Which web browser do you use, and why?

Which web browser do you use?


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[Note: I am a staunch Windows user. I am aware that Mac/Linux users may have very different experiences with browsers]

For the past few years I've used Firefox, because it has always been the most customizable and stable browser for me. However, lately, I find that the 32-bit 3gb process limit is insufficient, as I tend to leave my browser open for days, and the process size of Firefox grows and grows, even if you close out tabs. (Other browsers are not like this- Chrome, for example, keeps each tab/window in a separate process which reduces the memory footprint if you close a window). Firefox has a 64 bit version in development, but it is not currently stable. As such, I've needed to try out other browsers which either have 64 bit versions available or keep windows in separate processes to prevent memory usage from growing over time.

I've always wanted to like Chrome, but it is severely lacking when compared to Firefox in terms of customizability and has several annoying tendencies, namely:

- the inability to open downloads directly (by saving to a hidden temp directory) rather than forcing you to download them to a specific location - I don't want to have to save every PDF or torrent I open, for example
- the inability to require that links clicked in other applications (e.g. mIRC, Outlook) open in new windows rather than new tabs - I generally dislike tabs and tend to only use them when browsing intra-site (i.e. for multiple threads on smogon).
- the inability to warn you before closing new tabs

Sure, there might be some extensions to fix these annoyances, but Firefox is generally superior when it comes to customizing a browser to the liking of the user.

IE has actually gotten better over the years, but it's still a lunky piece of uncustomizable crap.

Opera I heard is what all the alt kids use, but I have no experience with it.

So what web browser do you use and why? Feel free to post your gripes, annoyances, etc., with each one.
 
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Firefox (open source), but I use Chrome whenever I need to get around school blocklists (I could install ultrasurf on firefox maybe, or something similar, but that'd take more work than just opening up chrome, it's also useful to keep my "stuff to show the teacher" away from "stuff to read".
 
Firefox, because it's always run much more smoothly for me than Chrome has and has better customization, and Chrome has much higher background CPU usage which bugs me somewhat.
 

DetroitLolcat

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Chrome, but I really want to make the switch to Firefox. What I love about Chrome is that you can open a new window with one tab, then easily drag that window into an existing one and merge them. If Firefox did that I'd switch immediately.
 
Chrome, but I really want to make the switch to Firefox. What I love about Chrome is that you can open a new window with one tab, then easily drag that window into an existing one and merge them. If Firefox did that I'd switch immediately.
With Firefox you can just drag your tabs between windows, and you can also right-click on tabs and open them in separate windows.

Ah, seems I was beat to it.
 

Trinitrotoluene

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hey, there's an open-source 64 bit browser based on the mozilla platform named waterfox. most firefox extensions work on waterfox, and i'm sure it works well on windows computers.

my main browser of choice is google chrome, and i like using waterfox as a back-up browser. both of them work well on my macbook pro, which has a 64 bit processor.
 

aVocado

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Chrome. I've used Firefox for a long while but it suddenly started freezing a lot on my old laptop, so I went on to try other web browsers. I tried Opera which I liked for a while, Komodo Dragon (a friend recommended it to me) which was smooth but also had same problem as firefox in that it kept freezing for some reason, and finally I tried Chrome and it ran fine and smoother than the rest of the browsers I tried and I just sticked with it. This was like 4 years ago lol.

Still use it now, but now I also use it cuz the bookmarks are synced for all my devices (laptop, android phone, and android tablet) and because it has my gmail account (also synced) and all that stuff, and I still find it the smoothiest. I can probably do the syncing with other browsers but eh, Chrome's working fine so why bother switching
 
i use opera bc it has this neat little feature that opens up all tabs where you left off when you close it. dunno if other browsers have that. they dont at least to my knowledge.

also my computer always lagged when using firefox and i got tired of other people deleting the browser history (and cookies along with it. rip teams) when i was using chrome.
 
Another chance to post this!

[jk I use firefox. The extension support is unmatched, even if it slows to a halt more often than I'd like. Sarcasm aside, I genuinely think the new IE might be even with or better than Chrome.]
 

Cresselia~~

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Chrome. But sometimes I have to use Firefox if that thing doesn't work on Chrome.

I like how Chrome loads everything faster for whatever reason. (I don't know much about computer stuff)
And I like how you can just arrange the tabs to the order you like.
 
Update: Have been using Waterfox (a 64-bit independent version of Firefox) for a few days now and it's great. The waterfox.exe process is still huge (now over 3gb after 2 days of usage), but since it's 64-bit, and since I have 12 GB of RAM on my computer, it can handle it. Normal Firefox would have crashed before reaching a 3gb process size.

I highly recommend Waterfox for those using Firefox and find it laggy/slow/crashes after a while.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
Update: Have been using Waterfox (a 64-bit independent version of Firefox) for a few days now and it's great. The waterfox.exe process is still huge (now over 3gb after 2 days of usage), but since it's 64-bit, and since I have 12 GB of RAM on my computer, it can handle it. Normal Firefox would have crashed before reaching a 3gb process size.

I highly recommend Waterfox for those using Firefox and find it laggy/slow/crashes after a while.
Cool, I want to try.

But... does Waterfox have this function--
Chrome has a function that disables flash and PDF content until you click on it. It will start loading the flash after you click on it.
This function is used for people who have limited internet. Like, I only have 10GB per month, so I need this function.

If waterfox has the above mentioned function, I'm going to download it.
 
Cool, I want to try.

But... does Waterfox have this function--
Chrome has a function that disables flash and PDF content until you click on it. It will start loading the flash after you click on it.
This function is used for people who have limited internet. Like, I only have 10GB per month, so I need this function.

If waterfox has the above mentioned function, I'm going to download it.
Most Firefox add-ons work on Waterfox. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/flashblock/?src=search
 
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firefox because I installed it many years ago when firefox was cool or gtfo, and now I'm too lazy to press the install button for chrome

ps: ie is actually not bad anymore, only that the reputation of that browser sunk to a point of no return
 
Cool, I want to try.

But... does Waterfox have this function--
Chrome has a function that disables flash and PDF content until you click on it. It will start loading the flash after you click on it.
This function is used for people who have limited internet. Like, I only have 10GB per month, so I need this function.

If waterfox has the above mentioned function, I'm going to download it.
I know Firefox has that function because that's what I have now to limit the memory and processor consumption of Firefox. I should try out Waterfox.

I'll admit, I use Internet Explorer. Not for a lot of work and definitely not all the time, but, for instance, accessing a secondary Google account without having to log out of my main/tie it to my main account, acting as a sort of "private browsing", and for when Firefox starts acting up with websites (like, did anyone else have any recent problems with Dropbox's website using Firefox? For me, the last several times I tried to access it on Firefox, it wouldn't load completely. On IE it does it just fine!) Altogether, I think IE 11 is a great secondary browser for those cases that you need one.
 
Firefox on my PCs, though I use IE at work (forced) and Safari on my iPad/Phone (not really forced, but I read the others browsers you can download and use are just basically Safari reskinned since Apple allows no true 3rd party browsers, so I just stick with what's included).

Before Netscape went the way of the dodo (and even for some time after through unsupported versions) my family and I were huge users of it for everything. I never really liked Chrome and I dislike Google in general (besides gmail, got a beta invite to use it and never looked back even after they tossed in all that google+ shit), so never really used it.
 

Camden

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I used to use Maxthon but now just go with Chrome, although I still use Firefox when I need to.
 

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