Perhaps Time For a New Browser?

[emeraldgirl08]

For some time now I have noticed undesired behaviors from my once fave web browser- Firefox. It begins to become a memory hog holding ~600mb of RAM in captivity. I also notice that when changing tabs there is hesitation for a second or two. I decided to give IE 9 with the 'hosts' file (to block ads and other unwanted intrusions into my browsing experience) and compare FF 14 and IE 9. The tabs load faster in IE 9 and best of all no ads so far

I just started using IE 9 again so time will tell how memory resources fare with my IE 9 usage. Honestly I used to love FF but with every release (combined with Adobe flash) I cannot help but notice a degradation in the overall performance of FF. My plug-ins for every iteration of FF include ABP (adblock plus), Flashblock, and a download helper. They work well but as I have mentioned with every FF release and the subsequent isssues the bad outweighs the good. I feel at this point I am swayed toward using IE 9 as a default browser.

It is a bit ironic that IE (back in the day) used to be shunned in my circle of associates and friends. We would almost always attribute FF superiority due to the ABP. Now I have a way to mimic the purposes of ABP using the hosts file I think I will begin using IE 9 as my primary browser.

Any discussions on favorite browsers or perhaps an irk toward one?

[ThinkRob]

I still use Firefox because, quite frankly, it's the only real choice if you value privacy.

For my install I have the following extensions:

AdBlock Lite
Certificate Patrol
CipherFox
Cookie Whitelist
EHH for ABP
HTTPS-Everywhere
NoScript
RefControl
RequestPolicy
Sage
UAControl

Until Chrome or something else supports that level of control over my privacy and security, then I'm sticking with Firefox.

I haven't experienced any of the performance issues that you have either. It's currently got a resident size of about 300M, but a good chunk of that is almost certainly cache. Plus, with 4GB + 2GB of swap, it's not like I'm desperate for RAM.

One thing I would recommend is to avoid the "normal" Firefox builds. Instead, go with the ESR ones (currently 10). You don't really lose out on features, but you also don't have to deal with a constant stream of updates that seem to exist solely to make "user experience designers" feel useful. With the ESR builds you get security fixes and that's it.

[Puppy]

Disable the crappy Adobe Flash Player, it is the worst software ever. I use Firefox because IE9 has introduced undreadable blurry font rendering that can not be turned off (as it was in IE 8 and 7). As for privacy and security, that is the reason I'd never use Chrome despite its HTML rendering engine is good.

Check older addons because they might introduce memory leaks and bugs being hosted in new Firefox versions. Type about:memory to the address bar to get detailed report. I always use latest release version (currently 14.0.1) and few addons (Extensions) only. Namely Adblock Plus (to block all the "social" widgets crap on pages) and Selected Search. As for Plugins, I've disabled all of them for security reasons.

[emeraldgirl08]

Hi Rob. The issue I have with FF 14 is that is clunky and irritates me. The level of security that you have is quite impressive with all the plug-ins! Your occupation must require a high level of security? I know you primarily use linux so I am curious which variant of FF are you using as a browser? Last I checked there were a couple of browsers that I am certain are based on FF.

I quite frankly am not certain why FF is not working well for me. I have 4gb of RAM which should be sufficient for my uses. I do not run anything heavy on my X200 nor do I have programs that I do not need installed.

It all is a bit vexing really

At the moment I am working on my final presentation for my internship so I will take a look those plug-ins in the future. I am not sure if everyone (including myself ) knows what the acronym ESR is. Could you spell it out? Thanks!

[Puppy]

I am not sure if everyone (including myself ) knows what the acronym ESR is.

It is old Firefox 10 branch with security updates only
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Enterprise/Fir ... t:Proposal

[emeraldgirl08]

Disable the crappy Adobe Flash Player, it is the worst software ever. I use Firefox because IE9 has introduced undreadable blurry font rendering that can not be turned off (as it was in IE 8 and 7). As for privacy and security, that is the reason I'd never use Chrome despite its HTML rendering engine is good.

Check older addons because they might introduce memory leaks and bugs being hosted in new Firefox versions. Type about:memory to the address bar to get detailed report. I always use latest release version (currently 14.0.1) and few addons (Extensions) only. Namely Adblock Plus (to block all the "social" widgets crap on pages) and Selected Search. As for Plugins, I've disabled all of them for security reasons.

I will try the about:memory. Thanks. When I had time to exclusively tinker with computers a 3 years ago I might have this whole situation sorted out by now. Unfortunately my schedule pretty much has me tinkering with bacteria at this point

[TTY]

Emeraldgirl08,

it seems that in the Opera browser, you can set how much memory it's going to use for storing web pages recently visited. I've set it to use 40 MB for storing web pages. With this setting, the browser uses a total of roundabout 250 MB of memory.

Opera Software has released version 12.00 and they're on the verge of letting out version 12.01. The release candidate for 12.01 is already available for download. You might want to install the 12.01 release candidate, as version 12.00 has a glitch, which will make it crash on some pages on lenovo.com's web site. The 12.01 release candidate is available at

http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/

Version 12.00 stable is available at

http://www.opera.com/browser/download/

To set the amount of memory used for storing recently visited web pages, press Ctrl + F12, click the "advanced" tab, in the column to the left click "history", and set "memory cache" to whatever you deem right. I also unchecked "remember content on visited pages", hoping it will reduce browser footprint.

EDIT:
In the meantime, Opera has released version 12.01. It's available at

http://www.opera.com/browser/download/

[ThinkRob]

Hi Rob. The issue I have with FF 14 is that is clunky and irritates me. The level of security that you have is quite impressive with all the plug-ins! Your occupation must require a high level of security? I know you primarily use linux so I am curious which variant of FF are you using as a browser?

Not at all. Rather, it's so very simple to help improve my privacy that I am always amazed when I find people who are far more privacy-sensitive than I who fail to take the same steps!

I use Iceweasel, which is Debian's re-packaging of Firefox. It's identical, code and feature-wise -- it's just re-branded for legal reasons. It's based on Firefox ESR, so essentially that's what I run.

Avoid Flash. You don't need it. No, I know you just though "I do, because...", but you're wrong. You don't need it. Not even for watching videos on YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Pretty much all of those sites have non-Flash alternatives.

Sorry about the acronym there. Puppy's got ya covered though. Ignore the sidebar on the Mozilla page, BTW. The download page for Firefox ESR is here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/o ... s/all.html

it seems that in the Opera browser, you can set how much memory it's going to use for storing web pages recently visited. I've set it to use 40 MB for storing web pages. With this setting, the browser uses a total of roundabout 250 MB of memory.

You can do this with Firefox too. Actually, you have control over quite a bit more than that, caching-wise, via about:config. Personally I never touch the defaults (aside from disabling the disk cache) because I've never found a reason to.

[automobus]

It is a bit ironic that IE (back in the day) used to be shunned in my circle of associates and friends. We would almost always attribute FF superiority due to the ABP.

Despite what all the cool kids are saying, I like Windows 6.0 (Vista) and Internet Explorer 9.0. I liked (loved) Fx in its glory days, versions 1 and 1.5. I noticed it getting slow with version 2, which I find still usable. I dislike version 3 and newer, and I use it only when I must (that is, when using somebody else's machine).

I still use Firefox because, quite frankly, it's the only real choice if you value privacy.

I can partially agree with those words, but your choice of extensions is completely different from mine. I used Cookie Whitelist and HTTPS-Everywhere in the past; I either never used, or tried and abandoned the rest. My must-have extension is GoogleSharing. Because it is a Firefox exclusive, that extension alone could compel me to use Fx.

I use Firefox because IE9 has introduced undreadable blurry font rendering that can not be turned off (as it was in IE 8 and 7). As for privacy and security, that is the reason I'd never use Chrome despite its HTML rendering engine is good.

I hear you about the blurry text. I feel the pain! Now, blurry Web browsing is not just for people using Macs: Internet Explorer gets the blurs, too! However, as much as I hate the blurry text, I still prefer IE9 over Fx3+. As for rendering engines, maybe WebKit is getting better, but I hated it. I have not spent enough time viewing modern versions to have an up-to-date opinion.

Web browsers exhaust me. The time I spent playing with and tweaking Web browsers must total to over a week. Really, it is not worth it. I am not a professional consultant for Web browsing. Those "cutting edge consumer's-user-interface" designers at Google and Mozilla, and Ubuntu and Apple, can keep doing their art. I decided to stop paying attention to them. For the time being, IE9 and Seamonkey still work without too many distractions.

Opera Software has released version 12.00 and they're on the verge of letting out version 12.01. … version 12.00 has a glitch, which will make it crash on some pages on lenovo.com's web site.

Opera has been pretty cool, but this crap still happens. I never found any version of Opera to be more stable than a contemporary Gecko browser, so despite Opera's many advantages, I never fully switched to using it.

Avoid Flash. You don't need it. No, I know you just though "I do, because...", but you're wrong. You don't need it.

I decided to get rid of it in 2006. Yes, some resources do require it, which means I need to commandeer somebody else's PC for a while. I need to not have it, so no, other people cannot watch that something or other on my PC. Yes, it is a double standard.

[ThinkRob]

I have yet to find something for which I needed Flash. Oh, there are things that don't work without it, but there have always been alternatives in my experience.

For me it's a moot point; even if I wanted Flash I couldn't run it, as I'm often using non-x86 hardware (plus, it doesn't play nice with my grsecurity/PaX configuration, so even when I am on x86 I can't use it...)

[mattbiernat]

yes I agree FF can be a memory hog. this is a huge problem for older computers such as my T23 with 256mg RAM.... however if you got a newer laptop then RAM is cheap these days. I got a 4GB stick for $22. Once you get pleny of RAM, I am really enjoy FF much more than IE or Chrome. The problem I have with IE7, 8 and 9 is that there is no true smooth scrolling like in FF or Chrome. IE jitters when scrolling with a trackpoint. Unlike Chrome, FF got specific extensions that I need to use and also FF has improved its UI quite a lot. When I initially got my new laptop I tried working with IE9 but the jittering and lack of extantions was a dealbreaker. And what modern browser doesn't have a built in spell checker!?

[rkawakami]

... pleny ... extantions ...

And what modern browser doesn't have a built in spell checker!?

[RealBlackStuff]

@mattbiernat:
if I remember correctly, you went studying in the Dominican Republic (or similar) to become a doctor.
If you are a practician now(?), I do hope you pay more attention to your Rx writing...

[mattbiernat]

1) It's commonwealth of dominica - lol big difference there
2) yeah im 3rd year medical student now doing my rotations in NY
3) as a physician, all I have to care about is knowing how to spell medications which is pretty easy part because most of them are pronounced the way they are written. actually, a big problem here in NY is that physicians do know how to spell but they don't know how to write. thank god that hospitals are mandated to get computerized by 2015.

[mattbiernat]

... pleny ... extantions ...

And what modern browser doesn't have a built in spell checker!?

you can see that I wrote this late at night using IE9.

[ajkula66]

Back to the original topic...I'd suggest giving Kmeleon a shot...right now I'm on my wife's Z61m with 37 tabs open using 311MB of RAM...not bad IMO, and it's Mozilla-based and pretty customizable...

[twistero]

Firefox all the way. Until any other browser offers complete configurability on the order of new tabs opened, appearance of tabs and "close tab" buttons, context menu items (Tab Mix Plus); selective routing of websites through proxies (FoxyProxy); straightforward management and editing of multiple user scripts (GreaseMonkey); and all other good stuff, there is no competition.

[TuuS]

My problem with firefox is that they change version numbers more often then I put gas in my car... and each time they do it renders all the work of those who publish add-ons and extensions obsolete. In a little over a year we've gone from firefox 3 to 14... we should be beta testing FF5 right now, not 15.

Best I can tell is they just like bigger numbers, which is fine, but if they continue to force all publishers of FREE extensions to redo all their work every month or so, then pretty soon no one is going to want to make these extensions.

[twistero]

My problem with firefox is that they change version numbers more often then I put gas in my car... and each time they do it renders all the work of those who publish add-ons and extensions obsolete.

They are doing things differently now. Non-binary add-ons are always presumed compatible with new major releases of FF.

[dr_st]

I too find the version number inflation of FF annoying. With every new release being pushed as a "major" one it's hard to discern which of them really offer major new features and which are just minor incremental updates. I still use FF, though, and while most of my systems are still on 3.6.28, eventually I will have to give in and jump on the new versions, which objectively are not bad.

[Puppy]

I too find the version number inflation of FF annoying.

This stupidity has been copied from Google Chrome releases the same way Lenovo has copied crappy keyboard layout and design from Apple hoping (false) to bring more customers/sales. Just ignore these clueless numbers. Most of Extensions works fine.

[RealBlackStuff]

My FF gets updated semi-automatically. As soon as it announces a new release, I let it update.
Had a problem only once, perhaps a year ago, otherwise I'm quite happy with it.
I thoroughly abhor IE (8) and only use it for Windows updates.
Have not tried Chrome or any other browser.