What's up with Firefox new version everyday??

[RadiclDreamer]

That's one of the reasons I stopped using firefox. Updated way too frequently. Also seemed to have had flash crash alot more often with firefox.

Have been using Chrome and it works ok most of the time. I'm not happy w\ chrome's resource management though. If I have 20 tabs open, I don't need chrome to be using 2GB of my system memory.

You hate the constant updates so you switched to chrome? They have a TON of updates.

 

[Aikouka]

Strange, people have different tastes. I for one, disable that annoying nag to close Firefox if more tabs are open the first thing after I install Firefox! I hate it!

It may sound strange, but I need that feature turned on. Firefox is such a bear when it comes to performance, that after maybe 3-4 days, I have to close the application. If I don't, all video will begin to stutter and the application has noticeable lag. If I open Task Manager, I can watch the program's CPU usage fluctuate between 0% and 25% (no resources to 1 full core).

If I reopen it with the exact same tabs open (hence the tab save), it works just fine. It's also much quicker than History > Restore Previous Session.

 

[lxskllr]

I save my tabs every time by default. Most pages I want to see again, and those I don't I can close individually.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I used to have issues with FF being a memory hog and crapping out and slowing down overtime but that issue seems to have gone away. In fact it's only using 230MB of ram right now. I'm using "only" lightly here, since that still seems kinda high for a web browser. May as well put my 16GB of ram to good use I guess, but that's a bad way of looking at it.

 

[mikeymikec]

Re: Adobe Flash - it just asked me again if I want to update it, and again asked if I want to install updates automatically

 

[mikeymikec]

I used to have issues with FF being a memory hog and crapping out and slowing down overtime but that issue seems to have gone away. In fact it's only using 230MB of ram right now. I'm using "only" lightly here, since that still seems kinda high for a web browser. May as well put my 16GB of ram to good use I guess, but that's a bad way of looking at it.

I think that's average for Google Chrome these days too. Firefox has been running for half an hour this morning on my machine with at least 10 tabs open the whole time and its memory usage is 183MB.

 

[bico]

stick to release channel. if you are offended by beta versions, keep away from them and reinstall official (release) version. good thing about new versions is that browser is alive and improving

 

[Kev]

In the last couple versions they started doing the updates in the background, so at this point I could care less if I'm on FF 13 or FF eleventy billion.

I was kind of annoyed in the last update how they turned smooth scrolling on by default.

I would love to switch to chrome, but it has too many little quirks that annoy me about it. And the awesome bar in firefox is irreplaceable for me.

 

[gmaster456]

Is memory usage really that big of a deal this day and age?

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I don't think so at least not for me. I have 2 GB ram and never really run into any issues and i usually have multiple browsers and tabs open.

Is memory usage really that big of a deal this day and age?

 

[mikeymikec]

Is memory usage really that big of a deal this day and age?

If you don't mind spending money on it, no. If you have better things to spend your money on, yes.

I can quite confidently say that I regularly have at least 5 apps running. Out of 4GB RAM they usually take up in total about 400MB. Out of 4GB RAM I have installed, that's not bad IMO. However, the browser is almost always the biggest consumer of RAM - if they were all like that, and if I only had 2GB, I'd be out of RAM and system performance would be impaired.

"RAM doesn't cost that much", you would probably respond. UK prices:

2GB DDR3: £11.99
2GB DDR2: £31.19
2GB DDR1: £46.79

So the older the computer you've got, the more it costs, making one less likely to upgrade a part of their computer and possibly consider putting off the purchase until they can afford a completely new computer.

Now, use your logic of "system resources don't cost that much" to CPU, HDD and graphics. After all, the latest mainstream computers have a lot more resources at their disposal. Suddenly it becomes more cost-effective to upgrade one's whole computer about every 3 - 4 years, just for web browsing.

This isn't really rocket science. Simply don't assume that everyone's priorities are the same as yours.

I bet in light of tablets and netbooks coming along, companies like Microsoft are wishing to hell that they had made resource-efficient computing a higher priority. Instead MS had to keep XP going until Win7 came along, and from what I've seen, Win8's memory footprint is half of Win7's.

Resource-efficient computing means greater flexibility. Who doesn't want that?

 

[jhansman]

In any case, 13 is fast and stable on my system, and all my add-ins work. Every time I accidentally (for, really, there is no other reason) run IE, I end up wincing and shutting it down ASAP. Have not used Adobe Reader for years now.

 

[gmaster456]

If you don't mind spending money on it, no. If you have better things to spend your money on, yes.

I can quite confidently say that I regularly have at least 5 apps running. Out of 4GB RAM they usually take up in total about 400MB. Out of 4GB RAM I have installed, that's not bad IMO. However, the browser is almost always the biggest consumer of RAM - if they were all like that, and if I only had 2GB, I'd be out of RAM and system performance would be impaired.

Actually, you probably wouldn't. The more RAM you have, the more your programs and Windows will use. The less ram you have, the less Windows and your programs will use. Most of the time anyway. Depends on the program.

"RAM doesn't cost that much", you would probably respond.

Nope. I'm not one of those morons that think everyone lives in America and has DDR3 ram.

 

[Munky]

You want low RAM usage, speed, and features/security? Pick any two. I personally disabled the auto updates, still using version 10 and it works well for me. Maybe when I'm curious enough, I'll update it to latest, but no one is forcing me.

 

[mikeymikec]

Actually, you probably wouldn't. The more RAM you have, the more your programs and Windows will use. The less ram you have, the less Windows and your programs will use. Most of the time anyway. Depends on the program.

Browser makers seem to have high expectations for the amount of RAM peoples' computers typically have. For example, Firefox today on a WinXP machine with 512MB RAM had three tabs open and had only been open for a few minutes was using about 200MB. Instant memory upgrade needed.

On the other hand, I haven't seen OpenOffice/LibreOffice (or any other office app for that matter) use a percentage of RAM. For example, I just opened a 20KB spreadsheet in Excel 2007 and its memory usage was 17MB. I then closed Excel and opened a 1.5MB spreadsheet and the memory usage was 21MB. I'd expect similar memory usage from Excel if I opened those spreadsheets on say a WinXP 512MB RAM.

Some programs use up to a certain percentage of available RAM, like Photoshop. Some don't.

Nope. I'm not one of those morons that think everyone lives in America and has DDR3 ram.

That's a good start

 

[mikeymikec]

You want low RAM usage, speed, and features/security? Pick any two. I personally disabled the auto updates, still using version 10 and it works well for me. Maybe when I'm curious enough, I'll update it to latest, but no one is forcing me.

What, so I can have low RAM usage and lots of features?

The saying goes: "performance, reliability, security. Pick any two."

Why did you disable auto updates?

 

[Munky]

What, so I can have low RAM usage and lots of features?

The saying goes: "performance, reliability, security. Pick any two."

Why did you disable auto updates?

Mostly because the auto updates were an inconvenient annoyance. Plus with a new version released practically every month, I don't see each revision bringing some revolutionary must-have advancement.

 

[gmaster456]

Mostly because the auto updates were an inconvenient annoyance. Plus with a new version released practically every month, I don't see each revision bringing some revolutionary must-have advancement.

Except for security. Which you won't have sticking with older versions. Unless your on the ESR....

 

[ultimatebob]

I just stick with the ESR release, so it's more like the reasonable IE update schedule.

 

[bico]

as for the memory prices, why do you need to buy in store? go ebay/any used parts portal and get them just as cheap

 

[GregGreen]

If you're bitching about how often something releases, you must not care about the security of your data or your computer. It's not some terrible imposition...

 

[mikeymikec]

Mostly because the auto updates were an inconvenient annoyance. Plus with a new version released practically every month, I don't see each revision bringing some revolutionary must-have advancement.

And security patches?

Someone mentioned IE - IE gets its security updates automatically via Windows Update. Please don't tell me you switch this off as well.

 

[mikeymikec]

as for the memory prices, why do you need to buy in store? go ebay/any used parts portal and get them just as cheap

What made you think those were store prices? Those were Crucial UK's prices. I'd rather buy something I know is going to work with a given board.

Buying second-hand / off ebay - I'm not sure how playing roulette to find working and compatible parts equals economy. I've tried buying second-hand before, it's just not worth the potentially wasted time and money.

 

[bico]

since ddrs i have never had a single problem with memory incompatibility, and buying second hand means usually you can sell them for almost the same price

 

[Munky]

And security patches?

Someone mentioned IE - IE gets its security updates automatically via Windows Update. Please don't tell me you switch this off as well.

I don't use IE at all, and yes, I don't install IE patches from Windows update. From my experience Firefox is secure enough that I don't need to constantly keep updating it.