Firefox vs. Chrome

[Coastie]

... Have been getting more and more fed-up with Firefox over the last couple of years.  It kills me to say that because I've been a loyal user since the Netscape days.  ...

I have also been using exclusively using Mozilla's browser when it was Netscape with Windows 3.1. I use DuckDuckGo as my primary search engine.

For several months and maybe longer, Firefox locks up regularly when on Google products (You Tube, Facebook, and Google Maps) due to script problems. I have tried different permissions and disabling NoScrips. Nothing fixed it.

I have watched several videos about this problem and the last www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxsQerHfQZo  by Joe Collins convinced me to try Chrome. He doesn't recommend Chromium. I am no longer having this problem. I will have to use Chrome for Google products reluctantly until Firefox fixes this problem.

(I used GDebi package installer because it is not listed in Synaptic or Lite Software. Maybe it should be.  :-\ )

[bayoubooger]

Chromium and Firefox just run too slow on this old machine. When I was windows based, tried they all. I have looked into some small ones you recommend on here, but they are not on a regular install. I've trashed and started  over to often. Like you say, if it ain't broke....

[bluzeo]

i been having issues with both... i been trying tryin to find an replacement for both

[Vera]

I too am not enjoying either of those browsers. I don't have those same performance issues with Firefox that you've described, but I'm not so happy with it for other reasons. Chrome I don't like because it shows thumbnails of 8 most-visited sites, and I'm opposed to my browser taking screenshots of the sites I visit. Not very privacy-oriented at all. (Yes, I know there are extensions that will remove those thumbnails, and I know I can browse in incognito mode, but I feel that on principle, the standard browser should not be making screenshots). I tried out Chromium too, but (not surprisingly) it was almost identical to Chrome.

So, I recently installed the Opera browser and I have been pretty happy with it, both performance-wise and privacy-wise. If you wish, you can specify most-visited sites manually, but (as far as I can tell from my limited experience with it), it won't try to display screenshots of where you've been. I've only been using Opera a short time, but from what I've seen it's a good alternative for those who aren't happy with Chrome and Firefox.

[Richard B]

I too got fed up with Firefox and Chrome/Chromium for various reasons (including privacy a script issues) and have been using Vivaldi for a while. Apart from changing the default search engine to DuckDuckGo I find it "does the job". It is rather slow loading (wait for it to load - don't click again!) but otherwise I am very happy - as is my daughter using it on Windows. Worth a look.

[smhardesty]

For you die hard Firefox users, let me suggest using SeaMonkey. It's a Mozilla browser, but has thousands fewer lines of code. It does get updates with regular security updates, but nothing like the constant updates you have with Firefox. It is fast, stable, and a real pleasant experience versus Firefox. I had used it a few years back and when Firefox started giving me the problems you guys are describing, I made the decision to switch to SeaMonkey and have never looked back.

If you decide to give it a try, but want a more familiar Firefox experience, then install the 'SeaFox' extension and the 'Classic Firefox theme for SeaMonkey'. The result is a very familiar Firefox version 3.X interface. The only hitch I've found by doing this is that the 'Find In This Page' search function doesn't work and I haven't found a work around yet. If it becomes absolutely imperative that I use that function I temporarily disable the 'SeaFox' extension and restart the browser. If you decide to try SeaMonkey, you can either download the tarball or add a repository to your software sources.

[banko]

I'd like to point out Opera was sold to a Chinese consortium a year or so ago and is not open source.
Draw your own conclusions.


Never being one for Firefox, I've always returned to Chrome or Chromium, but recently have tried *Brave browser* and *Vivaldi*
Both are excellent and are geared for security.
Brave is still in the early stages and is totally open source.
Vivaldi is built around being easily customised.


https://brave.com/
https://vivaldi.com/?lang=en


I now use Brave for about 95% of my browsing.
Both are worth a look.

[Ottawagrant]

Thinking of Firefox? Think again. Do you have a Windows 7/8.1/or 10 machine? Put Firefox & ccleaner on it. Now. . .Right click ccleaner, open as administrator. Tools < browser plugins < Firefox. Make sure you are sitting down, or someone is holding you up. There are 13 extentions & 2 plugin's installed that I'll bet you've never heard of, or knew about. Ready for the cryptic list? Here we go:
*Application update service helper *Click-to-play staged rollout 1.2  *click-to-play staged rollout 1.3 *Firefox screenshots *Follow-on search telemetry 0.9.1 *Follow-on search telemetry 0.9.3 *Multi-process staged rollout 2.0 *Multi-process staged rollout 2.05 * Photon onboarding *pocket *sheet recipe client *uBlock Origin (if you have it) *Web compat *Plugin (with no name #1.4.8.903 & its signed google) *Open H264 Video codec.
  Are any of these present in the Linux version of Firefox? I have no idea. But here's the worse part of it. Some of these extentions CAN NOT be uninstalled from Firefox. Wasn't that nice of them?

[TheDead]

I would like to use Midori more but it just crashes too much for me . So Firefox and Opera it is. I'll give Brave a try though.

[member=6960]Vera[/member]:
I used Opera since version 4 I think. And stopped using it at version 12, when then changed to use the same engine as Chrome.
I came back to Opera recently (on Windows at least) and had the Thumbnails from previous sites I visited by default, not cool! Have to click on the configuration button at the top right in the speed dial to disable "Suggested Sites".

[member=4446]banko[/member]:
Be it China or my own country, Governments spy on their people. I guess a fully "Libre"/open source browser would be a safer bet, maybe. Of using Tor... Scary stuff here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(sur...ce_program)

[member=5803]Ottawagrant[/member]:
I would strongly suggest you check your add-remove program list and also to a scan with the latest ADWCleaner from toolbit :
https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownl...dwcleaner/
You seem to have some weird plugins...

I just downloaded Firefox 55.0.3 x64 (on Windows because not at home) to check what you are saying.
Got it from here :www.firefox.com , green Download Firefox button.
It installed two Plugins : OpenH264 by Cisco and Widevine Content Decryption by Google. From the description, the two are video codecs.

Uninstalled and downloaded the Firefox 52.3 ESR x64 version from here :
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/or...tions/all/
It installed the same codecs on first run, but also detected my outdated Java 8 Update 77 and two Microsoft Office 2010 authorization and file editing plug-ins. Java and Office were in "Ask to Activate" by default.

Cheers!

-TheDead

[Artim]

I second the Seamonkey motion!  It replaces both Firefox and Thunderbird, yet is much lighter on resources and much faster than either one alone.  It's so lightweight that it's the default browser on several other Linux distros that aim to be "light" (Puppy, LXLE, others).  Yet it's very fully featured.  Very familiar to Firefox and Thunderbird users even without using the add-on to "make it look like Firefox."

SEAMONKEY IS NO LONGER A MOZILLA PROJECT (or else I wouldn't use it), it's just using Mozilla's name and hosting services for fundraising and stuff for now.  It's built from the old Netscape Internet Suite, now open-source, and while it shares a lot of code with the others, there is much less code, much less bloat, and much more speed!