Web Browsers and You

[Rifraf]

So I thought I'd start another one of these to gauge people's opinions. For your web browsing which program do you like to use IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or Safari? Do you value speed over security or features over stability? Are there others I've neglected to mention?

Cabal, you mentioned in another thread you use Linux for web browsing. Is that generally all you use it for?

I had always used IE over the years and then a year or two ago I switched to Firefox. It seemed there was always an update in IE for security vulnerabilities and I just got tired of it. I like Firefox and how it's laid out. The update schedule seems consistent and it's not always security problems every other day.

I've never actually tried another browser besides IE and Firefox so not sure how some of the others perform. From what I'm reading the latest IE 11 is much better and secure than it used to be. So I was just curious as to what others were using and how you like them.

 

[kjc733]

Browsers... this could be an interesting thread.

So like everyone else I started with IE, but because people always say that its worst security wise (and because MS wont stop fiddling with it!!!) I moved on. Next up was Firefox, which seemed good, until about version 6 at which point it became a resource hog. As I'm on laptops I prefer low resource users, and whilst I liked the Firefox interface it just started lagging horribly. Annoyingly a lot of the bloat seemed to do with addons etc, none of which I used anyway (aside from adblocker).
From there I moved to Opera, which worked great. Never had any problems with it... until they updated to version 10... at which point it would continuously lock up.
In my hunt for a new, low resource browser I came across Pale Moon, which is Firefox but with some of the bloat removed and optimised for more modern hardware (i.e. by removing legacy support they cut some of the bloat). However being basically Firefox it still works with (many of) the addons.
Pale Moon is my current browser, it's not perfect, sometimes it has issues with Firefox updates but it works well enough for me. What sold it to me was when I was going through the tedious process of copying favourites - the Opera favourites weren't recognised so I had to do them one at a time. In the time taken for Opera to open a website I had copied the link into Pale Moon, finished opening the site and saved it as a favourite. It was a very interesting test to do this with youtube videos.

I've installed both Pale Moon and Opera on my Mums laptop, she uses one or the other depending on which has the update bugs at the time.

I wont touch Chrome because its a resource hog. As for IE, it still opens sometimes. When it works (and when it works with a website) it works fast, but its hit and miss and sometimes just locks up. As an aside, we still use IE6 at work...!!!

 

[CABAL]

I use Chrome. I used to use Firefox, but one of my old computers started having performance issues with it and Chrome ran smoother. There aren't many differences now in terms of features and performance as far as I can tell but I keep using Chrome out of habit and familiarity.

I tried Opera at one point but the ancient computer I had at the time barely ran it.

I only use IE to download Chrome after installing Windows. I still download the security updates, though.

I vaguely remember using Netscape Navigator as a kid. My dad had it and I think one of my schools had it on their computers.

Cabal, you mentioned in another thread you use Linux for web browsing. Is that generally all you use it for?

Linux (Ubuntu, specifically) is actually my primary OS, with Windows mostly as a sort of compatibility mode. Wine lets me run most Windows programs at a decent speed. Those that don't run or don't run well enough I install to Windows. FO, for example, but also Morrowind, Civilization 4, and a few others. So long as I'm not running a Windows version of a browser or an infected Windows program via Wine, I'm not susceptible to the vast majority of viruses. The ones that specifically attack the Windows system files would only kill the Wine install anyway, and that can be fixed in minutes.

 

[Zelph]

I prefer to use Chrome these days. I had used Firefox since '06, but it seemed to crash more and more as time went on.

 

[Majestic]

I use Chrome, I used to use Firefox until something happened and I couldn't use it, even after a fresh system re-install. I tried going back but I couldn't adapt to it after Chrome. Chrome I haven't found to be a resource hog unlike other browsers especially Opera.

I like how with Chrome it sinks to your online account meaning all your bookmarks, addons etc are saved meaning very little work when changing PC's. Plus it's easy to use and I test MSFC in it when updating.

 

[USS_Excalibur]

I'll give you the good, bad, and ugly of each:

IE:
- Most widely used web browser
- Guaranteed to be supported
- Most frequently targeted by cyber attacks
- Well Known Security holes

Firefox:
- Many features and means of expansion
- Open Source (meaning everyone who can read code can know its holes)
- Many malicious webpages targeted specifically at Firefox

Chrome:
- Many features and expansions (like Firefox)
- Not as common but still among the top 5 targeted web browsers

Safari:
- No Flash Player
- Apple gets copies of all your web browsing in real time
- Apple can shut off access to Safari (and your apple OS) according to the OS EULA.
- Over simplified (not good if you care for making security settings)

Opera:
- Relatively few users
- Seldom targeted by attack pages specifically
- Can compress your stream to minimize impact on bandwidth on slower connections (a built in feature)
- Some variety of add-ons
- Options to send in Pseudo Browser IDs to project yourself to the server as using IE, Mozilla, Chrome, etc.
- Some sites don't fully support Opera when using scripts

In my personal preference, I use Mozilla and Opera, Google Chrome I only use for Gmail (since I have multiple gmails)

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I am glad I am not the only one that remember Netscape Navigator, hehehe.

As for me, I use IE and Mozilla. I have most of my bookmarks in IE . But I use Mozilla like when I come here to MSFC .