Firefox Freeze/Crash Issue On OSX

Jambo

Jambo

Jambo

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I have had a long term problem with Firefox freezing. Sometimes it can't load any images on a web page but the main problem is that it just freezes and you can't do anything. Not even quit, have to force quit.

It seems quite random and it is really ******* me off. I have Googled the problem and on the mozilla website people are saying the Google toolbar causes it but I don't have this installed. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling but no luck.

It is version 2.0.0.13 and OSX is 10.4.11.

Has anyone else had this problem and do you know how to solve it?

I'd really like to stay on Firefox, don't like Safari.

Any help greatly appreciated.
 
2.0.0.14 is the latest version I believe, but probably not something that would fix your problems.

Have you got any extensions/add-ons that might have been configured incorrectly? I know there are some with quite extensive configs that can sometimes cause problems if messed around with.
 
EVH said:
Safari 3.1 > *
Click to expand...

that's not helpful. There are SO many reasons that Safari isn't better than other browsers. If you use extensions Safari isn't best, if you want rendering speed, Safari isn't best, if you want your browser to not consume all of your RAM, Safari isn't best, if you want to use some websites (Hotmail, as an example), Safari isn't best. Hell, even if you want to view the source of an RSS feed, Safari isn't best. Why exactly do you think Safari is best, all of the above considered?

and, the latest Firefox is Version 3 RC1, it's no longer in beta
 
Sic said:
that's not helpful. There are SO many reasons that Safari isn't better than other browsers. If you use extensions Safari isn't best, if you want rendering speed, Safari isn't best, if you want your browser to not consume all of your RAM, Safari isn't best, if you want to use some websites (Hotmail, as an example), Safari isn't best. Hell, even if you want to view the source of an RSS feed, Safari isn't best. Why exactly do you think Safari is best, all of the above considered?

and, the latest Firefox is Version 3 RC1, it's no longer in beta
Click to expand...

POSTED: 5th May 2008, 10:14 AM

;)

I think it's fast, I don't use extensions, all the sites I visit work, and I have 16GB of RAM (never noticed it using more than 2GB though!).

Oh, and also, I use Google Reader for all my RSS absorption.
 
EVH said:
POSTED: 5th May 2008, 10:14 AM

;)
Click to expand...
my point still stands, it's not in RC3 yet, it's version 3. When you posted that, it may have been in beta 3, come to think of it.

EVH said:
I think it's fast, I don't use extensions, all the sites I visit work, and I have 16GB of RAM (never noticed it using more than 2GB though!).

Oh, and also, I use Google Reader for all my RSS absorption.
Click to expand...

it renders quickly, but I've seen it using 500MB of RAM, which is an unacceptable amount for a web browser to use, especially when Opera is faster and uses WAY less RAM. The fact that you'd be ok with it using 2GB is quite odd - I was under the impression that you're a programmer in some capacity!

I'm not talking about reading RSS feeds, I'm talking about viewing source on them.

I'm not trying to get you to convert, I'm sure you're aware that I'm not deluded enough to think I ever could, but your arguments for using Safari really aren't viable in my opinion. Fair enough, I can now see why you use it, but I still can't see why you recommend it to people!

To be fair, I really can't think of an instance where I'd ever recommend anyone used Safari. If you're looking for flexibility (or you're a web designer) then Firefox is obviously the best solution (even with dragonfly - I'm afraid that just doesn't touch firebug in terms of ease of use) and if you're looking for speed then Opera clearly beats the ass out of Safari. The only time I'd recommend it is if someone was only willing to choose between IE and Safari.
 
I'm just saying that for a bundled web browser it does the business for me, personally :)

I have Firefox installed (currently testing it now, and I'll concede, the speed is impressive) but I'd still tell anyone; give Safari a chance.

It isn't as bad as IE is on Windows, and at least deserves a trial run. Many people are switching and jumping on Firefox because that's what they used on Windows. For many a moon it used to be very papp on OS X, and until recently offered no real benefit from the other browsers. Which I never understood..

As for numbers.. I made up the 2GB, it's currently on 235MB and I have 3 tabs open. I also don't like Opera. Not sure why. I like Safari because it's built on standards, too.

I do understand what you're saying though, and it pains me to see the Webkit builds making so good progress, only for Apple to lag behind in their integration in to Safari :cool:
 
Whilst I don't want to seem nitpicky, that's not what you're saying - you always tell people that Safari is the best. If you mean that it's the best for you then that's cool but it's not good advice to give people especially knowing all its drawbacks.

I think many people jump on Firefox when they hit OSX because it's a very good browser. Granted it's been a bit flaky up until about 2.0.0.8 (I think that's when I started to notice that it was more stable). If you were used to all of the extra functionality that Firefox had offered you in the past on other OSs, would you really take the hit and change how you did everything just to try Safari? I really tried to like Safari, and I got so close, but when I saw its RAM usage increasing crazily, it had to go. Do you really think 235MB is acceptable for 3 tabs? Assuming 1 of those is OcUK, I can't imagine what the others would have to be. I've got OcUK, Facebook and a photoblog open and Firefox is using just under 80MB. Considering the extensions I have, that's pretty awesome IMO.

One thing I will say for Safari, as someone whose day is peppered with writing CSS and Javascript, and that's that it's very well-behaved in those respects, but again, so are Firefox and Opera ;) (Opera moreso than both Firefox and Safari!)
 
Firefox tends to crash on me quite often, this only happens tho when I am at uni and using their network. At home, firefox is fast and stable so Im inclined to believe that the network settings of the uni network might have something to do with the stability of Firefox. I havent really found a fix of any sorts, Firefox still beachballs at uni all the time, whereas at home its fine. Ive started using Safari as a secondary browser more and more as a result, and Safari is much speedier than Firefox i find.
However Im looking forward to the release of Firefox 3 as hopefully the beachballing problems will be sorted. I havent tried out the RC1 yet tho.
 
Agree with Safari being a memory hog:

Right now I have OcUK open in both only, Safari is using 288.44mb and Firefox is using 50.31mb..

Might have to convert to Firefox now, that is with the new build by the way.
 
I actually like the new style of it, seems so much better than Safari at the moment. Which is odd, I used to swear by Safari!
 
In defense of Safari I have three tabs open and its using ~60/70mb ram, whilst firefox has three tabs and running ~110mb ram. In the long run though I have noticed Safaris ram usage gradually creeps up to a lot higher than FF.
 
Ok Sic, I can see where you're coming from.. however, my defense is that Safari was better before the new release of Firefox.. in fact given the recent Firefox improvements I'll probably start recommending Firefox again, so we'll call it quits :)

I used to swear by it, until Safari 3 was released on Leopard, but it does seem that Mozilla has done a LOT of catching up work with the UI (which i'm starting to love!) in fact I'm switching back now, myself.
 
You 2 are so weak - I brought down your silly Safari belief system over the internet! :D

I wonder what else I can convince you to do....
 
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