Current best browser recommendations?

raglafart

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
227
I've been running Firefox on my PC's for over 20 years now.
I've recently had issues using Facebook messenger in video messaging.
It used to be perfect but recently I have had major issues with freezing images, very poor audio with only the odd word coming through. In fact trying to conduct video messenger had become impossible.
I'd put it down to the lousy internet service we get here in Australia with our NBN (National Broadband Network) but I found some advice that it may be a browser problem.
I tried using Chrome and it was perfect! So it would appear this may be (I'm cautious to say it's categorically the Firefox browser) a glitch with Firefox.
I'd prefer to stay with Firefox. I like how it's laid out and how it stores all my bookmarks.
BUT is there a better browser, or are there any fixes for this sort of situation?

Cheers JG
 
No experience with Facebook issues but I'd say if you find Chrome resolves the issue but you're looking for a more feature-rich interface look at Vivaldi, which is based on Chromium (the underlying open source project Chrome is based upon).

For anyone familiar with classic Opera and its poweruser features Vivaldi has aimed to natively implement many of them, such as tab stacking, customizable hotkeys, customizable color schemes, spacial navigation, tab tiling, note taking, sidebar, etc. After Opera Presto was discontinued I returned to Firefox for a few years which was great while XUL addons existed but ever since Firefox Quantum it ripped out the vast majority of functionality I used so I switched to Vivaldi.

Edit: I'd add that one thing FF does much better is its addressbar history suggestions algorithm.
 
Last edited:
I've been a Chrome guy - since right after it came out... I've tried to switch to FF and other browsers multiple times but keep coming back. I had all sorts of issues with FF and ESXi for quite some time and haven't been back to it sense.

This will probably be an unpopular opinion, I have been using the new MS Edge (chromium) on my Surface and have noticed markedly better battery life and no other major issues.
 
You might try loading a new profile in Firefox and seeing if that doesn't clean up any issues you're having. If you like chrome but don't want to use Googles Chrome try any one of the MANY chromium based browsers like Vivaldi, Brave, Edge, Opera. I'm still using Firefox on my desktop with Privacy Badger and Dark Reader, but on my Android phones have had success with Brave and Vivaldi. Brave has been fine and faster than Firefox on my older phone I just keep around for light browsing. I'm just now trying Vivaldi on it as well and so far so good plus it has a good dark theme setup and adblocks well so far. Vivaldi was also the fastest browser that draws pages well on an old Pentium M 725 laptop I recently put Linux on.
 
I've been running Firefox on my PC's for over 20 years now.
I've recently had issues using Facebook messenger in video messaging.
It used to be perfect but recently I have had major issues with freezing images, very poor audio with only the odd word coming through. In fact trying to conduct video messenger had become impossible.
I'd put it down to the lousy internet service we get here in Australia with our NBN (National Broadband Network) but I found some advice that it may be a browser problem.
I tried using Chrome and it was perfect! So it would appear this may be (I'm cautious to say it's categorically the Firefox browser) a glitch with Firefox.
I'd prefer to stay with Firefox. I like how it's laid out and how it stores all my bookmarks.
BUT is there a better browser, or are there any fixes for this sort of situation?

Cheers JG
Someone else suggested a clean profile. Close out of all the windows, hold shift, click on Firefox icon, then choose refresh.
 
I also recommend Vivaldi. I've been using it for quite a while now and have few issues with it. I do have occasional issues mostly with DRM video and really only with Amazon Prime video. Netflix works perfect and I don't remember having any issues with Hulu when I had it but Amazon Prime video for some reason hates the browser from time to time. Sometimes it will work just fine and other times Amazon refuses to work properly, especially when watching a season of something and it switches from one episode to the next. The issue is always about whether the video will start to play or not. If it starts everything is good.

The people behind Vivaldi are some of the people behind the original Opera browser if that matters to you. I still remember the wonder of mouse gestures and tabbed browsing which was introduced by Opera so many years ago.
 
I've been running Firefox on my PC's for over 20 years now.
I've recently had issues using Facebook messenger in video messaging.
It used to be perfect but recently I have had major issues with freezing images, very poor audio with only the odd word coming through. In fact trying to conduct video messenger had become impossible.
I'd put it down to the lousy internet service we get here in Australia with our NBN (National Broadband Network) but I found some advice that it may be a browser problem.
I tried using Chrome and it was perfect! So it would appear this may be (I'm cautious to say it's categorically the Firefox browser) a glitch with Firefox.
I'd prefer to stay with Firefox. I like how it's laid out and how it stores all my bookmarks.
BUT is there a better browser, or are there any fixes for this sort of situation?

Cheers JG
Could just try Chromium itself, if big brother Google is what puts you off Chrome.
https://www.chromium.org/
 
I stick with firefox. I try chrome every few months and go back to FF. The lack of being able to resume a download is a no go for my middle of nowhere satellite only internet that gets 100KB/s on a good day and drops connection when the wind blows. Such a simple feature that's still missing in chrome that even internet explorer had right.. seriously google? I don't use facebook much (basically just for the marketplace to find parts 'locally') and haven't run into the issues you're having. That and freezing images and crappy audio quality are on par for my wonderful internet so I wouldn't even have noticed if it was a firefox issue or just my internet sucking as normal!
 
I use waterfox, im pretty sure regular firefox is 64bit natively nowadays, but that wasnt always the case, so ive stuck with waterfox ever since. As another person mentioned, I have issues with ESXI on firefox, but I also have the same issues on chrome, IE, edge, opera, safari etc..the less-than-helpful vmware support says all of my issues are "browser issues", its just coincidentally a problem on EVERY browser, yet it still isnt somehow a vmware issue.....I wonder why we havent bothered purchasing their "support" contract again?

/rant over
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. I did a refresh on Firefox and it's now working a lot better.
Cheers JG
 
Yep, chrome so far from experience has been the best with no issue for me. I've used FF, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge. I have to say Chrome is the best so far for what I use it for.
 
There are pretty much two basic browser technologies out there, those based on Webkit (Chrom*) and Firefox.

Personally, I like the unique, so I prefer Firefox. With that said, there is activity with both technologies, but maybe I like Firefox's privacy stands better.

Just like with MSIE of old, there are many websites crafted to only work with Chrome variants though.
 
I've used Safari, Chrome, and Firefox for the last 10 years. And I've more or less landed on Firefox. As I become more interested in security and privacy it seems the logical way to go. Facebook fence helps a lot. And I stack that with all of my other privacy and anti-tracking tools (VPN, Cookie Manager, etc).
I do like Safari for just the sheer speed of it though. Safari, Chrome, and Firefox have all traded blows for a while on speed. But Safari is often at the top or near the top just due to its integration. If you're not on a Mac though, it obviously is a non-starter.
 
I find the font rendering in Firefox is much nicer than Chrome. Fonts are bolder and easier to read.
 
Back
Top