem with IE and those, unless ive experienced the same with firefox or Chrome.

Pop ups are no different to other ads except they open in another window. This is all down to javascript and proper script blocking is actually better than ad blacklisting or popup blocking.