Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 04:01 AM

I would beware of using a browser from Google, since I suspect it would be doing things like adding adware or profiling your site usage for the Google folks, for marketing (spamming) purposes. And I stopped using Internet Explorer long years ago, even when I still used PCs--aside from its annoying limitations, it was like waving a flag: "Hack me!"

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 11:06 PM

Thanks, you two. I dumped them all and it does seem to have made a difference. I will have more time, tomorrow, to see what else is going on and make sure my settings are where I want them to be.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 12:23 PM

there are so many nuisances like doubleclick and ad.yieldmanager that the mind boggles.

With some time & effort, you can edit your preferences in the menus to control cookies set by places like that, and allow cookies from Mudcat & what few others you trust.

I usually use Proxomitron to help me control the situation.... (there is now another program called "Webwasher" that does a similar job, but I am not familar with its details)

Of course, there are stand-alone "cookie-cruncher" programs that can do a lot also...I just us Proxo because it does a lot of other stuff also....like stopping links from opening in a new page whan I don't want that.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 01:05 AM

ad.yieldmanager.com is the culprit.

I've been having that trouble for a while. I've blocked the cookies from that ad server that is used by eBay and several other major web sites. I think they are today with doubleclick was five years ago. Annoying. And if you don't accept their cookies, they make your pages hang or do strange things (if you hit the back button, in particular). You have to open the list of previous links (hit the little down arrow next to the back and forward buttons) and manually skip past ad.yeildmanager.com.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 10:49 PM

I am not using firefox anymore! I am using Opera, right now, and have had none of the constant loading etc. problems I have bene having with firefox. I don't know what they did with this latest version, but it sucks. I have sent them feedback plenty of times, but it doesn't seem to hav emade any difference.

Thanks, BillD, for telling me about Opera so long ago!

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 10:54 PM

Sorry I have not read the whole thread mostly because I am not concerned about speed. I'd like to know if any one else has had problems with pages not loading correctly and/or loading the wrong pages, i.e. not as directed? Not, just on Mudcat, but elsewhere, too? I get ridiculous messages of 404 error, Forbidden, URL parameters or some such and a bunch of other stuff. Usually, if I hit refresh, it then loads correctly. I HAVE noticed the first time I hit a page, it sometimes doesn't seem to start loading at all, so I hit the red ex and start it over with a refresh at which point it works. I know this is vague. It's been going on for a few weeks. I'll watch and take notes and come back with more specifics. Thanks for any help, suggestions.

ONe thing I have noticed on Mudcat, my first attempt to post usually doesn't take, so I have to resubmit. But, I don't really post to any other site, so it may not be Mudcat. I wonder if my firefox 3.0.3 is just messed up!

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 02:54 PM

Downloaded Chrome but it tells me will not run on my windows xp version so that's a non decision to make. I'll read up K-Meleon.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 12:41 PM

reviews of K-Meleon

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 12:10 PM

Right now it is pretty simple. I don't usually look into the "processing" or total memory usage of a browser. I have a decent PC and broadband, so I can use any browser I choose...and I choose based on features & ease of use.
(I use Opera a lot because it has many keyboard shortcuts that others do not.)

Chrome right now is fairly simple and small, and it might be fine for someone with non-'fancy' tastes.. ☺

The ony way to tell is to install it and play with it.

If you really want small, but with features, you might like the K-Meleon browser.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: GUEST,JHW in the library
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 10:00 AM

Bill D - Thanks for your post Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:04 PM
Would you think Chrome is worth me giving a try? Does it maybe use less processing - described somewhere as a minimal design? I don't do anything fancy.
Thanks again, John

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 01:21 PM

Still on FF2 and managed to stop it giving all my secrets away on one URL, but mostly I use Mozilla. All the features I need are there and I have FlashBlock installed. And I like to see what legacy systems see of my websites. There are still those out there.

So Chrome is fast and lacking features. Sounds a bit like Mozilla. Which it is based on anyway.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 12:23 PM

Stable, fast and...so far....lacking in many features I depend on or just like. such as customizing toolbars. (Can't even get font settings to work proprely)

It will improve.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Lester
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 03:27 AM

I'd give Google Chrome a go, seems really stable and blindingly fast

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: GUEST,JotSC - second try
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 12:26 AM

FF3 much slower for me than v2. Considering dropping it in favor of Chrome (which automatically xferred my bookmarks) which is lightning fast, or Opera which I also have been using.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:52 PM

"I only use firefox when I don't want to be bothered with flash"

FF has an addon which will block flash and show you a marker that will allow you to download it if and when you want it - Flashblock.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 04:14 PM

Pleased its not just me who doesn't like the FF3 toolbar

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 09:51 AM

I only use firefox when I don't want to be bothered with flash. I haven't added that plug in so things download much faster for me. If I want to hear music in myspace for instance I use explorer. If i don't want to hear music but want to view a page quickly then i use firefox.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Andrez
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 07:26 AM

Apologies for being "marginally" off thread but.......THIS is cheapskate !!

A middle-aged person is out to dinner with his wife to celebrate her 40th birthday. He says, "So what would you like, Sherry? A Jaguar? A sable coat? A diamond necklace?"
She says, "Morris, I want a divorce." He says, "I wasn't planning on spending that much."

Cheers,

Andrez

PS: Just to bring things back on thread here re three links to issues re Firefox 3 I posted in another thread that might be of interest to Mac users. I'm too tired to make them into clickable links tonight but cut and paste into a browser will do the job. Some of the info may also be applicable to PCusers of FF 3.

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080617144710708&query=Firefox+3

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080618153703952

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080619102201788&query=Firefox+3

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 05:56 AM

"You can buy OEM XP discs with SP2"

... which require a certain level of hardware ... you don't REALLY understand "cheapskate", do you"

:-P

"The minute you need to login as administrator or root you need to know stuff"

Surprisingly not really as much as you used to for recent Linux versions. To do certain things from the GUI. you need the root password, but once that is typed in, you can twiddle an awful lot with modern versopns without needing to know very much, or causing intense system damage these days.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Andrez
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 05:02 AM

1. 98SE is worse than cheap !! Oi Vey my boy, so are you bucking for inclusion in the cheapskates Hall of Fame? :-)

2. You can buy OEM XP discs with SP2 at computer swap meets or buy it overseas i.e the US especially if you have a friend over there.

3. The minute you need to login as administrator or root you need to know stuff. No-one can use Linux and be free of the need to access the admin account and know an awful lot more about the system than you ever wanted to know as a simple user.

4. Simple and Logical #@#@$%$#@@!#@$#$# and thats the easy part.

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: topical tom
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 07:28 PM

The only problem I have found with Firefox 3.0.1 is that,in the toolbar, the back and forward arrows will sometimes skip a page.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 07:11 PM

"weird so far learning to navigate the file structure/menus"

Actually, it was designed to be 'simple and logical' - the weird stuff is in where some of the system stuff hides, but 'normal users' never need to play there. The original UNIX file structure was clever and innovative, but Linux has gone its own way now, with several new file structures.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 07:04 PM

Linux is fine....if my XP wears out and I can't get more, I'll be learning Linux! (I have Linux CDs & DVDs to practice on...wierd so far learning to navigate the file structure/menus, but I am slowly seeing the layout...

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 06:53 PM

Can get 2nd hand - ex lease - laptops for about AUD$600 - they come with XP - just preloaded with the licence no on the base - you can't BUY even 2nd hand XP discs - so if you want dual loading Linux & XP and blow things, you lose XP... might as well stay with 98SE & Linux...

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 01:27 PM

well...*IF* you have a problem and need to replace it, try to acquire an XP system...even if it's used. Get a new HD and install XP if it is and old HD.
Vista has a spotty reputation and they are messing with too much stuff in the development of Vista's replacement.

We just bought a 'relatively' cheap XP pro ...

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 07:32 PM

"98SE"

Some of us are
1) Cheap bastards
2) Don't need to play the latest games

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Girl Friday
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 07:04 PM

I've just downloaded FF3. No problems so far, though it's early days.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Andrez
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 04:55 AM

Still using 98SE? You've got to be kidding?

:-)

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:24 PM

I use Firefox 2. It is quite fine for my use. v3 states it is incompatible with some Skype which I use to speak with the scion of JotSC in the Netherlands, so for the time being I'll stay with what I know works.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Alice
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 08:18 PM

I'm happy to have gone back to Firefox 2.
I did find this funny Firefox picture today. Made me smile.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: kendall
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 06:54 AM

I was just on Jacqui's computer and compared to mine it is slower than changes in Congress. She has XP I have Vista. (Which I hate)

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 06:21 AM

As far as I can tell FF3 won't work on 98SE.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Chris Maltby
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 11:05 PM

I've been using FF3 for a while on Windoze and it fixed all sorts of memory related problems and speed issues with FF2. It has an annoying toolbar display problem, but I can live with that.

It seems like the Mac folk find FF3 worse, and the PC folk find it better. YMMV.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: kendall
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 09:25 PM

I have Mozilla and Firefox 3, and I'm quite happy with them.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 08:41 PM

I have Firefox 3, and I see that it's currently downloading Firefox 3.0.1. It's certainly a lot faster than Internet Explorer 7, which I've been using lately because Firefox gave me problems with PDF files that I was using a lot. I think I'll go back to Firefox.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 08:23 PM

Well Dave...Opera will give you both mail & newsgroups ..and even RSS feeds, I think....all in one browser. I used to get mail in Opera, but that was 6-7 years ago.


But I personally do NOT like 'all-in-one' programs. It makes me lose my place and/or distracts me when mail arrives....and I think that stand-alone applications do a better job and allow me to choose the interface I like best.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 08:09 PM

I have FireFox (probably 2), and I like it all right, but I don't use it. Why? I want a combination web/email browser, so I don't have to get out and ride another horse, so to speak.

So I use SeaMonkey, which is an excellent combo browser, but some websites want something "more modern", and in that case I have to use (you should pardon the expression) IE, or FireFox for those sites, which is a pain in the patootie.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a non-IE combo web/email browser which is more acceptable on the "more modern" scale demanded by some of these sites?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:46 PM

great! I have done that a couple of times. (sometimes I want both)

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Alice
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:28 PM

I deleted the new Firefox and I'm downloading the previous version I like.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:04 PM

Opera is a complete browser...it is even more 'compliant' with standards than I.E. and FF....which means some stuff is written so that NON-compliant is required, and Opera doesn't work as well as FF..(I have FF for those occasions)(some of those are things like secure bank log-ins...etc.) Opera isn't set up for myriads of add-ons, like FF, so you need to accept that it doesn't do as many 'tricks'...but it does what it does very well.

K-Meleon is smaller, faster, but is not as 'easily' configurable as other browsers. It works fine right 'out of the box' and is being slowly, but constantly, improved. Many folks use it as their default.

Oh...and "Old Version" has many, many older versions of other programs.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 06:43 PM

Bill D, I have wondered if my now slower speed may be due to a more demanding browser on an old laptop, though FF3 has other aspects I don't care for ie tool bar arrangements. Had a look at Old Version and thanks very much for that, didn't know it existed. My 'old' was newer than theirs but that's a very handy site and an option. Not heard of K-Meleon so will look up and perhaps wrongly I'd associated Opera with Macs.
Thanks, John

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 06:09 PM

Every new update has it's idiosyncracies... 'slower' is often just a matter of settings and setting preferences. I have Firefox 3, but not the latest update of it. I see very little difference between versions.

If you wish to revert to an older version you can almost always get it at Old Version.

In my FAR from humble opinion, it is internal speed and convenience, not booting up and loading websites..etc., that is most important. If you just want overall 'speed', Opera or a nice little browser called K-Meleon will suit you. (I mostly use Opera because of the ease of internal navigation..(forward & back in history, around within a page, moving between 'tabs'...etc.)

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: BK Lick
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 06:00 PM

I find it to be much faster (on an Intel Mac) and I'm liking many of its new features -- my favorite is that the list of stored passwords is now searchable.

—BK

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Will Fly
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 05:24 PM

Thanks for this thread. I've just been offered an update to Firefox 3.0 - and I shall now not upgrade this on my Mac Book Pro in view of the comments here.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 05:05 PM

Sorry to hear but glad its not just me and sorry I have no experience of Macs. My guess is there's no way I can go back to FF2 as they'll not offer that any more and on my old laptop the new FF3 has removed the old FF. So I'm heading to try Int Expl 7 I think they're up to.
Thanks, John

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: Alice
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 04:45 PM

Downloaded the update of Firefox today and I hate it. Seems like it makes one chatroom I use have a "flicker" to the screen each time someone posts. Anyone able to tell me how to uninstall it from my MacBook? Sometimes change is good... sometimes it sucks.

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 04:42 PM

Thanks, Anyone else?

Subject: RE: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 04:27 PM

Seems exactly the same to me.

Subject: Tech: Firefox 3 - Is it faster?
From: JHW
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 11:38 AM

I was very happily using Firefox 2 until I had a problem using the FreeParking site who insisted I would have to install a more modern browser to renew my domain with them.
I now have Firefox 3 but for starters I didn't like the toolbar, eg the Go arrow is tiny. Overall it is so much slower, laboriously putting in text first and then replacing it by icons and graphics, images slow too but the most irritating thing is when I've finished with some web page and request another it still carries on loading the page I'm finished with, which means a much longer wait for the new one.

What please is anyone else's experience - is it just me? NB I am on dialup but that was never a problem with FF2, indeed I found that was much handier than Internet Explorer.

John