UPDATED ON: 2024-11-14 I just realized that there is no security tests in browser area, only performance related benchmarks. Today we shall fix that small gap with the help of [BrowserAudit] service. ► BROWSER SCORES BROWSER OK+ WARN! CRIT! SKIP- R3dFox 132 286 145 0 0 Firefox ESR 115.17 289 142 0 0 Supermium 124* 289 142 0 0 Palemon 33.4 302 129 0 0 Seamonkey 2.53.19 295 136 0 0 Mull 132** 359 32 0 40 IceRaven 132** 363 28 0 40 *Supermium v126 is not tested due its instability and slow GUI interactions **Android-based browsers

WE ALL WANTED THAT, DIDN’T WE? [Tor Browser 14.X] based upon Firefox 128 ESR is finally hacked to work in Windows 7. Thanks flies out to valorous [Blaukovitch] !!!! Here is a safe [Mega.nz mirror] to preserve history as usual. Also you might be interesed in [original site] and [Github page] of the developer. Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik

It has been a while since i posted web performance comparisons. So here it is in all it’s useless glory. Performance was measured by [JetStream] benchmark. Two machines were tested: low-end office computer and powerful workstation. ► Intel i3-3220/16Gb/IntelHD + Firefox 115.17 ESR RedFox 132 Chrome 109 Supermium 126 Score 54.896 65.033 80.217 90.038 Stdlib 0.566 0.638 0.920 0.777 MainRun 0.190 0.224 0.309 0.339 First 53.755 65.282 53.610 72.162 Worst 54.

UPDATED ON: 2024-09-11 Good news for all Windows 7 users! Material is provided by [official release calendar] . SO, IT LOOKS LIKE THAT 115 BRANCH WILL BE THE LONGEST SUPPORTED ESR BRANCH EVER! Please, take a note that 115 ESR branch is [significantly slower] than [hacked R3DFox] ! Firefox 115 ESR is for those people who prefer only official versions and do not trust to third-party developers. Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik

You might think that it is kinda ridiculous title, but read on to find out. First of all you have to understand that i’m not going to share my personal bookmarks with some ugly copro that cloaks itself under the umbrella of free software ideas and use their lame anti-private sync. And i’m certainly not going to use any web service provided by these companies in any case. Of course we won’t skip that generic rant part about how dumb project managers are for not implementing essential features like bookmark export or the ability to open local HTML files in 2024.

UPDATED ON: 2024-08-10 Considering Ghacks [recent news] it is not clear what Mozilla are trying to depict. Firefox 115 ESR will be supported until October 1, 2024. Let me remind you that in their previous statement regarding v115.15 EOL was September 3, 2024. Are they going to extend support for just a month or should we expect something more solid? Stumbled across this hype blip-news [here] . To tell the truth, i don’t really care of what they are thinking and what will happen, because current 115 ESR version will be supported until september 2024.

As you may know modern WEB is more and more dependent on JavaScript technology, that is why JS performance is essential for modern browsers. I have decided to throw the most important and interesting browsers into the pit, to find out in fare fight, who is stronger in above mentioned domain. Things go fast these days, especially in the technology field. Not so long ago, the [Octane] speed test, considered as a standard in this field, counts as outdated.

UPDATED ON: 2024-06-29 Recently i needed to use TOR to access some blocked resources and was faced quite nasty dropdown banner with the message, that the browser will drop Windows 7 support soon. The next major version of Tor browser (14.0) will no longer support this version of Windows. Please upgrade to Windows 10 or later by October 1st 2024 to conitinue receiving important security updates. Got it. Tor will be updated until release of FireFox 115.

UPDATED ON: 2023-09-06 Some new parameters were added. Note that by default all [Nightly versions] of Firefox are sending back telemetry to third-parties in extensive manner. So, to disable such malicious actions besides turning off telemetry settings via standard GUI options: about:preferences#privacy You’ll need to use good old: about:config To change to: FALSE …or create following parameters in software registry: toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled toolkit.telemetry.enabled toolkit.telemetry.unified toolkit.telemetry.unifiedIsOptIn toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.hybridContent.enabled toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun toolkit.

I often get asked regarding Windows 7 safety especially in 2023. "Is it safe to use such old operating system?" "What about security?" "How about modern viruses?" .... …. and many other similar questions. Funny thing that people who are asking about security don’t give a damn about privacy. Yeah, that’s quite different definitions for sure, but from my point of view they always come together hand in hand. The main and the most important security police officer is your head.

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-23 Despite [previous statement] regarding Windows 7 EOL status after version 115 current nightly alpha binary [v117] works just fine. Installer threw generic mambo-jambo that program can’t work in Windows 7 environment and then artificially blocks installation. How generic & dumb. Workaround is just unzip exe-package with [7-zip] and execute browser from unpacked Core folder. FIREFOX 117 ABOUT WINDOW Right after installation software immediately begins to whine about inability to update.

I bet most of Firefox oldschool users hated the recent “changes” in terms of overall browser design. Rounded childish like-chrome corners, foolish restriction on what can be configured and so on. And now they crippled the look of browser tabs: to waste your workspace and spoil the design, just take a look at this: MODERN “NORMAL” STYLE LEGACY NORMAL STYLE SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON I suppose that such “changes” were made in favor to touchscreen devices.

Despite the fact that current Firefox market share of Windows 7 users is around 13% Mozilla confirms to [drop Windows 7 support in 2024] . Actually i don’t really understand their bold move and why they are dropping Windows 7 and keeping support for example for Android 7.1 which stopped receiving updates more than five years ago. As you may know i’m using Android 8.0 on my websurfer phone and yeah, it is running latest Firefox forks easily.

UPDATED ON: 2024-01-01 Good news, everyone! Count me as professor Farnsworth from [Rick and Morty] . Mike Kaply, current Mozilla employee [reported] on bug-tracking forum the following: We will not be ending support for Windows 7 / Windows 8 before the release of the Firefox 115 ESR, so the Firefox 115 ESR will support Windows 7 / Windows 8 at least until 3Q 2024. First 115 version of software will be released on July 4, 2023.

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-31 Not long ago i’ve already mentioned about privacy-hardened [Mull browser] . Very nice Android browser, but have one serious downside: limited amount of supported addons. Yes, i like desktop convenience on the go! To enable additional addons in mobile Firefox browser you’ll need to sideload custom addon collection tied to mozilla account. It’s astonishing fact how they like to implement overcomplicated stuff! To create your own collection you’ll need Firefox account, but i’ll not bother to spent time on such dumb efforts.

It looks like that i found replacement for [Fenec F-Droid] browser, for real. I’m not completely satisfied with not fully removed telemetry, shady stubs and other fishy things presented by Fennec. That is why i begin to investigate the problem and discovered [Mull browser] . Main features of it: DOESN’T DIAL BACK NEITHER TO GOOGLE NOR TO MOZILLA [and that’s a complete steal] based around hardened version of user.js [main FireFox configuration file] frequently updated [keeps up with original Firefox releases] mascot of Mull is rather awful [but who cares?

Tired of round shaped chrome-like tabs? These tweaks attempt to recreate the feel of Quantum with its squared tabs and menus, but in the Proton UI. As of FF91, the about:config option to disable proton has been deprecated, leaving CSS as the main way to revert the UI. Want to bring back minimalistic strict lines and make things more serious? [Firefox-Proton-Square] tweak will help ya. INSTALLATION PROCESS Enable userChrome.css support Go to about:config toolkit.

Not long ago [already reviewed] in the past Firefox forks Icecat and [Iceweasel] for some reason went into 404 void due to applied sanctions to Russia. So, i was forced to find an alternative way and stumbled upon Chinese builds of [Iceweasel] . Just want to digest this historical fact as a blog post. Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik

I’m still using trusted [Icecat port by Muslayev] . Problem is that it begin to show it’s age by not rendering some websites in a correct way. After checking [Firefox release roadmap] i find out that 91 ESR branch on which Icecat is based will reach EOL status at the end of the summer. So i’ll need a replacement to keep up with modern web standards. Chrome and original Firefox are not an options because of their telemetry framework and bloated nature.

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-04 IMPROVING FIREFOX PRIVACY & SECURITY FIREFOX ADDONS [Part I] Finally I’ve managed to finish this part of the FAQ. Note is a loooong-read, so mistakes can occur » please [report them to me] . One of the most distinctive features of FireFox was customization. With each new version it becomes less customizable, thanks to marketing people at mozilla corp. They do everything to make Firefox look like google chrome.

UPDATED ON: 2023-02-20 I recommend to replace Fennec F-Droid with [Mull Browser] due to the fact that is COMPLETELY free from telemetry. In contrast to Fennec Mull browser do not trigger any mozilla or google connections, so take a note. And for God’s sake do not use plain Firefox, it is almost like chrome now! As my main web surfer IceCat begin to showing it’s age and don’t have any new versions apart from “super-new” 68.

UPDATED ON: 2024-01-04 Addons, addons, addons!! So many of them! How to choice the right one? Whom to trust to? I will help you with your findings and share my personal experience. Rule of thumb: do not install too much addons, they will slow down your browser noticeably! ░ SECURITY ADDONS [uMatrix] ► best content blocker ever, even better than uBlock [Github archive] [Ublock Origin] ► an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory.

UPDATED ON: 2023-02-20 Note is totally rewritten to match 2023 reality. Today it is not an easy task to do. There are plenty browsers out there. “So, what is the problem?” you may ask. Most of them are based upon google chrome. This means that all of them are dialing back to google to share your private data. That’s the main problem. Here is my personal list of browsers that I use in a daily workflow on Windows machine: Main surfer: [Iceweasel 110] ► replaced IceCat For visiting geo-restricted sites: [TorBrowser 12.

Since Firefox v3.x the browser is capable of managing color profiles like sRGB & AdobeRGB. When a browser doesn’t support color management or it has been badly implemented, images won’t show up right.

Just want to make a super quick note on neat browsers for legacy operating systems. There is not so much choice for such vintage OS these days. There are two of last Mohicans. K-Meleon & MyPal.     K-Meleon is way more lightweight and will be good for slow puters. There is even a Windows 98 version. While MyPal will bring up more modern web compatibility, but of course it is tad slower than K-Meleon.

Yeah, i’m 108% confident Nowadays people don’t have much choice in terms of choosing their web browser. google chrome is a choice of almost all common people. I choose not to choose it. Because of it’s invasive philosophy to collect every possible thing it can dig up and then send back to it’s Master. I can’t even call it a browser any more. It is data-collecting platform, with very high privileges.