Ask HN: Upgrade to FF 3.5 or will I regret it? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Upgrade to FF 3.5 or will I regret it?

3 pointsmhb9 comments

I'm still using Firefox 3.0. Will I be happier with 3.5?

I've had consistent issues with 3.5 crashing. I attributed it to firebug, but am not sure. Have you seen this from TechCrunch? http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/08/i-want-to-love-firefox-...

I have had more stability problems with firefox/windows than firefox/linux. I can't remember the last time firefox/linux crashed. In windows, it crashes every 4-7 days on average. Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and the firefox/windows instance will have crashed overnight. My spidey sense says that a plugin is responsible. The skype plugin is notorious, but I don't have that one enabled.

I have most of the same extensions installed on both windows and linux, but plugins are a different matter. Windows apps tend to install plugins (wmv, acrobat, .NET, etc.) that I don't use. I've disabled most of them, but not all. In contrast, the only plugin I have in firefox/linux is flash.

Another thing I've noticed is that the js engine in firefox/windows appears to get wedged sometimes. The main symptom is that gmail loads in basic html mode. Restarting the browser fixes that.

There are some mysterious things that happen in firefox/linux, but they aren't as bad. After a long time (many days to weeks), I start to encounter frequent (~.02Hz) brief (sub-1s) freezes (most noticeable when typing into an input box like this). Restarting firefox/linux solves those.

I'm somewhat disappointed with firefox 3.5. Does anyone else have the bug where it times out randomly when trying to load a page? I looked it up and a lot of people with Netgear routers have the same problem.

Yes. Try disabling the Skype plugin and the .Net plugin if you have them installed. I found that tip in the Firefox support forums. (Will post a link if I have time to find it again.) It worked for me and several other people I know who had the same issue.

My biggest bugbear with 3.5 is that it can't seem to handle multiple username/password combinations on one site, even if the cookie info differs. That is, if I use the username "Jem" twice on one site with different passwords for each, one will always try to overwrite the other.

I also have issues with it automatically capitalising login data in forms when I don't want it to (jem -> Jem), but I think this is related to the first issue.

Are you on Mac or PC?

My decision to move was largely based on FireBug and ColorZilla supporting 3.5. The fact that they both do made this a no-brainer for me. The increase in speed and stability is well worth it.

If you still can't make up your mind, why don't you install both versions on the same computer?

PC.

I might do that. Thanks.

Do you have a monitor that requires a custom colour profile? If so, then you may be unhappier with 3.5.

Otherwise, totally worth it.

I've been wondering about the status (posed here, I guess I mean generally speaking) of extension support.

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