Why you SHOULD be using Firefox

CFC-420 · 22 Oct 2020 at 21:04

I use chrome only because it allows me to use tabs even with an authentication popup box. Firefox puts it on top and I have to use another instance to copy pasta the auth credentials.

It's a work thing.

Roadrunner_668 · 22 Oct 2020 at 22:43

chrome uses so much ram though ha ha

but all browsers do these days tbh ha ha

jakspyder · 22 Oct 2020 at 23:04

containerised tabs alone make firefox the only browser worth considering, especially for work as i'm in and out of different AWS accounts or Azure tennants. Its mega.

Roadrunner_668 · 22 Oct 2020 at 23:05

containerised ?

jakspyder · 22 Oct 2020 at 23:09

Roadrunner_668 said:
containerised ?

Sorry multi account containers its properly called.

Means i can define "containers" such as:
Personal
work
client A
client B

with colour codes and symbols, and then i can open links into that container. For example i can open AWS in tab (client A) and tab (client B) and my tokens and SSO etc is bound to that container. so no need to account switch, or have multiple firefox profiles/windows.

The only thing i do have is firefox standard edition with my personal profile, bookmarks etc.

Then firefox dev edition, with my work account, bookmarks etc. They have different container needs. You can set certain domains to always open in a specific "container" such as facebook.

Roadrunner_668 · 22 Oct 2020 at 23:19

Oh I see.

jpaul · 23 Oct 2020 at 08:38

]Sorry multi account containers its properly called

I run multiple instances of the browser each with their profiles, for general versus, security(banking) sites

DXP55 said:
Guardian -

Guardian web site, periodically shows cpu loading for me, there is some kind of timer in their crap code, so I usually unload the tab when I've finished reading the page,
I use an automatic unloader extension in chrome (currently set to 30s) but haven't yet searched for similar in FF.

Cromulent · 23 Oct 2020 at 09:07

jpaul said:
I run multiple instances of the browser each with their profiles, for general versus, security(banking) sites

Why? You can do that through one instance using Firefox containers for each website or group of websites.

DXP55 · 23 Oct 2020 at 11:40

jpaul said:
I run multiple instances of the browser each with their profiles, for general versus, security(banking) sites

Guardian web site, periodically shows cpu loading for me, there is some kind of timer in their crap code, so I usually unload the tab when I've finished reading the page,
I use an automatic unloader extension in chrome (currently set to 30s) but haven't yet searched for similar in FF.

That was a red herring - never read Guardian in my life

jpaul · 23 Oct 2020 at 12:03

Cromulent said:
Why? You can do that through one instance using Firefox containers for each website or group of websites.

I'd not read about containers before, but it seems, mechanism is cookie oriented, and they just prevent 3rd party cookies being shared ?
I already prevent 3rd party cookies being written too, and wouldn't use sites that require that for their functionality.
https://www.ghacks.net/2020/02/24/what-are-firefox-containers/

the compromise/breech I am concerned with is fake java code from non-acredited sources being introduced into the session, which might impact/monitor other tabs, so consequently I just run a completely separate browser session for accessing banks, with no prospect of cross-contamination;
equally extensions that may have gone rogue, per the other thread; to wit my banking browser config is paired down, just ublocko.

Rainmaker · 23 Oct 2020 at 12:48

jpaul said:
I'd not read about containers before, but it seems, mechanism is cookie oriented, and they just prevent 3rd party cookies being shared ?

That's too simplistic a view. The link you posted explains it fully, but essentially any domain linked to a container is wholly bound/jailed to that container. Facebook Container is baked into Firefox already, which means as far as Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp knows, they're the only site you ever visited.

It's physically impossible for them to follow you around the web, as even on third party websites, any Facebook code/cookies/pixels/domains are likewise opened statically inside the container. It's a very powerful anti-tracking tool, though made somewhat (not completely) redundant now by the privacy.firstparty.isolate setting. As well as being useful for anti-tracking, they're also handy for keeping accounts separate. Work/personal, customer A and customer B, whatever.

Mekrel · 23 Oct 2020 at 12:59

I'm using Firefox these days, really enjoying it! Although I find some of their decision making questionable. For example, they're approving addons for mobile and the Bitwarden addon has only been approved for the nightly build, but that build really bugs out when trying to type into the OcUK wysiwyg forum editor. So now I'm using the beta without the addon which is frustrating.

Although I must say, my good opinion of Firefox for Android doesn't appear to be shared by the majority of others based on the reviews it received. But then again, I started using it when the Preview became the Firefox for Android base so I didn't have any experience of what FF was like before.

jpaul · 23 Oct 2020 at 13:18

Rainmaker said:
It's physically impossible for them to follow you around the web

maybe ! elaborating further - I don't think allowing any bank site access to share the same process virtual memory space, as, say accessing autotrader, or john lewis, is sensible.
if you have a separate firefox invocation, for bank, the o/s is helping reduce any 'contamination', with some inter-process memory protection

edit: yes you could be ultra cautionary and have a separate laptop to access the bank, but for the negilgible time is takes, that, degree of separation between banking and others is a precaution I take.

opethdisciple · 23 Oct 2020 at 13:55

I did find an issue yesterday on Firefox latest version on windows.

I was browsing a Sekiro walkthrough here and I found on my Windows 10 3570k system that the browser was often showing the "a script is slowing this webpage down" message.

I then fired by Edge and got no such message. Nor in Chrome or Brave (which I was experimenting with)

I wonder if my 3570k system is starting to show signs of age and the single threaded nature of FF is starting to cause issues on this older system.

No such issues in the Chromium based browsers though.

Mekrel · 23 Oct 2020 at 14:05

opethdisciple said:
I did find an issue yesterday on Firefox latest version on windows.

I was browsing a Sekiro walkthrough here and I found on my Windows 10 3570k system that the browser was often showing the "a script is slowing this webpage down" message.

I then fired by Edge and got no such message. Nor in Chrome or Brave (which I was experimenting with)

I wonder if my 3570k system is starting to show signs of age and the single threaded nature of FF is starting to cause issues on this older system.

No such issues in the Chromium based browsers though.

Pretty sure Firefox uses multiple threads now?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/performance-settings

jpaul · 23 Oct 2020 at 14:27

opethdisciple said:
No such issues in the Chromium based browsers though.

if I look at that site, even in chrome, with its task manager, it sits there burning a cpu - it's a crap web site
.. maybe someone here can debug what its up to
take ff's advice and gthood

opethdisciple · 23 Oct 2020 at 14:37

Mekrel said:
Pretty sure Firefox uses multiple threads now?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/performance-settings

It does but not as multi threaded as say Chrome. Chrome uses a thread per tab.

V F · 23 Oct 2020 at 15:02

opethdisciple said:
I did find an issue yesterday on Firefox latest version on windows.

I was browsing a Sekiro walkthrough here and I found on my Windows 10 3570k system that the browser was often showing the "a script is slowing this webpage down" message.

I then fired by Edge and got no such message. Nor in Chrome or Brave (which I was experimenting with)

I wonder if my 3570k system is starting to show signs of age and the single threaded nature of FF is starting to cause issues on this older system.

No such issues in the Chromium based browsers though.

I'll check later to see how my 3770k handles it.

opethdisciple · 23 Oct 2020 at 15:06

V F said:
I'll check later to see how my 3770k handles it.

Try opening the links in the walkthrough in multiple tabs. I found that the browser was giving me this message.

4K8KW10 · 23 Oct 2020 at 16:32

If you don't care about the performance....

Otherwise, Edge is the fastest and best browser over there:

https://microsoftedge.github.io/videotest/2017-10/BenchmarkMethodology.html