# Which is your preferred browser? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2010, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463 "2010-06-25T07:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/21 "2010-06-25T19:33:05Z")
Firefox, but pretty much only because I need the add-ons. Otherwise I find it slow and not all that great, and it pisses me off because it takes forever to really shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/22 "2010-06-25T19:38:02Z")
You can just install all three browsers. You don’t need different accounts. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/23 "2010-06-25T19:40:56Z")
Just as a side hijack, this thread is the best example I’ve ever seen of why you can’t trust self-selected polling: Note that the [real world](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/october-2009-browser-stats-firefox-finally-passes-ie6.ars) numbers don’t look anything like the poll here. I don’t have any real point (I doubt there’s any moral high ground to be gained or lost by browser choice), just thought it was interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/24 "2010-06-25T19:46:47Z")
Firefox, partially because that is the one we have at work, and it isn’t bad. I’ve found it has gotten better - I used to have all sorts of issues with the Dope, but they’ve all gone away now. I should try Chrome at some point, but I have lots of inertia. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/25 "2010-06-25T19:49:04Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Just as a side hijack, this thread is the best example I’ve ever seen of why you can’t trust self-selected polling: Note that the [real world](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/october-2009-browser-stats-firefox-finally-passes-ie6.ars) numbers don’t look anything like the poll here. > > I don’t have any real point (I doubt there’s any moral high ground to be gained or lost by browser choice), just thought it was interesting. Redmond, huh? 😃 I’m not at all surprised that Firefox leads here, not from self selection but from the fact that people who don’t accept default software and are more comfortable with their computers tend to use it (or Chrome or Opera) in higher numbers than the public at large. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/26 "2010-06-25T20:58:17Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Just as a side hijack, this thread is the best example I’ve ever seen of why you can’t trust self-selected polling: Note that the [real world](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/october-2009-browser-stats-firefox-finally-passes-ie6.ars) numbers don’t look anything like the poll here. > > I don’t have any real point (I doubt there’s any moral high ground to be gained or lost by browser choice), just thought it was interesting. I think the people that use IE don’t know what a “browser” is. That’s been my technical support experience. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/27 "2010-06-25T21:14:14Z")
I’m completely satisfied with Firefox. For a few weeks I couldn’t get sound to work but the last update yesterday fixed that. I do wonder if they’ve updated that IE plug-in. I liked having that but it wasn’t compatible with my last FF update. ---
**Author:** ![eno801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/28 "2010-06-25T21:40:01Z")
opera been using it since it was still pay to use. Firefox is too slow. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/29 "2010-06-25T22:08:20Z")
Firefox, and with the [Littlefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/307/) theme to streamline the visual footprint. I’ve haven’t noticed a slowdown with it in years, and with 6 GB RAM don’t expect to anytime soon. How large is the add-on library for Chrome? Is there an app out there that will examine those I have installed for FF and recommend a Chrome equivalent? That would make trying it out a lot more attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/30 "2010-06-25T22:58:20Z")
You want [K-Meleon](http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/). This this rocks. Talk about lightweight and fast. Like Firefox, K-Meleon is based on Mozilla’s engine so they are similar. If you like Firefox but found it’s getting to weighted down, switch to K-Meleon. I don’t know why this hasn’t taken off. Every time I install it on a computer, people love it and never want to use anything else. It’s especially nice if your a bit of a computer geek as you can write your own macros for it ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/31 "2010-06-25T23:07:32Z")
Question for those who say they find _x_, _y_, or _z_ browser is slow. What does that mean? The only slowdowns I’ve experienced is when tabbed browsing was new and I had an older machine–keeping too many tabs open at once used to have an impact, but that was the machine’s weakness, not the browser’s. Or is it that one browser could handle the same number of open tabs faster than another? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/32 "2010-06-26T02:00:52Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Firefox, and with the [Littlefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/307/) theme to streamline the visual footprint. I use Littlefox too, and I use TabMix Plus to put my tabs at the bottom of the browser, so whenever I have to use another browser and those two design features are not present, it really bothers me, a lot. So I stay with Firefox, and hope the niggles will go away with each new version. And for the most part they do. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/33 "2010-06-26T02:09:57Z")
Not voting because I use Explorer at work, formerly used Safari at home, and now use Firefox at home, and they are all just fine and dandy. I really don’t see much of a difference at all (although I like that screen in Safari where it shows the front pages of all the sites you’ve been too recently). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/34 "2010-06-26T02:12:10Z")
Chrome. Firefox is really the new IE: slow and crash prone. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/35 "2010-06-26T02:16:32Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Question for those who say they find _x_, _y_, or _z_ browser is slow. What does that mean? The only slowdowns I’ve experienced is when tabbed browsing was new and I had an older machine–keeping too many tabs open at once used to have an impact, but that was the machine’s weakness, not the browser’s. Or is it that one browser could handle the same number of open tabs faster than another? For me, one thing was that You Tube videos would never play all the way through. They’d play for 10-15 seconds, pause for 5 seconds, then play another 10-15 secs, pause for 5, etc. Also, when loading a new web page, it would often pause for 10-15 seconds while loading (and this was even with normal pages like a SDMB forum page). The whole page would freeze up and I couldn’t scroll, close the page, minimize it, or hit the back button. Additionally, when typing out posts the text would stop appearing and I’d get the beach ball (I’m on an older Mac) until it caught up again and I could resume typing. When using Safari I had none of those problems so I knew it was Firefox. Getting rid of the Google toolbar seems to have fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/36 "2010-06-26T06:06:10Z")
I think because I used AOL dial-up for so long, and it was just so horrible, ANYTHING is an improvement. I was satisfied with IE until people kept talking about how great FF was. I was curious and now I’ve never looked back. I very occasionally see lags in video but it doesn’t bother me enough to even think about maybe looking to improve things. I have never had an actual crash, where I had to restart FF or anything, and it’s been at least two years. I have Chrome though, and didn’t use it more than five times. It was awful and no faster at all for what I was doing. Maybe I’ll try Safari next. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/37 "2010-06-26T07:16:42Z")
It is the third time we have done this in the last 9 months. Firefox has gone from 65% to 62% to a current 58% Chrome has risen from 10% to 12% to 18% Somewhat prompted by a previous poll, and by IE8 crashing (researh says this is usually caused by other things such as add-ins or virus checkers, but I don’t want to spend the time diagnosing it) , I have used Firefox for the last couple of months, and struggle to see why it is so popular on this board. It also crashes, and there are a number of sites that don’t work properly in Firefox, but do in IE, so I end up using both. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/38 "2010-06-26T07:42:00Z")
Lynx 🙂 Naah, just joking - Firefox. Admittedly, I haven’t tried Chrome, but I could as easily use Opera as Firefox, I like them both about equally well. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/39 "2010-06-26T08:23:59Z")
I started using Firefox around 6 years ago, loved it and haven’t looked back. I have tried Chrome and Opera a bit but didn’t find them compelling enough to switch. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463/40 "2010-06-27T03:34:59Z")
I like Chrome for the way it displays thumbnails of my most visited sites when I open a new tab. Saves a bit of hassle of having to use the bookmarks menu every time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-your-preferred-browser/544463.md?page=3)