Start-page smackdown: Netvibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle and Live.com

The verdict
The four sites fall into two distinct pairs, with Netvibes and Pageflakes making up the funky, community-enhanced, highly customisable couple. Their prettied-up tabs load dynamically, they offer the most tweaking options and they have huge libraries of widgets that can be added in one step. Their help files are comprehensive and the community aspect allows sharing at a variety of levels.

Live.com and iGoogle are the pared-back, less-flexible duo. They focus on offerings from within their own brand and offer fewer customisation options. Their help sections are sparse, and the community element is either difficult to navigate (Live.com) or non-existent (iGoogle).

Overall conclusion? For a start page with the most flexibility -- and the least need to navigate elsewhere -- go for Pageflakes or Netvibes. These sites allow you to view feed content in full without having to go to the original site. The only downside of this is that the content can sometimes get mangled on the way -- especially when it involves elements such as polls.

As for the winner of the Netvibes versus Pageflakes smackdown, it's an incredibly close contest. We'd be happy to use either on a daily basis, but Netvibes just edges out Pageflakes due to its podcast player, wealth of customisation options, and the sheer ease of adding content. That said, if your focus is on RSS feeds rather than widgets, you may prefer Pageflakes' reader option and elegant, image-enhanced handling of feed summaries.

#1 Netvibes

Pros: Fantastic, unobtrusive podcast player Can create separate public and private pages to share Keyboard shortcuts Offers easy instructions for switching from other Web desktops or RSS feed readers Widget library tailored to your region	Cons: RSS feeds aren't quite as pretty as Pageflakes; pages can be text overload Can be slow to load Occasional broken/unresponsive feeds Ginger community features not yet available to everyone
Good for: People with short attention spans who want everything on one page. Widget fiends. Those looking to consolidate all their Web 2.0 profiles (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr). Anyone wanting to maintain separate public and private pages.

#2 Pageflakes

Pros: Pageflakes Central module keeps you up to date with latest modules RSS reader option Can publish your page to the world or within a group	Cons: Limited, none-too-pretty range of pre-set themes Can't tweak as many settings as Netvibes Can be slow to load and a memory hog
Good for: RSS addicts who like their feeds to look nicer than your average text-fest. Anyone looking to establish a group to share pages with. People who want the most widgets to choose from.

#3 iGoogle

Pros: Good integration with other Google services Simple, no-fuss layout Fast-loading feeds	Cons: It's, in a word, ugly Can't change many settings Fewer content categories to browse Can't share your page Tabs don't load dynamically
Good for: Google disciples. Those not fussed by aesthetics. People who want to glance at the latest headlines and updates but not necessarily read the content behind them.

#4 Live.com

Pros: Can view gadgets sorted by author, rating, number of downloads Loads quickly Integration with Windows Live/MSN is good if you are already a user	Cons: Doesn't work with Safari, has issues with Firefox Lack of decent gadgets Few customisation options Adding gadgets is a bit of a chore; the gallery is hard to find Help page is scant
Good for: Windows Vista/MSN/Hotmail devotees. People who want simplicity.