I was using Firefox 3 from Beta 2 on. On the big Firefox World Record Download day, I dutifully downloaded and installed on both of my computers. Then the one on my desktop computer started crashing…all the time. It goes along fine from anywhere from 5 minutes to a couple hours and then BOOM!
I tried disabling all of the addons. No luck.
I want to try uninstalling and reinstalling but a curious thing has prevented me. Normally when I am on the desktop computer I am doing something on the internet and don’t really want to spend time updating the browser so I can use the browser. Plus, I have just been too lazy to back up my bookmarks (and more importantly my wife’s) so that I can import them into the new install.
A while back, I download Safari and Opera so I could do a little experimenting with them. While getting sick of the crashes, I noticed myself launching Opera instead and found that I like it quite a bit. Mainly because it just hasn’t crashed on me. I also like the Speed Dial and its password manager.
I still plan on trying to fix Firefox and switch back simply because some of the plugins I have are important to me but it is nice to know that there are very real, very solid alternatives out in the wild besides just Firefox and IE.
Update: When I went to view the post after publishing, I saw some add for Firefox 3.1 and thought that was odd. I hadn’t heard anything about 3.1 yet. So I opened Firefox and asked it to check for updates and it found Firefox 3.0.1 which apparently was released on 7/16/08 (our family most of last week and I just caught it a couple days ago so I’m not surprised I messed the news). According to the release notes the new release “Fixed several stability issues.” Maybe that will fix my constant crashing. My only question now is why didn’t Firefox tell me that there was an update available. Does it take more than a week for the autonotifications to spread out to the internet?
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many out in the wilds besides ie, firefox, opera, konqueror (my ***** reccomendation), amaya, konqi, dillo, seamonkey, k-meleon, flock, …. oh heck, i need not go through them all… there’s LOOOOOADS to explore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers
some have features you’ll wonder how u ever survived without, but likely cant imagine from the prison of mundane mass market media.
i’ve never understood the mentality of accepting the package deal. as if we’re so homogenously bland that one size will fit all. it doesnt. we’re all far more varied and diverse than that, and as such, we need stuff tailor made for us n our specific, changing needs.
ie is sluggish spyware, the only thing it should ever be used for (despite its admirable efforts to catch up with the other browsers) is to download another browser.
i use opera for it’s torrent feature, and would use it for everything if other browsers didnt have other features i like.
i use seamonkey for its speed, simplicity, directness and inbuilt editor, since its a whole suite, not just the browser.
i use firefox for… well, several reasons. though i have noticed it get a little bloatier, despite other people assuring me 3 is faster than 2, i aint seeing it as so on my pc. well anyways, its my fallback, my primary back up browser if main browser fails.
i use konqueror (when in KDE in Linux anyways) for its supperb integration with the filing system and other well integrated logical intuitive features of the desktop environment/wm, it’s excelent for its profiles already set up in it (web, tabbed web, midnight commander, etc) and u can make your own, i LOVE it’s feature where u can basically walk around the net telling different websites that you’re not a suselinux 9.1 using konqueror, but are instead a win 98 on a PPC using exporer 5.5… or many other identifications too. hahaha. brilliant. and theres just loads of other little touches i love too. though sometimes the odd video codec of something is pesky to set up, n firefox is my fall back.
amaya… i’ve yet to get into using it often… but it holds much promise.
k-meleon… the progression from version to version seems a litle undirected and uncertain, very non-linear. some versions i loved the buttons, n then one upgrade later they’ve hidden your cookies on/off button (and the rest) in a menu somewhere… rwar.
lovely little speedy though.