What browser are you using and why?

[ɹoɹɹǝ 26]

What web browser do you use and why? Interested in hearing your opinions! I personally am a Chromium user, but I used to use Firefox. Chromium seem's to have a nice blend of security (with the sandboxing feature and updated Flash for Linux). uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere and Privacy Badger all work, so I can still use some of the best security/privacy add-ons.

[S.O.A. 83]

I use Firefox because its from a company that doesn't rely on collecting user data to feed them personalized ads. Chromium may be open sourced but it still calls back to mother Google and in Firefox you can modify the internals of the browser such as webrtc and the like and turning of geo-location. 

 

Firefox also has more extensions/addons. For example YouTube related extensions that Google doesn't want on their store. Again, Firefox has more privacy extensions. Also Tor uses the Firefox code for its browser.

 

So, as you can see, my main reason for using Firefox is privacy. Although chromium is faster than Firefox, I'd take the small slowdown for some privacy and peace of mind. Plus, all my extensions don't help the slowness factor in Firefox.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents!   In the end you need to use the browser that fits your needs and wants.

[LZ1 672]

I use Firefox because its from a company that doesn't rely on collecting user data to feed them personalized ads. Chromium may be open sourced but it still calls back to mother Google and in Firefox you can modify the internals of the browser such as webrtc and the like and turning of geo-location. 

 

Firefox also has more extensions/addons. For example YouTube related extensions that Google doesn't want on their store. Again, Firefox has more privacy extensions. Also Tor uses the Firefox code for its browser.

 

So, as you can see, my main reason for using Firefox is privacy. Although chromium is faster than Firefox, I'd take the small slowdown for some privacy and peace of mind. Plus, all my extensions don't help the slowness factor in Firefox.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents!   In the end you need to use the browser that fits your needs and wants.

Hello!

 

It's just sad that Mozilla receives money from Google, I think.

[serenacat 83]

Firefox as main browser due to useful addons, up to date HTML5, rapid bug fixes, loyalty to mozilla history of support for web standards and developers and users when the open WWW threatened by Microsoft (and Google ? and Adobe ? and RIAA ?). Easy to change/select search providers for different contexts.

Vivaldi when some problem with Firefox addons with website, eg chess.com, and want "clean" browser, is based on chromium opensource without Google Chrome gotchas. Not always convenient to restart FF with addons disabled.

Midori when want minimum memory use to read html info, javadoc, android docs when 4GB ram cram, eg using Android Studio and phone emulator. Latest version quite functional with much less resources.

Now do internet facing browsing, bittorrent etc in Linux Mint in Oracle Virtual Box which gives better security and reason to keep up with Linux, on a Windows 7 host. Things like playing movies in VLC run better on W7 for hardware optimization.

[pr1v 36]

Tor browser without tor (and javascript disabled) because it protects you from fingerprinting, and for some other things I use Palemoon, very fast and without the problems in Firefox.

[me.moo@posteo.me 80]

I use Firefox because its from a company that doesn't rely on collecting user data to feed them personalized ads. Chromium may be open sourced but it still calls back to mother Google and in Firefox you can modify the internals of the browser such as webrtc and the like and turning of geo-location. 

 

Firefox also has more extensions/addons. For example YouTube related extensions that Google doesn't want on their store. Again, Firefox has more privacy extensions. Also Tor uses the Firefox code for its browser.

 

So, as you can see, my main reason for using Firefox is privacy. Although chromium is faster than Firefox, I'd take the small slowdown for some privacy and peace of mind. Plus, all my extensions don't help the slowness factor in Firefox.

 

Thanks for that @S.O.A. It pretty much matches my usage. Tend to use Tor Browser by default.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

On Windows it was Waterfox, a 64-bit Firefox built with certain original Firefox features removed. On Linux it's Firefox. Using it because of its ease of configuration and variety of config options. Since I switched to Linux, migrating your personal Firefox data to Linux was too easy. All it took was one simple command.
On Windows I also used Chrome but only for one specific task. Don't know if I'm going to use Chromium as well now. In theory, this task would work on Firefox, too, but I want it separated from the rest.

[siberianwlf 3]

Comodo Dragon + ABP (removed Comodo Media downloader and one more bundled extension)

and still looking for way to disable youtube DASH without limiting myself to 360p

[itguy2017 25]

Chromium with no sync, webrtc, widevine, no background processes, no google site validation. 

 

uBlock and uBlock Websocket extensions. DNS pointing to Adguard SecureDNS (adblocking, malware, tracker blocking dns).

 

http://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows-64-bit-stable-nik

[zhang888 1066]

Stripped TorBrowser (custom made, search for how-to's I posted) and Ungoogled fork of Chromium:

https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium

 

Everything else should be considered upon your own risk.

[ɹoɹɹǝ 26]

All good choices! I've actually came back to Firefox as the constant high RAM usage by Chromium was getting annoying... Also, it is not configurable, and there is no true way to completely disable WebRTC/IPv6.

[yukatan65 3]

Vivaldi browser..

[serenacat 83]

Just installed and currently using the https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium mentioned by zhang888.

https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium/releases/download/53.0.2785.116-1.1/xenial_chromium_53.0.2785.116-1_amd64.deb

installed on Linux Mint 18 okay and seems quite functional browsing NYT, Reuters except flash video. Defaults look ok, presumably fitting addons from Google Store is some potential compromise, but miss uBlock Origin, NoScript, WorldIP, ImageBlock, etc for general browsing.

Expect to replace Vivaldi as "clean" alternative to Firefox, not so pretty as Vivaldi, but experts on the job of privacy/security and minimal is good.

Not really motivated to build from source, but "ideally" should be done for "purity".

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Ungoogled fork of Chromium

 

That's an interesting one..

[itguy2017 25]

Vivaldi browser..

 

Maybe this in a year or two. Also Brave Browser in another year.

 

My password manager needs to support it, and I need a good plugin API to switch. I used Opera up until the last update when it started sending Speed Dial data to mainland China and Qihoo completed their takeover of Opera. OperaMini on Android now proxies you to mainland China when you use the speed boost/bandwidth saver/adblocker.. Not a chance in hell!

 

For now, Google-Stripped Chromium is the most pure browsing experience. Woolyss is the best version I have found;

http://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows-64-bit-stable-nik

[kbps 29]

 

I use Firefox because its from a company that doesn't rely on collecting user data to feed them personalized ads. Chromium may be open sourced but it still calls back to mother Google and in Firefox you can modify the internals of the browser such as webrtc and the like and turning of geo-location. 

 

Firefox also has more extensions/addons. For example YouTube related extensions that Google doesn't want on their store. Again, Firefox has more privacy extensions. Also Tor uses the Firefox code for its browser.

 

So, as you can see, my main reason for using Firefox is privacy. Although chromium is faster than Firefox, I'd take the small slowdown for some privacy and peace of mind. Plus, all my extensions don't help the slowness factor in Firefox.

 

Thanks for that @S.O.A. It pretty much matches my usage. Tend to use Tor Browser by default.

 

I second that.

[Otto_57 0]

Firefox with pretty much from this here: https://github.com/pyllyukko/user.js

​

​I'll check zhang888's setup (#10), sounds very interesting.

​

[OmniNegro 155]

Waterfox. I do not need or want the bullshit that Firefox has turned into. Waterfox is the solution to this.

 

On Linux I use Firefox with a hell of a lot of extensions to disable all sorts of junk like Hello, Pocket and Reader.

 

@giganerd

Could you share what the command was? I found it to be less work to remake my profile for Firefox than to convert it over.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Could you share what the command was?

 

Erm.. it was a move command.

mv -v /path/to/old/ffprofile.name /home/username/.mozilla/firefox/ffprofile.name

In profiles.ini, change the profile name to the one you just moved. The next time you start firefox you'll have your settings, bookmarks and everything else back to how you left it when you last worked with this profile.

[Anons-cup 0]

Epic Privacy Browser, because privacy

[OmniNegro 155]

 

Could you share what the command was?

 

Erm.. it was a move command.

mv -v /path/to/old/ffprofile.name /home/username/.mozilla/firefox/ffprofile.name

In profiles.ini, change the profile name to the one you just moved. The next time you start firefox you'll have your settings, bookmarks and everything else back to how you left it when you last worked with this profile.

Well, I must have had some messed up settings due to one or more of the many extensions I have installed in Firefox on Windows. I did all this and it simply would not work in Linux for some reason.

 

Nonetheless, I thank you for sharing. (I was hoping there was a command I did not know about that might fix this next time I need to copy one of my profiles over.) But as I am now using Waterfox on Windows, I suspect it may not be possible to copy or merge profiles with Firefox on Linux. Oh well. It is still worth the trouble.

[Ekō 3]

I use Google Chrome because it's fast, aesthetically appealing, and pretty customizable with a friendly interface.

 

Until discovering the world of VPNs, I wasn't aware people were SO concerned about privacy...

Is there any reason NOT to use Google Chrome if and should I be concerned with what Google might do with my information?

[LZ1 672]

I use Google Chrome because it's fast, aesthetically appealing, and pretty customizable with a friendly interface.

 

Until discovering the world of VPNs, I wasn't aware people were SO concerned about privacy...

Is there any reason NOT to use Google Chrome if and should I be concerned with what Google might do with my information?

Yes there's a reason. There's many really. But the importance of all of this privacy/security stuff really comes down to the personal preferences of each individual.

As for concerned, yes, be extremely concerned, if the thought of a private corporation that spans the globe has and shares access to your information with any number of governments, agencies and subsidiaries, wherein you have little control over how it's shared, for how long and not least secured,  makes you uneasy, then yes, be concerned and do something about it .

 

Privacy is extremely important. It's fast becoming a rarer and rarer commodity.

 

You can read up on how to improve your privacy, if you wish . Plenty links in my guide too.

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

What LZ1 said. : )

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

But as I am now using Waterfox on Windows, I suspect it may not be possible to copy or merge profiles with Firefox on Linux.

 

By the way, I'm coming from Waterfox on Windows. No single error there, could use the profile as if I always worked on Linux with it.