Mozilla subscribes to the ‘user should know of and be asked for every single change’. Which is nice in theory, until they make an insane update schedule. Security patches should be installed automatically and invisibly and only major version numbers actually popping up for permission.
I switched to chrome long ago, and never knew it was secretly being updated in the background. Glad to learn that this is the case. It’s sad to see firefox getting so bogged down with crap… I used to love it!
The latest released Firefox is 6.0.2, so no, I doubt it’s updating invisibly. Unless it does minor updates that way.
I too am someone who bailed on Firefox recently. I was a stalwart supporter, but fuckit, the two most important things a browser can do are load fast and display pages quickly. Firefox does both of those things slower than everyone else.
That policy has changed. What was stupid was implementing the faster schedule before finishing that. But that’s what you get when management tells the coders what to do.
Indeed it does. I’m not sure at which point version they started doing it to 3.6, but I know it’s built into Firefox 6, and you will see it automatically upgrade not only to 6.02, but also 7.
And I’m having problems with 6 that I wasn’t having with 5, so I wonder if the faster coding is also leading to sloppier coding. I’m back to getting the freeze ups I used to get back in 3.5, albeit not as frequently. The ones that don’t seem to involve high processor usage, just the browser not responding.
I haven’t switched yet, but I agree that FF was, when it first came out, a godsend. I loved it. It was sooooooo much superior to IE that it wasn’t even a contest. Now, it just sucks. At least every other time I close it, some feature keeps running in the background and I have to go into Task Manager to end it.
I just ordered a new Mac, which I’ll be switching to later this week when it comes in. For you Mac users, any reason not to just use Safari?
Bailed on Firefox 3 years ago. Thought it was becoming a bloated mess then, can only imagine now. Tried Chrome and Safari in that order without ever getting a warm fuzzy. Had stability issues with both and Chrome like firefox was a lot of work to keep secure. Loved the tab management in Safari, but it was way to unstable on windows and I was constantly battling flash issues. Switched to Opera 14 months or so ago and nothing yet could make me go back. Easy tab controls, streamlined toolbar, easy javascript and flash handling and several other simple to use features out of the box.
None of the others quite have all the doohicky add-ons that firefox has available, but then again since dropping firefox I have had zero malware issues (with zero change in browsing habits). YMMV
Maybe I am looking at less Flash content than you, dunno. The only time I have trouble with Firefox (I’m using 3.6.22) is when I’ve had the computer on for days at a time without shutting down or restarting.
Well, I left Safari to go to Firefox because it kept hanging…
Flash content has nothing to do with Firefox, though. That’s Adobe and their Flash Player. Their crappy coding is why I rarely update Flash. 10.1 was the first and only time an upgrade was actually better. The only reason I’d upgraded in the past was because I had to.
To deal with Flash, Google actually had to start bundling it with Chrome, so they could actually fix it up where it wouldn’t have problems. I’m not sure how Opera pulls it off, but I’m guessing it’s because plugins don’t run in a separate program. This means fewer issues, but, when they do happen, they will take down the whole browser.
I am still a Firefox loyalist! But I also use PayPal so apparently I am a net noob or something.
Checking “About” today I see 3.6.24. So, Firefox has been updating without informing me …
And performance seems worse. Whereas I used to have crisp fast response from Firefox, now I get unresponsive periods of several seconds, especially immediately after startup but at other times as well.
I switched to Firefox at SDMB suggestion, so turn here for advice. Switch to Chrome? Upgrade to Firefox 99.9 or whatever it is? Abandon Internet altogether?
3.6.24? The current version is 8.0, so I don’t think it actually updated without informing you. Any chance you made a typo in that post 2 months ago?
Two reasons I use Firefox.
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Adblock
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It allows me to manage cookies the way I want. I get a notification and option to allow/disallow cookies froma a site, and the option to let that choice be permanent form that site.
Why Firefox is bugging me, repeated frequent pauses, they happen approximately every half hour and last 10-15 seconds.
I tried Chrome but couldn’t manage cookies the way I want. If the setting is available and someone could explain it to me I’d switch.
I didn’t research thoroughly but a quick Google leads me to suspect that 3.6.24 did not exist when I posted 2 months ago. It is not unusual for a company to maintain two tracks, e.g. updating 3.6 for people who, for whatever reason, do not choose to go 4+.
I was a huge fan of FireFox, although I have been using Chrome alongside all this time (I need to check my sites are running fine in every browser, plus I like Chrome). I have now mostly abandoned FireFox.
With the first mad rush of updates I was “Cool, there will be goodies” then “Things not working, let’s wait for the next update and it will be fixed” and finally “stop it with the updates! You are only making things worse!”. Then I bailed out. Chrome it is.
Safari sucks.
I’ve been a Firefox user for years and am thinking about switching due to a gigantic security hole I found the other day.
You know how Firefox will ask if you’d like to store a password? Well, if you go to options->security->saved passwords it will actually list the usernames and passwords it has stored.
That means if anyone potentially has 30 seconds of access to your computer, they can access a list of all the passwords you have saved. 5 clicks. I’ve counted.
Not sure who thought that would be a good idea.
I’m a longtime Firefox loyalist. I’ve been using it for years. I’m wondering now whether Opera or Chrome would be better options.
Didn’t you set a master password? If you did, then all the list displays is the sites and user names, but you have to enter the master password to see the passwords for the sites.
Yeah, it wasn’t to bad until the last update, when all my bookmarks got deleted, all my passwords got forgotten, and about a third of the websites I visit just won’t load anymore. I’m seriously considering switching to something else, but most of the other ones I’ve tried are just as bad.
ETA:
Can you tell me what the tweaks were?
I’m liking all the subjective experiences but based on some actual benchmarking, Firefox 7 (and now 8, which is slightly better) are not bad browsers. Actually, they’re doing pretty well with the last couple versions:
Also, displaying the passwords is NOT a “giantic security hole” and it’s pretty well known. You need physical access to your machine or remote access to your box to exploit this. The list is only as secure as your own box, and if that’s compromised, then a list of website passwords is rather the least of your worries. That, and at that point, the stored list of website passwords is recoverable from any browser, whether or not an ‘average’ user knows how to do it.