I stare at this computer several hours a day. It's my choice, or maybe not. There could be something to this addiction theory. I know I feel uncomfortable if I'm away from it for too long. Regardless, whether voluntarily or compulsively, I spend a lot of time online.
That's why I like things to work. When they work as promised I am amazed at what is at my fingertips. I love what can be done so easily and the output that can be created professionally and almost effortlessly. I try to keep the stuff up to date and operating at peak efficiency.
That's why I've been increasingly irritated at IE8. There are some ideosyncracies cropping up that frustrate me. It might be IE or it might be the sites being accessed. Facebook, for example, simply doesn't work cleanly. After log-in, for the first dozen pages I view the display comes up like looking through dark glasses. The screen must be refreshed to eliminate the darkening scrim.
With my online course software, after log-in I've got to refresh the screen to get past a blank white screen. In Blogger, it's the intrusive blocking of scripted windows when trying to use program features. In other words, rather than being supportive of my work, IE8 is an obstruction.
So, deciding that by-gones would be by-gones, I returned to Firefox. Everyone, it would seem if you read a computer magazine occasionally, uses Firefox now. I tried it about two years ago when v. 3.0 was released and loved it...until the pushed updates every couple of days wouldn't install. Then the requirement to fully ininstall the browser, download again and reinstall became onerous.
Maybe, I thought, things have evolved. I fired up Firefox again. It is fast! It is user-friendly. It doesn't turn my screen dark or interfere with inserting links in my writing. It works!
But, then as joy filled my blackened heart, the screen locked up. Firefox was "not responding". Giving it a moment to catch its breath, I checked email, but Outlook looked up within seconds. OK, try to shut them down. No effect. Go to Task Manager and try to end them. No effect. Try to shut the computer down and reboot. No control. Use the power button on the computer? Nope. Simply pull the plug to shut down.
Could it be an aberration? Fire up Firefox again. Nothing else. Notice pops up that I need Adobe Flash v 10 for Firefox. Download it. Five minutes later, Firefox tells me that Adobe Flash is making FF unstable and it will shut it down. Then "not responding" and eventual unplug reset required.
Return to Firefox. An updated version is available. I accept the update, only to have it fail to install. Uninstall Firefox, obtain full latest version download, reinstall and start the whole bloody mess again.
Finally after getting Firefox shut down and looking at IE8 again, I randomly go back to Task Manager where I discover that FF still retains 68 MB of RAM on my system despite being supposedly shut down.
Insanity, they say is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. I think I've been infected, but I'm in therapy and going to get better. I'll just stay away from FF and suffer IE's weirdnesses.
Don't any of you dare say MAC!
6 comments:
There are a few issues with FF, you didn't mention which release you were using or what OS.
All in all FF has a tendency to not close when you shut it down...Ive learned to live with it and just kill the process via task maanger when it is necessary, compared to IEx
it works better for me. Im running Vista 64 SP whatever the latest SP for it is.
If there ever is a browser that doesnt have quirks Ill check it out....but am not holding my breath. Now running FF 3.6.7 with really very few issues.
I was running FF 3.6.5 and then reinstalled to 3.6.7. All under Windows 7 Ultimate. Residual processes hogging significant RAM is an intolerable bug which should have been crushed long ago.
I won't say, MAC, Ed, but I will say that I'm perfectly happy with the Firefox V. 3.6.7 that I'm running. Sounds to me like whatever version of Windows you're running doesn't get along with browsers...even its own. I'm running my Firefox with Ubuntu 10.04, and it runs like a champ. Yes, I have frequent updates, but it's always a matter of just hitting the "install" button and Ubuntu takes care of the rest. Been on Linux for more than three years now, and I'm pleased with what I've got....tried a lot of distributions, but Ubuntu is the smoothest, most straight-forward.
Hope that helps....
:-)Mike Brown
I use chrome. Works just like Firefox, and has certain features built into the engine to make it more resilient. You might try that. I know using google is evil, but it works better for me than other things, so....
MAC
I fought it for years.
My nephew kept calling me stupid.
I resented it.
He was right.
Macbook @ $999
Software Pack Compatible With Std. MS Office Suite @ $79
I now resent when I get forced back onto an IE box for work.
BTW, I just received a copy of "Fighter Pilot". Thanks for all you do (and have done).
Well Ed, as a recovering Microsoftaholic, with over 20 years hard labor on that dismal system, I will venture to say the dreaded word: MAC.
Now, I've gotten an old Microsoft computer rotting in my office, but my life is totally devoted to my MAC.
Although my MAC will run Firefox, which I use occasionally for one or another add-on, most of my time is with Safari, which is much faster, less cluttered, and more convenient. I also try out Chrome from time to time, but don't like it very much. I never use Explorer anymore. Too many bad memories.
Regards.
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