[spaceconvoy]

Firefox (at least the old version) takes up a ton of processing speed and tends to crash a lot on my machine. With the new version of IE finally supporting tabbed browsing, now I'm thinking of changing back and it makes me wonder if there's anything better out there - Opera maybe? So without having to download and test a bunch of different browsers, what's the most efficient one (with tabbed browsing)?

 

[floydenheimer]

Opera is the most efficient and lightweight browser. It's also the most secure. If you run IE or Firefox bare bones you should look at Opera. I say that because Opera doesn't have quite the robustness that IE and Firefox offer in the way of extensions and plugins. I'd love to use Opera if it didn't lack a few features I need.

 

[YamiTenshi]

Maybe give the new Firefox a try, seems it uses less resources. I've tried using Opera, it uses slightly less resources then Firefox and it did almost everything I wanted it to... there is one webpage that I use on a regular basis that won't load, can't figure out why.

I wouldn't go back to IE. Even if IE finally came out with tab browsing, it will still be the most popular/used web broswer and therefore will have the most viruses, trojans, worms, etc custom made for it.

 

[AuroraProject]

Safari

 

[saturnine]

Lynx

*Oh, you said with tabbed browsing.. I'd say the new MS Iexplorer.

 

[450]

Another vote for Opera 9!

Its the best browser for me, FF and IE crash too much.

 

[Aman]

You guys have to stop pretending that Firefox is a Windows-ready web browser. It is only fully capable on *nix-based platforms. Every other platform, even still today, is only an after-thought.

That said, it is not exactly the program that is causing the crashes - it's the OS's inability to run more sophisticated software that doesn't use the scheme-filled proprietary code. Opera may not crash as much, but I guarantee you that if it had the same quality in craft and the same number of features as Firefox, it would be just as prone to crashing.

There is no good way to browse the web on Windows. Face those facts, and then use Firefox anyway because at least THAT is secure. That said, Firefox 2.0 is extremely lightweight, even in comparison to previous versions. I'd give that a try.

 

[TopShelf]

my vote for Firefox
I havnt had many crashes at all, and runs very easy, with a nice fact CPU

 

[Skipinder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman There is no good way to browse the web on Windows. Face those facts, and then use Firefox anyway because at least THAT is secure. That said, Firefox 2.0 is extremely lightweight, even in comparison to previous versions. I'd give that a try.

I agree, firefox 2.0 is very good! I run the nightly build of it and think it is great. It is much more stable than 1.5 (I never liked 1.5, it sucked imo) and is very lightweight.

There is also K-melon, which is extremely lightweight and very stable and uses the same engine as Firefox. It also has the fastest page load times on my machine (most people find K-melon or Opera to the fastest).

I use Firefox over it because I find K-melon to be too lightweight and I like some the features of firefox to much to give it up.

 

[spaceconvoy]

So despite my original desire for an easy answer, I ended up downloading Opera, the new Firefox and IE7. Spent all afternoon testing each three, then modifying settings and skins for my new favorite... *drumroll* ...Opera! Just checking the windows task manager, seems like Firefox used up more than twice as much processing power as Opera on average. And IE7 was a navigation nightmare, as always

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[apnk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saturnine Lynx *Oh, you said with tabbed browsing.. I'd say the new MS Iexplorer.

WORD! No popups, no stupid flash ads! Yeah!


Anyway, I say Opera 9, but Firefox 2.0 is good to. I still think Opera is faster though.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Firefox 2.0 is really good, I been using firefox since around 1999 and since around 1.0 I've never had any real problems with it (the mentioned slowness, crashes etc)

I tried the test that the op stated, I downloaded opera 9.02 and ran just it with nothing else but task manager and went to google, yahoo, and cnn then I closed it and launched firefox and went to the same three sites, firefox took less resources then opera in my testing. Opera's highest was 73% cpu, and Firefox was 54% although Opera appears to open faster, then firefox, I can't say that it gets to any sites any quicker..

My system is custom built by me, Has an AMD 64 3000+ (939) 1 gig Corsair Ram DDR400 running in 1T(3-3-3-6)

 

[vibin247]

On the Mac, I've used Camino, Firefox, IE, and Opera, and I've had the best reliability with Safari. Though I'm trying out Firefox 2, and there seems to be no bugs (so far).

 

[RotAtoR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c0mfortably_numb I been using firefox since around 1999 and since around 1.0

Phoenix 0.1, the original version of what was to become Firefox wasn't released until September 2002.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RotAtoR Phoenix 0.1, the original version of what was to become Firefox wasn't released until September 2002.

Wow I thought it was earlier then that, I know it's gone through several name changes over the years...Phoenix, Fire Bird, Fire Fox. I started back at the begining with Pheonix, couldn't stand IE and Netscape jumped the shark after 4.7