Skins are often used to change the look and feel of a Web browser, altering the appearance and/or location of buttons, providing background images or borders that did not originally come with the browser, changing the colors and/or other graphic elements, or even changing the shape of the browser window.

There are many browser skins available for free online; however, users should be aware that skins sometimes come with additional predetermined buttons in the toolbar that did not come with the original browser software. Organizations use these elements to advertise and/or track the Internet activity of the user.