Ask Slashdot: What's Your 'Backup' Browser? (komando.com) 237
Slashdot's gotten over 17,000 votes in its poll about which web browser people use on their desktop. (The current leader? Firefox, with 53% of the vote, followed by Chrome with 30%.)
But Slashdot reader koavf asks an interesting follow-up question: "What's everyone's go-to Plan B browser and why?"
To start the conversation, here's how James Gelinas (a contributor at Kim Komando's tech advice site) recently reviewed the major browsers:
But Slashdot reader koavf asks an interesting follow-up question: "What's everyone's go-to Plan B browser and why?"
To start the conversation, here's how James Gelinas (a contributor at Kim Komando's tech advice site) recently reviewed the major browsers:
- He calls Chrome "a safe, speedy browser that's compatible with nearly every page on the internet" but also says that Chrome "is notorious as a resource hog, and it can drastically slow your computer down if you have too many tabs open."
"Additionally, the perks of having your Google Account connected to your browser can quickly turn into downsides for the privacy-minded among is. If you're uncomfortable with your browser knowing your searching and spending behaviors, Chrome may not be the best choice for you."
- He calls Firefox "the choice for safety".
"Predating Chrome by 6 years, Firefox was the top choice for savvy Netizens in the early Aughts. Although Chrome has captured a large segment of its user base, that doesn't mean the Fox is bad. In fact, Mozilla is greatly appreciated by fans and analysts for its steadfast dedication to user privacy... Speedwise, Firefox isn't a slouch either. The browser is lighter weight than Chrome and is capable of loading some websites even faster."
- He calls Apple's Safari and Microsoft Edge "the default choice...because both of these browsers come bundled with new computers."
"Neither one has glaring drawbacks, but they tend to lack some of the security features and extensions found in more popular browsers. Speedwise, however, both Edge and Safari are able to gain the upper hand against their competition. When it comes to startup time and functions, the apps are extremely lightweight on your system's resources. This is because they're part of the Mac and Window's operating systems, respectively, and are optimized for performance in that environment."
Finally, he gives the Tor browser an honorable mention. ("It's still one of the best anonymous web browsers available. It's so reliable, in fact, that people living under repressive governments often turn to it for their internet needs -- installing it on covert USB sticks to use on public computers.") And he awards a "dishonorable mention" to Internet Explorer. ("Not only is the browser no longer supported by Microsoft, but it's also vulnerable to a host of malware and adware threats.")
But what do Slashdot's readers think? Putting aside your primary desktop browser -- what's your own go-to "Plan B" web browser, and why? Leave your best answers in the comments.
What's your "backup" browser?
Lynx, obviously (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lynx, obviously (Score:4, Interesting)
youtube-dl is my favorite CLI browser these days.
I actually do use lynx (Score:2)
Came here for this, was not disappointed. +1.
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I'm on a Mac, so (Score:4, Interesting)
My primary browser has been Safari for several years. Firefox is my backup.*
I only use Chrome for testing purposes, plus the once-every-year-or-two times I need to access some archaic website which still uses Flash for some reason.
Edge and IE are lumped together as the "if a user reports something doesn't work, they're almost certainly using one of Microsoft's browsers" twins.
*It used to be the other way around, but Safari's dev tools got markedly better while Firefox has removed a lot of the stuff I found useful (read: most of the extensions I liked). Plus yeah, the memory thing.
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I used to use Chrome as backup before switching to Firefox, but Chrome is somehow more prone to problems, and losing performance in the long run.
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Safari Development tools are very good if you are using them for CSS and/or dynamic content is
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Edge and IE are lumped together as the "if a user reports something doesn't work, they're almost certainly using one of Microsoft's browsers" twins.
Not too long ago it used to be "If something doesn't work on a poorly implemented site, try with one of Microsoft's browsers (even if very inconvenient to do so) before giving up."
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I've been using Firefox as a backup for years, and recently tried it as a primary. I found a huge problem though. Occasionally, when it crashes, it corrupts my profile.
Not sure exactly what happens but no pages will load and it appears that extensions are corrupt. My theory is that pages won't load because uBlock Origin hangs. It's not like a normal network timeout, it keeps spinning forever. The extension icons don't load and they lose all their settings.
Fortunately I was able to restore from a 2 day old b
Edge (Score:3)
Edge, because it has Ublock Origin, and has Flash support. Can't use vanilla Chrome anymore now that Google announced their plans to cripple adblockers.
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Isn't Flash support a good reason NOT to use Edge? Can you at least disable it?
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Can't use vanilla Chrome anymore now that Google announced their plans to cripple adblockers.
Subsequently followed by Google's announcement for their plans to *not* cripple adblockers. Do keep up, your post is soooo June 2019.
Value #2 Meal (Score:1)
iCab (Score:2)
Chrome, but only because... (Score:1)
If i have to (Score:2)
Chrome
Firefox
Edge with a gun to my head.
Internet Explorer, the gold standard (Score:1)
IE11 just works
The default. (Score:3)
Main browser, firefox.
When I am on my macOS partition (which is most of the time), that is Safari.
When I am on my windows partition (playing), Edge (with IE for iLO, IPIMI, et al)...
When in my android phone, Chrome.
Chrome is installed in my computers only for chromecast usage.
Any browser that (Score:3)
Just my 2 cents
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Depends on the platform. On PC I use Firefox (because NoScript), Chrome is the rarely used "backup". Never used Edge, and now that it's changing to Chrome-based, there's no point even trying anymore. On Android I use Kiwi Browser (Chrome based), because, frankly, on Android Firefix sucks... So Firefox (actually, the Tor Browser) is the "backup" there.
This (Score:2)
#1A == Firefox. Been using it since it was the Mozilla suite and then Firebird.
I settle for Chrome (on my Mac) or IE (on my PC) when:
* I come across the occasional site that I can't get to work with any NoScript combination.
* When I'm working (web dev) and I need some extra fancy or narrowly-scoped task (like Postman) that Chrome just does better.
* When a Chrome-only web dev needs help and says, "To recreate the problem, open --chromeOnlyPlugin-- in Chrome, and then..."
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For what it's worth, I don't think it helps with all that much with load time if you end up enabling any javascript--which is basically mandatory on a lot of sites. Most pages seem to have a timeout-based render fallback if they can't load all of their resources. Almost nothing renders immediately because best practice
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I assume it is some kind of "block off scripts that run on the page unless I tell them to" type tool.
Correct. It was one of the first tools to give you comprehensive control over scripts. The defaults are to trust almost nothing. Some Google and Microsoft stuff is whitelisted by default. That is probably for the best (but maybe not).
or does it load them but quarantine them
About a year ago. Firefox decided that they had to be like Chrome under the hood and removed the ability for any extension to interrupt requests, so yeah, the shit gets downloaded but quarantined. Mozilla almost lost me permanently over that decision. There are no other altern
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Primary: Firefox (Score:1)
Backup: Chrome.
Sorry Microsoft haven't used your browser since IE 3.0
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Same arrangement here. However, every once in a while, the primary/backup choices swap. That being said, my choice of Firefox usually has higher weight overall.
Brave (Score:2)
I just started using Brave, and it's very impressive. It is faster than Chrome and Firefox and Opera and Safari. I like its privacy policies ALOT, and they make it fabulously easy to set the level of sharing you want for each specific site (shields for 3rd-party trackers, scripts, etc). Really nice.
Over the years several of the other browsers have been favorites, but I've gotta say that Brave is now winning my appreciation.
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Same here. Brave is now my primary browser. I use Chrome for "work" stuff only now. Can't remember the last time I started Firefox for anything, but if I needed a "backup" I suppose I'd use it. Edge when I use certain streaming services, mostly out of habit from the days when streaming didn't work well without IE.
Oh, and I'm doing about 80% of my searches with DuckDuckGo now as well. There are indispensable Google features (Maps, etc.) that I still use, but otherwise I'm actively and successfully avo
Me three (Score:2)
Another vote for Brave in the primary browser/phone browser category.
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Slashdot accepts BAT currency contributions. This means you distribute "Basic Attention Token" concurrency you've "earned" with Brave (or directly funded via some other cryptocurrency) to Slashdot when you visit this site.
Here [batgrowth.com] is a list of other BAT publishers. There is a real possibility a new business model could emerge from this. It won't be "free," but as we all know the "free" Internet is at the root of a lot of really shitty behavior. Also, you don't have to participate in BAT when you use Brav
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Agreed. After deciding to ditch Chrome about a year back, I did a survey through a number of browsers (in order: Firefox, Safari, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave), giving each of them at least a month's usage so that I could settle into them and get through the initial rough patches that you'd expect with any sort of change of this sort.
I eventually landed on Brave after a number of recommendations from people here, and I'm glad I did. It's stable (which is more than I could say for Vivaldi on Mac), it works with (or
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It's an acronym, that is why it is capitalized. ALOT = Apple Library of Tomorrow
Brave based their privacy policies on the ALOT apparently.
All of them (Score:2)
Well, no, not all of them, but I do open multiple browsers because no single browser can display all of my usual websites correctly.
Seamoney (Score:1)
because it's there on slackware.
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Seamoney? :P
Why do a need a backup browser? (Score:3)
What's the circumstances that would make me need a backup browser? If there's a nuclear war and there's only one browser left on earth, I'd use that browser (unless it's MSIE).
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What's the circumstances that would make me need a backup browser?
Well, for example: You might visit some business’ web store using Firefox or Safari, but you notice certain site features like the “add to cart” button doesn't work... then you see the “Designed for Chrome” banner.
So in that case you’d want to fire up Chrome - that way you can use the website’s contact form to tell them why they’ve just lost a customer and a sale.
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My main browser has extensive ad blocking and privacy controls enabled. That occasionally breaks some site I need to use, so I switch to a backup browser for those specific sites.
Another example would be checking prices. Some sites show different prices to different people, often randomly. Switch IP address, switch browser, load up the same site and see if it's cheaper. Also useful for comparison sites when shopping for things like insurance, where you want to do fake quotes just to see what effect certain
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Some sites just render better on certain browser platforms, or require an odd-ball browser plugin that's only available on certain browser versions. Thankfully, the latter is becoming less frequent than it was back in the days of ActiveX browser controls, but it still happens on occasion with certain software packages.
I use Chrome as my primary, and Firefox as my backup.
Firefox, IE11, eLinks, and Lynx... (Score:2)
SeaMonkey is still my first choice, but not all web sites will work on it properly due to its old Gecko engine that based on Firefox v52. So, the (new/lat)est Firefox version it is. If not, then I use whatever default web browsers that came with the OS I'm using on if needed. I try to avoid Chrome (wouild rather use text web browsers ;P)!
My 'Backup' Browser (Score:2)
Ask Slashdot: What's Your 'Backup' Browser?
Normally I use Telnet to browse the net like all real geeks do. However, when that fails me, I go high tech and use Lynx.
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If you really want a good time, try IRC with telnet. quick, PONG too slow you're disconnected
Depends on the situation (Score:1)
I split... (Score:2)
Firefox-Tor-Chromium (Score:1)
In that order. I run Ghostery and no-script on Firefox. I don't have anything on Chromium (but I also only use Chromium maybe 2-3x a month). If the website still doesn't work, then I just don't bother with the website. I sure am not going to run Chrome!
Mostly Firefox / Chrome (Score:2)
They all suck -- use VMs or sandboxes (Score:2)
I just run Chrome in a VM. That way, all the browser fingerprinting and such can be reverted with a mouse click and rollback to a snapshot.
I really don't trust any browser. The best thing to do is compartmentalize and have one container for Facebook, one container for misc sites, one container for banking, and so on. Since most browsers play the whack-a-mole game with fingerprinting, you are not going to gain privacy by switching browsers... you have to put them in their own little cages where instances
I use Edge, with nothing funky done to it (Score:1)
I stick with the classics (Score:2)
I use Brave ... (Score:2)
... because my primary, Firefox, is locked down tight as I can get it with a shitload of extensions.
I don't like Chrome because it's a privacy leak and I never sign into any Google products. I know that's no guarantee, but I do what I can.
Backup browser? (Score:2)
Falkon. Because it launches quickly and is already there.
You need a backup? (Score:2)
Firefox ESR on occasion; for flash etc.
Chromium in the rare case I MUST use chrome and can not go to the competition's website (which works properly.)
Smart people have 3 browsers (Score:5, Interesting)
1. for normal stuff
2. as your back up
3. to visit the things you don't want anyone to accidental stumble on when using your main browsers.
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1. Corporate preferred (aka required) for www.mycompany.com site and apps.
....
2. Your real browser.
3. Something in a text mode and script-able for when the GUI sh*ts the bed. (Or just cURL and wget then edit the downloaded file).
999. The crappy ancient copy of Internet Explorer and Java 1.x required for some "special things".
By special things I specifically mean Dell iDRAC, HP iLO, SGI BMC and any other PoS out-of-band management card slapped into every commercial server e
Firefox, Edge, Cliqz, Chrome (Score:2)
Firefox for all browsing and self-initiated browser use.
Edge - I keep that as my default browser, so when I click on a link in an email or something like that, that is what loads. Doing so keeps me familiar with that product, and there are some web pages that that run better on it. And, it has a good pdf viewer.
Overall, less than 5% of my browser usage.
Cliqz - Built on Firefox, with added emphasis on security. I use it when going to untrusted sites, often sand boxed. Less than 2% of my usage at home. B
Vivaldi (Score:2)
My #2 is Vivaldi.
Speedy and private. Plays well with YouTube.
Edge (Score:2)
Backup browser ? (Score:2)
Is that really a thing ? At what point do you invoke the backup browser ? Is there a specific protocol for that sort of thing? Mr. President we are at DEFCON 4, should we invoke the backup browser sir ? When one browser fails to resolve an address does another one work ? That sounds like the logic arrived at by the elderly clients whose desktops I cleanup when I am in Arizona visiting my parents... "I tried the Chrome internet and it did not work so then I tried the Edge internet but it was down too."
Simple: None (Score:5, Insightful)
>"Ask Slashdot: What's Your 'Backup' Browser? "
None. It is not like Firefox "breaks" or gets a flat tire or something. If the site doesn't work with Firefox, it is not the fault of Firefox, the SITE is BROKEN because it doesn't follow actual standards; I will just move on to some other site and probably complain to the webmaster, if possible.
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I mostly agree with this, to the degree where I open Chrome on my own computer about once every three months, where I really need something incompatible with Firefox to stream on my own desktop.
More generally, my backup browser is anything runnable on my wife's iMac on the next desk over.
Additionally, my main OS is BSD with ZFS snapshots and ZFS boot environments, and my backup OS is Linux (but still with ZFS).
Re:Simple: None (Score:5, Insightful)
> It is not like Firefox "breaks" or gets a flat tire or something.
Uhm, like a few months ago when all extensions stopped working due to an expired certificate?
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>"Uhm, like a few months ago when all extensions stopped working due to an expired certificate?"
Ah, touche' !! :) That was a good example, although it didn't prevent me from using Firefox, it just disabled my extensions for a short time. Granted, it was really annoying.
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the SITE is BROKEN because it doesn't follow actual standards
Actually Firefox doesn't always follow standards either. The default is now to enable enhanced tracking protection, which blocks certain sites and disables certain features: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/... [mozilla.org]
Firefox also has protection against fingerprinting and crypto-mining scripts enabled by default now.
This is all good stuff of course, but it does mean that Firefox is not actually compliant with the current standards. Of course no site should be using these abusive techniques so in this case the breakage
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Firefox loyalist, looking for Plan B (Score:3)
Safari good for battery life (Score:2)
I use Safari when I want to maximize battery life. Chrome is battery hog.
At work or at home? (Score:2)
My browser choice largely depends on whether I'm at home or work. At work, plan A is Chrome, largely because we have a lot of internal intranet websites that work great in Chrome but don't work in Firefox (I know it sounds weird, but a lot of stuff doesn't render correctly in Firefox.) Take Slack for example, Slack voice and video calls work in Chrome but not Firefox. Chrome happens to also be really good at general web browsing. Plan B is IE11, because its the only web browser that still gets security upda
Internet Explorer (Score:2)
I don't need a backup browser that does the same thing Firefox does. Already got one of those.
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So you defer to the least-compatible browser?
(I'm assuming you mean IE.) Least compatible to industry standards? Well, yes. Because, in my experience (I'd be interested in counter-examples), the only reasons a page won't work in Firefox these days are (a) browser security in Firefox prevents a Java app from running, (b) the page is using a TLS version that Firefox no longer supports, (c) Firefox won't let you view the page due to a certificate issue, or (d) the page was written in some ghastly MS-centric parody of HTML, like what Frontpage produces
In transition. (Score:3)
I'm getting ready to dump Chrome after using it for several years (a habit from work where it was the go-to browser) for all the reasons listed in the article (bloat, privacy, etc.). I'll be moving back to Firefox as a primary for personal use. For a long time Opera was my backup browser but, since they'd jumped onto the Chromium bandwagon, what's the point? I'm still trying to decide what might be a good backup browser. Lynx?
Brave then chrome as backup (Score:3)
Main browser - Brave
Backups - chrome, chromium, waterfox.
Firefox has no sound without pulseaudio, and that is by design, and has more spyware, sorry, telemetry, than chrome, so I only use it when I'm forced to, like at work where the only alternative is edge.
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Obligatory funny post (Score:2)
Seriously, if I click on the Funny tab and get nothing (as in most of the time) I feel disappointed. Seeing problems in terms of solutions, that obviously calls for a joke, if only I knew one.
Q: So how many browsers does it take to change a light bulb?
A1: That's an architect's job! (Millennial's response.)
A2: One, Tor, but no one can prove it was changed.
A3: I was hoping you knew the answer and could tell me?
A4: Would you believe I want to work as a joke writer? Me neither.
No, I can't see anything worth a f
Memory (Score:2)
Buying more RAM is my backup to Chrome.
Text-based, of coursee (Score:3)
Situations where I need backup browser are typically connectivity problem. So I first ssh somewhere and then try to access site, which is inaccessable from my workplace.
There are several text-based browsers out there, but I prefer links over lynx, because everybody uses tabular design novadays.
It's changing (Score:2)
At the moment, I'm using Pale Moon as my main browser and Firefox as the backup (with very occasional use of Safari).
But the XUL plugin ecosystem is collapsing so it's getting harder to maintain Pale Moon as my main browser. So I've started looking for WebExtensions replacements for all the XUL plugins I use...
Re:It's changing... I hope not ! (Score:2)
At the moment, I'm using Pale Moon as my main browser and Firefox as the backup (with very occasional use of Safari).
But the XUL plugin ecosystem is collapsing so it's getting harder to maintain Pale Moon as my main browser. So I've started looking for WebExtensions replacements for all the XUL plugins I use...
Same here (except for that Safari).
Palemoon has been my primary for a couple of years now... and I am very happy with it. If I ever run into compatibility issues, which are rare, I use Firefox ESR. The only thing I can think of that I use on occasion is ESR still supports VideoDownloadHelper.
I really hope Palemoon thrives, I haven't found any other browser that I like as much.
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Is Firefox ESR still usable? I abandoned that after the recent certificate debacle that left my older version of Firefox unable to load any of its plugins.
This website requires Chrome x.yy or newer (Score:2)
My main browser is Firefox (on both desktop and mobile). However, there are some sites that only work on Chrome (or other WebKit / Blink based browsers). So in case a page doesn't work, I use Chrome. Luckily there are only a handful of such sites, but still, there are some - and unfortunately the frequency keeps getting higher as the Chrome dominance is getting stronger.
Some 10+ years ago, my backup browser was Internet Explorer, for similar reasons.
Aren't they all the same? (Score:2)
I switch browser from time to time when they start to annoy me. Palemoon and Chrome where my browsers of choice, then Palemoon and Opera, then Firefox and Opera... in the end they are all the same base and feel.
A redundant array of independent browsers (Score:2)
On the Macs I use as my interactive computers:
Safari - for most websites. It's pretty fast and usually works fine.
Firefox - for work, since there are work and personal instances of some services and it's easier if the authentication is kept separate. It also gives some work/play separation and has the best proxy controls for setting per browser proxy settings without affecting the system settings (Chrome and Firefox are both terrible at that).
Chrome - because some of my company's internal tools are only tes
Rarely anything but Firefox (Score:2)
Firefox has been my main browser for ages. Works fine and I'm used to the workflow and it's available on all the platforms I use so I don't have to change gears and I can share my bookmarks and settings everywhere I need to.
If I need a second option I usually just use whatever the default browser for the operating system is. (Safari on Mac, Edge on Windows, etc) I don't really like either one but I only really fire them up when something explicitly doesn't work with Firefox (very very rare) or I have a te
Pale Moon (Score:2)
Companies breaking Firefox (Score:2)
Firefox usage has gotten low enough that common sites are breaking in it. I can't sign-in to my bank (a major US national bank) using Firefox. The login button just doesn't do anything. Some features of my HSA don't work in Firefox either. This is really bad, because it is exactly what people have predicted would happen with a Chrome browser monoculture. Too many geeks are switching from Firefox to Chrome.
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Built-in (Score:2)
I generally use the browser that came with the operating system as my backup browser. It's already there, and odds are that the people who made the OS *assume* it will be there for some functionality completely unrelated to browsing. So, may as well keep it around.
Mulitple browsers have different use cases. (Score:2)
I use multiple browsers at all times. You have to in this day and age if you want any moderate semblance of privacy. Rather than click on links, I cut and paste into another browser, sometimes on a different computer system.
Main Browsers for home systems : Firefox, Waterfox, Iridium
Main Browsers for Work: Chrome, Safari, Firefox. (to support others)
Secondary browsers that I also use to segregate and reduce XSS and tracking:
Iridium - for GDPR
Iron - for GDPR
Vivaldi - still nascent, but good to avoid chrome
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I also recently uninstalled Chrome Canary, when it failed completely. I share your opinion about Opera and the PRC government.
However, the Vivaldi browser was created by the original Opera developers,
Primary/Secondary (Score:2)
My primary browser is Vivaldi, based on Chromium. Secondary browser is WaterFox, a fork of Firefox. But I also use Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Exploder, each for different purposes.
Comment (Score:2)
My backup browser is Firefox.
My main browser is Pale Moon. Bunch of asshole devs, but the browser is a great alternative to Firefox.
Only Firefox, with Noscript and Addblock Plus (Score:2)
My main browser is Firefox, with Noscript and Addblock Plus (with EasyList, ABP filters, and Adblock Warning Removal List).
If it won't display with that (directly or with certain limited and temporary lifts of certain Noscript prohibitions), I don't look at it.
Period.
So I don't HAVE a backup browser. (I'll look into it if Firefox or the add-ons break something beyond my endurance.)
I don't browse the internet on my android smartphone, because it came with Chrome, which came with an ELUA, which included the
Why was Opera left out of the summary? (Score:2)
(And who cares what the AC said or thinks, even if it was the first discussion mention of Opera. AC shouldn't even define the entry point.)
I think it's a dumb AskSlashdot question, but that's not surprising insofar as it was justified by a pretty dumb poll (that never got much interest). Perhaps the real topic should be "Why have the polls gotten so much worse?"
Nodding to the official question, I use lots of browsers for various purposes, but I can't regard any of them as a real backup. The reason I favor F
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I've never had a situation were I've had to change from Firefox.
The only time Firefox was unusable for me was back in May when an expired certificate killed all privacy and ad blocking extensions.
A Glitch Is Breaking All Firefox Extensions [slashdot.org]
It made using the internet unbearable.
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Main: Firefox Backup: Chrome 2nd Backup: Chromium
Same here, but drop Chrome, since it's not available on TrueOS, and also, the spyware.