# I need a new browser **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444 "2011-07-09T21:17:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/1 "2011-07-09T21:17:54Z")
I’m fed up with Firefox. I have 5.0, and it freezes up, and I can’t even kill it using the Windows Task manager. plugin-container.exe seems to be the offending part, but neither that, nor firefox.exe can be killed. Eventually, my whole system freezes up. I went to use Google Chrome instead, but you can’t even fucking _download_ it with Javascript turned off. I have javascript turned off for several sites, including Google, that do too much crap with javascript. I don’t want a browser that’s going to make me use javascript all the time. So what other options are there that are any good? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/2 "2011-07-09T21:39:48Z")
i find my older version of Opera has stability. i haven’t tried recent versions and it is not my main or preferred browser. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/3 "2011-07-09T21:45:49Z")
you can turn javascript off in chrome. Go to options -\> under the hood -\> content settings then pick “Do not allow any site to run JavaScript” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/4 "2011-07-09T22:02:31Z")
You may want to try reinstalling Firefox. Most slowdowns and crashes are not caused by the software itself, but by your profile getting corrupted. If you told it to delete your User information when you uninstalled, that should fix the problem. Then you can use NoScript with Firefox to handle the JavaScript problem. As far as I know, no other browser will allow you to enable and disable JavaScript on the fly on a per-site basis. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/5 "2011-07-09T22:04:23Z")
> [@badlyburnttoast](#): > > you can turn javascript off in chrome. > > Go to options -\> under the hood -\> content settings then pick “Do not allow any site to run JavaScript” I’m trying Chrome right now. I downloaded it from [cnet.com](http://cnet.com). In Firefox, I used the YesScript plugin, which let me turn off Javascript for specific websites. It’s just a few that abuse it, and generally, they become decent sites once it’s off. From that location, Manage Exceptions seems like it will do the same. Great! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![AntiCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a587f6/32.png) [@AntiCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntiCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/6 "2011-07-09T22:23:56Z")
Forget Chrome and go with Chromium. Chrome is an open sourced browser but Google puts all sorts of crap on it. Like making you put it on your C-Drive Go to: [http://www.chromium.org/](http://www.chromium.org/) I found this to be just like Chrome. I’m sure there are some minor differences but I didn’t notice any, and I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/7 "2011-07-10T03:30:11Z")
One vote for Seamonkey. It’s got most of the good stuff about Firefox, but IMHO it works a lot faster. Adblock and Noscript both run well in it, plus if you used Netscape back when that was a thing, the UI will be eerily similar. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/8 "2011-07-10T03:33:36Z")
> [@AnitCoyote](#): > > Forget Chrome and go with Chromium. I go to your link, but it offers me to download Google Chrome. If I go to the Chromium link, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to download it unless I want to build it myself. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/9 "2011-07-10T03:40:08Z")
why not go back to Firefox 3 or some other older, better version? Here is a full list of them available to download [http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php](http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php) It’s not surprising when Microsoft products go down the Indian hill in time into unusability, but here we have “et tu, Firefox”. Even an American open source project manages to deteriorate nowadays :eek: ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/10 "2011-07-10T03:46:09Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I go to your link, but it offers me to download Google Chrome. If I go to the Chromium link, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to download it unless I want to build it myself. Hey, you’re the one with the overly-limiting browser requirements… ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/11 "2011-07-10T10:41:24Z")
I love [opera](http://www.opera.com) – using it to read and post this right now. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/12 "2011-07-10T11:04:12Z")
FF5 works very well indeed on Linux. The problem here seems to be Microsoft, not Firefox. I dual boot Linux/Windows, but I don’t use Windows for online activities any more, there’s no point. ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/13 "2011-07-10T12:25:49Z")
Well you know about Firefox, Chromium, Chrome, and Opera has already been mentioned. So I can just mention the other browser I’ve used occasionally. [Midori](http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html) ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/14 "2011-07-10T21:39:55Z")
I was an Opera and Firefox user for years, but I’m addicted to Chrome for one major reason: effortless bookmark and extension syncing. I change computers a lot. Chrome makes it magically easy to move from one to another; just log in and my customizations pop up within a minute or two. Opera is wonderful out of box, but it lacks support for a few things I really like, like AdBlock and some features of SpringPad (an online notepad / organizer). Opera’s interface is a small step ahead of Chrome, in my book, and I miss some baked-in features, but Chrome is too darn good to go back to Opera yet. Firefox is just a little unwieldy and (afaik) doesn’t support elegant syncing of extensions. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/15 "2011-07-10T21:49:19Z")
How about [Pale Moon](http://www.palemoon.org/)? ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/16 "2011-07-11T16:46:42Z")
Firefox 6.0 beta is out; works for me, might work for you. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/17 "2011-07-11T16:54:30Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > why not go back to Firefox 3 or some other older, better version? Here is a full list of them available to download [http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php](http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php) Because no-one needs security patches :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/18 "2011-07-11T16:57:41Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > FF5 works very well indeed on Linux. The problem here seems to be Microsoft, not Firefox. Microsoft didn’t write the Windows version of FF. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/19 "2011-07-11T20:28:34Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > One vote for Seamonkey. It’s got most of the good stuff about Firefox, but IMHO it works a lot faster. Adblock and Noscript both run well in it, plus if you used Netscape back when that was a thing, the UI will be eerily similar. I’m using Seamonkey right now. I actually like Chrome better, but it is a bit of a pig on a 1gb XP Nettop. I still use Chrome on computers with 2gb and up. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-browser/588444/20 "2011-07-11T20:29:02Z")
> [@J\_Cubed](#): > > Hey, you’re the one with the overly-limiting browser requirements… _twitches_ Must…resist…link to…Lynx…_twitch_