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Browser Wars

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Browser Wars

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from JoeUser Forums

I have several browsers on my desktop.  I have XP at home (bought 3 years ago - BEFORE 7, and did not want Vista) so IE9 is not an option (work is Vista - I was right in my home purchase).  So I am using IE8 both at home and work.  When I use IE.  I have Firefox which is my browser of choice, Opera, Safari, and Chrome.

I know many will disagree with me, and that is fine, but my experiences show that no one is winning, just some are losing slower.

Opera is fine if all you want to do is read the news.  It is relatively fast, and clean.  for a quick hit, I like it, but seldom use it.

Safari is for Mac users.  Nothing wrong with the windows version - just not a lot right (like add ons and such).  It has not given me a reason to switch to it as a primary browser - or even secondary.  As such, I do not hate it, just do not use it.

Chrome is not fast.  I wonder if the FCC will nab them for false advertising.  Doubtful since it is free.  but the lack of speed has turned me off to it.  Like Opera, I use it on occasion, but it is not on the top of my browser list.

IE is fast launching.  It is also the browser of last resort (when the Stardock forums mess up, or a web page will not display correctly in other browsers, IE will work).  But it is not fast surfing.  And has one idiosyncrasy (actually 2) that I hate.

#1: when closing multiple tabs and windows, and saving them, relaunching IE brings them all up in one window.  Why? (Did 9 fix that?)

#2: More often than not, when closing said tabs, IE will "crash" and then open all the windows again - without asking.

#3 (well, I mis-counted) Windows does not recover from a non-shutdown crash with all tabs.

But on the good side, of my top 2 browsers, it is by far the most frugal with memory (I never thought I would say that!).  I had 2 windows and 12 tabs open the other day, and it was using only 100mb of memory (ONLY!!!!!  God we have come far).

Firefox is my browser of first choice.  I like the thousands of Add Ons I can choose to add (or not), the ease at which I can enable or disable them, and the fast browsing.  But it is not perfect.

#1: It is slow to launch - especially if there is an update.  But even without an update, it will take about 5 minutes where IE takes about 1.

#2: it is a memory HOG!  Same day, I also had Firefox up with 6 tabs open, one window.  It was pegging 500mb!  I frequently have to crash the browser as once it gets over 500mb (one system has 2gb the other has 4gb of memory so it does not appear to matter how much total memory there is), it dogs it.  But the crashing leads to the reason it is my main browser - namely:

#1: When you shut it down, and then relaunch, it does not open the Home pages PLUS the saved tabs (IE does thatt - and I have 3 home pages so it really clutters things up).

#2: When you crash it (or it does it to itself - it does not crash often), it will open the previous tabs in their respective windows - not all in one.  Often when IE crashes, your tabs are gone.

#3 - and the biggest reason I prefer it - it is not IE!  In that I mean you avoid the bugs that the script kiddies and malware authors love to exploit in IE (should Firefox become #1, I am sure they will target it and I will probably change my main browser).

But that brings up another thing that is not good about Firefox (version 3.x.x).  It does not allow you to "save" tabs when you have multiple windows open until you close the last one.  Unless you crash it.

Still, with all its faults (well not so many, just aggravating), Firefox is my browser of choice. 

Now before someone gets to calling me stupid for missing something obvious on a setting, I will admit that while I have poked around in the options, I am not an expert at them.  So if you know a setting that can ease my gripes about either IE or Firefox, I will be happy to hear them!  Or if you want to tout the wonders of another browser, tell me why it is your favorite.  I am not a browser snob.  I just want a tool that I do not have to crash periodically (Firefox) - or that crashes on me (IE).

450,614 views 206 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DisturbedComputer, reply 21

DC, Pale Moon in firefox specially designed for windows OS. Runs even faster.
Doc do you know if it has a Plug-in for Robo Form ? 

I use ridiculously Long passwords with both Aa 19 #@ and NO words I MAKE it VERY hard for those A- holes to Crack my PW's 

still will give it a go just want to know?

 

Thanks
yes same as fire fox I USE FIRE FOX  EX $ PLUG INS 

OPERA 11  too and  IE 9 on standby for those wed pages that use it only. you done it again doc.

Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DisturbedComputer, reply 21
DC, Pale Moon in firefox specially designed for windows OS. Runs even faster.

Doc do you know if it has a Plug-in for Robo Form ? 

I use ridiculously Long passwords with both Aa 19 #@ and NO words I MAKE it VERY hard for those A- holes to Crack my PW's 

still will give it a go just want to know?

 

Thanks

Prob w/roboform, DC  http://www.palemoon.org/troubleshooting.shtml 

TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Uvah, reply 16
About saving tabs in Firefox. Whenever I have multiple tabs open and go to close the browser a dialogue box opens and asks me if I want to save the open tabs or quit. I click save and then vlose it. When I open it again all the tabs are there. Never had a problem with any version as far as that is concerned.

My problem is when I have multiple Firefox Windows open.  The only way to get FF to remember all the tabs in all the windows is to kill the process.

Quoting Uvah, reply 16
Opera and it is quick. Loads about five to ten seconds faster than Firefox which loads pretty fast. The only thing I don't like about it is that I keep forgetting you can't upload anything with it so I wind up switching to FF to upload. I don't know of any add-ons for Opera that do that. As for the others. No Chrome or Safari. Never tried Pale Moon.

Interesting about Opera!  I was not aware of that.  Uploads are not frequent, but if you think about it, attachments to webmail and such are a critical requirement.  I guess Opera may be best suited for just reading news sites.

Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 17
My girlfriend swears by Opera, it is great if you want to manage your email and feeds all in one place. I used Opera until Chrome came out. Chrome seems to do well with everything except Stardock's forums. I also use Flock - essentially a Chrome mod - because I like the sidebar for my twitter feeds.

Flock?  Pale Moon?  Seems I am getting a bunch of good suggestions!  Thanks, anther one to try!

Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting DisturbedComputer, reply 19

Right Click on the tab then Bookmark this Tab?

is this what you want?

No.  When I am researching a problem, I will have one window open with the web interface to the devices, and another window open with the searched sites.  If I have to shut down for a reason (my computer has gotten slow and needs a high colonic), the only way I can recover all the tabs in all the windows in FF is to kill the process (there will be only one).  In that it is better than IE since when I start it back up, I get 2 windows with the respective tabs.  IE however gives me one window with all the tabs (and 3 or more processes - what gives with that???)


Quoting DisturbedComputer, reply 19

I would say turn off your add-on's one or more is doing it then turn them on one by one to see when FF loads slow.,.

or

uninstall FF and re-install it if you do remember to back up your Bookmarks first..

I will try the latter.  I keep most of my addons disabled until I need to use them.

Quoting DisturbedComputer, reply 19

I can open 30 plus tabs in FF without taking a hit on speed (no not the drug speed) IE open 4 tabs no it freezes on me oh and that's with Videos loading in FF

I have noticed that as well.  I get a bit more than 4 tabs in IE, but yea, FF does not care on the tabs, IE sure does.

Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top

Gads I hope I don't end up running 3 browsers (IE, Pale Moon, and Opera). I'll need an app to keep the bookmarks sync'd up.

That would be a best seller!  IE is not great about getting bookmarks, so I usually bookmark everything in IE, and then import into FF and Safari (the only 2 where I "browse" - the others are just used for one up sites).

Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting StevenAus, reply 23
Have you tried LastPass for passwords?  It is free and works on all browsers AFAIK.  It also only uses a data "blob" of your username and password (hashed I think) so they can't even be forced to give up your details.  There was a tech review of LastPass by someone or other, and basically they couldn't find anything wrong with it.  It apparently works on all browsers and devices, has a free multifactor authentication (essentially a battleship grid) and you can save a local copy of your master password and all the passwords contained within, just in the unlikely case that the LastPass service closes down suddenly.  It can even import from tons of other password management programs (with their password of course), including RoboForm.  Give it a try, it's great.

Best regards,
Steven.

Will try that one as well!  Thanks for the tip!

 

Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I must admit im one of those IE users.
I use it as my standard browser- simply because its fast and reliable.
And because of one reason, its not stuffed with add-on junk- the only add-ons i use Shockwave Flash, Java runtime plugin, and since IE8 i use Bingbar.
That’s it, no searchbars and so on-why ? because you don’t need them and they slow everything down.

I have seen many folks open their explorer and half of the monitor is clustered with searchbars weird smiley buttons and so on, I even seen someone browsing that had to hide his taskbar just to be properly able read the rest of the page lol.

IF my IE doesn’t work on some pages that might be true i start mozillaFF
But that’s up to like 4-times a month.

Since IE9 i rarely use Firefox.. But since IE9 isn’t final yet that’s ok they have changed a lot and you can definitely feel that it has a bit more torque to it.

Therefore i dont see any war between the browsers: IE has been standard for many folks over the past decade and was always very useful but it was simply never really updated. It was left behind so someday Mozilla came up with the FF and of course it was up to date.
opera and the others always tried to compete but to be honest in my eyes its even more ridiculous than the myth about David vs Goliath. Opera Chrome Netscape and so on will not be able to compete with IE and FF in my eyes.
Netscape is good but its only good on mac lol. Chrome never used it but they say its fast…I use Google I don’t need chrome…

IE and Mozilla are the browsers monopoles and i bet they always will be simply because they have their name and because millions of people use them every day.
And Propaganda makes it possible that it will surely not change that fast.

The whole thing about who is the best is simply made to attract attention to the new product.
That’s IE9.
The statistics are just to compare who has the biggest on the table and I think for the company’s its more a fun thing since its already clear if you review the tests.

Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top

But since IE9 isn't final yet that’s ok they have changed a lot and you can definitely feel that it has a bit more torque to it. 

finial came out last week

Reply #35 from Elemental Forums Top

My browser of choice is Opera.  i haven't had the crashes others describe.  My email, and forum browsing is handled well.  And, it also handles streaming hulu TV to my PC fine.  Best of all, the malware manufacturers still focus on IE.  

Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top

DR GUY ,I RUN FOUR BROWSERS  (SILKSCREEN,  OPERA,  PALE MOON, IE 9, ) have no hassles you can try slim browser  witch is fast too

Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top

For me, the most important attributes of a browser are speed and security.

I can't test security and can only go by what I read on the web...........and if the stories are correct.........Safari is out.

I have an XP laptop which I use all the time with just IE8..........so yesterday I tried a few other browsers and just viewed them from the point of speed loading of webpages..........and boy! was I surprised with the results compared with IE8.

Chrome was out of this world..............It's come a long way and it left IE8 standing............Now my browser of choice on XP. Google is not my favorite animal and I usually avoid anything Google, like the plague. But I gotta hand it to them.

Opera was most probably second just ahead of IE8.

FF..............Never be impressed with FF............and I tried to put all my previous misgivings away in a box to give it an unprejudiced chance.........but it performed like a pig.............and went in the bin, again.

|-)

 

Reply #38 from Elemental Forums Top

Well, there is Pale Moon, which is based on Firefox (and supports most of its add-ons) but is a huge amount faster.

Best regards,
Steven.

Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top

One thing... The "No winners"? - ie9 x64 is a major loser.

Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Doc, I'm using IE 9 on Windows 7 64 bit and not having problems.  I will admit thought that I am not a person that you would call a 'power user'. :sun:

Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Here you are IE one thru 9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5QqYVurImY

Reply #42 from JoeUser Forums Top

And because of one reason, its not stuffed with add-on junk- the only add-ons i use Shockwave Flash, Java runtime plugin, and since IE8 i use Bingbar.

Rolocolor, you brought up some good reasons for IE.  Alas this one (Bingbar) is not one that I would agree with.  I hate any tool bar, no matter the reason for its existence (I love Bing, just not the bar).

The main reason I do not like to use IE is the security issue.  I know all have security issues, but IE is the one targeted by the crackers most often.  But as you correctly point out - if you are willing to live with that risk, IE will usually work everywhere and everywhen.

Reply #43 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting ElanaAhova, reply 35
My browser of choice is Opera.  i haven't had the crashes others describe.  My email, and forum browsing is handled well.  And, it also handles streaming hulu TV to my PC fine.  Best of all, the malware manufacturers still focus on IE.  

The best reason to use a browser is if it handles your main occupation well - in your case Hulu.  I have not gotten into that yet, but since I have Opera, I will try it with that (we have one of those internet DVD players, so the streaming is probably moot since we can get it on the big screen).

Quoting captinmoonlight, reply 36
DR GUY ,I RUN FOUR BROWSERS  (SILKSCREEN,  OPERA,  PALE MOON, IE 9, ) have no hassles you can try slim browser  witch is fast too

The name is Slim Browser?  Now that is a name!  That one goes in my "check it out list".  Than ks captin.

 

Reply #44 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Leo, reply 37
Chrome was out of this world..............It's come a long way and it left IE8 standing............Now my browser of choice on XP. Google is not my favorite animal and I usually avoid anything Google, like the plague. But I gotta hand it to them.

I am going to have to give Chrome another look.  I will uninstall it, clean the system and reinstall and see if it improves.

Quoting StevenAus, reply 38
Well, there is Pale Moon, which is based on Firefox (and supports most of its add-ons) but is a huge amount faster.

Best regards,
Steven.

I have Pale Moon on my todo list since Doc suggested it.  If faster, it will replace FF since it uses the same add ons.

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 39
One thing... The "No winners"? - ie9 x64 is a major loser.

Well - my wife has 64bit, I am still on 32 bit.  SO they have time to get it working better.

 

Reply #46 from JoeUser Forums Top

I group my tabs by theme, so at times I will have 2 or 3 windows open each with multiple tabs. If I go to close one of the windows it does not give me the option of saving the tabs (IE does). It is only when the last window is closed do I get the option.

Interesting, I don't know if you use Firefox 3 or 4 but in 3 I can have Firefox ask me if I want to save the current tabs before closing. This was removed from Firefox 4, to be honest I didn't quite understand the reason. Something about some people didn't like it or something. Makes no sense to me, go figure. All I know is I want it back and if someone can create an add-on to do just that I would be grateful.

Reply #47 from Elemental Forums Top

I've been using Opera since I got a dedicated internet connection. It's had it's ups and downs, sharp computability drop after version 10.10(or .20), got a lot better afterwards. The previous build(not the current beta) is stable and reliable. The current beta for 11.11 has a bunch of computability issues with websites.

What I like most about Opera is the keyboard commands, it makes everything a lot faster. I use it a lot for work, and trust me when I say, that if you ever work with an in browser database, Opera trumps everything when it comes to quick and accurate data entry. Something that would take 3 hours on Firefox took only one hour on Opera. Gotta love that keyboard support. 

And it's got the best proxy service around, Opera Speed Dial, acts as a proxy and speeds up stuff. Great for internet connections where anything linking to facebook causes loading to stall, because for some reason, the loading priority for most websites is pointless socialization stuff first, content last. The widgets are also fun, but I generally forget to load them when I need them. They should make them more visible, but then again, the Opera interface is so clean, I wouldn't mind if they kept it this way. It's not jam-packed with all sorts of bars and buttons, you'll never get nagged to "install our search bar" for Opera. Also, viruses. A while ago someone posted a script on a forum I used to frequent. Anyone who had Firefox or IE would have their computer shut down because of the script posted there, if it wasn't detected by an antivirus. Opera looked at it, said "Do you think I'm stupid", and ignored it.

Also, speed dial is the way of the future, bookmarks are dead :rofl:

 Much like tabbed browsing, I'm fairly certain you'll be seeing it in other browsers in the coming years.

Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Firefox has speed dial as an add-on. The only one I use. Every once in a while I try IE9 but ... no go. It still will not open a web page. Why would it work almost flawlessly for some but real shitty for others. Go figure.

Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top

That would be a best seller! IE is not great about getting bookmarks, so I usually bookmark everything in IE, and then import into FF and Safari (the only 2 where I "browse" - the others are just used for one up sites).

Try Xmarks....works great. LINK

Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Went into windows features and disabled IE9. Even after I tried putting WC in with trusted sites.