Firefox is a bloated piece of trash

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

jdjbuffalo

Senior member
Oct 26, 2000
433
0
0
OP, I would have agreed with you until FF3.6. I was about ready to throw FF to the curb with the issues I've been having over the last several months.

I use the "Restore Last Session" feature all the time. I used to have 120 - 200 tabs and 30+ windows open at a time. I knew that this caused a fair amount of my issues and it's one of the reasons why I've done a better job of managing my tabs and windows, by Bookmarking/Saving them (using TooManyTabs addon). I've got about 50 - 70 tabs (over 10 windows) now open at all times depending on what I'm working on. This uses up about 1GB of RAM but it's not a big deal for me because I've got 8GB. Firefox seems do the best job at managing this feature and it's been a big reason I've stayed with it.

The problems centered around stability at first. I had these issues from FF3.0 to FF3.4. FF3.5 fixed this but other issues were still there. I couldn't watch any Flash videos because of the choppiness. Also, I would get screen freezes if my browser session would remain open for more than 24 hours.

However, FF3.6 fixed all my issues and I really have no complaints at the moment. :D
 
C

Crow550

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
2,381
5
81
We all should do a big browser test. Download all the latest browsers (latest beta builds if available). Post are net speed & hardware.

Then post what we like and dislike about each one. Should be fun. :D

We should test all 4 of them for at least a week before posting are results.

Anyone want to make a fresh thread and do something like that?
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,261
9,762
126
Crow550 said:
We all should do a big browser test. Download all the latest browsers (latest beta builds if available). Post are net speed & hardware.

Then post what we like and dislike about each one. Should be fun. :D

We should test all 4 of them for at least a week before posting are results.

Anyone want to make a fresh thread and do something like that?
Click to expand...

I already have all the browsers(except Safari, I don't do Apple :^P). I'd suspect it's all personal preference. All the browsers work fine for me. It boils down to features, UI, and to some extent speed. Here's what I prefer in order...

Firefox
Opera
Chrome
IE8
 
D

dwell

pics?
Oct 9, 1999
5,185
2
0
CurseTheSky said:
Firefox 3.6 - wonderful customization, but it would be better in my book if it didn't need add-ons to change some of the annoyances. Vanilla Firefox is somewhat slow, and Adblock makes it even worse for me (as the page loads initially with ads, then there's a slight delay, and then the ads disappear).
Click to expand...

Your Adblock is busted. Mine does not even make the request for blocked content or hides the element before it's shown making load faster.

All the Chrome ad-blockers I tried did what you described which is one of the main reasons I can't use Chrome.
 
Chiefcrowe

Chiefcrowe

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2008
5,054
197
116
I agree. I have no issues with adblock plus - it doesn't load any of the ads at all! you may have to remove and reinstall it.


dwell said:
Your Adblock is busted. Mine does not even make the request for blocked content or hides the element before it's shown making load faster.

All the Chrome ad-blockers I tried did what you described which is one of the main reasons I can't use Chrome.
Click to expand...
 
C

Crow550

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
2,381
5
81
Hrmmm....

My Moms PC is a P4 1GHZ, 1GB of memory. So yeah not a power house. Firefox was a bit bleh. Tried Chrome. Seems much zippier. Thinking of trying it on mine. Well I think i'm gonna do a browser smack down. Might post my results.

I think it would be a good idea if we all tried all the latest versions of the browsers and posted our thoughts......I heard Opera 10.50 is pretty fast & light.
 
P

pcslookout

Lifer
Mar 18, 2007
11,959
157
106
If I could use opera instead of firefox I would. Can't though it doesn't have all the add ons I need that firefox does like greasemonkey, linkification, tab mix plus.
 
Newbian

Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,779
882
126
Try removing your version of FF and reloading it since it sounds like you have something wrong somewhere.
 
M

M0RPH

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
3,302
1
0
MrMatt said:
it sucks RAM like a cheap hooker
Click to expand...
You know FF certainly has its problems lately (though I think many issues are caused by extensions and not FF itself), but to say that it's a memory hog is just plain WRONG.

Fire up FF, IE8 and Chrome... load up the exact same tabs in each browser and then check the memory usage. Add up the usage from all the processes of IE or Chrome and, as long as at least 3-4 tabs are open, FF will ALWAYS be using less memory than either of those browsers. I don't care if you have just a few tabs open or a crapload, FF will always be the winner as far as memory usage. So you can dog on it for its speed or whatever else, but don't try to say that its bloated as far as memory usage goes cause that just is not accurate.
 
Last edited:
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
jdjbuffalo said:
OP, I would have agreed with you until FF3.6. I was about ready to throw FF to the curb with the issues I've been having over the last several months.

I use the "Restore Last Session" feature all the time. I used to have 120 - 200 tabs and 30+ windows open at a time. I knew that this caused a fair amount of my issues and it's one of the reasons why I've done a better job of managing my tabs and windows, by Bookmarking/Saving them (using TooManyTabs addon). I've got about 50 - 70 tabs (over 10 windows) now open at all times depending on what I'm working on. This uses up about 1GB of RAM but it's not a big deal for me because I've got 8GB. Firefox seems do the best job at managing this feature and it's been a big reason I've stayed with it.

The problems centered around stability at first. I had these issues from FF3.0 to FF3.4. FF3.5 fixed this but other issues were still there. I couldn't watch any Flash videos because of the choppiness. Also, I would get screen freezes if my browser session would remain open for more than 24 hours.

However, FF3.6 fixed all my issues and I really have no complaints at the moment. :D
Click to expand...

yea i use no script and flashblock, when using a ton of tabs(i near 100 most of the time) it keeps the load low.
100 tabs on chrome would seriously suck.

bartap is an addon that only loads the tabs you click on after restore, but its not compatible with tabsmixplus yet.
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
M0RPH said:
You know FF certainly has its problems lately (though I think many issues are caused by extensions and not FF itself), but to say that it's a memory hog is just plain WRONG.

Fire up FF, IE8 and Chrome... load up the exact same tabs in each browser and then check the memory usage. Add up the usage from all the processes of IE or Chrome and, as long as at least 3-4 tabs are open, FF will ALWAYS be using less memory than either of those browsers. I don't care if you have just a few tabs open or a crapload, FF will always be the winner as far as memory usage. So you can dog on it for its speed or whatever else, but don't try to say that its bloated as far as memory usage goes cause that just is not accurate.
Click to expand...

yea chrome will rape your ram. i care more how its used. firefox tabs are always loaded in a snap even if i got dozens open and click on an older tab. chrome pages sh*t out aggressively, which might be good if you got a tiny amount of ram but really..these days rams so cheap and plentiful i'd rather eat a chunk of ram for the browser than have the older tabs thrash the disc while they slowly reload.
 
S

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Crow550 said:
We all should do a big browser test. Download all the latest browsers (latest beta builds if available). Post are net speed & hardware.
Click to expand...

I can tell you right now what the order for speed would be.
1) Opera
2) Chrome
3) Firefox

Firefox is brutally slow, but I keep using it because it has a lot of useful features that Chrome and Opera don't yet have. Firefox has the video downloader. Chrome and Opera only seem to be able to download from Youtube whereas Firefox with that plugin can download from any site, including bliptv, porn, and gametrailers.

Adding custom searches to Chrome is retarded. In Firefox and Opera, I can right click on a search box and "add search". I can type "imdb batman" in the address bar and it will search imdb for batman. That's a handy feature I use all the time. Chrome fails in this department.

All 3 browsers support flash blocking, but Opera's way of doing it is the most convoluted. On a few computers, it didn't even work. how to block flash in opera.

On slow computers, Chrome fails miserably. Firefox and Opera have 1 process listed on Task Manager, so that 1 process can be set to "above normal" or "high" priority in order to reduce lag. This doesn't work with Chrome because Chrome will list 1 process per tab. You can set one tab to high priority, but the next tab opened will be normal priority and it can be lagged by background computer tasks. You'll really start to notice how much of a difference this makes when you try watching a Youtube video on a single core Celeron.

Opera has the fastest back button and the best caching. Opera can be set so documents are checked every time while images are never checked. This makes perfect sense because images almost never change while documents (ie forum posts) are constantly changing. Firefox sucks balls in this way because it ties the two together, so both images and documents are checked. I don't even know how Chrome handles this, but it seems like it's checking every image every time since it always seems to load the images slower than Opera.
 
P

pcslookout

Lifer
Mar 18, 2007
11,959
157
106
0roo0roo said:
yea chrome will rape your ram. i care more how its used. firefox tabs are always loaded in a snap even if i got dozens open and click on an older tab. chrome pages sh*t out aggressively, which might be good if you got a tiny amount of ram but really..these days rams so cheap and plentiful i'd rather eat a chunk of ram for the browser than have the older tabs thrash the disc while they slowly reload.
Click to expand...

I noticed the same thing. That is why I can't use it.
 
P

pcslookout

Lifer
Mar 18, 2007
11,959
157
106
ShawnD1 said:
I can tell you right now what the order for speed would be.
1) Opera
2) Chrome
3) Firefox

Firefox is brutally slow, but I keep using it because it has a lot of useful features that Chrome and Opera don't yet have. Firefox has the video downloader. Chrome and Opera only seem to be able to download from Youtube whereas Firefox with that plugin can download from any site, including bliptv, porn, and gametrailers.

Adding custom searches to Chrome is retarded. In Firefox and Opera, I can right click on a search box and "add search". I can type "imdb batman" in the address bar and it will search imdb for batman. That's a handy feature I use all the time. Chrome fails in this department.

All 3 browsers support flash blocking, but Opera's way of doing it is the most convoluted. On a few computers, it didn't even work. how to block flash in opera.

On slow computers, Chrome fails miserably. Firefox and Opera have 1 process listed on Task Manager, so that 1 process can be set to "above normal" or "high" priority in order to reduce lag. This doesn't work with Chrome because Chrome will list 1 process per tab. You can set one tab to high priority, but the next tab opened will be normal priority and it can be lagged by background computer tasks. You'll really start to notice how much of a difference this makes when you try watching a Youtube video on a single core Celeron.

Opera has the fastest back button and the best caching. Opera can be set so documents are checked every time while images are never checked. This makes perfect sense because images almost never change while documents (ie forum posts) are constantly changing. Firefox sucks balls in this way because it ties the two together, so both images and documents are checked. I don't even know how Chrome handles this, but it seems like it's checking every image every time since it always seems to load the images slower than Opera.
Click to expand...


Opera will always be the best browser it is from a Norwegian company what do you expect! Norway is the best place in the world to live. The biggest set back is they tried to charged for a browser I can remember this. Closed add ons as well. Otherwise Opera could have just as many as firefox now.
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
kmeleon - it is just a browser and doesnt try to be all things to all people.
http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

I was also just reading up on IE 9. It is more than just an update and speed is showing it on par with firefox 3 and slightly below chrome. They are going to take advantage of direct 2d to do the rendering rather than the gdi calls that other browsers use. Supposed to be released in May.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom