[RESOLVED] Need help with web browsers.

I'm sort of new here. I have tried Zorin in the distant past, but had trouble getting all my hardware working. I very recently got totally disgusted with Linux Mint and gave Zorin another whirl. I'm very happy to say I now have Zorin 15.2 Lite installed, tweaked, and running on both my Lenovo laptop and my wife's Lenovo laptop. It took me a bit of tweaking to finally get things the way I like them, but I'm very happy with things now.

I hope this is the place to post this problem. If not, could someone correct me and let me know where it should have been? Admins are welcomed to move this where it needs to be. Thanks for that in advance.

My trouble is with web browsers. At this point, my specific problem is with SeaMonkey 2.53.2 that I have installed on my laptop. My laptop is a Lenovo G50-45 with 4GB RAM. Before launching SeaMonkey, Task Manager reports around 20% of memory used. After launching SeaMonkey the reported usage is at least 40%. Then, if I pop open 5 or 6 new tabs, everything on the laptop slows WAY DOWN. When I check memory usage it will show from 50% to as much as 75%.

To me, that just isn't right. I'm relatively sure the problem isn't necessarily a ZorinOS problem, but I tried Firefox first and it was even worse. So I'm willing to consider trying abut anything to fix the SeaMonkey problem and if that can't be done, I'm willing to try a different browser. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I managed to install Brave Browser on an old Dell Latitude E6500 which appears to be working O.K. - however using it on my main rig which has 16 Gb RAM and it is being a bit slow whilst on this forum. One thing you could look at first is your router - login as admin on your router (if you can) and change the Primary and Secondary DNS servers to Cloudflare - you should notice a considerable difference in connection and speed in general:

Primary address: 1.1.1.1
Secondary address: 1.0.0.1



Oh and I never could stand Sea Monkey - not for speed but for general layot.
Another you might want to try is Vivaldi (Designed by the guy who created Opera).

I actually already have Cloudfare as my primary DNS. I then use 208.67.222.222 as my secondary. I forget whose that secondary is, but it checks as the fastest, or second fastest, server for me using Namebench.

I also just tried something else. I started SeaMonkey in safe mode. I did a complete shut down of the laptop to insure everything was cleared out. When I launched Task Manager it reported only 15% memory usage. Then I opened SeaMonkey in safe mode. Task Manager reported only 16% usage. Then I opened a total of 10 tabs with various web pages on them. Memory usage shot to 40%. That rules out any addons being the cause of the problem. Then I closed all tabs except one and opened that tab as a blank page using about:blank. Task manager actually showed memory usage at 40% to as much as 44%. That's with nothing but a blank page opened.

To me, that says there are some really serious memory leaks in this version of SeaMonkey. Would you agree with that? And if that's the case, I'm definitely going to be looking for a different browser. I can't have half of my 4GB of memory tied up in my browser.

I just had something come up I have to take care of. I'll be gone for 2 - 3 hours. I didn't want you to think I just left for no reason. I'll be back.

smhardesty wrote:To me, that says there are some really serious memory leaks in this version of SeaMonkey. Would you agree with that? And if that's the case, I'm definitely going to be looking for a different browser. I can't have half of my 4GB of memory tied up in my browser.

I would- because I had the same exact experience with it. It is why I ultimately chose Waterfox browser, at that time.

An unrelated sidenote: I am running Zorin 15.2 Lite with Cinnamon Desktop. It runs beautifully on Zorin. Which is odd since Cin DE always gets laggy after a bit of use on Mint. Never figured that one out...

OK. You said you used Waterfox "at that time". What are you using now?

I'm running the XFCE DE. I got hooked on it quite sometime ago. I prefer small, lightweight desktop environments and window managers. XFCE works well for me. There are several much lighter environments out there, but I still prefer a few "extras". I did use Mate with Linux Mint for quite a while, but Gnome and KDE became non-options for me a long time ago. I hate bloat. Now, I know there will be at least a couple of guys that take some offense to that statement about Gnome and KDE. I apologize for that. It just happens to be my opinion, not a fact set in stone.

smhardesty wrote:OK. You said you used Waterfox "at that time". What are you using now?

I'm running the XFCE DE. I got hooked on it quite sometime ago. I prefer small, lightweight desktop environments and window managers. XFCE works well for me. There are several much lighter environments out there, but I still prefer a few "extras". I did use Mate with Linux Mint for quite a while, but Gnome and KDE became non-options for me a long time ago. I hate bloat. Now, I know there will be at least a couple of guys that take some offense to that statement about Gnome and KDE. I apologize for that. It just happens to be my opinion, not a fact set in stone.

You might, but no one is entitled the right to go through life unoffended.
I absolutely hate Gnome and how they became the Microsoft of Linux and will trash Gnome every chance I get.
KDE is great, I am sure... But I have not been able to find that greatness. I find it controlling, scattered, cluttered and hard to organize.

I use Brave and Firefox these days. I had trouble getting Waterfox to work on Zorin 15 when I upped to 15. I eventually did get it sorted out, but by the time I did, I ended up not bothering to re-install Waterfox when I did a wipe and reload of Zorin (due to a different issue).

Your secondary dns is OpenDNS and you are using a primary DNS instead of Secondary DNS ip address in the secondary DNS setting! You should only ever use primary and secondary DNS's that are linked - I gave you the cloudflare ones.

Cloudflare is the fastest there is out there:

https://www.dnsperf.com/#!dns-resolvers

Also their free app for Android:

https://cloudflare-dns.com/

Other browsers to try - Cliqz and Falkon.

Curretly using Firefox, Vivaldi, Brave on both Zorin and FerenOS

I use Brave on my phone. I've never installed it on a PC. I might try it on here to see if it will work for me.

I never knew that about DNS. I have changed it now. We'll see if I notice any improvements. Thanks for that tidbit. Falkon I have at least heard of. Cliqz is a new one on me. I'll check that out.

Thanks for the info from all involved.

If Gnome is the M$ of Linux, then Cloudflare is becoming the Noo Google and OpenDNS isn't much better - all of them being far too big. Much better to move around using OpenNIC so no one can track a non-static DNS.

https://www.opennic.org/

Browsers change like everything else so once again small is beautiful. Apple/Google/M$ browsers are too thirsty, so that rules out Edge and IE, Chrome and Safari. Mozilla is Google's plaything so caveat emptor and all the Blink-engined browsers are suspect except Iridium and Ungoogled Chromium but I'm giving Brave the benefit of the doubt for the time being as it's so fast. However, so are Otter and Pale Moon. I still like SeaMonkey for some things but Opera is now Chinese spyware and Vivaldi forces a unique identifier on all users. Presto Opera is still great - when it works - but doesn't have much of a future in a Google-dominated internet.

tambler, I agree with everything you stated except about the connection between Google and Mozilla. It was my understanding that Yahoo sneaked in and offered Mozilla and ungodly $400 million, 5 year deal. Of course that would make Yahoo and Mozilla bedfellows and that's not any better than Google and Mozilla. I have tried a boat load of browsers over the years. Every time I find something I like that doesn't eat all the resources on my PC, they go and start adding more and more bloat until it no longer works for me.

I have never liked Opera. Just didn't do it for me. The main reason I'm running, or trying to run, SeaMonkey is that it hasn't yet become the bloated pigs the others have become. I ran Netscape Navigator from ver. 1 to ver. 4.08. Then I ran Netscape Communicator 4.x for a while. Then was a whole bunch of jumping from browser to browser until I kind of settled in on SeaMonkey. I stuck with it until Firefox appeared and I ran it until it started bloating like a dead sow and they started offering security updates every other day.

I haven't really tried Pale Moon yet. I had it installed on a previous laptop and never really used it. I'm not at all familiar with Otter. I do have Tor Browser installed on here, but it can be frustrating at times trying to do normal, everyday surfing using Tor. I run into lots of pages that just won't load. I guess I need to keep SeaMonkey installed until I find a different browser that fits my needs.

I did find the quote below on the mozillaZine site. I know I'm not the only one claiming memory leaks with SeaMonkey. There seems to be a somewhat heated discussion over this problem. Somebody said if you open multiple tabs you should expect memory problems and that's why God made a Restart button in the about:profiles page. Wellll, that didn't really impress me. Just because I have a habit of opening multiple tabs when I'm visiting forums I should get used to restarting my browser? Seriously? That's why I'm still looking and asking questions. That same individual making the God comment added this: "Try using it once in a while and then moving on to something more meaningful in your life." I won't frequent the mozillaZine site because of those types of comments form those types of individuals.

An added note. I couldn't ignore that irresistible urge to express myself to that individual. I probably just got banned from their forum. No biggie. I just don't see the need for that type of comment on any forum. Guys like him just don't contribute a single useful thing to a discussion about computing troubles.

"It seems like the memory leaks in 2.53 are worse than in 2.49. I am now using SM x64 instead of x86 - don't know if that makes a difference. I can get up to 1.5GB fast, and SM starts slowing down noticeably. Closing all tabs (but one) doesn't release much of the memory.
I've tried to narrow it down to a site or add-on, but can't determine a single cause. I'm using only uBlock and web tools add-ons (which I've had for years). The only time I actually saw memory clearly increase is when playing a video, like on Yahoo's page.
Anyone else seeing this or have a good way to debug. It is really bad - I have to shutdown SM multiple times per day."

tambler wrote:If Gnome is the M$ of Linux, then Cloudflare is becoming the Noo Google and OpenDNS isn't much better - all of them being far too big. Much better to move around using OpenNIC so no one can track a non-static DNS.

https://www.opennic.org/

Browsers change like everything else so once again small is beautiful. Apple/Google/M$ browsers are too thirsty, so that rules out Edge and IE, Chrome and Safari. Mozilla is Google's plaything so caveat emptor and all the Blink-engined browsers are suspect except Iridium and Ungoogled Chromium but I'm giving Brave the benefit of the doubt for the time being as it's so fast. However, so are Otter and Pale Moon. I still like SeaMonkey for some things but Opera is now Chinese spyware and Vivaldi forces a unique identifier on all users. Presto Opera is still great - when it works - but doesn't have much of a future in a Google-dominated internet.

Thanks for sharing this - I am stuck on glue too now!
I am surprised that Feren OS is offering 'Edge - coming soon' - :scream:

I'm now starting to use Tor Browser - setup was easy enough in Feren OS - will now check in Zorin - writing this from FerenOS. Tor keeps everything anonymous - it was created using firefox 68.9 ESR (Extended Service Release).

Get it from here: https://www.torproject.org/download/

I do like Tor. I have just run into an awful lot of pages that won't load properly. I quit coding web pages a LONG time ago, but I do know there are scripts to determine what browser is being used to view a web site. I'm fairly certain the newer scripts have the capability of issuing warning pages instead of the actual home page. I also happened to have been using a different pair of free DNS numbers and had issues with Tor working through them. I don't recall which DNS numbers they were. It was a good while back.

I'm going to go ahead and order a matched pair of 8GiB RAM sticks for this laptop. Then I'm going to put this memory from this laptop into my wife's laptop. They happen to be matched RAM. Maybe that will help a bit.

Well my DNS delving were short lived - had to go back to ISP router! Still got some Powerline issues too!

Believe it or not, my cable company that provides my Internet service uses Google's server numbers - 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I had no choice but to try and find DNS alternatives. I sure wasn't comfortable using Google.

Mine uses it's own slow ones!

[Update: Managed to login and change to opennic DNS servers!

I've managed to find somewhat of a fix for the problem with SeaMonkey. It's not a bug fix, but it at least allows me to use SM 2.53 without tying up all my resources.

Enter about:memory on the URL line. You'll get a page with four small boxes on it. Three of the boxes deal directly with reports and logs. The third box from the left offers three buttons. They are GC, CC, and Minimize memory usage. Go ahead and select each of them to clear things out. This can even be done with multiple tabs opened. So far the greatest improvement I have seen doing this was a reduction in memory usage from 49% to 27%. This trick allows you to continue surfing without having to close any of the tabs down or as is being directed by the gurus on the mozillaZine site, completely restarting SeaMonkey.

Hi, I can't remember whether a security flaw or something else but when I attended the virtual Linux User Group meeting, a guy with many more years experience than moi said that Sea Monkey is no longer a good browser. Tor browser was the best or Firefox with Tor onion.

I surely wouldn't argue with that opinion of his. SeaMonkey isn't what it use to be, for sure. Having problems like this current memory problem just isn't like the SeaMonkey of old.

Tor is a fine browser and I like the whole concept of it. I just haven't been able to use it as my primary browser due to the number of web pages I'm unable to load correctly. Maybe I just need to stick with Tor and then try to determine why I can't load those pages. Maybe there are settings that I can tweak. I'm just not that familiar with Tor as of yet.

I've never tried Firefox with Onion mostly because I've shied away from Firefox. Maybe I need to give that a whirl.

One other note on Tor. I have Synaptic installed and do nearly all of my package management via Synaptic. Tor Browser Launcher is available via Synaptic and makes installing and setting up Tor a snap. It saves a whole bunch of manual operations. Just FYI.

Man, oh, man. It just never fails. Right after I post about how easy Tor is to install using Synaptic I tried launching Tor and got nothing. I couldn't get it to launch. So I tried using the Launch Setup utility again. It hung halfway through. I uninstalled Tor using Synaptic, then deleted all the directories. Once done, I did a fresh install but it still won't work. I think I'm going to just let sleeping dogs lie right now. I'll truck on using SM 2.53 using the memory cleaner trick. Then down the road I'll look into a different browser.

I did something a while back that is biting me in the **** now. For years I used a browser and only browser based email. I never had any problems doing that, but for some reason I got into the habit of using Thunderbird. Then I used the mail client in SM. I should really revert back to using only browser based email. That saves the headache of having to save mail and definitely saves the headache of trying to export/import between Thunderbird and SM.

smhardesty wrote:Man, oh, man. It just never fails. Right after I post about how easy Tor is to install using Synaptic I tried launching Tor and got nothing. I couldn't get it to launch. So I tried using the Launch Setup utility again. It hung halfway through. I uninstalled Tor using Synaptic, then deleted all the directories. Once done, I did a fresh install but it still won't work. I think I'm going to just let sleeping dogs lie right now. I'll truck on using SM 2.53 using the memory cleaner trick. Then down the road I'll look into a different browser.

If I may give my own thoughts on this one...
I install the vast majority of installations using the following methods:
Install from repository through terminal
Install by downloading the correct package, then opening a terminal for the containing folder and running

Code:

sudo dpkg -i <Package_Name>

The above can require finding and installing dependencies and I have learned a few tricks to that that I will not detail in full, here.
On some less frequent occasions, I install from a build, using "sudo make install".

In my experience so far, I have found the above to ALWAYS be preferable to using a package Manager. Synaptic is great and I recommend having it and I do use it, though infrequently... I pretty much use Synaptic far more for Removal than I do for Installation.
And I have much less trouble with installations than I used to when I relied on Package Managers.

TOR BROWSER requires no Installation, at all.
You can do it this way, though:
https://www.torproject.org/download/
Download for linux.
Double click the "Tor Browser Icon" in that extracted folder- Boom, the browser opens.
You can then create a Launcher for it by using the launcher creator with the command:

Code:

sh -c '"/home/USER/Downloads(OR The containing Folder you Move it to)/tor-browser_en

I've never experienced any real problems using Synaptic. Maybe I should try your way to install Tor. I have no idea what happened to the install I had. It just quit working.

I'm marking this as resolved. The about:memory trick is working well enough for now. Maybe a bug fix will follow to truly resolve this little glitch, but in the meantime I have SM running well enough to say I'm OK. In the meantime, I'll tinker with some other browsers to see if I fall into something more suitable.

Thanks for the help.

smhardesty, thanks for the SM about:memory tweak. Very useful indeed as I had been getting concerned about the memory leakage too! Re Tor, avoid installing it in Linux. The method recommended by Aravisian is much better and also makes Tor portable. Tor is not recommended as a mainstream browser as its settings don't really suit the average user and it often gets into conflict with other Mozilla-based browsers.

The memory trick apparently will work with all Mozilla browsers. I have Pale Moon installed on here and it works perfectly on it. Actually, I don't have Pale Moon "installed". I simply extracted the tarball to a location and setup a launcher. I was going to install it via Synaptic, then saw the approx 75 to 100 additional dependencies and decided NOT to install. I've been playing around with Pale Moon quite a bit. There is a lot to like there. I'd just have to decide whether or not I want to install all those i386 dependencies to have a true install that would be updated regularly.

I finally got Tor running on here, then got kind of disgusted at the number of web pages I couldn't load. I also ran into one problem that I have with Pale Moon. I found several sites that had various types of videos on them and none of the videos showed up. There were placeholders, but the video never appeared. I'm sure the problem would be resolved if I did an install of Pale Moon, but then I'm back to the problem of installing all the i386 packages. As for Tor, I just went ahead and removed it completely from my laptop, including removing all traces from my hard drive. It would never be a regular, daily use browser for me.

Dang! I just tried to find one of the videos that won't load. I can't find one right now. I do know that I'm not having the trouble with YouTube videos. I can't recall what format the videos were that wouldn't load. I'll post that info the next time I run into one that gives me problems.

Oh, and I did get Brave installed on here. I played with it a bunch last night. Maybe I could eventually get use to it, but I'm just so tuned into Mozilla based browsers I can't get into using a Chrome or Chromium based browser. Sometimes change is hard.

Another one to look at that I haven't used in a while is Icecat (formerly Iceweasel).

https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/

I was aware of IceWeasel. I guess I didn't know they had changed the name to Icecat. I'll have to take a look at it again. I definitely will want some addons for whatever I end up with. I prefer uBlock Origin, but could also be content with AdBlock Plus or similar. I also always install a download manager of some sorts. I typically use DownThemAll, but it's not working correctly in SM 2.53 so I might be looking for a different download manager anyway.

I believe I ended up installing uBlock Origin and Turbo Downloader on the Pale Moon I have on here.

Why not just use Mozilla Firefox?

It is what I am using now. I realize that some browsers can be called "more secure." But in the end, none really are... And I'm not doing anything on my computer that I am concerned about hiding or being seen. If there comes a point that there is something I really just want to keep under wraps, I usually can use a stand-alone instance of Tor Browser for that one thing so that my ISP doesn't have a save of it. But for general daily use... Firefox seems to work on all fronts just fine and I am not being spied on much more than I would be walking around the grocery store, anyway.
I have noticed that using a stand-alone instance of Tor, that google really likes to not run a search and run a CAPTCHA at me. It could never be a daily browser because these companies don't want us having too much privacy and claim we are breaking their policies by employing privacy techniques.

I used Firefox for years. Then they started in building into a huge, bloated, resource hog. Not only that, it seems there are a minimum of 2 or 3 updates a week. I just got turned off by all that. I don't want every resource on my PCs tied up just in the browser. A lot of times I'll have Gimp, a LibreOffice document, and maybe Mirage open at once. I found I couldn't do that with Firefox. It's not a lot better with SeaMonkey, but I can at least get by especially now that I found the about:memory trick.

I might be a dinosaur about operating systems and software, but I still at least TRY to use only those things that are light on resource consumption. Zorin is working fairly well for me. I think I'll be able to get along with it. I'm still trying to find software that is more minimalistic.

smhardesty wrote:I used Firefox for years. Then they started in building into a huge, bloated, resource hog. Not only that, it seems there are a minimum of 2 or 3 updates a week. I just got turned off by all that. I don't want every resource on my PCs tied up just in the browser. A lot of times I'll have Gimp, a LibreOffice document, and maybe Mirage open at once. I found I couldn't do that with Firefox. It's not a lot better with SeaMonkey, but I can at least get by especially now that I found the about:memory trick.

I might be a dinosaur about operating systems and software, but I still at least TRY to use only those things that are light on resource consumption. Zorin is working fairly well for me. I think I'll be able to get along with it. I'm still trying to find software that is more minimalistic.

I think you and I have very similar mentality.
But I will admit, normally, Firefox on my system is running at about 5% to 10% and I use GIMP a lot. Sometimes Blender. I wonder if settings and equipment comes into play?

You said Firefox was only using 5% to 10% of resources. Is that memory usage? If so, how much physical RAM do you have? Maybe I just need to go ahead and buy some more RAM like I've been planning and talking about.

Settings and hardware are things I also thought about. I haven't made any changes to he default system settings that I know of. To the best of my knowledge, the only changes I have made are a few applications removed, a couple of applications installed, a few different icon theme sets added, and a couple of different themes added. If there are specific settings you think of that I need to check, holler.

smhardesty wrote:You said Firefox was only using 5% to 10% of resources. Is that memory usage? If so, how much physical RAM do you have? Maybe I just need to go ahead and buy some more RAM like I've been planning and talking about.

Well, I am only running on 16gigs of RAM. Low by todays standards, I guess. But sufficient for me. I do not do gaming or really intensive stuff.

smhardesty wrote:Settings and hardware are things I also thought about. I haven't made any changes to the default system settings that I know of. To the best of my knowledge, the only changes I have made are a few applications removed, a couple of applications installed, a few different icon theme sets added, and a couple of different themes added. If there are specific settings you think of that I need to check, holler.

I cannot think of any settings. My copy of Zorin 15.2 Lite is pretty much running on the default, aside from some more personal adjustments and tweaks that should not affect the web browser.
Hardware differences, though- I couldn't begin to try to predict with all the variation out there. One thing I note is that you consistently mention that your web browsers seem to use more than expected memory. SeaHorse and Firefox... Some seem less so than others...I might check for a memory leak. Or check the drivers for your netcard and see if using a different driver might help.

Right now I only have 4GB of RAM on these laptops. I probably should just buy some more RAM and get it installed. It's not that costly anymore.

There is most definitely a memory leak with SeaMonkey. I have been able to successfully use the about:memory trick to free up memory when things start to slow down. I'm hoping they find what the problem is and issue an update with a fix.

Uh-oh. I have to report additional problems with using SeaMonkey. My wife hadn't been on her laptop since I installed Zorin and SeaMonkey. While I refuse to have anything to do with FaceBook, she does because that's the only way some of her family will communicate. Why they refuse to answer emails is just way beyond me. Anyway, she came in the living room a short while ago complaining about her laptop not running right. She had SM open and was on FaceBook. I tried to do a couple of things and it was like pulling teeth. Everything was running in super slow motion. I opened Task Manager and when it finally opened, 59% of her memory was gobbled up. I then tried to open a new tab to try the about:memory trick and the thing just locked up on me. I couldn't get any response at all via the mouse or any combination of keystrokes.

So, I told her to stay off FaceBook until I got something figured out. I opened my own laptop and went straight to FaceBook. The exact same thing happened on my laptop. I tried a few things and nothing worked. So I shut the laptop down and restarted it. I then launched Pale Moon and ran into the same problem. It was a little better so I tried some other sites. Trying to watch a YouTube video was next to impossible with page load times well over a minute. Then I tried doing a search for Mapquest and my home town. The Mapquest page took over thirty seconds to finally load up.

This is just totally unacceptable to me. It looks like the memory problem is with multiple Mozilla browsers and not just SM. So I'm about to install Chromium on here and see how I get along. I know the memory on these laptops is low compared to new PCs, but 4GB of RAM should be enough to run a web browser. If not, then to me there is a real problem. How in the world can anybody load a lightweight distro on older hardware and expect to use a browser?

I'll play with Chromium and post my results later.

OK, this rig has 16 Gb and just go round to trying Cliqz, a European privacy respecting browser and very fast!

https://cliqz.com/en/desktop

I just took a look at your link for Cliqz. Unless I missed it, it's not yet available for Linux use.

However,,,,, I now have Chromium installed. I am using it right now. The very first thing I tried was that same search for my home town and Mapquest. I got search results in a flash. Then I tried loading the actual Maquest page. WOW! Lightning fast. Next was the FaceBook test. I opened my wife's home page then opened two additional tabs with other FaceBook pages. Everything zipped right along so I took a look at Task manager. Only 34% memory usage with the three FaceBook pages opened. Right now I have two tabs opened in Chromium and Task Manager is also opened. ONLY 31% USAGE! Hooray!!!

So now I'll have to learn the ins and outs of Chromium. I'll still want uBlock installed as well as some type of multi threaded download manager. Then comes the big question for me. Do I want to try and find a suitable email client or do I just want to start using webmail like I use to. Then I have to decide what to do with the wife's laptop. I can install Chromium on her laptop and she'd fall right into using it. The problem will be trying to teach her to use webmail. I don't think she has ever done that. I might let her try it and see how she gets along.

Does it use SSD or HDD?
I also looked this up:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/help-tes ... 4-lts/5251

I am glad I do not use Gnome...

smhardesty wrote:I just took a look at your link for Cliqz. Unless I missed it, it's not yet available for Linux use.

However,,,,, I now have Chromium installed. I am using it right now. The very first thing I tried was that same search for my home town and Mapquest. I got search results in a flash. Then I tried loading the actual Maquest page. WOW! Lightning fast. Next was the FaceBook test. I opened my wife's home page then opened two additional tabs with other FaceBook pages. Everything zipped right along so I took a look at Task manager. Only 34% memory usage with the three FaceBook pages opened. Right now I have two tabs opened in Chromium and Task Manager is also opened. ONLY 31% USAGE! Hooray!!!

So now I'll have to learn the ins and outs of Chromium. I'll still want uBlock installed as well as some type of multi threaded download manager. Then comes the big question for me. Do I want to try and find a suitable email client or do I just want to start using webmail like I use to. Then I have to decide what to do with the wife's laptop. I can install Chromium on her laptop and she'd fall right into using it. The problem will be trying to teach her to use webmail. I don't think she has ever done that. I might let her try it and see how she gets along.

Scroll to bottom of page:



https://cliqz.com/en/desktop/cliqz-for-linux

They do warn it is not fully supported but no issues in FerenOS - got it from Feren's Web Browser Manager which is something that Zorini used to have in earlier iterations (Browser Chooser).

Oops! Sadly the Cliqz story is over!

https://cliqz.com/en/magazine/farewell-from-cliqz

Ouch! That's kind of sad. I always hate to see any worthwhile project end. I've seen lots of pretty nice Linux distros end over the years. That definitely is a sad thing to see. Lots of times there isn't another distro close to whatever ended.

Aravisian wrote:Does it use SSD or HDD?
I also looked this up:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/help-tes ... 4-lts/5251

I am glad I do not use Gnome...

I still use an HDD. I don't use Gnome either. I have the default XFCE on here. I'm happy with the Zorin install with XFCE. It was just SeaMonkey I was having trouble with. Now that I'm using Chromium, it seems like everything is fine. Right now I have 11 tabs opened in Chromium and have Task Manager open. Total memory usage is at 36%. I can't kick on that.

I am going to go ahead and buy a matched pair of RAM for this laptop, then put the 4GB I have on here in my wife's laptop. She'll have 8GB which is plenty for what she does and I'll then have at least 16GB, depending on how much I decide to buy.

Everything I do in Chromium is MUCH faster than SeaMonkey, even if I only have a single tab opened. I never would have thought you would ever see me post this up, but I might very well be a Chromium convert. OMG! I have used Mozilla browsers since the 1980s, I believe.

Well, surprise surprise! Feren OS just notified me of a change to the Web Browser Manager - Cliqz has been removed for obvious reasons, and in its place is Aravisian's favourite - Waterfox - just installed it. Just going to give it a whirl!

Waterfox just as quick as Cliqz was!

I might have to at least try Waterfox. I'm not really having trouble with Chromium. It's just a lot different than SeaMonkey or Firefox.

I have managed to resolve the email problem I thought I was going to have. My wife grabbed hold of using webmail a whole lot faster and better than I expected she might. One afternoon and evening and she whips through her email like a pro. I also have switched back to webmail use. I had a lot of saved emails that I went through and the ones I considered worth keeping were sent to myself as attachments. I've already set up all the folders on my webmail account I need to organize. Took me less time that I thought. So, no more SM daily use. I do still have to keep SM installed for a while. I haven't found a way to export all my passwords from SM and import them into Chromium. The last time I tried to install Password Exporter on SM it didn't work.