Internet Browsers: What are YOU using? (And why?) (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Nicholls]

Edge under Win10 has been very stable, but has one really annoying trait. It begins to require lots of CPU cycles when its caches begin to fill up. When my machine begins to slow down I know it's time to go delete lots of Edge history files.

I also have a copy of Chrome loaded for the rare troublesome sites.

 

[BobO'Link]

Edge under Win10 has been very stable, but has one really annoying trait. It begins to require lots of CPU cycles when its caches begin to fill up. When my machine begins to slow down I know it's time to go delete lots of Edge history files.

I also have a copy of Chrome loaded for the rare troublesome sites.

Caches... That's one thing I just don't get. The default sizes are *huge* and totally unnecessary. Those large sizes are supposed to give the appearance of speeding up a browser by using the cached version of a page/site by loading it locally. What I see, more often than not, is the huge cache size slowing things down. Sometimes drastically. I set the cache to no more than 10MB on every browser I use. If the cache size can't be managed I don't use that browser (it can only be done in Chrome via command line when the browser is launched - another reason I avoid that browser). It just seems to work better and faster that way. I also find things work better and faster if "predictive" services are disabled for both typing and web sites. I don't need, or want, pages/sites caching in the background on the outside chance I might actually click one link, possibly out of dozens, on a page.

 

[DaveF]

Edge under Win10 has been very stable, but has one really annoying trait. It begins to require lots of CPU cycles when its caches begin to fill up. When my machine begins to slow down I know it's time to go delete lots of Edge history files.

Oh yeah. I use Edge on my HTPC.

I wish it would get support for extensions so I can install Ghostery.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I used FireFox for a while (after finally giving up on IE... as a creature of habit I suppose) until it just got too clunky and sluggish for me (especially on my admittedly very old, previous PC). Finally caved and switched to Chrome, especially since I had also switched to using more Google stuff (between finally switching off our Verizon email accounts and then ditching them as ISP and using Google Maps/Nav, Drive for various things including hosting a couple fantasy baseball dynasty league spreadsheet, etc).

Yeah, I too didn't like the privacy concerns w/ using Chrome and Google stuff, but that's become seemingly unavoidable over the last few years... unless one really wants to become a recluse or something -- heck, I even finally joined Facebook around that same time.

And FWIW, I still remember the old format war days of DVD vs (Circuit City's) DivX when many(?) of us were concerned about privacy issues revolving around DivX (amongst other concerns), but now, we've largely given up that fight between streaming, having the latest DRM scheme (mostly) quietly incorporated into 4K UHD players (that could potentially require internet connection), etc.

Still against stuff like internet-connected fridge in our house for Con Ed to spy on us though, LOL...

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Oh, and on my iPhone, I just use mobile Safari -- rather than mobile Chrome (to match PC side) -- because I really don't use the browser remotely the same way on my phone and don't really see the benefit of using mobile Chrome on it... especially since Apple doesn't exactly make it nice-and-easy to use 3rd party apps in place of their main iOS apps -- of course, mobile Chrome also seemed to have its issues at least in the past when I was using an Android phone.

I do regularly use the Google app on my phone though, so much (maybe even most) of the actual browsing I do on it ends up being on that instead of mobile Safari...

_Man_

 

[questrider]

I am fascinated by the discussion. Personally, as a creature of habit I tend to stick with the same software as long as I can. But my recent opinions of Firefox have not been very good.

Recently there have been LOTS of updates and some of those updates have wreaked havoc with things. I even have an extension called "Classic Theme Restorer" to make Firefox look like it did several iterations ago (in terms of tabs, etc.).

I've been a loyal user of Firefox since version 1.0 when it was called Mozilla with a dragon breathing fire as the logo when a page was loading or refreshing. It's one of those things where you get all the add-ons for functionality performing just right and it works flawlessly for years and years so you stick with it because to track down all those add-ons for another browser (if they even exist) just doesn't sound like something I want to spend time doing.

Mike, I agree that the updates to Firefox have caused havoc with add-ons and now Mozilla is addressing how it handles its add-ons by switching from XUL/XPCOM to WebExtension in about a month so they won't break with every update. However, the downfall of this is that all add-ons have to be rewritten and updated for WebExtensions or they will not work and be abandoned. I too use that Classic Theme Restorer because of some changes I have not liked with Firefox updates but the big bummer is that add-on will cease to function with Firefox 57 (the next update in about four-to-six weeks) because it's not being updated.

Legacy add-ons like CTR will stop working when Mozilla's XUL/XPCOM support ends with Firefox 57 release
https://github.com/Aris-t2/ClassicThemeRestorer/issues/299

If you go to Tools > Add-ons there is now a marker of "LEGACY" highlighted in yellow next to all of the add-on extensions that will not work when Firefox 57 is unleashed. I'm not a big fan of this since most of the add-ons I have used for years are still "LEGACY" and a lot of them have stated they will not be updated so I'm not sure what I will do. At first I will probably not update to 57, but as a security issue that can only go on for so long with 58, 59, 60, etc., into 2018. And the thought of moving to Chrome and trying to make it work like I want it to makes my head hurt.

"The only thing that is constant is change."

 

[jcroy]

Mike, I agree that the updates to Firefox have caused havoc with add-ons and now Mozilla is addressing how it handles its add-ons by switching from XUL/XPCOM to WebExtension in about a month so they won't break with every update. However, the downfall of this is that all add-ons have to be rewritten and updated for WebExtensions or they will not work and be abandoned. I too use that Classic Theme Restorer because of some changes I have not liked with Firefox updates but the big bummer is that add-on will cease to function with Firefox 57 (the next update in about four-to-six weeks) because it's not being updated.

For the foreseeable future, I'll be keeping an old copy of Firefox 55 (or 56) around with the last version of my current plugins before they're made completely WebExtension-only. (Except for one plugin which I can probably live without, my plugins appear to already be upgraded to WebExtensions or are in the process of rewriting).

Simultaneously, I'll be keeping up to date with Firefox 57 + WebExtensions to see whether I can come up with a stable enough configuration.

Currently I'm occasionally running the nightly builds to see how 57 might function. So far, not particularly encouraging.

Depending on how long it takes for 57+ to become stable, I'll be running two configurations of Firefox for different purposes.

 

[questrider]

For the foreseeable future, I'll be keeping an old copy of Firefox 55 (or 56) around with the last version of my current plugins before they're made completely WebExtension-only. (Except for one plugin which I can probably live without, my plugins appear to already be upgraded to WebExtensions or are in the process of rewriting).

Simultaneously, I'll be keeping up to date with Firefox 57 + WebExtensions to see whether I can come up with a stable enough configuration.

Currently I'm occasionally running the nightly builds to see how 57 might function. So far, not particularly encouraging.

Depending on how long it takes for 57+ to become stable, I'll be running two configurations of Firefox for different purposes.

Or, some of the developers of these extensions who are not updating their add-ons are recommending the use of the Extended Support Release (ESR) which is used in enterprise deployments but not usually for use by a single home user.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/

This, to me, is not a viable solution.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just turned off the automatic update feature in my Firefox!

Thanks for the info, Brian!

 

[jcroy]

I always turn off any autoupdate features on standalone programs, plugins, extensions, etc .... Less nasty surprises coming down the pike.

Nowadays also the operating system. I update it on my own schedule.

 

[DaveF]

I auto-update everything except major annual OS upgrades.

 

[jcroy]

In terms of current software I'm using semi-regularly, I'll immediately update things like filter lists for plugins/extensions which block advertisements, etc ...

Currently I'm also going through the daily beta updates of the Brave browser, since it is simple enough and I don't use any plugins/extensions with it. Easy enough to reconfigure from scratch every day, on a new beta updated copy. (I don't use Brave for anything intensive. Just for casual websurfing).

For most other program updates, I usually wait several days (or several weeks) to see whether there's any botched behavior which affects functionality. For example, I'm currently not using the latest Firefox 56.0 update, since it seems to have hanging problems when one exits the program. (ie. It seems to stay hanging in the memory, until I kill the remaining processes by hand).

 

[jcroy]

After playing around with the Firefox Nightly builds for awhile, I get the impression I might be able to drop several of my previous plugins/extensions. For example, extensions like "https everywhere", privacy badger, and something which destroys cookies. Firefox Nightly seems to have taken on some of the functionality of "https everywhere" straight out of the box.

Currently the only extension I'm using with Firefox Nightly builds, is ublock origin. Ublock origin has already been updated to webextensions.

I'm still waiting for NoScript to be updated to webextension, which the main developers are already working on.


The main annoying part about using ublock origin with current Firefox Nightly builds, is how it takes around 20-30+ seconds for Firefox Nightly to start up and be ready to use. In contrast my current stable Firefox setup only takes a few seconds to be ready to use, after it starts up and pops onto the screen.

 

[jcroy]

(From a personal recent historical perspective).

I only really started using additional plugins/extensions, when Firefox removed the button which allowed one to turn java on or off manually. Up until that time, I was largely browsing with java turned off. I only turned on java if a particular web page really required it. (For most of the 2000s decade, I didn't really use any websites which required critical personal information).

After the java on/off button was removed in the default stock Firefox, I gradually moved on to using NoScript and some extensions which blocked ads and other crap such as AdBlock+, Ghostery, etc ... Though the more I read about AdBlock, Ghostery, etc ... the more skeptical I became of them. (Whether real or perceived problems). I ended up moving on to less "tainted" extensions with similar functionality, such as Privacy Badger, ublock origin, etc ...

 

[Stan]

I just bounce around from browser to browser. Firefox, Edge, Chrome, etc. They all perform the same basic function. One acts up a bit, I switch. No preference for one certain corporation. Somebody starts popping up to many ads, I move on.

Windows 10 always wants me to use Edge, which is what I'm currently running. But any problems, I'll go somewhere else.

Kind of amazing that they're free. How do they make money? I never, ever click on the ads so they're not getting anything from me.

Hesitant to install an ad-blocker because I've got a very stable system and don't want to mess it up.

 

[messzeal]

I am using both Chrome and Firefox, but having problems with firefox lately so i might stick with chrome

 

[Tony Bensley]

Since updating Adobe Flash Player, my Firefox Browser seems to be running somewhat better, except when its CPU usage bottoms out (Which causes my FF web page loads to hang without completing!) for some unknown reason, which seems to be a "My own PC" issue. I suspect it may have been something in the latest Windows 10 update that caused this, as this has happened in the past with Windows 10 updates. Whenever this occurs, I shut down Firefox in my Task Manager, which allows me to reload the FF web pages on a fresh memory build.

CHEERS!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've been a loyal user of Firefox since version 1.0 when it was called Mozilla with a dragon breathing fire as the logo when a page was loading or refreshing. It's one of those things where you get all the add-ons for functionality performing just right and it works flawlessly for years and years so you stick with it because to track down all those add-ons for another browser (if they even exist) just doesn't sound like something I want to spend time doing.

Mike, I agree that the updates to Firefox have caused havoc with add-ons and now Mozilla is addressing how it handles its add-ons by switching from XUL/XPCOM to WebExtension in about a month so they won't break with every update. However, the downfall of this is that all add-ons have to be rewritten and updated for WebExtensions or they will not work and be abandoned. I too use that Classic Theme Restorer because of some changes I have not liked with Firefox updates but the big bummer is that add-on will cease to function with Firefox 57 (the next update in about four-to-six weeks) because it's not being updated.

Legacy add-ons like CTR will stop working when Mozilla's XUL/XPCOM support ends with Firefox 57 release
https://github.com/Aris-t2/ClassicThemeRestorer/issues/299

If you go to Tools > Add-ons there is now a marker of "LEGACY" highlighted in yellow next to all of the add-on extensions that will not work when Firefox 57 is unleashed. I'm not a big fan of this since most of the add-ons I have used for years are still "LEGACY" and a lot of them have stated they will not be updated so I'm not sure what I will do. At first I will probably not update to 57, but as a security issue that can only go on for so long with 58, 59, 60, etc., into 2018. And the thought of moving to Chrome and trying to make it work like I want it to makes my head hurt.

"The only thing that is constant is change."

I just turned off the automatic update feature in my Firefox!

Thanks for the info, Brian!

So, based on Brian's post I had turned off FF automatic updates on y PCs at home and at work (and on my wife's laptop, too).

I figured I would just leave well enough alone.

But that actually made performance much worse on all three machines. For one, we got these constant pop-ups asking if we wanted to update FF. And I mean CONSTANT. I could find no way to turn them off. But besides those, Firefox on all three machines slowed to a crawl (as if we were on extremely weak WiFi).

So I allowed FF to automatically update on one machine and it started flying again. I then followed by returning all three machines to auto updates and they are now humming right along.

They have jumped from 32 to 64-bit (Release 56.0.2) and everything seems fine. But, if we lose a lot of the add-ons--ESPECIALLY "Classic Theme Restorer"--when they get to version 57+, I am really going to be bummed. Colorful Tabs, too.

 

[Mike Frezon]

For the foreseeable future, I'll be keeping an old copy of Firefox 55 (or 56) around with the last version of my current plugins before they're made completely WebExtension-only. (Except for one plugin which I can probably live without, my plugins appear to already be upgraded to WebExtensions or are in the process of rewriting).

Simultaneously, I'll be keeping up to date with Firefox 57 + WebExtensions to see whether I can come up with a stable enough configuration.

Currently I'm occasionally running the nightly builds to see how 57 might function. So far, not particularly encouraging.

Depending on how long it takes for 57+ to become stable, I'll be running two configurations of Firefox for different purposes.

How does one do this?

How could I have one version of FF running with Auto Updates turned off and then another version running with Auto updates turned on?

But I'm not sure it even makes sense to try based on what I posted above. As soon as I turned off the auto updates on FF on those three machines, the browser got totally wonky and unresponsive.

 

[jcroy]

How does one do this?

Run different profiles. Add the -P flag to the your FF executable link to force Firefox to bring up the profiles menu.