Observations on the March Browsers

Post by **spot** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:48 am

Firefox 4 might be out by the end of the month. Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 is out on Monday. We might like to compare and contrast what's new and what's impressive.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:17 pm

I'm running Firefox 3.6.15. Firefox has been my prefered browser for a few years but lately it seems it has a propensity to crash quite often. It might be just this version.

I had noticed the next Firefox was available in beta version. Is it completely new or does it function the same as this ? (as in the way Chrome looks and feels)

Post by **spot** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:04 pm

Snowfire;1355232 wrote: I'm running Firefox 3.6.15. Firefox has been my prefered browser for a few years but lately it seems it has a propensity to crash quite often. It might be just this version.You might like to check under Tools Addons and see what plugins and extensions you're running, one of those may well be the cause of the problem. You could disable most and see if it clears up, and then bring them back one a day. Plugin Check might help.

Checking mine (though it's the Linux flavour, you may have many differences for all I can tell) I've only two plugins, the default and Shockwave Flash. I dislike Flash, one day there'll be a practical alternative to it.

I've four extensions: the British Dictionary, Adblock Plus, FlashBlock and NoScript.

What do you have that I'm not running? Does turning them off make a difference to your crash rate?

I had noticed the next Firefox was available in beta version. Is it completely new or does it function the same as this ? (as in the way Chrome looks and feels)

I'm sure it'll look different. I did read the features list at Firefox 4 Beta Features but not a lot of it seemed constructive, at least in the short term. I can well imagine I'll be a month or two behind the rush to install it. What singles out a great program or operating system is that it doesn't get between you and what you're trying to do. I'm flexible but I'm not pointlessly excitable.

"Firefox 4 is ready to run the best web apps of both today and tomorrow" is all very well, but I'll carry on writing for yesterday's web if that's okay. It's more settled.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:42 pm

Snowfire;1355232 wrote: I'm running Firefox 3.6.15. Firefox has been my prefered browser for a few years but lately it seems it has a propensity to crash quite often. It might be just this version.

I had noticed the next Firefox was available in beta version. Is it completely new or does it function the same as this ? (as in the way Chrome looks and feels)

3.6.15 here and I cannot remember the last time it crashed

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:50 pm

The only extensions I have is the stumbleupon toolbar and DownThemAll, firefox's download manager. As for plugins, I have Shockwave Flash, Quiktime Flash, Mozilla default, Google update, Adobe Acrobat and Silverlight.

The Flash plugins are essential to watch the videos on the net, of which I do quite a bit, so I suppose they are a neccessary evil. Silverlight I downloaded as requested for one video so I reckon I could do without that. Google update ?

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:52 pm

Bryn Mawr;1355245 wrote: 3.6.15 here and I cannot remember the last time it crashed

Hasn't crashed at all today and I've been on it since early this morning on and off. 2 days ago it crashed several times in a few hours. It has it moments.

Post by **spot** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:11 pm

Acrobat is utterly evil, I've never seen a package waste more computer resource to less purpose. Foxit is a lightweight replacement with greater functionality.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:31 pm

Has no body tried Pale Moon, Firefox stripped down apparently.

I use FF 3.6.15. with several add ons, best of which is Adblock plus, never see an advert anymore.

Post by **spot** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:57 pm

Bruv;1355259 wrote: Has no body tried Pale Moon, Firefox stripped down apparently.The dogs - I just went and looked at their website. They proudly announce that "it will not run on PCs that are particularly old by today's standards" and then have the nerve to list my processor. It's a perfectly good processor, it's behaved impeccably for the last nine years and it'll run for several more, long enough to see me out anyway. And I've stopped buying new socks on the same basis.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:05 pm

Amen to that Spot I'm going to give FOXIT a try thanks..

Acrobat is utterly evil, I've never seen a package waste more computer resource to less purpose. Foxit is a lightweight replacement with greater functionality.

Post by **spot** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:05 pm

Firefox 4 RC is the first release candidate if anyone wants to hop on board a couple of weeks early.

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:28 pm

l have been quite satisfied with Google Chrome although sometimes I will have to switch over to Explorer to receive certain data.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:48 am

Mine was crashing but I got a report stating the skype extension for firefox caused problems since I've rfemoved that it's been OK.

Anyone heard of sansasecurity? Apparently it;'s malware but no one seems to really know exactly what it is and how to get rid of it

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:53 am

Have you ever installed one of those USB mp3 player things?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:58 am

CARLA;1355268 wrote: Amen to that Spot I'm going to give FOXIT a try thanks..It's not just the inefficiency, it's that IMHO there's no internet-facing Adobe product whose primary purpose falls short of tracking your every move and telling every passing client advertiser all about it. I am repulsed by the very notion of the Adobe Flash "cookie" backdoor refresh of material you've very deliberately excluded on your main browser. The idea that I'd ever give Adobe money is ludicrous. What I store on my computer should be transparent to me and under my control. Adobe disagrees with that philosophy and continually seeks to undermine it.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:36 am

spot;1355263 wrote: The dogs -

Is your use of the term 'The dogs' different to mine ?

I have always used it to mean 'the best' ?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:02 am

Bruv;1355318 wrote: Is your use of the term 'The dogs' different to mine ?

I have always used it to mean 'the best' ?
Good lord no. More along the lines of "vile brutes". Dogs don't rate highly on my list of worthwhile inventions.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:25 am

spot;1355313 wrote: Have you ever installed one of those USB mp3 player things?

I haven't but my wife did. Should I take it off?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:34 am

gmc;1355323 wrote: I haven't but my wife did. Should I take it off?

It might account for the "sansa" software. If she's using it then there's a reason for it being there. If she's not then there isn't. Does the "control panel" "remove programs" not mention it?

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:48 am

Pretty much the reason Apple won't allow "Flash" to run on their devices. Many time I wish my IPHONE did have flash then I think about it.

It's not just the inefficiency, it's that IMHO there's no internet-facing Adobe product whose primary purpose falls short of tracking your every move and telling every passing client advertiser all about it. I am repulsed by the very notion of the Adobe Flash "cookie" backdoor refresh of material you've very deliberately excluded on your main browser. The idea that I'd ever give Adobe money is ludicrous. What I store on my computer should be transparent to me and under my control. Adobe disagrees with that philosophy and continually seeks to undermine it.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:00 am

spot;1355325 wrote: It might account for the "sansa" software. If she's using it then there's a reason for it being there. If she's not then there isn't. Does the "control panel" "remove programs" not mention it?

It does, I would remove it if I thought it was the source of what is at best an irritation. Do you know of an issue with it?

Post by **spot** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:06 am

None in the least, but I do remove software if I'm not using it. I also do a fresh operating system install from scratch at least once a year too.

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:07 am

Firefox 4 goes live on the 22nd, I think, which is next Tuesday.

Has anyone installed IE9 yet? There's an IE9 Microsoft blog keeping track of the download rate.

It's an odd choice they've made. Microsoft refuse to release IE9 for anyone else's operating system, so if you want to use it you have to have Vista or Windows 7 installed. They refuse to allow it to run on XP, so it's only experienced on new hardware. They seem to be deliberately reducing their own market share, it's a suicidal policy, I've no idea what they hope to gain from it.

Post by **spot** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:55 am

It's still on for tomorrow, allegedly. I put the Release Candidate onto my lad's netbook just to see what it looked like. A bit of a mush but then I always think that about any changed UI to begin with so maybe it'll be fine. One can think back and bring all the previous major releases of browsers to mind from day 1, there's not many of them. And here we are with two side-by-side.

Has anyone seen IE9 yet?

Post by **spot** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:35 am

And it's out... http://glow.mozilla.com

1.3 million downloads and counting. Of which 835 have been to Bristol, UK - they're very locatable if you click the planet icon and drill in. That's more than the whole of Delaware.