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What's up with Firefox?

M

mecolema

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 2, 2012
32
0
I've got a Macbook (OS 10.6.8), and I've been using Firefox 3.6 for over a year. Every team a new version of Firefox is released, I download it in the hopes that it will be faster than the current version. But I've been disappointed every time—the browser is slower, especially when using Gmail.

Why might this be? I've tried disabling Add-ons and that hasn't helped much. Is it because my Macbook is from 2009?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. I've tried asking Firefox myself (via post and Live Chat), and they haven't been very helpful.
 
Seems like it's happening on all platforms. I still use FF3 on my eMac due to Tiger being unsupported now, but I've given up on the browser altogether on my netbook with Windows XP. It's just far too slow and laggy, with minimal beneficial features. Ever since they started this rapid update crap to match Google, the browser has just gone straight into a nose dive. I was never a big fan of Chrome, but I've completely switched over to it. It's more stable, less bulky and much faster. I admit I miss some of the add-ons that FF has, but unless they just backtrack immensely or start from scratch, I can't see it being worth the trouble.
 
This is what happens when I browse tumblr for 30 minutes:
DrqDV.png
 
I don't really want to switch to Google Chrome because I don't like that you can't (automatically) delete your history. When I quit Firefox, my history is cleared, but in Chrome it stays until I manually delete it. Which is annoying.
 
I stopped using firefox ages ago. The program has a tendency to be fast at first but begin to weigh down your computer and get slow and lady. I'm not sure exactly what it does to cause this but I know it has happened on my old windows PC, my macbook and my iMac. I just use Safari for my main browsing. Fast and designed specifically to work on the mac. Seems like a good combination to me.
 
I don't understand why it's so slow, I gave up on it and went to Chrome
 
MadMax69 said:
Firefox works great for me and I have the late 2009 MB with Snow Leopard. I would rather use Safari, but FF has better ad blocking.
Click to expand...

AdBlock is available for Safari now (which is the most popular extension for Firefox ad blocking). It works just fine for me. I also installed ninjakit for a greasemonkey replacement.
 
I used to rock Firefox as my main browser. For a long while it was the most stable in my usage, which typically involves many windows with many tabs. Time was, Safari and Chrome would not hold up under the same usage.

That was then. Something flipped as OS X advanced and Firefox kept larding on new features and gewgaws. Safari is now my most stable browser. And it supports all the wonderful Lion goodies. It's secure and solid and has nice ergonomics. And you can do things like the double-tap-with-three-fingers on a word, and up pops a dictionary/thesaurus. Can't do that in Firefox or Chrome. Could be Chrome is solid and stable too, but I rarely use it because I distrust Google.

Now Firefox sits mostly unused in my dock. It's still there for those rare occasions when I need an alternate browser. But I can't recall the last time I used it.

Safari is just a much nicer product than it used to be, especially when its Lion integration is considered.

EDIT: Add Reader Mode to the list of really wonderful Safari features!! I rely on it daily. The ability to click a button and have a nicely-formatted email of an article ready to send (with source link and subject-box all filled in!) is a huge, huge time saver for me.

The situation is much the same with email clients, too. Used to use T'bird, but then came v.3 and it was horribly buggy. In frustration I tried Mail.app and found it to be hugely better, and comfortable with my pack-rat horde of years of emails.
 
It's seems like Firefox has became cocky during the past few years than what it was originally meant for: speed, stability, security, etc.

I have noticed across platforms, windows and mac, that firefox locks up sometimes for a few seconds for no reason when looking at something as simple as facebook. I have also noticed that when I clear the history - everything, cookies and all - it can sometimes take well over a minuet and even lock up to the point that I have to force quit it. None of this NEVER happen with the the older versions like 2.x & 3.x. :mad:

However, I still find myself using firefox as my main browser, I guess because I have became used to its GUI and don't like change.
 
mecolema said:
I don't really want to switch to Google Chrome because I don't like that you can't (automatically) delete your history. When I quit Firefox, my history is cleared, but in Chrome it stays until I manually delete it. Which is annoying.
Click to expand...
Actually it's just a matter of learning how to use your Mac.

If you take the time to learn how to use Automator, an app that comes free on your Mac, you'll find it will do things like this for you in a single click or two. I use Automator for all kinds of repetitive tasks, it's a huge time saver, and just one more advantage to using a Mac.

I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised with all that can be done if you just take the time to learn all about OS X. Apple's got all kinds of useful information on the website Apple.com

Here's the link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2488

As far as browsers are concerned, I find Google Chrome super fast, stable, with a nice selection of extensions, many of which are only available for Chrome, and all of which are very efficient.

It's the best browser you can use if you value time.
 
Thanks for the advice, but could you tell me how exactly I can clear my history regularly through Automator?

I'm also rather uncomfortable with the idea of a company like Google collecting information on all of the sites I visit, including my searches. Even if I delete the history on my browser, surely Google will be keeping that information for marketing purposes?
 
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