What browser do you use and why?

[Hexxus]

I'm kind of curious about this, you see I use Google Chrome because of the plugins that allow me to RDC into Virtual Machines like Server 2012 and the fact that a lot of junk of mine is on Google. On the other end, I love how FF just doesn't seem to crash or be as buggy as Chrome.

How about you?

[DeadlyOats]

I use Firefox. It's reliable, it's friendly, and Mozilla isn't datamining everything I do online to sell my activities to third party advertisers, or anything like that.

[ajgreeny]

Firefox.
For its superb extensions, some of which, eg tab mix plus, have no equivalent in any other browser. I also love the live bookmarks, which I use a lot for RSS feeds for sites including this forum, and which also do not have similar extensions in other browsers.

[slw210]

I use Firefox. It's reliable, it's friendly, and Mozilla isn't datamining everything I do online to sell my activities to third party advertisers, or anything like that.

+1 also use DuckDuckGo for my search engine.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

Firefox
best session restore and tab management
been using firefox since version 2 when i learned there was something other than AOL and IE

[PJs Ronin]

Chromium with Adblock, Speed Dial 2 and Ghostery. Also have Firefox with the same extensions JIC.

[Linuxratty]

Firefox, for its above average extensions and it's general wonderfulness. Startpage is my search engine.

[craig10x]

Google Chrome....love having the latest flash, built in pdf reader and the latest version through the software updater as they become available...sometimes it acts a bit finicky but i find it is generally quite lovable and has beautiful web page rendering :D

[Dale61]

The first thing I do with any new computer/laptop is install Firefox. It's a no-brainer. I then point the computer owner to the add-ons page and let them decide what extensions they would like.

I also deactivate Exploder. I've had the occasional phobe call asking how to re-activate it, but I've just told the caller that if they want me to continue to maintain their computer, then IE does NOT get activated. So, it's either my free maintenance, or it's IE and they pay for repairs.

[Invincible23]

Firefox and its fabulous collection of add-ons are a life-saver. I use Adblock Edge + Ghostery + Noscript + HTTPS Everywhere for a secure internet browsing experience.

[Hexxus]

Interesting! Lots of FF users out there.I'm starting to have a weird issue with Chrome just freezing for a good 8 seconds while scrolling on a page, so I was back to FF again and the only thing I need to find is an extension that lets me RDP into ******* boxes.


Honestly, I thought I would see more Chromium users... Thanks for the replies guys!

[kurt18947]

I've been using Netscape/Firefox since I guess Windows 3.X. I knew even back then that I.E. had ........ 'issues':rolleyes:. I use chromium for a couple sites that don't work properly with any ad or script blockers but wouldn't voluntarily use it as default, just doesn't 'feel right'. I don't see any speed difference between Firefox & Chromium.

[Frogs Hair]

Firefox and Iron at the moment . Firefox is default and I like experiment with different secondary browsers. Both have good extension options and play video equally well. The new Opera 15/Next Chromium based browser is nice and definitely not a Chromium/Chrome clone, but there are no Linux builds yet.

[bapoumba]

I use several. Mostly Chrome, loaded with extensions, Firefox to debug things, with a little less extensions, Opera almost naked (only AdBlok) and I also use Safari on the macs. Sync stuff with google for Chrome, xmark for Firefox and iCloud for Safari as I work with 3 different machines on a daily basis, plus tablet and phone.

[monkeybrain20122]

Firefox becuase of its extensions, great tab management and multimedia plugins (many multimedia formats don't work on Chrome for Linux), but also because Mozilla is the greatest champion of open web standard, it is a flagship open source project.

I keep Chrome around just for the odd occasions that I need up to date flash, but I have almsot never encounter such a situation (just once as far as I can remember) On my Fedora partition I do not install system flash and only use greasemonkey scripts in Firefox to access common flash sites like Youtube, Vimeo etc so there I use Chrome a bit more often.

[Erik1984]

Firefox because Firefox ;)

[zealibib slaughter]

Firefox because its the swiss army knife of browsers.

[Hexxus]

I use several. Mostly Chrome, loaded with extensions, Firefox to debug things, with a little less extensions, Opera almost naked (only AdBlok) and I also use Safari on the macs. Sync stuff with google for Chrome, xmark for Firefox and iCloud for Safari as I work with 3 different machines on a daily basis, plus tablet and phone.


Xmark for Firefox? Does it perform a similar role that Google's syncing does such as book marks and stuff?

[bapoumba]

Xmark for Firefox? Does it perform a similar role that Google's syncing does such as book marks and stuff?

Yes it does. I want them separated. I could use profiles, I know, easier to have several browsers with several configs (bookmarks included).

[Hexxus]

Yes it does. I want them separated. I could use profiles, I know, easier to have several browsers with several configs (bookmarks included).


Cool! Thanks for the info :) I'm going to try that out since I'm kinda similar with separate profiles for work/personal.

[bapoumba]

Cool! Thanks for the info :) I'm going to try that out since I'm kinda similar with separate profiles for work/personal.

Sure, you're welcome. This is just my own way, I tried different profiles. Did not work that well for me.

[sena-akada]

At the moment Google Chrome on 12.04, but it has a strange issue sometimes where it will keep refreshing the page when you press on back.

[mikodo]

...

I also deactivate Exploder ....
Lol!

Firefox, for me too. For all the reasons everyone has mentioned. Well, some of them I didn't know about. Lol. I think it is, a fantastic example of FLOSS, to hold as a shining example, to the world.

;p

[zombifier25]

All hail the Firefox master race.

Ok, for real. It has tons of extensions that I need and extensions that Chrome has yet to have.

[Artemis3]

I also use Firefox, don't like the others, except maybe midori and xombrero for very old / low memory machines :)

[richardsdma]

chrome/chromium all the way. i am a huge fan of google, i have a great respect for what they are doing for opensource community.

[vasa1]

I also use Firefox, don't like the others, except maybe midori and xombrero for very old / low memory machines :)
xombrero is weird to use but fast!

[zombifier25]

xombrero is weird to use but fast!

Lynx is faster :P

[kurt18947]

I was just reading an article on The Register about IBM & their CIO. They've gone away from I.E. and gone to Firefox. I expected corporates to move to Chrome, mega corporations scratching one another's back and all.

[Petro Dawg]

On my Xubuntu systems I typically alternate between Firefox and Chrome due to issues with one or the other on some sites, recently however I've been able to use Firefox exclusively without issue; but I find them to be pretty equivalent (depending on what add-ons you want).

On my Puppy Linux systems I use only Seamonkey due to its integrated E-mail utility which saves a bit of space when compared to installing Firefox and Thunderbird separately.

[-jay-]

first thing i do after installing linux is removing firefox & installing google chrome

[monkeybrain20122]

I was just reading an article on The Register about IBM & their CIO. They've gone away from I.E. and gone to Firefox. I expected corporates to move to Chrome, mega corporations scratching one another's back and all.

Yeah but I expect mega corporations don't like to be spied on either. It seems that Google has a PR disaster on its hands right now because of the NSA scandal. :)

[CharlesA]

Firefox on everything but my work box, which uses Chrome (which sucks as much as FF on that box).

I've always used FF so maybe it's a comfort thing.

As far as the work box goes, it has a gig and a half of RAM running Outlook and Win7 x64, so it chugs like crazy.

[TeamRocket1233c]

Firefox. Reliable, more secure than Chrome, has more and better extensions than Chrome, and seems to be more stable to me than Chrome as well.

[Buntu Bunny]

I had gone back to Firefox because after having striping issues with Opera, which I loved (great addons); in fact I gave on it. After reading through this thread I decided to give it a try again and it seems the latest update resolved the problem I was having! Will probably go back to using it now, plus FF as needed. I only use Chrome for blogging because I have Google tracking disabled on FF and want to leave it that way.

[donovan1983]

Chrome. I use it on my desktop, my netbook, my Chromebook, my Nexus 7, and my phone. I do skip on Chrome on my iPad mostly because of iOS limitations. I like having my bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history, extensions, and open tabs available on virtually every device I use. The main downside is that Chrome is a memory pig and it doesn't like having very many tabs open on low memory devices like my phone or Nexus 7.

[courseinmiracles2]

FF because it isn't MS or Goo

[kevdog]

Both Firefox and Chrome depending on what I want to do. I'm usually a Firefox guy, however Chrome is good for some extensions like WebPG and I like how it interfaces with my Android phone. I also like the virtual printer sharing chrome offers as well. I really don't like Chromium however.

[craig10x]

I agree...Chrome is so much more complete (in features) then Chromium is...it is my preference too :)
Features it has (that chromium lacks) are built in pdf reader, the latest adobe flash (which you don't get on Chromium nor Firefox) and the automatic updater ppa it adds to software updater so that you get the latest versions very promptly...And it also has the best web page rendering i have ever seen...

[monkeybrain20122]

I
Features it has (that chromium lacks) are built in pdf reader, the latest adobe flash (which you don't get on Chromium nor Firefox) ...

You know, flash is so overblown. I don't even need any flash on Firefox to access videos 99% of the time because of very powerful greasemonkey scripts which works better than flash anyway (lower cpu consumption, hardware acceleration with Nvidia), for others flash 11.2 works just fine, I have only encountered one site which requires up to date flash.

But in Chrome I HAVE TO use flash to access some of the same sites which I don't need flash in Firefox (e.g Vimeo) because gecko-mediaplayer doesn't work there, and because gecko doesn't work you simply can't access many multimedia formats other than flash, which is not the only game in town. In Chrome you can only use the Totem plugin but it doesn't play many formats which it says it does, its windows player plugin never works. Try play this link in Chrome. http://www.ciut.fm/listen-now/ , you just can't even though it is a piece of cake in Firefox,--both the Mac and Windows links work effortlessly. (now you can download the .asx file and play in VLC, but you can't listen to it in the browser), Chrome also doesn't work on many streaming sites which FF works without any fuss.

[speedwell68]

Google Chrome for it's cross platform Flash and PDF integration.

[craig10x]

@monkeybrain20122: that website could certainly make it easier to listen to them by adding a regular flash stream player which is what most radio stations around the country use...i do a LOT of stream radio listening (mostly to a lot of talk shows on different stations across the US) and they all stream perfectly in Chrome...

And though that old flash you have is still supported with security updates, one wonders how much longer it will continue to work (in the long run) i really don't think flash is going to be dead anytime soon (as many predict) html5 for general use i think is still going to be a number of years away...I think Firefox does you a disservice by not figuring out some way of getting newer flash versions for you like Google has the sense to do...

Another thing i noticed about Firefox...it seems to scroll funny...when i am using Chrome, my scrolling is butter smooth but on Firefox it's more jumpy for some reason...

By the way, i just checked...you CAN listen to that station in Chrome....just go to:
http://tunein.com/
Type in the call letters and bring it up...you have a choice of listening on the page or having it pop out as a separate stream tuner so you can leave the page...works fine!
Tune In is a very convenient place to open up the streams for many online radio stations...So is iheartradio as well...

And you can also listen to that station by downloading the windows media player file and then right click and open it in VLC media player (i tried that and it works fine as well)...but the more convenient access would be using tune in's pop out player of course...

Another thing i like about Chrome is that there are some pretty cool 3rd party extensions...like the new CheckerPlus for Gmail extension which works superbly with my web gmail account...for me, that arrangement beats using thunderbird or evolution any day...

[adaminards]

I use Chrome. It syncs with all my devices, is fast and has a good selection of extensions. I have no reason to use anything else. (Used to be a Firefox user...)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

And though that old flash you have is still supported with security updates, one wonders how much longer it will continue to work (in the long run) i really don't think flash is going to be dead anytime soon (as many predict) html5 for general use i think is still going to be a number of years away...I think Firefox does you a disservice by not figuring out some way of getting newer flash versions for you like Google has the sense to do...
Google shumway
also Google has access to flash source code to make there flash same for MS

[ajgreeny]

@monkeybrain20122: that website could certainly make it easier to listen to them by adding a regular flash stream player which is what most radio stations around the country use...i do a LOT of stream radio listening (mostly to a lot of talk shows on different stations across the US) and they all stream perfectly in Chrome...

By the way, i just checked...you CAN listen to that station in Chrome....just go to:
http://tunein.com/
Type in the call letters and bring it up...you have a choice of listening on the page or having it pop out as a separate stream tuner so you can leave the page...works fine!
Tune In is a very convenient place to open up the streams for many online radio stations...So is iheartradio as well...

And you can also listen to that station by downloading the windows media player file and then right click and open it in VLC media player (i tried that and it works fine as well)...but the more convenient access would be using tune in's pop out player of course...

Slightly off topic I know, but following craig10x's comments about radio streaming, I thought it worth mentioning radiotray, a tiny application that sits in the panel, and rather than use flash to stream audio, which seems an unnecessary use of resources just for audio, plays any streams in windows compatible formats, wma, asx, mp3 etc etc.

[joshrules001]

I alternated between firefox and google chrome. Firefox has fireftp and I like chrome

[zealibib slaughter]

I would like to add besides firefox on my desktop I use UCBrowser on my mobile. Need UC on my desktop. I think it would give lynx and w3m a run for their money at speed.

[Gilad_Pellaeon]

Firefox for all my browsing purposes with extensions such as Adblock Plus, Noscript, Cookie Controller, Downthemall! and Social Fixer (Facebook) and Google Chrome only for viewing youtube and playing flash games on facebook because chrome's integrated pepperflash runs smoothly on this 2007 computer whereas Adobe Flash does not.

[mamamia88]

Firefox just seems faster on my computer for some reason. Chrome used to be faster but now it just seems slower but i've by no means benchmarked them. I like to be able to bookmark in chrome for the pc and have it show up on my nexus 7 so i'm hoping updates improve performance of crhome but for now i'm sticking with firefox

[Welly Wu]

I used to use Mozilla Firefox, but I just switched to Google Chromium. I'm a heavy Googler and Google Chromium is very fast and highly secure. I installed the new Pipelight and ChromeIPass plug-ins successfully tonight so I can stream my Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Spotify Premium accounts in Chromium while accessing my KeePass 2 encrypted database. I'm good.

[echotech2]

Firefox - because it works.

[zeroseven0183]

I use Mozilla Firefox simply because it puts me, a user, first (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/).

[aysiu]

I use both Firefox and Chrome. There are some sites I like to be simultaneously logged into using different accounts (Google, for example), and so this is handy for persistence (unlike privacy mode or private tab).

[Kevin_Arnold]

Google Chrome. It is fast, clean, and I also use Chrome RDP. Would love to be able to connect to a linux box with it, though.

[Welly Wu]

I just switched from Google Chromium to the official Google Chrome web browser. Chrome enables 3D hardware accelerated GPU graphics by default and it is updated sooner than Google Chromium. I just got my extensions and plug-ins installed in Google Chrome and it's synched to my Google account. Google is awesome!

[craig10x]

I just switched from Google Chromium to the official Google Chrome web browser. Chrome enables 3D hardware accelerated GPU graphics by default and it is updated sooner than Google Chromium. I just got my extensions and plug-ins installed in Google Chrome and it's synched to my Google account. Google is awesome!

It's also the only browser on linux that gets up to date flash (thanks to adobe's agreement with google for Chrome's pepperflash plug in)...Adobe no longer provides new versions of flash for linux other then their agreement with Google...

Chrome also has a really convenient built in pdf reader as well...
It has become my absolute favorite browser for ubuntu...it also renders web pages beautifully...:D

[DarkAmbient]

Chromium, I prefer it's javascript debugger. And it being opensource.

[chrisbarnes1992]

I like Fiefox.
Has got some great reliabilty to it. Its has never crashed on me, And with a few addons it can be a personalised / custom experience. Google Chrome / Chromium does make a appearence every now and then but that is making a sure a website works well on other browsers.

[codingman]

Generally I use Firefox, but at the moment, due to the fact that Youtube does not work in Firefox in Slackware, I am using Google
Chrome .

[eriktheblu]

Situation dependent.

Firefox is my primary. I like the format, I'm accustomed to its capabilities, it can employ my required security devices (smart card), and I find it to be the less prone to errors.
Chromium is my second choice because it is a convenient easy to use second browser for logging into secondary accounts without disrupting wok on the primary.
IE is employed only when absolutely needed for certain work related sites that will not function otherwise.

I've been know to play around with Lynx, but only when I'm really bored.

[John_McCourt]

Firefox was too buggy so I switched to Chrome. The internet was better when web developers kept things simple and small. Now it's bloat, bloat, bloat.

[mJayk]

The internet was better when web developers kept things simple and small. Now it's bloat, bloat, bloat.

This!!

[nenadlatinovic]

I use Firefox almost exclusively. Like the philosophy and organization behind it, and it's not laggy on my laptop, and that's quite enough, actually :)

[Tobey666]

I use Chrome more often than not. That said, I love Firefox for the add ons. With Chrome, if I have a particular problem I want to solve, it's sixes whether there will be an extension that will give me a solution. With Firefox, it's almost guaranteed there will be an extension that provides a solution (it may not be the best solution, but it will be one).

[Hylas de Niall]

I have no clue what all those extra shenanigans are that folk seem to use their browsers for these days (see earlier posts in this thread).
I just use mine to surf the web, and only ever have about 4 tabs open at any one time.

My browser of choice is FF on Win7 and Iceweasel on my multiple #! machines ~ all with Ad-block and NoScript, natch :)

Chrome/Chromium just never felt comfortable to me, but i harbour a soft spot for Opera.

[zer010]

I've always used Firefox mostly because I learned it was built upon the Netscape code. For me, Netscape blew IE away with stability and speed and I just naturally moved to Firefox when Mozilla was founded. Nowadays, I still use it because it has some of the best addons and features. I've tried Chrome and a few others, but nothing beats Firefox, IMO.

[pissedoffdude]

I started using chromium more often because its interface felt really simple and I liked the idea of only having one bar on top since I'm always googling something. But ever since adobe stopped supporting flash on linux, my main browser's chromium because I can use chrome's pepper flash, as I'm always on youtube (and html5 never worked too well for me)

[codingman]

xxxterm is nice too. I like w3m as well.

[BloodIce]

Firefox, exclusively! I find it better for two primary reasons, its philosophy and its usefulness (add-ons) =D>. I am deeply saddened to hear, that the default choice past 13.10 will be chromium. I see it as a complete sell out for Ubuntu. Why not having a choice during the installation?

[blackbird34]

Firefox, for its addons and the ease of creating multiple profiles for various activities :D and obviously for the philosophy, Mozilla's advocacy and general way of doing things
A switch to chromium would be downright dumb...
Chrome crawls for some reason, it puts me off.
Occasionally I use Opera to avoid cookie problems like Google Books trying to make me buy something :biggrin:

[prodigy_]

I use Firefox at home. It's open source and it works just fine so why would I want anything else?

At work I use Chrome and IE 8.

[santosh83]

I use Firefox since I like Mozilla's mission for an open Internet. However I do have Chrome installed as a standby in the rare case where some page just refuses to work properly with Firefox, even with all extensions/plugins disabled. I've had such a situation only once, but you never know, which is why I've Chrome on hand. Other than supporting Mozilla I've no other reason to prefer one over the other. As for other browsers, haven't seriously tried anything else.

[su:bhatta]

FireFox/Iceweasel is default in all my linux distros! Its great(Everybody has covered almost all reasons for it)!

Sparingly use Chromium but never Chrome, somehow i dont take fancy towards chrome, neither in Linux nor in Win ....

Currently am also running Epiphany in Debian & Ubuntu Gnome...

[mikodo]

FF!

It's Floss.

It's extensions.

It's Documentation.

[TeamRocket1233c]

+1 also use DuckDuckGo for my search engine.

+1

I use DDG for my search engine as well, however I also have Ixquick and Startpage selectable as well.

[KryoMouse]

Firefox, with a goodly amount of extensions to maintain privacy, kill unwanted scripts/redirects and all that malarkey. I did have a quick foray into Chrome/Chromium but that was short-lived, along with the Opera experiment and once upon a time, a quick dabble with IceWeasel. FF has always been there and steady enough for me.

[Gyokuro]

Iceweasel/Firefox, NoScript, Adblock Plus, search engine: DDG => because it was my first browser and I like it (also the story behind Netscape). Chromium only for testing purpose.

[SpazCool]

Years ago it was IE and FF. But then, I think ebay's label printing service or something similar didn't work with either browser, which got me to give Chrome its chance. Been using Chrome as my primary browser ever since, occasionally switching to FF when a page won't load or something else happens.

[jeehyun]

Firefox and chromium app

[RavenLX]

Chrome. Because then I can get to my bookmarks on my Android tablet as well (which also has Chrome). I've used Chrome for quite a long time now (a couple years I think) and really like it. Also I can set up some sites like a cloud storage site and a couple games I use in Chrome and have them open up as if it's a stand-alone application.

[santosh83]

Chrome. Because then I can get to my bookmarks on my Android tablet as well (which also has Chrome). I've used Chrome for quite a long time now (a couple years I think) and really like it. Also I can set up some sites like a cloud storage site and a couple games I use in Chrome and have them open up as if it's a stand-alone application.

Not trying to persuade you or anything but just pointing out that the bookmarks/passwords sync feature has been long available in Firefox as well, and the latter is also available for Android. :-)

[Mephisto Pheles]

Opera (12.13) because it's got everything I constantly use and need in one package, versatile email client, rss feeds, browser. irc chat, bittorent, notes... you name it.
Using opera sync all my boxes have everything in sync all the time.
I almost live in the damn thing.

[John Coulthard]

Firefox with occasional uses of SeaMonkey which I use to compose web pages.