Comments on: Opera switch: Bliss so far, after switch from crash-prone Firefox 3.5

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:50:47 +0000

I think the Gmail spike is a Windows thing – I’ve never noticed it on my Linux machine.

My reason for using Gmail in a browser is simple: I’ve never met an email app I didn’t hate. I don’t like them, I don’t set them up. I use almost entirely webmail and prefer to read it that way. I’m also normally using two computers simultaneously (Have my laptop beside the desktop) and syncing between the two is easier that way.

By: David S.

David S. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:12:28 +0000

Re clearing FF history – I’ve never needed much history so I set FF to delete it all when I quit. Preferences>Privacy>Clear history when Firefox closes (under “Settings…” check everything for History aside from cookies).

Can’t say I’ve noticed any CPU spike with GMail on my Macs when logged on via FF. Nothing like 50% that’s for sure. Right now I’m trying it and it’s hasn’t gone over 6.5% and is mostly around 1-3%. But really, why would anyone use FF (or any browser for that matter) to read GMail on their own computer? Set GMail up in your email app like any other email account, then you hardly ever need to go near it with a browser. IMAP rocks.

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:10:54 +0000

I personally run Firefox and Chrome on my Windows machine – and pretty much straight Firefox on my Linux box. Oddly, Firefox 3.5 has worked out much better for me – memory usage dropped by 2/3 and stability went up.

My big problem was that Gmail hates Firefox. Having Gmail open in Firefox cost me 50% of my CPU all the time. It costs me 1-2% in Chrome. (CPU behavior is the same in FFx 3 and 3.5 – but FFx 3.5 uses about 150MB less RAM).

By: Al

Al — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:05:33 +0000

I keep 3 browsers on my dock; Safari, Firefox and Opera. At least one of them works on any given document, however I never have had any of the 3 work with all documents. My observations so far in order of preference are Safari, Opera, Firefox. I am using a Macintosh.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:10:23 +0000

I put this on the other post you had, but just in case…

I cured my FF issues by flushing the history. History -> Show All History, or Ctrl-shift-H. I then removed everything from “This Month” back. Just right-click the entry, then hit delete. Maybe this will work for you as well?

I came across it here:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2009/08/15/firefox-3-5-slow-and-hangs-after-typing-a-few-letters-in-url-location-bar/

I use Opera from time to time myself, but I’m used to FF and the Extensions. But really, whatever works best for you!

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:47:26 +0000

Great, Spider—and may your luck with Firefox continue! I’m delighted you have not suffered the same hassles that so many people have. David

By: Spider Mattheson

Spider Mattheson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:09:44 +0000

I don’t know why your computer didn’t like it but I’ve had few problems with Firefox 3.5 and virtually none since they fixed the initial bugs. Opera is a good browser but not my cup of tea. I use Chrome a lot, as well. But Firefox is still my default and I get great performance out of it.