Which Browser Do You Use?

[Randolf]

I'm running out of ideas. Throw me a bone here.

What Internet browser are you using on your wild sojourns through the great unknown Web? Tell us which, and maybe some words on why.

Currently, I use Google Chrome, and thus far have no reason to do otherwise.

[Brooklyn Luckfield]

Been using Firefox for a few years now.

[Mike]

I'll give you a hint.


I used to use Firefox, up until a couple years ago.

[EyeOfPain]

Been using Fx for years. I think the first version I installed was 1.0.* about 6 years ago, and have been giving 4.0b4 a test drive over the last few days. I like many of the new features, but damn, it's gotten to be quite the memory hog once again (250,000-300,000 K w/~12 tabs open in various groups), though some of that might be the fault of my numerous add-ons.

I installed Chrome a couple months ago for some reason I've forgotten. True, it's incredibly fast, and includes a number of features I quite like that currently require an extension in Firefox, however there's just something about it I can't quite get used to. Maybe it's Fx Sync's awesomeness (new in 4.0), or just not wanting to let go of something I've championed for so long.

It is rather annoying every time Google sneaks some little bit of software onto my computer, though.

[Wingnut]

That would be a great reason not to use it in my book. I wouldn't want my browser slipping crap onto my machine at random.
I use the latest version of IE BTW. Always used it, and it's just been good for me. I guess I'm just very used to using it.

[Randolf]

What's this about Chrome installing mysterious files? Never heard about this issue before. I haven't noticed any change in my computer's performance or functionality, but now that I've heard it, I'd like to know more. What kind of programs or files are we talking about? Small-time apps for banal purposes, useless fragments or something more sinister?

[Wazpy]

Opera and Firefox.

[Tifaria]

Firefox, for sure.  I haven't found a reason to start using anything else.  I don't know much about Chrome, but I'm happy with Firefox, so I don't feel the need to go looking for alternatives. 

[Mike]

I stopped using Firefox because it seemed to become a resource hog, and the only add-on I had was a weather thing. Tried chrome, it was fast, and I stuck with it. My cable company's website didn't support Chrome though, so I still used Firefox to pay my bill. Kind of lame.

[EyeOfPain]

That is indeed lame, especially since version 3.5 was, for a time, the most widely used browser on the Internet. The VMWare Firefox plugin, which we use in some of my classes, is a very poorly maintained piece of software. About when did you make the switch to Chrome? I remember back when 3.0 was released, Mozilla made claims of greatly improved memory usage, and rightfully so.

Current market share

I switched back to 3.6.8 myself; 4.0b4 just isn't stable enough yet for daily use.

Randolf: Mostly just small helper programs. GoogleUpdate.exe and GoogleCrashHandler.exe are running in the background at the moment. What really irked me was a plugin it managed to install in Firefox without me noticing when I downloaded the installer for Chrome. For some reason, Adobe/Macromedia does the same exact thing when you download Flash Player.

[Randolf]

I'd be very interested to know what I can do with, for or to Chrome to utterly disable Flash whithersoever I go.

Having only 256MB RAM can grind on the nerves at times. I know Firefox had something of the kind, but I'm not quite in the mood to go back to it just yet.