so i've been looking for a browser to use instead of IE11 for a very long time, i had a few musts though... 1. must have a sidebar for bookmarks 2. must not use X amount of memory when an adblocker is installed 3. must not be bloated with useless features i will never use 4. must support a download manager 5. must allow customization of toolbars 6. must not fill task manager with a zillion processes so i first started on edge and it wasn't too bad but the side bar sucked, couldn't adjust the size of move it to the left of the screen, video playback worked sometimes on youtube and imdb and other times it would suddenly say unsupported on this browser, no custom toolbars etc, backuping settings and bookmarks was a real pain in the ass, multiple process which grew in memory size then i tried opera, hated it from the start, couldn't customize it much tried vivaldi, just seemed gimmicky and tacky....uninstalled tried a few trident shell browsers and they were more unstable than ie11..uninstalled tried chrome several times but didn't like the zillion processes it would open, can't stop that as google removed the option a while back.....when ublock origin was installed it ballooned memory use wise.....uinstalled firefox is the worst offender, as soon as i install one or two addons it starts using 400-500mb, install an adblocker and it goes past 500-600mb... tried polarity but it wouldn't install, net framework errors... plumped for seamonkey and after extensive tweaking of memory settings and customizing it to look like ie11 it's very good, got ublock origin installed and hundreds of custom filters applied to sites like youtube, amazon and ebay to make browser less annoying, runs in a single process, hasn't crashed once, memory usage in good, must lower than firefox & edge. only seen it jump to 500mb once, seems to hover around 260-310mb with lows of 179mb. if anyone wants my optimised seamonkey config i can upload it. - ie11 toolbar layout (not 100% but close) - ublock origin installed and customised for youtube commentless, amazon without all the main page ads, ebay without all the mainpage ads and a slimmer myebay page, i also have a custom hosts file that blocks nearly everything google but the search page, some stuff on youtube, lots of ads on torrent sitee (those fake windows update pages etc) and a whole lot more
For me, Firefox suits me. It takes a lot of RAM and I usually open and work with 20-30 tabs but other than that it fits all your requirements. I don't care about RAM anymore. Integration with download managers, password managers, easy to use as portable, very configurable, has a lot more bookmark management than any other browser out there, though not perfect. You shouldn't use the hosts file for ad-blocking. Using the hosts file with many entries (10.000+) will slow down your system. The same goes for android, linux and any other OS.
i also have plenty of ram i just don't like programs eating up memory for no reason...which is what firefox seems to do. ie11 is very light on resources, except it likes to freeze on javascript heavy sites and microsoft never fixed that. i haven't liked the gui of firefox for a while either, i like to customize a browser to look like ie as that's what i've always used and i like something familiar and everytime it's updated, more and more great addons stop working and authors don't bother updating them. i also disagree on the hosts file, it only causes issues on windows if you have the dnscache service enabled, the service stops responding if your host file is over a certain size, and then stops web browsing from working, always disable the dnscache service if using a custom hosts file. hosts file + an adblock is a must, i like the extra layer of protection from dodgy sites. i don't use android, it can be sluggish and feels like using windows on an atom cpu at times, not a fan of linux due to the fiddly nature of installing and configuring software.
If developers don't care about optimizing their product, you can do nothing to prevent it. Try to open in IE 50 tabs, that ought of cure you with the very light on resources. If an application uses little resources but is unable to use them optimally (without crashing, freezing, etc) it is useless. Also, there is no sync in IE, and no addons, and is not configurable. Personally I don't care how an application looks as long as it works and suits me. Which is much more important than moronic eye-candy which eats up more memory. As for addons, that's not the way to do it. Nothing in it software is stable and long-lasting, everything changes on a daily bases. One day you have, the other day you lose it. You use them as long as you can because they provide functionality. I never had this problem. I had a hosts file of 120000 entries, and all browsers performed the lookup much slower. It also makes editing a lot harder due to the size of it, as very few text editors on windows can optimally open and edit huge files. As for ease of use, what would you do if you need to temporary disable an entry or temporary clear out the hosts file?
Honestly, if I were you, I would use a Hardware Firewall for to block any unwanted traffic. To do such on the same machine you use to run all your Apps, Browser and whatever will interfere with the OS and system! I suggest, you take a close look at Smoothwall Express and/or PFSense, which are both 'Semi-'Hardware Firewalls, running on Linux and could run on an older machine without the need of 'high' performance etc.! Both are also replacing your Router! Your Modem should just work in Bridge Mode, that means it just is used for to connect to the Internet via your ISP, as the old Dial-Up modem does in the past! Routing, Firewall, Port Forwarding and all other Security Tasks are done by the Smoothwall or PFSense. It's highly configurable down to "Ground-Zero"! Both of that 2 systems are Freeware and coming already with the needed OS included. Only for the Basic Setup of the System, a Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse are used! After the basic install is done, the 'fine-tuning' will be done from an Internet Browser, a very easy task! Just you need an maybe older Computer with at least 2, better 3 or 4 NIC's, the later special if you use wired LAN and WiFi (3 NIC's) and/or also a Server (4 NIC's), which should be connected to DMZ to be reachable all times from the Internet. That the Server should be on DMZ didn't mean that the Server is open for Attacks etc.! The Security will be handled as for the rest of the system. I work quite some years with Smoothwall Express and never had any Security Problems! Not a Single downtime on the system I manage running with Smoothwall Express. PFSense will work the same, is just more complicated for to setup and adjusting etc.! On my own system, I didn't have any Anti-Virus, Malware apps, Firewall, etc. on the Desktops running, there isn't any need for that, all is handled over my Smoothwall! A simple fact is, special with the latest version of OS'es (include Windows 10 and more), the Developer of the systems capturing data of the user's without their knowledge! That's done by Microsoft, as well as Apple and others! Such 'Attacks' could only be blocked with a (Semi-) Hardware Firewall and or a system like Smoothwall Express or PFSense.
I already have a hardware firewall on the router. seamonkey turned out crap in the end...had one tab open watching a live stream on youtube and when check memory usage after an hour it was over 1gb. did the same on ie and it never went over 300mb.
Those 'Hardware-Firewalls' you're talking about (the one in the Modem-Router!), nothing else than just a joke! Just take a time and read about those Apps I talked about, those are much different, and much more powerful, while could be adjusted to the personal needs! Not too easy to use and time-consuming for to configure, just it lets you get a very secure system. Even (very expensive) Hardware Firewall Systems like those from Cisco, Netscreen, and others, are less powerful, and more difficult to configure than those you could create on your own with some Freeware Apps!
@pisthai: I agree. Personally, I would recommend SonicWall. They're expensive, but they do their job well.
Hi RancorX2 I have seen most Chrome or Chromium based browsers opening up lots of processes in task manager. Still, will you give a try to UR Browser. www [dot] ur-browser [dot] com Alternatively, another browser I can mention as Brave browser. I'm not allowed to post links yet here so brave [dot] com Both of them have integrated adblock features so extension might not be needed. UR browser is feature rich but many will find them unnecessary. Brave browser is good also. Hope you take them for a swing if you have not already. Already advised Slimjet is also a popular choice. I had suggested to integrate a download manager in Brave browser to the developers a while ago & hope they will if not already. I will search some more, I do like finding new browsers(both mobile & pc) & add ons to test.
As I wrote already, I'm using Smoothwall Express, which is free of charge! All you'll need is an (older) computer with 2-4 NIC's, depends on the final layout of your system, stationed between your Modem and your Network (LAN). It simply acts as a highly configurable Hardware-Firewall Router for to protect your whole Network. It provides the whole needed security for small to even large Networks! Therefore, it also frees up a lot of resources on the connected Workstations etc., because you simply didn't need any other Firewall and so on! I just talked about those systems a few days ago with one on my customers, because he was wondering why his home Network is much slower (special via and to the Internet with 100 Mbps)), as the companies Lan with just 10 Mbps, both are on Fibre Optic! I told him to check the Logfiles for the Smoothwall in his Office, special what's blocked, and his home Computer's Firewall, which uses the resources of his home computer's OS, while the Smoothwall blocks all those sh*t traffic before it could enter the companies Network! He'll now install at his home also a Smoothwall! Anyway, it's up to each single user, what way he likes to go, a trouble free-one or even pay a lot of money for something that didn't help in the end! There many ways to Rome!!
"if anyone wants my optimised seamonkey config i can upload it." Sooner or later I need an alternative to Ff. Is it possible to import bookmarks and passwords from Ff to seamonkey? If so, Can you somehow get it to me? Thanks
for the users that wanted the sea monkey config, don't bother with that browser it has a worse memory leak than firefox, doesn't matter if you tweak settings, i saw it climb to 650mb+ on youtube. firefox just has too much bloat under the hood since for a long time, look in about:config and see a sea of settings, lots of settings for debug, devtools, telemetry, codecs and so on, most isn't required for the average user, it's just useless crap they keep adding. firefox seems to use twice the amount of ram when viewing sites like youtube or ebay than chrome, opera. all the privacy settings you have to tweak on firefox was a big turn off. chrome does seem to be the best of the bunch but they don't allow manual restoration of extensions anymore, you can manually install them but then chrome disables them on the next launch of the browser, like microsoft and disabling edge extensions not installed from the store.. chromium started doing this recently as well build 64/65 kept disabling my extensions that i added back manually as restoring a profile backup did not restore extensions, only way to install them was from the store. however i tried opera which uses the chrome engine and allows full restoration of a profile without errors and restores ALL extensions, only thing i had to change was startup page which always reverts to speed dial. addons used; popup blocker for chrome ublock origin ublock origin extra ubo scope df youtube i can share my filter file for ublock, which i've attached. modifies the following sites for less annoying / in your face adverts, videos, useless content etc bbc.co.uk (covers news and iplayer pages, hides what they think you should watch etc) 4 ondemnd, demand5, itv player (hides recommended shows etc) bt.com (hide useless news, ads) amazon.co.uk & .com (hides lots of advertising) ebay.co.uk (hides lots of stuff but leaves core use of site intact) virgin media (hides adverts) the sun, daily mail (hides various elements leaving main news, might of missed a few things) neowin (hides mini spy, and various social buttons etc) mydigitallife (hides chat) youtube (hide chat, comments, likes, dislikes, views etc for clean viewing) imdb cbsnews spiked google.co.uk & .com msn.com bing.com (just added, clean frontpage, no pictures, just grey) isitdownrightnow metro.co.uk (just added) nbc news fox news yahoo news there's several more sites, i just keep adding whenever i encounter a site that i find bloated with annoying content... i think filters should work on other peoples pc's as i copy export it to all my machines at home.