***Geek interest only disclaimer.***
Lately I’ve been using the Pale Moon web browser. It’s a modification of Firefox, optimized for speed and simplicity. (I was going to call it a “fork”, but since each time they update Firefox they soon create a new Pale Moon based on it, it’s not really a true fork)
It was optimized in several ways. They removed seldom used features, such as parental controls, and accessibility. They removed support for older processors — don’t try to use it with a Pentium III, though a Pentium 4 will work.
Is it faster? Benchmarks show that it is, but I can’t really say from my own experience. Web page loading varies so much from day to day and minute to minute that it’s hard to say for sure. But it seems to run fine.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Don // May 5, 2011 at 6:09 pm
I’ve been using Chrome for the last couple of months. I got tired of the bloat that was creeping in to Firefox. I have tried Firefox 4 since it came out and it’s better but I will take Chrome over both of them. I’ll have to give Pale Moon a shot.
2 Daryl // May 5, 2011 at 6:12 pm
I tried to try Chrome a couple of years ago, but as I remember it wouldn’t run on the Windows 2000 that I was using at that time. Now that I am up to speed with Windows 7, maybe I’ll give it another try.
3 Donna // May 6, 2011 at 11:44 am
I have always been a big Firefox fan. But I really wish there was a Firefox app for the iPhone. I’d even be willing to pay for it. I’ve read it probably won’t happen though, at least not in the near future.
4 Don // May 6, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I was a big fan of Firefox too until it got to the point where it took 20-30 seconds just to load and continually hung while trying to get Gmail.
You might want to try Chrome just to see the difference. You do have to change a few things to make it feel more like what you’re used to. I’m at the point now where I feel a little befuddled when I bring up Firefox.
Another thing I like about Chrome is you don’t have to restart it every time you install a new extension. That always seemed so Microsoftish that Firefox makes you do that.