Best browser for Windows?

[smakme7757]

Been using chrome for quite some time. It's nice and easy, but i still have firefox installed as it works with the sites that Chrome doesn't work with.

 

[mikeymikec]

lol

chrome is Google
Google is the company driving around in cars snooping people's wifi...
that doesn't happen without intentional human action.

but hey, when that same corporate structure builds a browser it should be trusted implicitly... riiiiiiiight.

I wonder. On the default settings, Google gains some useful information from it already, as they do with Firefox. Pushing their luck a bit far might result in the general public finding out and then having a very long distrust of their products in general and in the long term.

When it's on their computer and they use it daily, that has a greater impact than something physically much further away. As far as the general public is concerned, Google getting caught wi-fi snooping can easily be put in the "this doesn't affect me - ignore" pigeon hole.

 

[mikeymikec]

The wifi capturing was explained and anyone with an unencrypted wireless network should have no expectation of privacy anyway.

I bet the lawyer for Gary McKinnon would have got far with the "the US military used no passwords or absurdly simple ones so they had no expectation of privacy anyway"

One rule for the masses, another rule for those with lots of money.

 

[Nothinman]

the wifi capturing, recording and archiving spontaneously occured without intentional human action? the programs for this wrote themselves?

and it is somehow okay for a corporation to systematically spy on people who are not computer literate?

WOW

Of course it didn't write and execute itself, I didn't say anything close to that. If you've ever done software development and understand how sniffing works you can understand how simple it would be to capture the payload portion of frames in addition to the SSID, MAC, etc.

There are many poor analogies about broadcasting information into the public and not expecting any privacy so I'll skip that part. But I firmly believe that ignorance is no excuse and anyone without the knowledge to apply even WEP to their wireless network could have gotten help instead of leaving it unencrypted.

I bet the lawyer for Gary McKinnon would have got far with the "the US military used no passwords or absurdly simple ones so they had no expectation of privacy anyway"

One rule for the masses, another rule for those with lots of money.

Those aren't even comparable. Google was passively listening for wireless information while was actively attacking government systems.

 

[rayfieldclement]

Is Chrome the SAME as Chromium. Where do you get CHROMIUM?

 

[Nothinman]

Is Chrome the SAME as Chromium. Where do you get CHROMIUM?

Chromium is the totally free version, Chrome is the Google fork with some of their proprietary changes included. Chromium is packaged in the default Debian repository, but I've never tried to find it for Windows and I don't see much in the way of releases on their website.

 

[lxskllr]

Is Chrome the SAME as Chromium. Where do you get CHROMIUM?

Chromium is the same, except it has stuff that reports to Google removed. I don't think there's a Windows build, but I'm not sure. SRware Iron was similar, but there was some controversy with that package. Check this page for a few Chromium builds...

http://ostatic.com/blog/chromium-based-browsers-continue-to-proliferate

I don't necessarily endorse any of them. At least one is made by a commercial company, so there's incentive to screw you over. I'm not saying they are, but the incentive is there. If you want to try one, carefully read the documentation, especially the TOS and privacy policies.

 

[ControlD]

Normally my default response to this question would be Firefox. However, I just downloaded the latest version to install on a new machine and I was more than a little shocked how careful I had to be with the installation to avoid the insane amount of crapware the Mozilla wishes to push along with the installation. It has been some time since I installed Firefox on a bare system so maybe they have been doing this for awile but I do not like the direction they seem to be moving in.

 

[lxskllr]

Normally my default response to this question would be Firefox. However, I just downloaded the latest version to install on a new machine and I was more than a little shocked how careful I had to be with the installation to avoid the insane amount of crapware the Mozilla wishes to push along with the installation. It has been some time since I installed Firefox on a bare system so maybe they have been doing this for awile but I do not like the direction they seem to be moving in.

I just installed it to my Win8 vm a few weeks ago, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Did you get it from Mozilla's site?

 

[ControlD]

I just installed it to my Win8 vm a few weeks ago, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Did you get it from Mozilla's site?

I just downloaded it a few minutes ago to double check. I was able to get just the installer without anything else. Last week when I downloaded I got some type of "Firefox Downloader" rather than a setup file. Somehow this gives me an uneasy feeling ....

 

[lxskllr]

Last week when I downloaded I got some type of "Firefox Downloader" rather than a setup file. Somehow this gives me an uneasy feeling ....

Yea, I don't like the sound of that. If possible, you should try to track down the exact url you got the weird installer from. It may still be in your history from whatever browser you used.

 

[Nothinman]

Yea, I don't like the sound of that. If possible, you should try to track down the exact url you got the weird installer from. It may still be in your history from whatever browser you used.

Yea, I'm guessing that wasn't a standard Mozilla installer.

 

[rayfieldclement]

I downloaded it yesterday and had no problems with it.

 

[zCypher]

This is where you should be getting Firefox from:

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

The download button points to:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/download.html?product=firefox-17.0&os=win&lang=en-US

Which prompts me to download "Firefox Setup 17.0.exe" from "http://download.cdn.mozilla.net"

Opening that file extracts the installation files and opens the familiar Firefox Setup Wizard. At that point I cancelled it cause I already have it installed, but I didn't see anything weird anywhere. Sounds like you might have picked it up from elsewhere.

 

[ControlD]

I will check the url when I get home. It must have been a clever spoof because it was the first Google search hit and looked exactly like the Mozilla site. It also installed the proper version of FF. Weird.

 

[lxskllr]

I will check the url when I get home. It must have been a clever spoof because it was the first Google search hit and looked exactly like the Mozilla site. It also installed the proper version of FF. Weird.

You have to be careful with that. I've caught myself getting ready to click non-primary links. I'll be mousing to it, and reading the short description at the same time, then bailing when I notice my mistake.

For more popular product searches, DuckDuckGo makes finding the real site a bit easier. They also don't track you, which is my primary reason for using them :^)

 

[Chiefcrowe]

good call. Duckduckgo is awesome, I really like how they sort official sites and wiki links for you.

 

[Tarquin]

Hello, the best browser I have come across is Pale Moon;

"Why settle for a basic build of your Firefox browser on Windows Operating Systems when you can have one that is specifically made for getting the most out of your system? Mozilla does not provide optimized browser packages for Windows, meaning you may be losing speed and efficiency when you use your browser; and truth be told, most people use their browsers all the time! That needs to change, so, here is the Pale Moon project: A custom-built and optimized Firefox-based browser for Windows. Make sure to get the most speed and efficiency out of your browser!"

http://www.palemoon.org/

I can only speculate Mozilla has taken a back hander from the big social media networks, thus integrating various attributes in forthcoming releases. I don't know about anyone else, but I want my browser to be just that, a browser! Pale Moon takes all the unnecessary elements away from firefox to leave a light, quick and understated browser. I highly recommend it. Spread the word folks ...

 

[jaydeee]

I also go with firefox mainly because of the plugins that I am using in my business.

 

[BF4~GaM3r]

FF=Best.

 

[G73S]

Pale Moon, that is essentially Firefox on steroids, much faster, takes advantage of Multi Core CPUs, and is compatible with all Firefox Add-Ons. It also doesn't have the new stupid Firefox interface, clean retro Firefox interface.

They also have an excellent forum where you get solutions to any problems you may face very quickly from the developer himself (Moon Child)

 

[Chiefcrowe]

remember when they had safari on windows? hahah

I was wondering, which browsers have a sandbox? I believe chrome does
I am hoping all of the major ones have that capability soon...

 

[Virgorising]

good call. Duckduckgo is awesome, I really like how they sort official sites and wiki links for you.

I tired Duck way back, I like IXquick much better. It also doesn't track at all.

 

[Virgorising]

Pale Moon, that is essentially Firefox on steroids, much faster, takes advantage of Multi Core CPUs, and is compatible with all Firefox Add-Ons. It also doesn't have the new stupid Firefox interface, clean retro Firefox interface.

They also have an excellent forum where you get solutions to any problems you may face very quickly from the developer himself (Moon Child)

Yes, yes....and YES!!!!!!!!

 

[mikeymikec]

Holy necro thread batman.

IMO Pale Moon doesn't perform any differently to Firefox, I've been using PM for a few months because of the recent UI changes that Moz have been making to FF. Having said that, I didn't have any performance issues with FF that I can remember.