Firefox has always been a good browser, converting Internet Explorer users everyday. Addons to the browser making the program more and more useful.

Recently the folks over at Mozilla have introduced Firefox 4.0 Beta to the internet community. Trying the software out I would like to show to you my pros and cons of the program from my experience.

Please note I am using this software with a Windows 7 O/S (64bit).

Pros:
- The beta is faster than previous versions of Firefox, loading 3-6 seconds faster and loads web pages about 2-4 seconds faster.
- The skin on the beta looks similar, which I enjoy, I do not like things all fancy. I like it simple and sleek.
- When you hold your mouse over a link, it displays the link URL on the address bar.

Cons:
- After loading the browser sometimes freezes for about 10 to 30 seconds.
- Bookmarks, History and all other options are all in more sub selections behind one button.
- 90% of the addons are not compatible with the 4.0 beta, especially the bitcomet addon which I favour.
- The stop, reload button is at the end of the address bar.
- Watching videos on YouTube, and scrolling down the page to read the comments the browser glitches and a section of the top of the browser turns white.


Feel free to give your own opinion about the software.

i tried it, then uninstalled it and went back to 3.6.13, i need my addons :-)

Townie2

You know, when Opera upgraded so it's add-ons (called Widgets) no longer worked I moved over to Firefox and Opera, on the whole, lost out in the browser race. So much so that it almost became, for a while, the least popular browser in the world.

I hope Firefox does not make the same mistake, add-ons add value and facilities to a browser. Too bad Opera didn't realise that.



UK Bob

i hope not too, though it seems to me (may just be me), that the last couple of versions are a little slower. Addblock Plus is a must have, and DownloadHelper is great for youtube.

Townie2

I use those add-ons as well, along with WOT, Better Privacy and No Script.

And yes, Firefox has got a little slower because it checks for updates for itself as well as it's add-ons before it starts up. In fact, the more add-ons you have the slower the start-up, plus FF is a little power hungry so your PC has got to have a bit more push to get it going.

Even so, I believe that FF is currently the best browser, for facilities and safety features, that you can install on your PC.

However, I do wish that there was a simple method to control the number of "toolbars" that appeared whenever FF starts up, at the moment I have to untick two of the six toolbars that appear when I use FF.



UK Bob

PS. FF has just notified me that there is an update available for "No Script".

i love FF, but it's it's killing the new little netbook i got, it's only 1GB RAM (160 HD). my desktop is big enough to handle it no prob, it's a little slow, but it's painfully slow on the netbook, lol.

Townie2

I've been thinking about getting a netbook myself, its just that I haven't fully worked out the use I'll put it to yet.

Anyway, as for FF being a power drain on netbooks maybe we should start lobbying Mozilla Firefox for a Firefox Lite browser.



UK Bob

I notice the difference of how much computer resources Firefox takes up on an older 7 yo computer, 2 GHz 448 MB ram, XP. Firefox takes 3-5 minutes to fully load with 3 small add-ons, a few saved tabs.
Safari in comparison took 18 seconds, Thunderbird about 25-30 secs. Ridiculous huh? I didn't realise how demanding Firefox is until I used this older computer.
Edit: I suspect the saving of tabs when closing FF is what makes the FF take so long to restart up & settle.

Well Botox

You have highlighted a good reason why a Firefox Lite browser would be a very good idea.

Still, time will tell if Mozilla will run with the idea.


UK Bob

erasing FF history once in awhile helps.