Opinion: it is time to switch from Chrome to another browser

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 9, 2022
Google Chrome
|
177

Google Chrome is the dominating desktop browser and a strong browser on mobile as well. Google, being an advertising company first and foremost, gets a ton of data from browser use. What weights more is that the company is also in a strong position regarding the introduction of new web technologies. Some of the proposed changes may favor Google's advertising business more than it is improving Internet use for users.

The introduction of Manifest V3 is just one example of that. With Google's stronghold on Chromium development, all Chromium-based browsers face a tough decision: either follow Google's lead and drop support for Manifest V2, or invest resources in keeping Manifest V2 supported. Manifest V3 changes core APIs that extensions have used for a long time. Especially privacy improving and content blocking extensions are impacted by this, and some have suggested that the change is a deliberate move by Google to strengthen its advertising business.

Only some browser makers have the resources to do something about it. Microsoft with its Edge browser is an example, but it seems that Microsoft Edge will support Manifest V3 only going forward. There are plenty of Chromium-based browsers that offer more than Chrome. Vivaldi offers plenty of integrated customizations and a mail client, Brave has a good content blocker and a different business model than many other browser makers, and Opera maintains a browser focused on gaming.

As far as non-Chromium browsers are concerned, there is Firefox, which relies on its own codebase, and Safari, which is maintained by Apple. Firefox will continue to support Manifest V2 but also Manifest V3; this means, that Manifest V2 extensions continue to be supported for the foreseeable future.

Most Ghacks regulars do not use Chrome as their main browser. Some may use it for web development or the rare site that only works in Chrome, but the majority uses a different browser. It is no coincidence that the majority of Ghacks visitors are the go-to people when it comes to tech-related questions.

In the past, many may have suggested to install Chrome instead of Internet Explorer or the first version of Edge. Some may have installed other browsers such as Firefox right away. Now, it is a good time to get less-savvy computer users to use a different browser.

Whether that is going to be Firefox or another Chromium-based browser depends on personal requirements. Chromium-based browsers may offer better web compatibility in some cases, while Firefox is less dependent on Chromium as a whole and will likely maintain better add-on support going forward.

Why it is time to move away from Chrome

  • Chrome is one of Google's most powerful data gathering tools.
  • Chrome's dominance gives Google a lot of weight when it comes to establishing new web standards. Being an advertising company, Google's interest is not always aligned with the interests of its users.
  • The move to Manifest V3 makes it more difficult to run content blockers and privacy extensions in Chrome. While some users may not notice a difference, users who use multiple extensions or add custom filter lists may run into artificial limitations set by Google.

Here are some browser suggestions

  • Firefox -- not-based on Chromium. continues to support Manifest V2 and will support Manifest V3, includes better privacy controls and options than Chrome.
  • Vivaldi -- based on Chromium. Comes with a content blocker, lots of customization options, a built-in Mail client and more. Announced that it won't follow Google's strict reliance on Manifest V3.
  • Brave -- based on Chromium. Has a good content blocker and privacy protections. Brave will attempt to keep supporting Manifest V2, but may drop it if the cost is too high.

All three browsers and companies are not perfect, and they may be criticized for certain things. Mozilla, maker of Firefox, makes strong political statements from time to time, and a few sites may not work properly in Firefox because of Chrome's dominance. Brave is financed by cryptocurrencies for the most part, and Vivaldi may be too feature-rich for some.

All in all though, these browsers are better options for the vast majority of Internet users.

Now You: which web browsers do you use and suggest that others use?

Summary
Opinion: it is time to switch from Chrome to another browser
Article Name
Opinion: it is time to switch from Chrome to another browser
Description
Here is why it may be the right time to drop Google Chrome and switch to another web browser.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
Logo
Advertisement

Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Ted A Baker said on November 8, 2022 at 3:16 am
    Reply

    And that concludes our latest edition of “my browser is great, yours sucks.” Always entertaining. See you next time.

  2. Zs said on November 1, 2022 at 1:17 pm
    Reply

    Seems like there’s another good reason to use a Chromium fork instead. They deprecated Jpeg-XL support (surprised there isn’t an article about it on ghacks). So the format a bunch of people and organizations (including Google) supported and just got standardized is abandoned by the dominant browser…
    Some “reasons” were given by a dev:
    – Experimental flags and code should not remain indefinitely
    – There is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL
    – The new image format does not bring sufficient incremental benefits over existing formats to warrant enabling it by default
    – By removing the flag and the code in M110, it reduces the maintenance burden and allows us to focus on improving existing formats in Chrome

    Two of which is utter nonsense. The other two just misses the point. (It shouldn’t be experimental…)

  3. renzobenzo said on September 30, 2022 at 6:05 am
    Reply

    Brave is dookie and a scam. I installed it one last time even after it’s various privacy issues and shady practices, like promoting scam cryptocurriences, sharing/selling data with facebook, twitter, and those other big social media companies while claiming to “block ads and trackers” lol, their incompetance of leaking data to my isp while using the private window with tor, the refererals they inserted into each url, trying to bury some people that made a fork called braver in lawsuits ..etc.

    Anyways, I noticed when I turned off telemetry in brave, it still pings all these web services I don’t use or want to being pinged to making requests like every 5 seconds to various brave.com. Like to laptop-updates.brave.com what’s static2.brave.com (a google domain lol?) Brave for worse than firefox and shouldn’t be considered a browser for privacy. Just use ungoogled-chromium if you want to use a chromium based browser, and not brave.

    1. Iron Heart said on October 1, 2022 at 8:14 pm
      Reply

      @renzobenzo

      > Brave is dookie and a scam.

      Great intro to a rather bullshitty comment.

      > privacy issues and shady practices

      Proof or bust.

      > like promoting scam cryptocurriences

      LOL, you can literally withdraw BAT from Brave and convert it to USD / EUR, how is it a scam? It’s also opt-in, you complain about something that you don’t have to use.

      > sharing/selling data with facebook, twitter, and those other big social media companies while claiming to “block ads and trackers” lol

      Nice misinfo you got there, here is your reality pill: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/02/12/privacy-browser-braves-user-concern-over-facebook-whitelist/

      > their incompetance of leaking data to my isp while using the private window with tor

      This is fixed and the Tor window was never more than a gimmick anyway, as a Chromium-based browser can’t possibly have the common fingerprint as the Gecko-based Tor Browser Bundle. The rendering engine differences already make sure of that Brave Software also explicitly states that you should use the TBB for Tor.

      > the refererals they inserted into each url

      Yeah just like Firefox does for each Google search you perform, look it up.

      It’s not like they can even track you with a generic referral, get over it already. It’s also no longer an issue and hasn’t been for two years.

      > trying to bury some people that made a fork called braver in lawsuits

      You can fork Brave but you don’t get to own the trademark (name / logo). “Braver” is too close of a name. What do you think would happen if I started a grocery store and called it “Walmarter”, do you think I would never hear anything from Walmart’s lawyers? LOL.

      Anyway, there is another fork of Brave, called Dissenter browser, which does not violate Brave’s trademark and thus never had any conflict with them.

      > Anyways, I noticed when I turned off telemetry in brave, it still pings all these web services I don’t use or want to being pinged to making requests like every 5 seconds to various brave.com.

      Some connections are necessary for the browser to work correctly and no, none of them are related to telemetry. When you turn off telemetry, it’s off for good.

      > Like to laptop-updates.brave.com

      This is necessary for Brave Rewards to work correctly. Firefox establishes a similar connection for Pocket news articles.

      > what’s static2.brave.com (a google domain lol?)

      Brave fetches certificate updates which are necessary for HTTPS. Firefox does the same via ocsp.digicert.com.

      Brave’s uses Chromium’s certificate updates which come from Google, however they proxy this connection so that Google remains unaware of your installation.

      > Brave for worse than firefox and shouldn’t be considered a browser for privacy.

      Firefox uses Google Analytics by default, they also use Google for geolocation and for Google SafeBrowsing. Further, they send anything you type into the address bar right to Google unless you change the default search engine. It connects more to Google than Brave does, hahaha.

      > Just use ungoogled-chromium if you want to use a chromium based browser, and not brave.

      Browser with delayed security updates and no fingerprinting defenses LOL.

      Also no automatic browser updates (you need a connection for that), no automatic extension updates (you need a connection for that), no certificate updates (you need a connection for that) etc. A browser with zero connections on startup sounds nice until you actually have to use it.

      Nice smearing attempt, but I’ve heard this shit a hundred times already. Getting old by now.

      1. EP said on November 6, 2022 at 8:04 pm
        Reply

        well said, Iron Heart
        i’m not sure what that other guy was thinking or saying but Brave browser works fine on my end

        also have Vivaldi installed on my other PCs and that one works as good as Brave

  4. Mutant77 said on September 28, 2022 at 2:16 pm
    Reply

    use Palemoon and everything is fine.

  5. Anonymous said on September 17, 2022 at 8:19 am
    Reply

    Ik zou dan toch Librewolf Browser aanbevelen. Geen Telemetrie en goed voor de privacy.

  6. val1224 said on September 15, 2022 at 5:03 pm
    Reply

    It’s mind-blowing that any web developer, tech owner, etc., thinks he has the right or responsibility to restrict or promote their product, or people’s participation therein, based on a political agenda. This old lady remembers the joyous days of anonymity and freedom of expression, and it was glorious. If we saw something we disagreed with, we voiced our disagreement and then walked away. It never entered our minds to have Big Brother step in and destroy their lives. You younger generations need to get a thicker skin and stop expecting everyone to comply to your belief system. That attitude will only give you a lifetime of conflict and butthurt.

  7. Thoughtful said on September 13, 2022 at 2:23 am
    Reply

    Laugh Out Loud @ The boring obsessive Iron Heart reading the pro-Firefox comments and replying back to them going to great lengths and effort in attempting to control the narrative in the discussion, a really obsessed Firefox hater. Pathetic!

    People often wonder what did Firefox do to him? He complains about Firefox deplatforming? But he never provides any reference source for his BS claims on who they are actually deplatforming.

    Contrast that with all the people Google really deplatformed from youtube, when such people talked about controversial topics. The author of his favorite browser engine (Chromium) is in fact known for deplatforming and known as an ad-tech company, but our dear Iron Heart does not talk about Google deplatforming certain famous youtubers or about how google being an ad-tech company is limiting the capability of ad-blockers on chrome with MV3.

    The obsessive anti-firefox commenting from him degenerates the discussions on Ghacks, a commenter like him shouting over others without a voting system in place allows misinformation/FUD about Firefox to be spread.

    I believe Iron Hearts comments get a lot of negative feedback here, this is why he has to constantly shout over others, trying to get in the last comment in discussions lol. When he loses the arguments he asks mods for help lol.

    He also repeats the same boring BS almost everytime in browser news articles, repeatedly using the same words/sentences such as Deplatformfox, Android (everything is about android with him), deplatforming, Fake news, Shill/Shills, Chromium and Chrome, BAT, Ungoogled Chromium, Bromite, that outdated stupid link he always spammed, repeating that Brave comes preconfigured with sane defaults, AD NAUSEAM.

    If someone says that they harden Firefox, he foolishly believes that such browser customization offers nothing good for people who decide to harden Firefox settings. He is very wrong though. Changing Firefox settings can increase both privacy and security. With Javascript off, it further increases security and privacy. That is why Arkenfox exists, it allows enhanced privacy and security for Firefox.

    Chromium based browsers like Brave do not compare to the privacy, complexity and security of a hardened Firefox browser with extensions like UBO.

    Some delusional comments from the Firefox hater.

    Iron Heart commented > I wouldn’t be surprised if Mozilla drops the webRequest API as well in the slightest. Judging by the comments here so far, the meltdown will then be epic and a sight to behold.
    Iron Heart Commented > Cheers to you all, will be watching this topic in the coming months for sure.

    Notice his excitement about the possibility of trolling Firefox users. Obsessed and pathetic behaviour from him.

    Keep dreaming, wishing, and hoping for such a scenario, you bitter, misinformation spreading, Firefox/FOSS hater. Even if Mozilla did replace webRequest API (No signs they will anytime soon, so looks like you will be waiting a very long time, by wasting your time here spreading BS about Firefox) they would likely have something better in its place that will still make extensions like UBO work as intended.

    See article below.

    Some words from the Mozilla blog.

    Mozilla will maintain support for blocking WebRequest in MV3.
    We will continue to work with content blockers and other key consumers of this API to identify current and future alternatives where appropriate. Content blocking is one of the most important use cases for extensions, and we are committed to ensuring that Firefox users have access to the best privacy tools available.
    https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2022/05/18/manifest-v3-in-firefox-recap-next-steps/

    They say they will maintain support for blocking WebRequest in MV3, continue to work with content blockers, and by mentioning future alternatives, it would kind of imply that if they ever decided to remove certain features like “blocking webrequest in Firefox” they would likely have something else in place to allow UBO to be used as intended by gorhill. They likely will not be even thinking of removing “blocking WebRequest” for a very long time, because MV3 is still new.

    UBO is a very popular recommended extension on their addon site. If such an extension did not work correctly, they would get a lot of criticism.

    UBO works best on Firefox. Not much will change probably, Firefox will have Manifest V3, however, it is very likely that Firefox with MV3 will still allow recommended extensions like UBO to work as Gorhill intended on Firefox for a very long time, whilst probably eventually transitioning to some alternative that can make UBO work with Firefox/MV3, without losing a lot of the featrures UBO had with MV2, or they just keep some of the MV2 features permanently.

    As for now, UBO Minus for Chromium-based browsers. Got to like the new name and Gorhills sense of humor. The inferior version of UBO for the inferior “browser engine chromium, an engine authored by google the ad-tech company.

    No native ad-blocker on chromium-based browsers can do the things that UBO or NoScript on Firefox can do, which is why Brave apparently said they are going to keep MV2 for now, they likely do not want some of their more intelligent users switching to Firefox if they can not use UBO or NoScript on Brave.

    Also, no chromium based browsers as far as i know (I don’t use such browsers) have advanced privacy features such as this option in Firefox or Librewolf settings “privacy.resistFingerprinting.letterboxing”

    Chromium based browsers lack the advanced privacy and security features that Firefox has, do not listen to people (Like Iron Heart) who say otherwise as they have not a clue what they are talking about. Brave may be good, but nowhere near as good as Firefox.

    Firefox on desktop is amongst the best most private, customizable and secure browser when one takes the time to configure it correctly.

    There are no real advantages that the Brave browser would have over Firefox, both privacy or security wise, however, the Brave browser has good defaults for the less tech savvy, but again it is still based on “crappy insecure monopoly chromium engine” designed by ad-tech company Google and now even M$ too involved with the engine because of Edge.

    Brave search though looks promising, nice to have more alternative search engines.

    As for those people saying Pale Moon is better than Firefox? Just no, at least from a privacy and security perspective, because Pale Moon has none of the advanced features that Firefox got with the Quantum project and having code written in rust like Firefox.

    Iron Heart comment > I am one of the few people in this thread looking at FF and Mozilla with a tad bit of realism. I‘ll be here for the mental meltdown when they also drop the webRequest API, should be a massive one judging by the cheerleading done here.

    People will be laughing if Brave decides that supporting MV2 will not be feasible due to the constraints of google engineered code in chromium, Lol. If that happens no more UBO SUPERIOR VERSION for browser engine chromium made by an ad-tech company. But don’t worry, you always have the inferior ad-blocker on Brave.

    Firefox is just better.

    Have fun with this comment Iron Heart, you are pathetic in the way you are trying to control your misleading BS narrative about Firefox on many browser news articles, a lot of people know you have an unhealthy obsession with your hatred of Firefox at this stage and they also know that you spread a lot of misinformation about that browser.

  8. TREE said on September 12, 2022 at 8:40 pm
    Reply

    I have listened to “Security Now” podcast for 20 years, and don’t want to be tracked. Spyware is what it is all about.
    My main browser is PaleMoon. When Firefox changed for the worst, I tried PaleMoon. I pretty much have it set up to never play any video without my permission. It also has eliminated most of these “bugs” in webpages that FaceButt, Instagrab, Twatter and Gurgle use to track you. I liked PaleMoon before Brenden Eich was kicked out of Mozilla. There are some sites that do not work, but I use Brave for those. I even use Firefox occasionally.
    NEVER had a Gmail or Google, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter account. I dropped Instagram when Suckerbucks acquired it. Used to be with Linked In, but left it when Microsoft got hold of it.

  9. Anonymous said on September 12, 2022 at 8:26 am
    Reply

    I use chrome because it works and the alternatives are either copies (Edge), shady (Brave, Opera) or downgrades (Firefox). It’s not like Chrome is perfect, far from it, but unlike in 2010, where Firefox 3.6 was the king and Chrome was playing catchup, in 2022, its up to other browsers to catch up.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 11:29 am
      Reply

      @Anonymous

      Well, you don’t seem to be fond of almost any browser, but you could still take a look at Vivaldi (desktop, Android) or Bromite (Android) or Kiwi Browser (Android). All better options than using the privacy-invasive Chrome.

      That you put Brave in the same spot as closed source, massively privacy-invasive Opera shows me that you have not done your research, or that you listen to people spreading massive FUD. Brave is one of the most usable and privacy-respecting browsers in existence. Just so you know.

      But yeah, take a look at the options mentioned above. All better than using Chrome still.

  10. Raj said on September 12, 2022 at 6:33 am
    Reply

    I use Firefox and Vivaldi. And Edge when making payments as I often find some sites do not work well with Firefox.

  11. Dade512 said on September 12, 2022 at 4:50 am
    Reply

    @Iron Heart

    *Me: holds up doll that looks like a person*

    Now, can you show us on this doll where the big bad Firefox hurt you?

    1. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 7:12 am
      Reply

      @Dade512

      I am one of the few people in this thread looking at FF and Mozilla with a tad bit of realism. I‘ll be here for the mental meltdown when they also drop the webRequest API, should be a massive one judging by the cheerleading done here.

  12. KERR said on September 12, 2022 at 1:37 am
    Reply

    On Windows at least, we should see less (need for) Chrome over time as Edge is baked in and is a competent browser. Small win?

    Firefox for life though :)

  13. Rthaua said on September 12, 2022 at 12:52 am
    Reply

    Liebao 8.0 chinese browser

  14. Goran von Karkin said on September 11, 2022 at 10:30 pm
    Reply

    Maxthon!!!

  15. Felix said on September 11, 2022 at 6:05 pm
    Reply

    I’ve gone back to trying Pale Moon, but am considering Bad Wolf should it develop sufficiently for my needs. Another candidate is the “suckless” browser surf. I had hopes for uzbl, but that project seems to have been abandoned?

  16. Chrofox said on September 11, 2022 at 10:25 am
    Reply

    I use Brave as my second browser, but the fact it’s locked to 60hz keeps me from switching. I thing Vivaldi have same issue. Once you get used to 120+Hz it’s painful to scroll in 60Hz.

  17. JohnIL said on September 11, 2022 at 2:59 am
    Reply

    Have never used Chrome as a primary browser, I typically use a Chromium based browser though so besides mostly being Google void the fact Chromium is so popular and Google is a main developer tends to be more of a threat to the web then simply switching from Chrome. Even Mozilla gladly accepts money from Google to have Google search as default. If you want to remove yourself from Google you have to do it in a bigger way.

  18. Ifeoluwa said on September 11, 2022 at 12:52 am
    Reply

    I can’t leave Chrome and this is why

    Sync between multiple devices.
    Open different instances of the browser with different accounts.
    Well structured bookmark manager (I divide my bookmarks into folders).
    I open as many tabs as possible without RAM issues.

    For Mobile.
    The tab grouping feature made me fall in love with the browser. Firefox sucks at this.
    The news on the home screen

    Other chromium browsers are just rip-off of Chrome. Brave keeps sending notifications every second is annoying.

    I Also cannot use Firefox for as a software developer cuz the user experience on Chrome feels like home to me?

    1. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 10:48 pm
      Reply

      @Ifeoluwa

      > Brave keeps sending notifications every second is annoying.

      Most likely, you have accidentally turned on Brave Rewards. You can turn that off again under the following address:

      brave://settings/rewards

      Go to Brave’s settings and turn off Brave Rewards. You can also withdraw Brave’s ability to send you ANY notification in Android’s settings (notifications section).

    2. Anonymous said on September 11, 2022 at 1:54 pm
      Reply

      Thank you for your post, $5 are been deposited on your Google Play account.

  19. Mike said on September 11, 2022 at 12:44 am
    Reply

    That’s like telling people to dump Windows. I.e. it’s too late, not gonna happen now, no matter how bad the product gets and no matter how poorly users and competitors are treated.

    Posted by a Linux user.

  20. Longpete said on September 10, 2022 at 10:05 pm
    Reply

    I recently installed Opera on my LinuxMint box. Runs like a charm, nice clean UI that includes a sidebar that pops up WhatsAppWeb and others. Uses a fraction of the processing power that Chrome or Firefox use.

  21. lukasamd said on September 10, 2022 at 3:54 pm
    Reply

    I use Edge (personal) + Chrome (work, gsuite) and do not consider any changes.

    Firefox… it’s garbage. It’s visible on both PC and Android devices – low performance, still lower security (their implemented sandbox from chromium but it’s still far from perfect) and worse developer tools.

    Manifest V3? It’s not a problem – with Adguard Desktop + custom DNS (adguard, nextdns) I have much better filtering than uBO

    1. Anonymous said on September 11, 2022 at 3:35 am
      Reply

      lol

  22. Alexander said on September 10, 2022 at 1:41 pm
    Reply

    I absolutely have to dump Chrome (android) for something else. Personally, I’ve been debating between BRAVE and DUCK with FIREFOX in my back pocket as a wildcard. Regardless of which one I ultimately decide to go with here in the very near future, they are all a better choice vs. continuing to harbor Chrome and it’s “we-need-to-know-everything-about-you-only-in-order-to-be-able-to-help-you”

  23. Tucnak said on September 10, 2022 at 10:39 am
    Reply

    Has anyone even thought about the amount of data the ads consume?

    Since April 2021 ad blocker has saved 142GB of data that I pay for. I have a monthly 4GB data limit on my phone{mobile Internet) and it just gets eaten away by ads.

    1. Peterc said on September 10, 2022 at 8:42 pm
      Reply

      @Tucnak: Paying *more* to be bombarded with ads — what a *great* scam!

  24. boudeman said on September 10, 2022 at 8:58 am
    Reply

    Never used chrome or edge, so switching is no issue. I use Firefox. Strange (for me) is that some banks do not accept Firefox. There I use Brave.

  25. userpassadmin said on September 10, 2022 at 8:56 am
    Reply

    The fact is that if Firefox and other browsers die, Google will just freely implement whatever shitty features like ShadowDOM.. and force website to use them too, no you don’t want that so you should use other browsers anyways.

  26. JV said on September 10, 2022 at 8:36 am
    Reply

    We know but 95% of the Chrome users don’t use extentions, don’t read any reviews like this and will be unaware of the changes. They will continue to use Chrome.

  27. KACHINGGGGGGGLE! said on September 10, 2022 at 8:34 am
    Reply

    Imagine the ad possibilities on Chromebooks! WOW! The amount of ad revenue that will roll in by USING CHILDREN who have to use Chromebooks in school! WOOOW!!!!!! More golden slip ‘n slides for the Google headquarters!!!!

    “Don’t be evil”…

    …who ever said that?

  28. Bullcat said on September 10, 2022 at 8:30 am
    Reply

    The fact that Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool is a thing, is reason enough to ditch Chrome. Reason number 2: Many years ago they made a browser that was better than the rest, now when the whole planet is using it they start f***ing the users left and right. Abusing their monopoly. Just like Microsoft are doing with Windows. This latest slap in the face is just the icing on the cake, doesn’t come as any surprise. Keep using Chrome, go ahead, it’s ok, be a sheep. Be their useful idiot cash cow. Some of us don’t want to, and that’s ok too. We have options.

  29. yanta said on September 10, 2022 at 8:06 am
    Reply

    Agree with several of the posts here. Anything google is a big no-no. But how many people with that position also use social networking? Which is just as bad if not worse than google.

    No google or apple
    No social networking
    No cell phone
    Have a real life. Talk to people face to face.

    If I had a dollar for every time some support person told me to install chrome to fix some problem that they couldn’t be bothered fixing themselves I’d not need to win a lottery to cover the rising cost of living :)

  30. owl said on September 10, 2022 at 6:41 am
    Reply

    Based on 40 years of diverse computer experience in public (workplace operations) and private life, my current favorite browser is “Floorp”.
    https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/06/firefox-104-0-2-fixes-a-crash-media-playback-and-touch-issues/#comment-4547536
    I can recommend it to beginners and advanced users alike (I have recommended it to friends all over the world).

    1. Dennis said on September 10, 2022 at 8:48 am
      Reply

      Floorp! Now there’s a new one for me! I shall have to check it out…

  31. Andy Prough said on September 10, 2022 at 3:30 am
    Reply

    The only javascript-enabled browsers that aren’t heavily using google’s browser code are Pale Moon and Netsurf. And Netsurf’s javascript implementation is very limited. If you actually want to escape the google orbit, Pale Moon is one to check out.

  32. Andy Prough said on September 10, 2022 at 2:45 am
    Reply

    Personally I like Pale Moon.

    Among the others, I would recommend that my friends or family members use Brave. It’s just so dead simple to set up properly, and the academic studies have been showing that it is the most private in its default settings.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 10:51 pm
      Reply

      Note for other readers: Pale Moon supports uBlock Origin, you can get the XPI (.xpi) file from here:

      https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock-for-firefox-legacy/releases

      1. Andy Prough said on September 12, 2022 at 8:43 pm
        Reply

        Yes, and it works just like uBlock on other browsers. The link to uBlock and direct downloads of hundreds of other extensions and themes for Pale Moon are all at addons.palemoon.org

  33. Genisis said on September 10, 2022 at 2:16 am
    Reply

    Been using Vivaldi for a couple years now on Android, Windows and Linux Have been totally satisfied with everything Sticking with it and not going to change unless something major changes.

  34. d0x360 said on September 10, 2022 at 2:11 am
    Reply

    The answer is simple.. don’t rely on extensions. Use system level protection on your phone and desktop.

    Use Adguard. Buy it from StackSocial and get multiple lifetime licenses for like $30. It’s worth every cent. Adguard also has a VPN but it’s not needed unless you REALLY need a VPN too.

    1. Graham said on September 12, 2022 at 4:40 am
      Reply

      …or just use uBlock Origin, which is free.

  35. Graham said on September 10, 2022 at 1:44 am
    Reply

    Alternative opinion: We shouldn’t have switched to Chrome in the first place. The Internet is a hellscape now because of it–webmasters feel they have to keep bending now to the mighty whims of whatever Google wants to standardize.

    I never made Chrome my main browser and I’m all the more glad for it.

  36. Mothy said on September 10, 2022 at 12:32 am
    Reply

    I have never installed Google Chrome as I consider it spyware, same with Microsoft’s Edge. So I would never recommend them to anyone who values their privacy.

    Instead for years now I have only used Firefox ESR which has been tweaked for maximum privacy (using Arkenfox as a template). But I also prefer Firefox because it still allows access to keyboard shortcuts while in full screen mode, of particular importance bookmarks via ALT+B. In comparison chromium based browsers require that you drop out of full screen mode as well as there is no comparable two key shortcut to easily access bookmarks.

    The only chromium based browser I use is ungoogled chromium but only for very few trusted websites in order to limit the potential risk from all the frequent zero day vulnerabilities that seem to happen often in the chromium code base. I also use it for the built-in flag “Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents” that when enabled will display a website in a dark theme.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 10:54 pm
      Reply

      @Mothy

      > I use is ungoogled chromium but only for very few trusted websites in order to limit the potential risk from all the frequent zero day vulnerabilities that seem to happen often in the chromium code base

      Yes, because Chromium is actually being used (80% market share) and is thus a prime target for any attacker vs. irrelevant Firefox with 3% market share anyway. This, however, does not mean that its security practices are inherently bad. They are clearly superior to Firefox:

      https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html

      1. Aluminum said on September 17, 2022 at 2:10 pm
        Reply

        @IH

        Congratulations! Martin is letting you spam the madaidans link again. Now you can promote it in every article that mentions Firefox, and you can get paid for referral links!

      2. Iron Heart said on September 21, 2022 at 10:22 pm
        Reply

        @Aluminium

        Have you any counter-arguments against anything written there or are you just empty talk as always? It’s only spam when it’s meaningless, and it was your comment that is meaningless.

    2. Dennis said on September 10, 2022 at 8:42 am
      Reply

      On the PC, Firefox with the arkenfox user.js is very usable, and even a technologically challenged Neanderthal such as myself can install and maintain it well enough!

      Brave for those occasions when FF with arkenfox will not work….

      Bromite for my Android mobile — I’d like to add some custom content-blocking lists to it, but this seems to be out of my league. I don’t recommend Bromite — it’s more about not having any other any real choice outside of the Google Play Store right now. My next phone will likely be an iPhone anyway because I’m on the verge of giving up!

  37. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 10:42 pm
    Reply

    Waves Hello to other Palemoon users.
    There are Dozens of us!

    1. Peterc & A different Martin said on September 10, 2022 at 6:37 pm
      Reply

      @Anonymous:

      Baker’s dozens, even! Of course, there might be some double-counting… ;-)

      More seriously, Pale Moon is still my primary browser because it’s the easiest to control and use, at least on sites that haven’t yet been redesigned to work exclusively with protocols developed by Google. For those, I have a toolbar button that loads the site in Brave with one click. (Given that Pale Moon is a fork of *legacy* (pre-Australis) Firefox, the browser we all loved for its power and flexibility back in the day, Pale Moon extensions can do pretty much *anything*, unlike extensions for the various modern multi-process browsers.) Oh, and it’s also private out of the box. I’m not sure how much longer Pale Moon can survive GAFAM’s (AAMAM’s?) oligopolistic takeover of Web standards, but who knows? Maybe someone at the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, or the Federal Communications Commission will start *actually doing their job* instead of jockeying for the best revolving-door payoff in exchange for *not* doing it.

  38. Haakon said on September 9, 2022 at 10:25 pm
    Reply

    Then there’s always an unsullied Qt5 WebEngine browser build. As used in Otter or the development-stalled Falkon.

    Running in a properly hardened Win10/11 PC, it could just be the ticket to a classic web browsing experience…

  39. Tsami said on September 9, 2022 at 10:17 pm
    Reply

    “Now You: which web browsers do you use and suggest that others use?”

    I started with Firefox 0.9 when it looked like Netscape Navigator was to be discontinued. Currently using FF 104.0.2 and have no plans to change. Obviously, many changes over the years; just wishing it could become totally independent of Google. For now, FF and/or perhaps one of the its forks, appear to be the best bet going forward.

    1. Martin Buckley said on September 10, 2022 at 9:09 am
      Reply

      2 points;
      Why’s everyone so hard on poor lil’ ‘ol Google. The make great software and services. And also they R not on God’s payroll, but we pay them. Last time I looked, didn’t see ‘nthing for free.
      2) They set the standard and the lesser resourced try to keep up.
      Brave user a few years, but every so often my synchronized bookmarks get dissapered. Also first Opera couldn’t keep up with Gmail development.
      I don’t want to know how to fix it, I just don’t want it to happen( as we say at Toyota, boring but true)

  40. Marek said on September 9, 2022 at 10:00 pm
    Reply

    Firefox for life.

  41. SkyNet said on September 9, 2022 at 9:54 pm
    Reply

    it’s time to move on from Google Chrome you said and the alternatives are Google Chromium, lol and the reasons to why are lame….all FREE browsers track their users….If it’s FREE you are the product as the saying goes.

    1. Gorgar said on September 10, 2022 at 8:20 am
      Reply

      Yes, that’s why YOU use a paid browser? Tell us more, oh superior one, user of mature terms like “lol”. Also, none of the alternatives are Google Chromium. You’re so dumb it hurts.

  42. ZERO MAN said on September 9, 2022 at 9:51 pm
    Reply

    On android, when the time comes, I’m gonna grab the last good Kiwi version .apk and the .crx files of the extensions I use and just never update it. What are the odds I get a VERY DANGEROUS ANDROID VIRUS then just by browsing my usual sites for a couple of years? ZERO. Game, set and match. I win.
    Same thing on my linux computers, with Ungoogled Chromium, gonna use the last good one and never update. What are the odds I get a VERY DANGEROUS LINUX VIRUS then just by browsing my usual sites for a couple of years? ZERO. Game, set and match. I win. Again.

    My point being: I do not watch ads in any shape or form. Ads are satan.

  43. Thomas said on September 9, 2022 at 9:14 pm
    Reply

    I am sorry but this article is kind of ridiculous.

    If you only reason is to switch to another browser because of manifestv3, then you clearly don’t know what you are talking about.

    Manifestv3 doesn’t make difficult nothing, Adguard already showed you that it works with 95% of the blocking features (what matters) even with MV3. So what does it make difficult? nothing.

    Have you tested which features aren’t supported by MV3 vs MV2? no, especially since Adguard supports like way more stuff than uBlock does, since Adguard takes stuff from uBlock and ABP (useless advanced features for most people).

    Your recommendations don’t even make sense, first Firefox is going to support MV3 as well, and the only difference is they will support Web Request API, but they also said it wasn’t going to be removed -for now-, for now means they will eventually do it.
    Firefox literally gets half billion dollars and exist thanks to Google, and there is a reason why Librewolf exists, I mean if people are going to play the “best most privacy browser” crap.

    Vivaldi’s post is from 2019, they can say whatever they want, but how are they going to do it if they don’t even openly say how? Brave said they would have access to it because Google has to have it for enterprise but once they removed completely, it is gone.
    Is Vivaldi going to do anything? they don’t say crap, because I am sure all they are doing is hiding quietly that they have to accept manifestv3.
    You have to remember vivaldi has google services turned on by default and bing as default, so they don’t have too many principles as long as they get some money. They don’t do anything for Google not to track you back when you update extensions and such.

    Vivaldi’s adblocker is not too bad, but it is basic, it doesn’t have many advanced features, I noticed they even use like ABP syntax, ABP and Adguard are the ones with most features around, and they support like 10% of those features, you know the advanced ones to help the adblocking or whatever, not the normal ones that even DevTools can do.

    Manifestv3 works fine, it will work fine, and the main problem which Adguard has spoken about since a year ago is the limits, but anyone who uses the MV3 would notice that the limits are not going to be a real problem.
    It’s not like filter lists don’t have already thousands of obsolete filters anyway.

    You are just spreading misinformation and you are ignorant in the subject, Adguard MV3 will be the best adblocker for chrome, and it will work just fine.

    Obviously using Brave eventually will be a better solution when they finally fully support some features still missing from uBlock, but they support like 90% of uBlock features, Brave adblocker is faster and has CNAME uncloaking, which makes it the only Chromium browser with it because Brave spent time making it happen.

    Test MV3 against MV2 and then come back and delete your article and stop giving your opinions since you don’t know much about the subject, it takes hours to test features, find a perfect website or update filters to match whatever Adguard vs uBlock vs ABP syntaxes. But it will show you how all this manifestv3 talk which people have to accept is the future, are just doing more harm than good since you are going in the same cycle of stupidity over and over again, but you and others haven’t even really test how MV2 blocking features go against MV3.
    And I am talking about the Network or Cosmetic filters, not about extra features that might not return or need a workaround like with logger.

  44. Jonathan said on September 9, 2022 at 9:04 pm
    Reply

    I use Firefox on both PC and Android. I have no extensions installed on the android version as I have AdGuard installed and running, and that prevents all the ads. I also rarely use the mobile version for anything. I have never been interested in Chrome, it seems to eat RAM more than Firefox does. On my dedicated CCTV system, I use Brave to monitor my PoE cameras, it seems to be the least resource intensive.

    1. Allwynd said on September 10, 2022 at 7:19 am
      Reply

      “Chrome seems to eat RAM more than Firefox does.”

      That may have been true around 2012 or something, but nowadays it’s completely false.

      This is Brave running with 32 tabs all loaded and idle: https://i.ibb.co/xjQ0GDF/image.png

      I have just 8GB RAM and I have never experienced slowdowns, besides, RAM is supposed to be used. Why would anyone want a PC with 32GB or 64GB of RAM when their lifegoal is to make sure all of their programs don’t use more than 800MB RAM?! It’s a farce.

    2. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 10:29 pm
      Reply

      If you have a problem with RAM, get more or close some windows but yes, Firefox does chew a little more than Chromium.
      Both tick over constantly in the background. Memory leak is bad programming. Google probably pays more for top class programmers.

      What do I use:
      https://i.postimg.cc/7L1dqds7/2022-09-10-06-17-18-Task-Manager.png

    3. MeH said on September 9, 2022 at 9:41 pm
      Reply

      “Chrome seems to eat RAM more than Firefox does.”
      I can tell you it’s absolutely wrong! After all these years, Firefox still sucks at managing RAM. One can easily confirm this fact by using a program like Task Manager or Process Explorer.

      I can open hundreds of tabs in Edge or Brave on my older laptop without any problem but my system crashes and reboots whenever I open more than 14-15 tabs in Firefox due to RAM shortage and the fact that Firefox is a resource hog and terrible at managing RAM.

      1. Anonymous said on September 10, 2022 at 3:03 am
        Reply

        The problem with Firefox is memory leak since long time ago. They still haven’t fixed it even after making the new Firefox.

        The very noticeable difference is I can open Edge(Chrome) all day and can still browse without problem, meanwhile Firefox becomes more sluggish after few hours and need to be restarted to make it snappy again.

  45. Allwynd said on September 9, 2022 at 8:23 pm
    Reply

    First I want to see January 2023 come and go and see if all Chromium browsers will be affected by this or not. Is it possible for this to be delayed on other browsers or completely omitted or not?

    After that I will weigh my options and see what will I do. I don’t like the direction of Firefox with their constant updating of UI to things more and more uglier and removing UI customizability while they’re at it while ignoring other aspects of the UI that still linger as they were 20 years ago.

    It kinda sucks that there are no other options besides Gecko and Chromium. All other alternatives are flat out underdeveloped and unusable.

  46. leo said on September 9, 2022 at 7:28 pm
    Reply

    The internet was originally created for the military. Today it is a minefield.
    To pass through safely, one needs a fully armored tank. As far as I know there are no stealth tanks, so there is no way to get through without being seen or shot at. The guys doing the seeing and shooting are a plutocracy.
    With Manifest V3 pincer movement imminent, I think it prudent to go with FF ESR – a tank with a cannon on its turret. The other browsers mentioned are more like troop carriers with windows.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:35 pm
      Reply

      @leo

      > I think it prudent to go with FF ESR – a tank with a cannon on its turret. The other browsers mentioned are more like troop carriers with windows.

      This will be an epic laughing stock once Mozilla adopts it too (and ESR only gives you one year of rest anyway). They didn’t sound too enthusiastic about the webRequest API last time either, and are behind extension standardization across browsers.

  47. Chumley said on September 9, 2022 at 7:22 pm
    Reply

    A few rarely-mentioned things that help keep me on Firefox as my main desktop browser:

    – On Windows, text rendering is better in Firefox than Chromium browsers. Text is sharper and easier to read. I’m really surprised that more people don’t talk about this.

    – The “Multi-Account Containers” add on is super handy. Last time I checked, there wasn’t an equivalent for Chromium.

    – Even though the Firefox UI is much less configurable than it used to be, it’s still more flexible than Chromium.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:34 pm
      Reply

      @Chumley

      > On Windows

      Fair point. I don’t use Windows though.

      > Multi-Account Containers

      Major browsers separate cookies and other local data per parent domain for privacy reasons already, e.g. Safari already did this before Firefox did and Brave does it too. Unless you mean advantage, as in, you have multiple accounts on the same website (Why?), in which case containers work better.

      > Firefox UI (…) it’s still more flexible than Chromium.

      But less flexible than Vivaldi, my dear.

      1. Aluminum said on August 17, 2023 at 5:11 am
        Reply

        @IH

        “Fair point. I don’t use Windows though.”

        He uses ChromeOS.

      2. Peterc said on September 10, 2022 at 6:03 pm
        Reply

        @Iron Heart:

        “[M]ultiple accounts on the same website (Why?)”

        Why? So you can engage in flame wars with yourself in online forums, of course! ;-)

      3. Yash said on September 12, 2022 at 4:51 pm
        Reply

        @Peterc

        Ouch.

      4. Peterc & A different Martin said on September 15, 2022 at 12:01 am
        Reply

        @Yash & @Iron Heart:

        Actually, I originally *flamed my own comment* right away using my old gHacks handle, but the facetious nature of my reply to myself apparently slipped past Martin when he was policing the “ad hominem” policy. (I suggested in rather direct terms that my advice wasn’t worth heeding and that I wasn’t necessarily the brightest bulb in the chandelier — and really, who can disagree with that? ;-) I certainly wasn’t taking a shot at anyone other than myself!

      5. Yash said on September 15, 2022 at 11:26 am
        Reply

        Don’t worry man. It was just a cheeky comment from my part with no *malicious* intent.

      6. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 9:43 pm
        Reply

        @Yash

        Oh yeah, I felt that sick burn from my main man @Peterc. :D

      7. Chumley said on September 9, 2022 at 8:16 pm
        Reply

        Regarding Multi-Account Containers, yes it’s for managing multiple accounts on the same website, for example if you have multiple Google/Microsoft/Dropbox/Github/Amazon/whatever accounts. Or maybe you don’t have multiple accounts for yourself, but sometimes need to sign into family or friend accounts. Multiple accounts can be can be open simultaneously in different tabs. I find it quite useful.

        Regarding Vivaldi, yes it’s very configurable, but my past perception was that the features and configurability were kind of overkill. Brave felt more lightweight and performant to me, so it became my preferred Chromium browser. But admittedly I haven’t tried Vivaldi for a while. Do you have thoughts on Brave vs Vivaldi?

      8. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 11:33 am
        Reply

        @Chumley

        The general consensus seems to be – and I agree with it – that Brave is far more private with better performance while Vivaldi is more feature rich / customizable with decentish privacy. It really depends what you prioritize, both are great at what they focus on respectively. Would pick either one over Chrome / Edge / Opera, needless to say.

  48. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:15 pm
    Reply

    All the Firefox users here who are oh so sure that Firefox won’t adopt Manifest V3, hihi. I think you people will be in for a bitter awakening. The original reasoning behind the introduction of WebExtensions in FF was to achieve total parity with Chromium’s extension APIs in order to facilitate cross-browser development of extensions. If they diverge from this path now, the original reason behind WebExtensions will go bust. Not to mention that Mozilla is present with Google (Oh no!) and Apple on a standardization body for extensions: https://www.ghacks.net/2021/06/07/webextensions-community-group-formed-by-apple-google-microsoft-and-mozilla/

    Yeah, I am sure they will diverge now when they are explicitly behind standardization of these APIs. Big fat LOL. Anyway, Mozilla also gets almost all their money from Google on top of that, which means that Google, and not you, are their actual customers. If they have to choose between Google’s millions that keep their sorry operation on life support on the one side, and Raymond Hill on the other, I am pretty sure that Raymond will get the short and of the stick.

    Their announcement to keep the security issue that is the webRequest API going FOR NOW also didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic and highly temporary in nature to my ears. We shall wait and see, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mozilla drops the webRequest API as well in the slightest. Judging by the comments here so far, the meltdown will then be epic and a sight to behold.

    Extension devs like Raymond Hill are always at the mercy of the browser developer and what the browser developer allows them to do. Therefore, I will stick with Brave, as it has a native adblocker that doesn’t care about extension APIs or changes to those APIs, and the company behind it is firmly in the adblocking camp. Cheers to you all, will be watching this topic in the coming months for sure.

    1. Yash said on September 12, 2022 at 4:41 pm
      Reply

      Raymond Hill is a developer. He isn’t being held hostage or at mercy of browser developers. Users, browser, extension developers all are on the same ground when it comes to superiority over one another. Hill isn’t making money using his add-on and certainly is *not* losing any sleep over this change. Infact it should be users who should be all over Google to stop this change but hey enjoy your Brave’s internal adblocker.

      Firefox maintains and will continue to maintain Manifest V2. Looking forward to that day when it will stop supporting it, because then Firefox can ship an internal adblocker. Afterall if Brave team which maintains a fork can build one, Firefox definitely can. Time will tell.

      Personal experience – Used Chromium browsers before alongside Firefox which was primary as always. Switched to Firefox completely on Linux first, then Windows. Now on Android as well. The fox may not be perfect but it sure packs more features and better measures for privacy than Brave or any other browser.

  49. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 6:56 pm
    Reply

    I’ve been using Firefox since it was called Firebird and I never left.

  50. Sampei Nihira said on September 9, 2022 at 6:49 pm
    Reply

    I use Edge.
    UBO- minus is currently very deficient in cosmetic filtering.
    AdGuard MV3 has many shortcomings but has superior performance
    Using AdGuard MV3 (for cosmetic filtering) + DNS such as AdGuard or Next DNS diminishes the problem somewhat.

    I installed and made the best settings in Firefox.

  51. J. Tripper said on September 9, 2022 at 6:28 pm
    Reply

    >Chromium, ungoogled.

    still owned and controlled by Google

    1. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:03 pm
      Reply

      @J. Tripper

      It provably sends no data to Google, buddy. Don’t talk nonsense, it is most especially not “owned” by Google – only Google Chrome is specifically owned by them.

      If you mean that they can’t revert all of Google’s decisions for Chromium, then this is correct, but maybe they don’t need to keep Manifest V2 around at all. There is always the option to adopt the built-in adblockers of Brave or Bromite in Ungoogled Chromium and then call it a day. You don’t know how they will proceed with this as of now.

      1. Anonymous said on September 11, 2022 at 12:20 am
        Reply

        Don’t know, and don’t care, because it’s easier to just use Firefox.

      2. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 7:15 am
        Reply

        @Anonymous

        I don‘t care about what you use, I just argue against the nonsense you wrote above.

  52. lechuck said on September 9, 2022 at 6:10 pm
    Reply

    Dechrome initiated…switched back to Firefox on desktops and mobiles. Mobile experience is far far better since it can run unblock. F chrome.

  53. Anita Bath said on September 9, 2022 at 6:03 pm
    Reply

    Both Edge and Chrome are super-bloated. Will try Chromium again. it’s like trying to win a carnival game…

  54. Martin P. said on September 9, 2022 at 5:42 pm
    Reply

    I use Firefox ESR, Chromium (From Woolys) and Edge for business but my everyday browser still is Firefox ESR. Old habbits die hard…

  55. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 5:28 pm
    Reply

    For work and general at-home browsing, I have used Firefox for many years locked down with uMatrix, uBlock,Temporary Containers, etc. with only whitelisted sites for cookies and scripts. Rarely have a problem.

    Some banking sites don’t work well in lockdown mode, so I have a different Firefox profile for those sites with only uBlock installed. Never have a problem.

    I have also used Firefox on several Samsung phones with uBlock installed. No problems.

    Needless to say, no Chrome-based browsers on any of my machines.

  56. Kruno said on September 9, 2022 at 5:21 pm
    Reply

    I’m using LibreWolf for a while now as main browser and keep others around for testing, but I would recommend LibreWolf.

    What is LibreWolf?

    This project is an independent fork of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy, security and user freedom.

    LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM.

    https://librewolf.net/#what-is-librewolf

    1. TelV said on September 10, 2022 at 11:32 am
      Reply

      @ Kruno,

      All is not completely well with LibreWolf: https://www.unixsheikh.com/articles/choose-your-browser-carefully.html#librewolf

      Actually, I tried it myself not so long ago, but my main gripe was that it resizes itself again after being closed and then reopened.

      I’ve now switched to another FF fork called Floorp which was created and is maintained by a group of Japanese enthusiasts. It’s also based on the current Firefox ESR. https://i.postimg.cc/QttVCJNt/about-floorp.png

      Apart from similar privacy protections that LibreWolf also has Floorp also has a novel feature which allows you to spoof your UserAgent directly in the browser. I haven’t seen that before in a browser. https://i.postimg.cc/hj58tjBk/spoof-chrome.png

      Download Floorp: https://floorp.ablaze.one/download/
      The initial download has Floorp configured in Japanese. To switch to English (or another language) click the Translate button in the URL bar —> Options —> Change languages.

      Floorp also has a variety of layouts available in the Settings —> Prefs –> Language and Appearance menu.

      1. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 7:49 am
        Reply
      2. Floorp developer said on September 11, 2022 at 3:21 am
        Reply

        > The initial download has Floorp configured in Japanese. To switch to English (or another language) click the Translate button in the URL bar —> Options —> Change languages.

        This is a “Fix” notice from the Floorp developer.
        From now on, Floorp will retrieve the OS language setting on first launch and follow the browser to the same language if possible.

        @TelV, thanks for your detailed explanation.

  57. TimH said on September 9, 2022 at 5:13 pm
    Reply

    Chromium, ungoogled.

    https://chromium.woolyss.com/

    1. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm
      Reply

      @TimH

      This fixes the Google data theft Chrome would usually perform at the browser level, it doesn’t fix support for uBO going forward. Ungoogled Chromium will adopt the API change as well, they have no resources to revert any of it.

      Your options come 2023 are either browsers with built-in adblockers like Brave, which is ungoogled too ( https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-Chromium-(features-we-disable-or-remove) ) or something like Firefox, provided that Mozilla doesn’t adopt it too (they use the same WebExtension APIs that Chromium uses as of now).

  58. Littbarski said on September 9, 2022 at 5:06 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft being the stupid and dumb greedy pigs they are, don’t realize here’s their one and only shot. Served on a plate. By not going this route with Edge, they could and WOULD (in time) snatch the Chrome users to their own camp. Yes, they would miss out on lots of cash when Edge users would install adblockers but their OS is smack full of ads anyway.. Otherwise this will go like so: Microsoft Edge, the favorite browser to download Firefox. Jokes aside, seems like Vivaldi is the way to go, Brave is shoving that crypto garbage in everyones faces way too much, it should be buried deep deeeeeeeeeeeeep and turned off by default. So those that want to use it can, and those who don’t would never ever see anything about it. Firefox? No thanks. Ancient, bloated, slow garbage run by rancid leftist woke nazis on Googles payroll. NEVER will I use it.

    1. Anonymous said on September 10, 2022 at 4:07 pm
      Reply

      yeah Vivaldi is the only good alternative left, both by the actual software and by the people that make it

      1. Doe, John said on September 11, 2022 at 6:49 pm
        Reply

        Yes, I must agree. Been using it since DAY 1… FF is a rarely used backup browser.

  59. Daniel said on September 9, 2022 at 4:07 pm
    Reply

    Firefox with uBlock Origin forever on LinuxMint – (getaway from M$ too)!

  60. microfix said on September 9, 2022 at 4:02 pm
    Reply

    One question, where does that put MS Edge as it follows Chrome’s updates..ouch!
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/extensions-chromium/developer-guide/manifest-v3

  61. James said on September 9, 2022 at 3:52 pm
    Reply

    Now You: which web browsers do you use and suggest that others use?

    Mozilla Firefox ESR.

    1. zerb said on September 10, 2022 at 12:58 am
      Reply

      What James said. Firefox ESR. Modified to my taste.

      Been with Firefox since it was Netscape. No regrets.

      I also keep a vanilla copy of the latest ungoogled Chromium, in permanent private browsing mode, specifically for rare situations where I need 100% Chrome compatibility (=a few financial and gov. sites). But not for general use.

  62. Cor Invictus said on September 9, 2022 at 3:38 pm
    Reply

    The worst about G. is not what they steal – that’s pretty bad, but there is worse – they’ve become a totalitarian, censoring machine, conveniently and blindly protecting any official narrative. Like a Big Brother misinfo propaganda department, with no actual responsibility to anyone or anything; ready to ban/deplatform anyone who dares to question or disagree with said narrative.

    On the other hand, jumping from Chrome to Firefox is like hiding in a hyena burrow when the pride is on a hunt.
    Mozilla are traitorous, woke commies, who will stab you in the back when a lucrative opportunity is at hand. They only “hate” G. because it has become a business model and an attractive slogan to be “against” big tech – it’s populism. In reality, they don’t hate them – they envy them!

    Brave is the only browser that can, morally and technically, be called an alternative. I just wish they would have their own extension store. I hope such is in their future plans.

    1. IngrownMink4 said on September 17, 2022 at 9:15 pm
      Reply

      > Mozilla are traitorous, woke commies(…)

      One more reason to use Firefox :)

  63. tachy said on September 9, 2022 at 3:15 pm
    Reply

    Really? Now? When they first took control away from you it wasn’t enough?

    I gave up chrome long ago after google decided they didn’t want me using some extension and removed it, from my pc, for me.

  64. MeH said on September 9, 2022 at 3:15 pm
    Reply

    While there are great (privacy-preserving) alternatives (like Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar and Mega.nz) to Gmail, Google Drive and many of Google services, Chromium has no real rival :( And that’s a bad thing.

  65. John G. said on September 9, 2022 at 3:13 pm
    Reply

    My first browser for mostly all the daily time is Firefox ESR, the best branch ever built with tons of stability strenght, with uBlock origin as alone extension. Best decision ever! My second browser that I use for the electronic identification for government sites is Edge Chromium. I return to Edge after leaving Chrome some months ago because Edge has the best webpage and PDF speech reader ever, it’s amazin to hear entire pages or entire PDF with no mistakes nor mispelling issues. Edge has also the best printer options, three ways of protection and also three ways of security enforcement for all websites. Anyway, Firefox ESR is my preferred choice. About Chrome: it has less configuration options than Firefox or Chrome and also is very difficult to understand what its privacy mode is really doing (for example, I noticed more than 400 third party cookies after a week browsing in “private mode”. How the hell can this could happened? Thanks @Martin for this good article. :]

  66. Anon said on September 9, 2022 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    I just downloaded Firefox and have been setting it up. Made my mind up that Brave’s crypto gimmick is too shady for me, Vivaldi seems to be working more towards being an OS rather than a browser and gets sluggish. It does seem like Firefox improved since I last used it so I think I will stick with it.

    1. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 6:56 pm
      Reply

      @Anon

      > Made my mind up that Brave’s crypto gimmick is too shady for me

      It’s opt-in, buddy. Even if you should opt-in, it’s still just a local algorithm performing on device ad matching. Firefox does a very similar thing when it chooses the Pocket articles on the New Tab page for you, just in Firefox’s case it’s opt-out, with no real recourse on Android as there is no about:config there. But you knew that, didn’t you?

      And shady? Shady is when you have a backdoor where you can remotely and covertly install arbitrary code, even if the user has explicitly turned application updates off. Have you ever heard of Firefox Experiments / Normandy (apt name, btw, as your device is being stormed)? If not, check it out, they have already used it to great effect once:

      https://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-tests-cliqz-engine-which-slurps-user-browsing-data/

      And again, when they switched users’ DNS server to privacy titan /s Cloudflare:

      https://thehackernews.com/2020/02/firefox-dns-over-https.html

      Yep, not shady at all. /s Brave has this backdoor (Chromium and Chrome have a similar one by default) explicitly closed, which initially led me to trust them more when I switched.

      1. Somnambulist said on September 10, 2022 at 9:18 am
        Reply

        Firefox’s Pocket integration isn’t even remotely close to a crypto miner, which is what the other user was describing. Yes, it’s opt in, but it’s still very reasonable to object to having crypto mining code in a browser you use for things like banking.

        And all browsers collect user data, all DNS servers collect user data, but Firefox gives way more control over it than a browser based on Chrome, even Brave.

      2. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 1:45 am
        Reply

        @Somnambulist

        > Firefox’s Pocket integration isn’t even remotely close

        Dude, it’s literally doing the same thing. Firefox uses a local algorithm to determine fitting news articles for you based on your browsing, and chooses them from a downloaded generic list. That’s what Brave also does, except in Brave it’s not news articles but ads.

        > crypto miner

        It’s not a crypto miner, clueless stranger. BAT can’t get mined to begin with because it’s not proof of work coin… But you knew that, didn’t you? Since BAT can’t be mined, consequently there also can’t be a crypto miner in Brave’s source code even if you went looking for one. A crypto miner would also be noticed immediately due to comparatively high energy usage on the device.

        Talking out of your ass completely uninformed has its drawbacks, so I will now show you how Brave Rewards actually works for completeness’ sake:

        https://brave.com/intro-to-brave-ads/

        Not that I would expect you to read it, judging by the amount of Firefox cheerleading you do in the comment section you seem to be highly biased. Just leaving it here for others so that they can see what kind of fake news you happen to post here.

        > Yes, it’s opt in, but it’s still very reasonable to object to having crypto mining code in a browser you use for things like banking.

        Since no crypto miner is present, it also can’t be a danger for banking.

        > And all browsers collect user data

        Provably false. Don’t know what Firefox is up to these days (I hear they still ship their Android version with hardcoded trackers, LOL), but Brave and others like Ungoogled Chromium, Bromite etc. definitely don’t collect PII. If you believe otherwise, show me tangible proof.

        > all DNS servers collect user data

        If and how much depends on the privacy policy, audits, server code being open source or not etc. Anyway, I would like to keep my preferred DNS server in any case, and don’t want it covertly switched out to Cloudflare just because they paid a pretty penny for the traffic, thank you so much @Mozilla.

        > but Firefox gives way more control over it than a browser based on Chrome, even Brave.

        Control about what? You can’t substantially improve your privacy by meddling with settings here and there, due to the fact that you will still end up with a setup that is unique and sticks out like a sore thumb. Whereas, Brave comes preconfigured with sane defaults and thus protects user privacy by default. I also trust Brave due to their extensive public documentation, so my desire to mess with the browser is very, very limited.

      3. zard said on September 14, 2022 at 4:28 am
        Reply

        bet you’re fun at parties huh. whatever you recommend, I want the opposite.

      4. Iron Heart said on September 14, 2022 at 8:09 am
        Reply

        @zard

        > whatever you recommend, I want the opposite.

        Your loss, bro.

  67. MeH said on September 9, 2022 at 3:06 pm
    Reply

    Until several years ago, I was an avid user of Firefox but I’m not going to use it anymore because it’s still awful at managing RAM after all these years.
    Maybe (most of) Chromium-based browsers are nightmares in terms of privacy but they are absolutely superior to Firefox in terms of performance.

    1. Somnambulist said on September 10, 2022 at 9:16 am
      Reply

      Firefox has never been a RAM hog outside of edge cases like never ever closing it (iirc it *used* to have a mild memory leak that could cause problems over long periods of use). Firefox did used to have performance issues but a number of years ago an update to their core browser engine resulted in substantial improvements and it now trades blows with Chrome despite using significantly *less* RAM. Part of that depends on usage – users who only use 1-2 tabs at a time might see lower RAM usage on Chrome but in both cases it will be quite manageable on even low end devices. Plus, between its built in tracker blocking and ongoing support for full fledged content blockers it will wind up being significantly faster as Chrome will have to load all the advert and tracking bloat that you could block on Firefox.

    2. Gerold Manders said on September 10, 2022 at 12:32 am
      Reply

      The points you bring up are practically reversed for a year or 2, at least. In 2022 it is Chrome which consumes resources like there is no tomorrow, not FireFox.

      Having said that, both consume considerable amounts of resources. I have a old laptop I put Linux on. FireFox came with Linux. It runs fine for weeks, if I just use FireFox with pages that do not contain any video. When I do visit pages with video and/or video ads, I need to reboot every week or so.

      When a site like Youtube is visited, I’m lucky if it holds for 2 days without reboot. Tried Chrome on it, it is way worse.

      The only browser that keeps a check on things is Vivaldi on this laptop.

    3. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 4:57 pm
      Reply

      @MeH
      Sounds like a user error

  68. anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 3:04 pm
    Reply

    Avoid Chrome, and all other Google surveillance products. But go further: block by default all Google scripts…which just happen to contaminate nearly every website. (Wow, wonder how that ever happened.)

    If, on occasion, you “need” to visit a Google property, enable the minimum scripting temporarily.

    If you use Android, consider installing a more respectful OS.

  69. MeH said on September 9, 2022 at 2:57 pm
    Reply

    Manifest V3 is poison. God damn it.
    Currently I use Edge and Brave with uBO installed on both of them while Shields is always disabled. Internet is a messed-up place without the undisputed king of content blockers, uBO.

  70. Tom Hawack said on September 9, 2022 at 2:55 pm
    Reply

    Device is PC only, I don’t use smartphones.

    Browser I use : Firefox. Only. Since practically always.
    Browsers I’d never use : Google Chrome, Edge
    Browsers I could use : Brave.

    I can’t stand advertisement in its present form : always more, never better.
    I can even less stand tracking. Lesser even : malvertisement.
    How could I stand an advertisement company’s software and applications?

    No Google Chrome, no Google Mail (comes right after Chrome in terms of privacy intrusion), no Google Search.
    More generally an awareness regarding all of GAFAM.
    With that in mind and in behavior I manage to surf relatively quietly.
    I forgot to mention : I don’t give the slightest damn of market shares, of a majority’s choices. Should we all follow the leaders that we’d never be one. If all designers followed fashion fashion would never change. Where’s freedom when we follow the gurus, the trend as sheep? Where?

    @Martin, your article is *most* worthy.

    1. owl said on September 10, 2022 at 9:15 am
      Reply

      @Tom Hawack,
      > https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/09/opinion-it-is-time-to-switch-from-chrome-to-another-browser/#comment-4547869

      I share (practice), your full comment (values).

      While the practice of values is not uniform (similar) as it “varies by environment, culture, and personality”, our family lifestyle emphasizes “community and face to face communication in the real world, away from virtual reality”.

      As part of this, we moved to a digital detox a year ago.
      That lifestyle has been also “contributes to carbon neutrality and the SDGs”.

      That’s my personal story.

      1. X said on September 11, 2022 at 6:14 pm
        Reply

        Is becoming?! I’d say it already has become that (and not what their clever comic suggested) and worse, for quite some time now.

      2. Tom Hawack said on September 10, 2022 at 10:16 am
        Reply

        @owl, regarding smartphones I was focusing on the privacy intrusion they represent. Besides that we may indeed wonder as you do on the societal and cultural changes they imply,

        Of course as you point it out (and perhaps must we never forget that) “[…] the practice of values is not uniform (similar) as it “varies by environment, culture, and personality” […]”, Maybe can we distinguish the technology and its excesses. Smartphones, should they be free of tracking and excessive advertisements, should they be used when appropriate and not to share pictures with someone sitting in front of us, should they not damage families, harm relationships, become addictive as they are…. could very well be most worthy. Again, the technology and what is done of it. Personally I’ve never been to fond of principles, a few fundamental ones are enough, but I do believe in harmony, that is in a right balance between void and excess, extremes.

      3. owl said on September 10, 2022 at 11:44 am
        Reply

        @Tom Hawack,
        > https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/09/opinion-it-is-time-to-switch-from-chrome-to-another-browser/#comment-4548061

        Yes, I think so.
        Que Sera, Sera

        Love nature, love human, enjoy the moment.
        There is no end to the unknown, the mysterious, different cultures, and other interesting things. Even under my feet and around me, there is no end to the things that interest me.

        I was inspired at an early age by Fabre, then by Seaton, then by Darwin, and spent my boyhood exploring and observing living things. This has remained constant to this day, and one of my lifeworks is to love nature and its creatures.

        I love it so much that I built our house in a place blessed with biodiversity (of course, we take environmental conservation into consideration) and belong to NGOs and UNESCO associations related to nature and culture.

        I find that I lose track of time interacting with nature rather than social networking sites.

      4. TaeBoog said on September 21, 2022 at 6:47 am
        Reply

        Love it

    2. Tachy said on September 9, 2022 at 3:31 pm
      Reply

      @Tom

      We think alike mostly.

      Anything today with the word “smart” in it’s name is a privacy breaching data collecting advertisment device.

      Though I do use a smartphone for calls, texting, navigation and, the app for my kids schools. Most of the other stuff it came with doesn’t work, I just get a message, “Your phone can do more if you turn back on all that invasive shite you turned off”.

      I use FF for casual surfing like this website and most other stuff but I also use Edge for when I want to be tracked. There are times when I want it to be obvious that it’s really me and when it’s not.

      1. Tom Hawack said on September 9, 2022 at 5:15 pm
        Reply

        @Tachy,

        I do have a mobile phone which handles only … phone and sms : it’s not smart, is it? As you write it, indeed, “the word “smart” in it’s name is a privacy breaching data collecting advertisment device.”

        Let’s face, or let me, maybe you and a few others (“few” given the “smart dependency”) face it : the Web has become a snake-pit. Within a terribly reduced digital environment (no smartphone, if Windows OS then “[…] I also use Edge for when I want to be tracked. There are times when I want it to be obvious that it’s really me and when it’s not.”

        I’m not too sure how to interpret this. I can imagine — for having experienced it — that you need to know from the inside what you aim to combat from the outside. I have in mind Hades [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades].

      2. Tom Hawack said on September 9, 2022 at 5:21 pm
        Reply

        EDIT : I used the ‘smaller than’ sign which broke what followed it in the paragraph. A pain.

        @Tachy,

        I do have a mobile phone which handles only … phone and sms : it’s not smart, is it? As you write it, indeed, “the word “smart” in it’s name is a privacy breaching data collecting advertisment device.”

        Let’s face, or let me, maybe you and a few others (“few” given the “smart dependency”) face it : the Web has become a snake-pit. Within a terribly reduced digital environment (no smartphone, if Windows OS then prior to version 10), a world-worth arsenal of privacy and security defensive weapons we can hardly manage to sigh without that information being transmitted all over the planet. This is mad, insane.

        > “[…] I also use Edge for when I want to be tracked. There are times when I want it to be obvious that it’s really me and when it’s not.”

        I’m not too sure how to interpret this. I can imagine — for having experienced it — that you need to know from the inside what you aim to combat from the outside. I have in mind Hades [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades].

  71. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 2:29 pm
    Reply

    Come home to Firefox, simple as

    1. Alex said on September 10, 2022 at 7:01 am
      Reply

      Not after they went political

      1. Somnambulist said on September 10, 2022 at 9:10 am
        Reply

        You’d rather use a browser by a large multinational company that actively tries to harvest your personal information to exploit you (and by the way is also highly politically active) than using an open source browser built by a community because the community built browser fired a homophobe once? Interesting choice…

      2. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 2:07 am
        Reply

        @Somnambulist

        > homophobe

        Ah, it’s THAT campaign again. So uncreative and boooooooring. You know what? That “homophobe” happens to keep politics OUT of his product, and I don’t really care what he privately thinks, because, well… I am kinda… not him? It’s really that simple.

        Whereas, at the same time, Mozilla talks about the necessity of censorship repeatedly: “We need more than deplatforming!”, “Turn on tools that amplify factual voices over disinformation” etc. This makes me believe that censorship at the browser level is definitely a possibility with them. They also occasionally shove their “opinion” down the users throat, begging Facebook to prevent other people from having an opinion on things, I guess: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/07/25/mozilla-used-firefoxs-notification-system-to-push-the-facebook-boycott/

        Additionally, the Google sock puppet Mozilla also pisses on decentralization, which is the only pathway to a truly free, non-monopolized and censorship-free internet. Hmmm, cool, I guess? Seems like Mozilla values my freedom over the Google money after all. /s

        Between a guy being political and a product being political, I will always and unquestionably choose the former. I couldn’t care less about what some guy thinks in private, since it does not affect me at all. I do care though when the product ceases doing its job in a neutral way. If you want to convince people to switch to the already politicized product that is Deplatformingfox, pardon me, I mean “Firefox” of course, then good luck with achieving that with talking about politics… You know, most people can differentiate between the persons behind a product and the product itself, and can identify where a real issue / dispute could come up – always with the product and what it actually does.

        PS: Enjoying your Firefox cheerleading as we speak, surely this will someday raise it up to a double digit market share again.

      3. Aluminium said on September 17, 2022 at 3:16 pm
        Reply

        @IH
        Enjoying your Brave cheerleading as we speak, surely this will someday raise it up to a double digit market share.

      4. Iron Heart said on September 21, 2022 at 12:49 pm
        Reply

        @Aluminium

        Brave didn’t fall from 30% overall market share, did it? What about Firefox though?

        Brave is only going one direction, upwards, and for good reason.

      5. Anonymous said on September 11, 2022 at 10:58 am
        Reply

        This post convinced me to go back to Firefox. I definitely want to be on the other side of whatever line you’re attempting to draw in the sand.

      6. Dee_Hos said on September 11, 2022 at 3:23 pm
        Reply

        Me too!

      7. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 10:42 pm
        Reply

        @Anonymous @Dee_Hos

        “Yeah, so, this post just showed me that this competitor browser is rabidly against freedom of speech online, therefore I will switch to it immediately.” – signed, the smartest of all gHacks readers.

        Boy, are those smearing campaigns against Brave getting old.

        > of whatever line you’re attempting to draw in the sand

        Whatever line? Haven’t I articulated myself clearly enough yet? A browser should be a neutral tool that renders the websites I want, which is what Brave does. Brave also does it for LGBT people, just so you know. Whereas Firefox increasingly got into the censorship and discrimination of content game, which is what you are supporting now.

      8. Anonymous said on September 13, 2022 at 4:08 am
        Reply

        Learn what cypherpunk is and the origins of Mozilla.

        They have done nothing out of step of the Mozilla Manifesto.

        I am sorry, but the internet is and always has been a political tool.

      9. Anonymous said on September 10, 2022 at 1:14 pm
        Reply

        The choice is not as either-or

      10. No Thanks, CIA said on September 11, 2022 at 12:18 am
        Reply

        Then use Brave if you don’t like Firefox. You can’t get more political than Google, Microsoft, Apple, and the Five Eyes.

  72. iron-hacks said on September 9, 2022 at 2:27 pm
    Reply

    ‘too feature-rich’ L.O.L! Just to say something negative for the best option of pure user centric evil-g code based web browser. Unfortunately all web fabric is build around their yes-be-evil-code. If you don’t need a feature just dont use it.

    1. Iron Lady said on September 10, 2022 at 12:05 pm
      Reply

      The heart’s not for turning, undoubtedly.

  73. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 2:26 pm
    Reply

    Did someone say opening a can of worms?

  74. kuro68k said on September 9, 2022 at 2:21 pm
    Reply

    I have been wanting to switch to Firefox for years, but the Android version is broken and I really can’t live without sync between my desktop and mobile browser.

    On Pixel devices at least, Firefox for Android’s font scaling is broken. I’ve been trying for years to get it fixed, but the Firefox source code is an impenetrable mess and the bug remains open but unactioned.

    1. Dade512 said on September 12, 2022 at 4:36 am
      Reply

      @kuro68k
      I’m on a pixel 4a 5g… No problem whatsoever with Firefox. Actually been quite happy with it. Was using brave before but I ended up liking Firefox just a bit better.
      To the person that said no updates or development in years on android, literally updated 3 days ago.
      Regardless, brave browser and Firefox both have been working fantastically for me.

      1. Iron Heart said on September 12, 2022 at 7:18 am
        Reply

        @Dade512

        > To the person that said no updates or development in years on android, literally updated 3 days ago.

        They mean substantial improvements, not the last day it nominally got an update.

    2. User said on September 11, 2022 at 1:23 pm
      Reply

      Using Firefox on desktop, but yet still using Chrome on Android, as Firefox Mobile is still a mess indeed. And development is completely stalled. Years gone since release of this new Firefox, which was in fact incomplete and untested alpha version, but still almost nothing has been done.

      1. Iron Heart said on September 11, 2022 at 11:07 pm
        Reply

        @User

        > still using Chrome on Android

        Consider Kiwi Browser + uBlock Origin (you can get uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store) instead of Chrome, Kiwi is built on Chromium too but with uBO it has adblocking, here is how you can install it:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA7fHEhT9Xs

        Another alternative is Brave (also built on Chromium), which has an adblocker by default.

      2. John Chuey said on September 13, 2022 at 12:12 pm
        Reply

        Have switched from Firefox to Brave due noticing Firefox not being as lightweight and efficient as it use to be especially with it’s reliance on Google for search results than trying to come up with it’s alternative like Brave is. Also the Android app works really well.

      3. Dobby said on September 11, 2022 at 6:37 pm
        Reply

        It was literally updated 2 days ago and has received steady updates for at least a year now.

        https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix

    3. Chris said on September 11, 2022 at 10:28 am
      Reply

      Agree that Brave is a great option, particularly if (like me) it’s important for you to have cross device syncing.

      Love Chromium + Hate Google = Brave

      1. Guest said on September 12, 2022 at 12:16 am
        Reply

        Brave sells your data. Do not recommend using Brave.

      2. Iron Heart said on September 21, 2022 at 10:18 pm
        Reply

        @Guest

        You repeat this false claim over and over again, with zero proof shown. Getting old by now.

    4. Somnambulist said on September 10, 2022 at 9:07 am
      Reply

      Current versions of Firefox on Android are quite usable, not quite as good as Chrome but good enough that even without personally using the cross device sync I still use Firefox on Android. I’d suggest giving it another go – adblock with UBO on mobile is very nice.

    5. Shadow_Death said on September 10, 2022 at 1:00 am
      Reply

      Firefox now does tap sharing between devices. If you use 2 different browsers across devices then try Pushbullet.

    6. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 6:48 pm
      Reply

      @kuro68k

      The only browsers with decent adblocking on Android AND sync are Firefox + uBO and Brave. If Firefox does not meet your requirements, consider Brave.

      More or less I still believe that Kiwi Browser is overall best on Android, it has full Chromium extension support and none of the drawbacks of Firefox. There is no desktop version and thus no sync though. Same for Bromite, but with Bromite the adblocking is worse than what Brave or uBlock Origin offer anyway.

      1. IngrownMink4 said on September 17, 2022 at 9:01 pm
        Reply

        @Iron Heart

        But Brave, unfortunately, does not block trackers or Twitter advertising, and on Facebook it often breaks the web page (I have it set to aggressive mode). In Firefox + uBo it works as it should, in Twitter it accumulates around 200 blocked network requests in less than a minute. What do you think about this? (I’m asking you, because whenever I see your comments, you always show a lot of knowledge about Brave)

      2. Iron Heart said on September 21, 2022 at 10:16 pm
        Reply

        @IngrownMink4

        Hope this comment still reaches you:

        First off, make sure to look at your settings under brave://settings/socialBlocking

        These settings specifically exist to avoid site breakage on Twitter as well as Facebook, leave the settings for Twitter and Facebook enabled if you use those websites.

        After you have done this, enable all lists under brave://settings/shields/filters … Yes, ALL lists. With all lists that ship with Brave enabled, I am not(!) getting any Twitter or Facebook breakage personally. If you experience breakage regardless, it might be due to a custom filter list that you use. I also see a number of trackers blocked, currently 4 trackers (also using aggressive filtering here) on a typical Twitter profile page. Note that uBlock Origin and Brave count their blocked trackers differently, Brave does not count each blocked subdomain when it blocks the parent domain anyway, whereas uBlock Origin does, inflating the nominal number of blocked elements.

        If you really can’t resolve the issue in Brave after what I’ve said here, disabling Brave’s ad and tracker blocking and using uBO instead is also OK, there is no substantial loss there and Brave still does other valuable things for you even if you don’t use the ad & tracker blocking (like storage partition, debouncing protection, anti-fingerprinting etc.).

        Last but not least, for Twitter specifically, there is also the privacy-respecting and open source frontend Nitter, you may want to check this out if you are worried about tracking on Twitter:

        https://github.com/zedeus/nitter

        https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Instances

      3. userpassadmin said on September 10, 2022 at 9:04 am
        Reply

        @Iron Heart

        Well, no sane in mind people will use Sync feature anyways, storing your password and bookmark, history online is a no, it’s just wierd to do so because you don’t know whatever the service providers will do to your data.

        For mobile, adblock is necessary because ads kill battery life, and Firefox (better, Fennec), Kiwi, Brave… are good enough.

      4. Anonymous said on September 15, 2022 at 3:16 am
        Reply

        I never log in to use Chrome. Now it defaults to guest mode all my favourites and extensions are gone with an update. I am glad I rarely use Chrome. I detest how invasive google has become!

      5. John said on September 11, 2022 at 6:25 pm
        Reply

        I’m using Edge and I really hope Microsoft keeps V2, because I don’t want a new browser. Edge is very good and pretty fast on my old computers.

      6. bailgait said on September 15, 2022 at 4:45 am
        Reply

        Edge is good on my old PCs too, but the sync feature unfortunately is disastrous.

      7. Tucnak said on September 10, 2022 at 10:38 am
        Reply

        Has anyone even thought about the amount of data the ads consume?

        Since April 2021 ad blocker has saved 142GB of data that I pay for. I have a monthly 4GB data limit on my phone{mobile Internet) and it just gets eaten away by ads.

      8. Jody Thornton said on September 9, 2022 at 7:24 pm
        Reply

        Actually, I’m using Vivaldi on my Samsung Tab S2 and S3 tablets. It’s ad-blocking features seem to work quite well Iron Heart. I don’t know what your thoughts on that are.

        Cheers!

      9. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 7:37 pm
        Reply

        @Jody Thornton

        Not using Vivaldi on Android, does it support custom lists there? If not, which lists does it use by default?

      10. ShintoPlasm said on September 11, 2022 at 12:34 am
        Reply

        @Iron Heart

        Vivaldi on Android does support custom filter lists, just like on desktop.

      11. Jody Thornton said on September 9, 2022 at 8:12 pm
        Reply

        I don’t think it uses custom lists. I use Easy List. I also disable pages which Vivaldi “prefers”.

      12. Iron Heart said on September 9, 2022 at 8:20 pm
        Reply

        @Jody Thornton

        Ah OK. I can believe the adblocking is decent if they already base it on the EasyList lists by default. Custom lists are a must though, I am sure they are already working on it in anticipation of the MV3 changes.

  75. David said on September 9, 2022 at 2:18 pm
    Reply

    sticking with firefox and variants waterfox, tor, etc

  76. Anonymous said on September 9, 2022 at 2:16 pm
    Reply

    I’m considering returning to Firefox. I’m not sure what other extensions, outside adblocking, Manifest V3 will break. I use Stylish to custom-design pages that I think have a bad design. It’s unfortunate that a bad advertising company has control over how online browsing will evolve. I feel like it’s time to cut back on technology and the internet because it keeps growing worse with these big tech corporations.

    1. User said on September 11, 2022 at 1:15 pm
      Reply

      Chrome is becoming what Internet Explorer used to be. – poorly optimized, poorly designed and full of non-standardized functions and APIs.

      1. X said on September 12, 2022 at 11:54 pm
        Reply

        Is becoming?! I’d say it already became that (and even worse) a while ago.

    2. ek said on September 11, 2022 at 11:00 am
      Reply

      @Anon

      Not to be personally combative, but you remember that Firefox literally has Ads and marketing partners in the browser itself, right?

      I don’t recall that chrome itself stoops that low. Firefox on mobile goes further and installs Google and other 3rd party trackers in the app, again, worse than even chrome.
      On top of all that the never ending controversy with unique browser ids, remotely installed addons that syphoned browser data, shady hidden addons, and ineffective toggles controlled by mozilla which get updated to get around your preferences.

      The point is we should expect of Firefox is to be better than Chrome, drop the deceptive marketing and actually remove Google from the Firefox code on desktop and mobile. So far it is unmotivated to do so because marketing and lies work, so real engineers get kicked out, data ‘engineers’ from microsoft and facbook get hired along with political spooks, and all the bad stuff stays in Firefox.

      1. Guest said on September 12, 2022 at 12:15 am
        Reply

        ek – if you mean the tiles on the new tab page, well I use Firefox as my primary browser and not once has those ever bothered me. Sometimes the articles are interesting. Firefox does not have an advertisement problem.

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.