My Experience Trying Other Browsers

I usually grow weary of Firefox after awhile (nagging about updates; language packs I don't need, etc). So I try other browsers. So far, none of the ones in Software have worked out. I started with Falkon, which I love, but after crashing on opening 5 times, I gave up and gave it the hook. Then I tried Gnome, was too slow. Ice Weasel wouldn't even show up as installed. Got rid of both of them. Didn't risk any of the others. I'm going top install Vivaldi, which I also love. It's not in Software, so I'll probably just download it. I haven't had much luck with Synaptic lately; I'm either using it wrong or it installed wrong. I'll let you know how Vivaldi goes. I'm anticipating that will go smoothly, always does.

Opera seems to be better that it was for me. The free VPN seems to work on Firefox as well if I leave Opera minimised.

Vivaldi installed easily from their web page, downloaded and installed using the Linux Installer App in Zorin in no time. I'll probably stay with it. Firefox is excellent no doubt, but it just seems a little pushy these days...

I vaguely remember that there was an issue with Videos on Vivaldi - I use it in FerenOS as it is the default browser for that but I prefer FF for Netflix viewing.

The only videos I run are the how-to ones, telling me how to fix or do something. Haven't tried one yet, I'll let you know if it's a problem.

I use Waterfox for the Firefox experience without the nagging.

Can someone explain to me what the nagging is?

Swarfendor437 wrote:Can someone explain to me what the nagging is?

For me, Firefox likes to force its updates on you. It likes to Open new windows and new tabs, pushing Firefox services. Firefox used to be great... but as with many things that start out great, before long human nature takes over.
Firefox used to allow more user control. With each update, they rescinded more and more. And each update was, of course, required.
Waterfox makes a simple demonstration that the old firefox works just fine, and no such updates are required for function.

Lastly, Firefox pushes ads no matter what ad blocker you use (Frankly, mostly on Linux discussion sites!)
If I need to go to a Microsoft site, at least my pages are not drastically slowed down by it trying to load fifty VIDEOS I don't want and never asked to autoplay. Much less, watch the tracker at the bottom left for all the advertising sites jostling for top position.
Just bein' honest... Either way, I get much more effective ad blocking on Waterfox than ever on Firefox.

At one time, Firefox was always my default browser. Loved it. But with anything you love, once it turns on you and decides your love is grounds for giving you the icy hard shaft, that love turns to Anakin Skywalker level hate.

Are people using default search engine? Those are the first things to go: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, Twitter.

I've not experienced these nags unless I am being short-sighted (which I am anyway! LOL!)

Google or the Duck.
One thing you can try is a Try "OS" before you install and choose an OS that comes with Firefox. Run it the first time. Then repeat the test with another OS that comes with a different browser pre-installed, like Zorin or others.
Firefox is the slowest, in my experience. It takes forever to load and when it finally does, it opens multiple tabs that all tell you how great, awesome and sexy Firefox is. One tab, just brags about Firefox. Then next one begs you to import your accounts. Another tells you all about how Firefox cares about you and has all of your best interests at heart (I get trust issues at such commentary).
Then it whines that your browser is out of date and you damn-well better update it- "Or Else!"

Chrome is slow, but I always hated Chrome. It whines about being out of date, too.

Once you use it and update everything and import everything, Firefox nags less. But it still nags often enough to annoy me. I don't like machines telling me what to do, I like telling machiens what to do. I am the reason why Skynet has a major-bad attitude problem.

Another issue I have with Firefox is that my zoom settings won't stay. Gets old fast to have to zoom three times every page you open. I guess you need to open a firefox account and sign in for that to work. Vivaldi remembers them, and has beautiful themes as well. Vivaldi seems perfect to me.

Mdiemer,

I was going to tell you the add-ons that I use in firefox, to get the correct imge size.
However, the extension page has unmoveable information blocks about private browsing and add-ons, which stop me from seeing the add-ons that I am using - perverse - perhaps Firefox IS loosing it!

Surprisingly no problems with image size in Feren O/S.

I've had good success using Slimjet Version 23.0.6.0 (based on Chromium 74.0.3729.108) (Official Build) (64-bit)
also use Duck-Duck-Go

FSG wrote:I've had good success using Slimjet Version 23.0.6.0 (based on Chromium 74.0.3729.108) (Official Build) (64-bit)
also use Duck-Duck-Go

Cool, I think I will test that one out.

I used slimjet exclusively for a while - until my laptop picked up bizarre issues whilst browsing.

Firstly randon sound breakins and then a redirect to other site which brought up protectives that ground things to a halt:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13392

As you can see, I had to delete Slimjet completely - shame it seemed really good to start with.

Before you decide on any browser, just take a look at what resources are being used, even when 'idle' - I made a post back some time ago on the City Forum where I live but can't find it - it made eye watering reading!



Four Tabs open when I took this screenshot.

Update - found that post:

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/ ... nt=8182584

Swarfendor437 wrote:Before you decide on any browser, just take a look at what resources are being used, even when 'idle' - I made a post back some time ago on the City Forum where I live but can't find it - it made eye watering reading!

ProcessesFirefox.jpg

Four Tabs open when I took this screenshot.

Update - found that post:

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/ ... nt=8182584

Swarfendor, can you help interpret your results from that thread?
Because one browser showed high resource usage, but you said it had multiple tabs open including chat and video; another you compared it to had low usage but only had one welcome tab open. So, I am not sure how to compare the results.

OK, try and install all the browsers I quoted in that thread, including Chrome - start them with just the welcome screen, then choose your favourite website (https://zorinos.com) and then see what results you get - I did not have the time to start from scratch when I posted that.

Hi Aravisian
I too like Waterfox and on my ThinkPad/Zorin X230 I easily installed it from the Repository. Now with my new Clevo/Zorin, I was surprised that Waterfox is no longer listed. I downloaded the .tar file from Waterfox and extracted it but there is no Read Me file with instructions on how to install it. In the Terminal, I know how to switch to cd Downloads but once there, do you know the command to install Waterfox? Or is there some other trick to get Waterfox installed in Zorin15? Or, have you found something better than Waterfox. Priorities, of course, are speed and security.
Much thanx,
Katie

kay-dee wrote:Hi Aravisian
I too like Waterfox and on my ThinkPad/Zorin X230 I easily installed it from the Repository. Now with my new Clevo/Zorin, I was surprised that Waterfox is no longer listed. I downloaded the .tar file from Waterfox and extracted it but there is no Read Me file with instructions on how to install it. In the Terminal, I know how to switch to cd Downloads but once there, do you know the command to install Waterfox? Or is there some other trick to get Waterfox installed in Zorin15? Or, have you found something better than Waterfox. Priorities, of course, are speed and security.
Much thanx,
Katie

Yes, Waterfox doesn't even need to be installed to run. It can run as a stand alone program.

cd to the folder you extracted the waterfox compressed file in, then

Code:

sudo mv waterfox /opt/waterfox

Are you using Gnome Desktop or Lite XFCE4 desktop?
It makes a difference in instructions if you want to have it in your app menu
For Gnome; open Alacarte and create the launcher with the path:
/opt/waterfox
The icon is in the same directory and further down, here:
/opt/waterfox/browser/icons/mozicon128.png

For XFCE, use Create Launcher function and follow the same paths above.
The other method is to install it in your home folder (Which is how I always did it):

Code:

tar -xvjf ./waterfox.tar.bz2

Code:

cd ./waterfox

Code:

./waterfox

To add to App Menu, follow steps above OR
Add path to your /usr/share/applications folder.

Thanks as always, Aravisian... let me have a look at this and try. I will let you know how I make out...
Your friend,
Katie

Hi, When I used to use Icecat (previously Iceweasel) you just clicked on the extracted launcher, it never placed it in the system menu - bit like waterfox. I don't have issues at present using Firefox as it has recently beefed up its security and was one of the first Browsers to rectify the Intel/AMD security flaws when it released Firefox 51 (now at 71.0).

Okay, that didn’t work.
I’m using Gnome desktop and the extracted Waterfox file is in Downloads. I want it as part of my Applications Menu and so chose your instructions to install Waterfox into the Home Directory. Opened the Terminal and entered cd Downloads and made sure the switch was made. Then entered the command tar -xvjf ./waterfox.tar.bz2
I get the screen shot attached.
I deleted the .tar file, left the extracted file, and tried again. Same result. What am I doing wrong, here?
Katie

Thanks Swarf:
Firefox is what I am running now, as provided by Zorin. I realize that it is slower than Chrome but I like the security a lot better. But I like to have more than one browser installed. Different browsers for different uses. I intend to keep Firefox set up with StartPage.
Katie

kay-dee wrote:I deleted the .tar file, left the extracted file, and tried again. Same result. What am I doing wrong, here?
Katie

Maybe I did.
Is the downloaded file tar.bz2 or tar.gz or....?

kay-dee wrote:Thanks Swarf:
Firefox is what I am running now, as provided by Zorin. I realize that it is slower than Chrome but I like the security a lot better. But I like to have more than one browser installed. Different browsers for different uses. I intend to keep Firefox set up with StartPage.
Katie

I discovered that ixquick is now Start Page and something put me off using it so I only ever use DuckDuckGo now:

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/ ... nt-8265634

I gave up on Waterfox when it stopped allowing the few security extensions I use. I agree with all the criticism of Firefox Quantum intrusiveness which is why I replaced it with ESR. I also use SeaMonkey a lot and find it has many advantages and is very fast. Opera has been my default since the beginning but I'm not overjoyed with some recent developments so Vivaldi is catching up fast!

tambler wrote:I gave up on Waterfox when it stopped allowing the few security extensions I use. I agree with all the criticism of Firefox Quantum intrusiveness which is why I replaced it with ESR. I also use SeaMonkey a lot and find it has many advantages and is very fast. Opera has been my default since the beginning but I'm not overjoyed with some recent developments so Vivaldi is catching up fast!

You can get rid of intrusiveness of firefox - I don't sign up for an account. ESR will limit you in that on another distro I could not install TOR browser. You can get TOR extensions for Firefox but for total piece of mind everyone should be running TOR browser and use a Firewalla piece of kit (hardware firewall).

Swarfendor437 wrote:ESR will limit you in that on another distro I could not install TOR browser. You can get TOR extensions for Firefox but for total piece of mind everyone should be running TOR browser and use a Firewalla piece of kit (hardware firewall).

For what it's worth, an easy way to get TOR Browser on Zorin Core 15 https://youtube.com/watch?v=RFsb5JtNpoA takes about 6 minutes.

Zorin Lite (aka Xfce) https://youtube.com/watch?v=FuDYBab0V5A the demo is on Linux Mint but the xfce part (@ 7:15) should work on Zorin??? although I haven't tried it myself.

Hi Aravisian
The Downloaded File: /home/kay-dee/Downloads/waterfox-classic-2019.12.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Thanx,
Katie

Don't laugh, Swarf... the thing that put me off DuckGoDuck was the friggin' Duck!
I know it sounds petty, but I don't understand programmer's fascination with goofyness. What ever happened to professionalism? I dumped PoP OS because I couldn't stand looking at that robot thing. Or is it supposed to be an alien? Systems 76 could have at least hired a trained Graphic Artist to produce the artwork.
I have been in publishing for many years and I find amateurish work offensive.
Just me, I'm afraid. Don't you love the 'look' of Zorin?
Katie

Thanks MBMz10
I've been interested in the TOR Browser but like others, couldn't install it from the Repository. I might find TOR slow, due to crummy wifi here in the turd world, but It might prove useful when dealing with someone like the Tax Man
Once I get Waterfox and Dissenter up and running, and then Extreme Download Manager, I'll download your link and give TOR a try.
Thank you,
Katie

Hey Tambler
I am not familiar with the browsers you mention, but I also have heard good things about Vivaldi. My priorities are of course, security and speed. I'm in a small fishing village located in the Dominican Republic. And things work slowly here, including the internet. I wanted to experiment with Solus OS and when I tried to download it, I got a time of 12 Hours. Most IOS files take 4 hours. I downloaded Zorin while visiting my brother in Florida: 11 minutes!!!!
The price I pay for warm weather all year 'round.
Thanks,
Katie

kay-dee wrote:Don't laugh, Swarf... the thing that put me off DuckGoDuck was the friggin' Duck!
I know it sounds petty, but I don't understand programmer's fascination with goofyness. What ever happened to professionalism? I dumped PoP OS because I couldn't stand looking at that robot thing. Or is it supposed to be an alien? Systems 76 could have at least hired a trained Graphic Artist to produce the artwork.
I have been in publishing for many years and I find amateurish work offensive.
Just me, I'm afraid. Don't you love the 'look' of Zorin?
Katie

I can appreciate goofiness AND professionalism. Both have their upsides and their downsides.
Sometimes, on this forum, we behave professionally. Sometimes, we are goofy.

kay-dee wrote:Hi Aravisian
The Downloaded File: /home/kay-dee/Downloads/waterfox-classic-2019.12.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Thanx,
Katie

Hmm. I just looked at the screenshot. The install was going by if it was moved to Home folder as a hidden file (.waterfox)
Maybe adjust the command line to:

Code:

tar -xvjf waterfox.tar.bz2

Check that the file name matches what you put in your terminal.

Okay Aravisian:
In the Terminal I pasted: tar -xvjf waterfox-classic-2019.12.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Something happened, as the first screen shot shows but the other commands: cd ./waterfox and ./waterfox did not take.
The second screen shot is of my Home Directory with Hidden Files. As you can see, there is a Waterfox Folder. But Waterfox does not appear in the Applications Menu.
Progress????
Katie
Oops, the Screen Shots are switched...

Two interesting articles on Browsers:

https://www.privacyend.com/most-secure-web-browsers/

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/which-br ... st-secure/

A teacher where I work whose also into Linux and Pi's uses one of these:

https://firewalla.com/

Which he can use to create a VPN.

I like the Naver Whale browser because it is good at installing sites as web apps on the desktop. I know almost nothing about computer guts though.

kay-dee wrote:Okay Aravisian:
In the Terminal I pasted: tar -xvjf waterfox-classic-2019.12.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
Something happened, as the first screen shot shows but the other commands: cd ./waterfox and ./waterfox did not take.
The second screen shot is of my Home Directory with Hidden Files. As you can see, there is a Waterfox Folder. But Waterfox does not appear in the Applications Menu.
Progress????

Did the extracted file end up named .waterfox or waterfox without the dot?
Without the dot, then the terminal commands must also be dotless

I assume you are referring to the Waterfox file in the Home Directory. And yes, it is .waterfox
Katie

kay-dee wrote:I assume you are referring to the Waterfox file in the Home Directory. And yes, it is .waterfox
Katie

Sigh... Katie, I am sorry. I should have looked closer at the screenshot instead of wasting your time.
If you look at your screenshot above, what is typed into your terminal is cd ./waterfox and it should be cd /.waterfox
If I had spotted that sooner...

I've never know Linux to be this hard. The screen shot tells the tale:
Katie

kay-dee wrote:I've never know Linux to be this hard. The screen shot tells the tale:
Katie

LOL
Ok, let's try going about this in a different way. Here we explore how I mentioned that Waterfox can operate as a standalone browser without needing to be installed.
Visit this site:
https://www.waterfoxproject.org/en-US/w ... w/?scene=1
Download for Linux.
Extract the downloaded file in your downloads folder by right clicking and selecting "extract here."

Open the folder you now have after the extraction and scroll to the bottom and look for a file that simply says "Waterfox"
Right click it, go down to Properties. Go to Permissions tab and make sure that "Allow executing as a program" is checked as enabled.
Now -test- by double clicking that file and ensuring Waterfox opens a browser. IF that fails, come in the thread and say so.
Othewise,
Drag an drop the entire folder into your HOME folder or- if you want you can place it in a less conspicuous place. I had put mine in Documents folder. You can also just leave it in downloads, if you trust yourself not to delete it during a cleaning spree.
Now, to create a launcher:
In terminal type

Code:

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

-Type: application
-Name: Waterfox
-Command: /home/<Your User Name>/<folder you placed the Waterfox Folder in/waterfox-classic/waterfox < Command is the path to the object
So, let's assume you placed it in Home folder and let's assume your user name on your computer is kaydee:
/home/kaydee/waterfox-classic/waterfox
Adjust as reality, not assumption, reflects.
-Comment: Waterfox (Or leave blank)
Click Ok.
Double click your launcher and it may give an "Untrusted" pop up. Select that it is trusted and to launch and make sure everything works.

I an not really sure how to add the thing to Gnome Panel since Gnome panel has gone all kinds of BSC. But... I will look that up shortly, unless you already know how to do that.

Thank you, Aravisian.
It's getting on here, past four o'clock and I still have to find groceries for dinner. I'll review all this on the boat later, and tackle it tomorrow when I'm fresh.
Stay tuned,
Katie

Deleted all Waterfox files and now attempting to start fresh. First two attempts to download Waterfox failed. Got a third running now. One hour and eleven minutes to go.
Katie

Waterfox download FAILED. I give up.

Poor net signal?

Turd-world... who knows...

kay-dee wrote:Turd-world... who knows...

Well... did you Fully delete your existing Waterfox files?
Maybe try a different download site, like source forge... The link I gave was the Waterfox developers page. I just tested it and it took about two seconds and no problems. I can only guess that the site is not sluggish.

A fresh start: I downloaded another package: water-fox-classic-2020.01.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
This is a dual drive Clevo computer: OS on the SSD and storage on the HDD.
Where do we go from here?
And thank you from a frustrated Katie!

Oh, and yes. I deleted all Waterfox files including the one in Hidden Files. I didn't do a purge, though. Let me know if you think I should.
Again, thank you...
Katie

kay-dee wrote:Where do we go from here?

Aravisian wrote:Ok, let's try going about this in a different way. Here we explore how I mentioned that Waterfox can operate as a standalone browser without needing to be installed.
Visit this site:
https://www.waterfoxproject.org/en-US/w ... w/?scene=1
Download for Linux.
Extract the downloaded file in your downloads folder by right clicking and selecting "extract here."

Open the folder you now have after the extraction and scroll to the bottom and look for a file that simply says "Waterfox"
Right click it, go down to Properties. Go to Permissions tab and make sure that "Allow executing as a program" is checked as enabled.
Now -test- by double clicking that file and ensuring Waterfox opens a browser. IF that fails, come in the thread and say so.
Othewise,
Drag an drop the entire folder into your HOME folder or- if you want you can place it in a less conspicuous place. I had put mine in Documents folder. You can also just leave it in downloads, if you trust yourself not to delete it during a cleaning spree.
Now, to create a launcher:
In terminal type

Code:

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

-Type: application
-Name: Waterfox
-Command: /home/<Your User Name>/<folder you placed the Waterfox Folder in/waterfox-classic/waterfox < Command is the path to the object
So, let's assume you placed it in Home folder and let's assume your user name on your computer is kaydee:
/home/kaydee/waterfox-classic/waterfox
Adjust as reality, not assumption, reflects.
-Comment: Waterfox (Or leave blank)
Click Ok.
Double click your launcher and it may give an "Untrusted" pop up. Select that it is trusted and to launch and make sure everything works.

I an not really sure how to add the thing to Gnome Panel since Gnome panel has gone all kinds of BSC. But... I will look that up shortly, unless you already know how to do that.

kay-dee wrote: I deleted all Waterfox files including the one in Hidden Files. I didn't do a purge, though. Let me know if you think I should.

Nah...

Update:
Before giving the above instructions, I tested them to be sure that they would work and they did.
However... I was using Mate Desktop (Testing) at the time.
I have gone back to using a Zorin Lite Desktop and now, the above instructions have no meaning. The instructions work- But Waterfox Does Not Work on many builds of Ubuntu 18.04.
https://github.com/MrAlex94/Waterfox/issues/1128

There is an appimage of it available:
https://www.appimagehub.com/p/1275115/
I downloaded the above.
Then I right clicked the file in downloads folder, selected permissions tab, checked "Allow Executing as a Program"
Then I double clicked it. After a moment, a couple installation pop ups asked me questions.
Then it installed, added to my menu and opened. So, tested and it works.

SIGH what a fiasco... But the above DOES work on Ubuntu 18.04 builds, at least. And this MAY be your easiest installation method.

Thanks Aravisian. I'm completely lost on this thing. Maybe I should be looking at a different browser...? It should not be this hard!
Let me look again,
Love yah,
Katie

kay-dee wrote:Thanks Aravisian. I'm completely lost on this thing. Maybe I should be looking at a different browser...? It should not be this hard!
Let me look again,
Love yah,
Katie

I know right. It's a common complaint that installing things can get trying.

Well, the appimage is Quite Easy. The issue was that the Build is not working Ubuntu 18.04 - and only on some builds. No idea why. It worked like a dream on 16.04 Zorin 12.4
I'd suggest that you give the AppImage a try before calling it quits.
That said, lately... I have been just using the latest Firefox. They have fixed a lot during the time I was using Waterfox.

You could also look into Brave Browser- it is based on Chrome- but with privacy in mind. It is kind of like a Chrome DuckDuckGo browser.

And of course- Tor Browser which also is operated as a standalone broswer, no installation needed.

When you have a basic browser open with nothing running in it other than start page use 'system monitor' to see how much resources each web browser uses whilst idle.

This is what I found out a while back which I posted:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14605&hilit=browser+resources+when+idle&start=10#p64580

Tested the appimage and it is working- confirmed.
I am running Waterfox, now.
It downloaded in two parts. Right click and select Properties and ensure that "Allow executing as a program" is check marked.
On mine, I had to click part one, then part two.
When part two reformed into a stand-alone app, I checked Properties again to ensure "Allow executing as a program". Then double clicked it and it opened a Waterfox webpage.
No installation was needed and the download was fast.

Thanks for all your help, Aravisian. But I couldn't get Waterfox to work. Finally gave up on it and installed Dissenter.
Need to move on...
Katie

I had to look Dissenter up. Apparently, it is based on Brave Browser.
The thread may help many others looking for similar answers;)

kay-dee wrote:Thanks for all your help, Aravisian. But I couldn't get Waterfox to work. Finally gave up on it and installed Dissenter.
Need to move on...
Katie

I had the same end result after a recent 'update' of Waterfox.

Some information pertaining to Waterfox that may interest some, I am only acting as a messenger here, no bias either way.

quidsup: Waterfox Browser Sold To Marketing Company System1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWxp7-9yn88

Switched to Linux: Waterfox Sells to System1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X_YtKr3KRI

The basic take away for me was that Quidsup was a little skeptical while Switched to Linux seemed more open minded.


Anyway after my Waterfox issues I also moved on and gave Brave Browser a try, go on hit me with all the dirt you have on this! Seems to have much politics follow it around so lets hear it.

It did import my Firefox settings and bookmarks rather well and it has access to the TOR network, albeit a somewhat 'cutdown' version of the full TOR browser.
So far it has been a positive experience for me. It starts a lot faster on my very low powered devices which is nice especially if I want to use TOR.
One feature that I love and have only seen in Firefox and derivatives (TOR Waterfox) is 'Auto scroll,' its just how I roll er um scroll...but missing in Brave.

I was going to suggest Falkon but ... it's for KDE!