Firefox 4 Released

So my friend has disabled in Windows 7 because he can't stand it. Does that mean he isn't getting any GPU-acceleration either?

 

Same here. Works in IE9 though, which is what I've switched to at the moment.

 

Sometimes, I cannot scroll with Firefox 4.0. However, when I switch tabs and then switch back it starts working again. This issue occurs on both of my laptops. Only mildly annoying...anyone have this same problem or fix?

 

i only really use ie9 anyway
just want to try ff4 but as it doent work with it i wont bother with ff4 again

 

Here is a little question to you all:

In energy saving mode (CPU downclocked, Vista Basic colour theme, 16 bit colour depth) if I switch Firefox to full screen I can no longer scroll smoothly...
If I have it in windowed mode it runs perfectly as I know it.

Can anybody explain that? Did someone mess up? -> Could you try? (Especially if you have a laptop with a custom power plan for extreme power saving, e.g. Sony Vaio SZ)

 

As I mentioned already DigitalPersona Exstension isn't compatible and won't be with FF 4.0 as the official support says...

I just sent a mail to the support. They told me the following:

Thank you for contacting DigitalPersona. There will be no update for Firefox 4. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Tech Team DigitalPersona, inc.

 

Mac Afee site advisor is causing display blinking when switching forward or backward!! Anyone has noticed that?
I disabled it now and Firefox 4 works better: It says the add on is compatible but it seems not.

 

Boots fast but after I get several tabs open and use the browser for a while it becomes super sluggish. Had to switch to Chrome for the time being.

 

is anyone having the issue where it opens to the last page u were on and not your actual home page?

 

Are you sure Firefox didn't crash before you opened it? That's what happens the next time you open it after a crash.

 

yes im sure there was no crash... i did a google search others have this issue also

 

I had this happen a few times.

 

Is 'when firefox starts: Show my last tabs and windows' selected??

 

i remeber that option in firefox 3 but dont see it in 4 can u point me towards it?

 

Guys, I put my hopes on 4.0 as I've been having A LOT of issues with the previous version of FF, but unfortunately a few (well... the major) problems remained even in the official release of the 4.0 (I've been using the beta versions for a few months now).

I'll be very thankful if you have a solution to any of them:

1. Laggy/interrupted scrolling/typing, especially when FF has not been restarted for a few hours. Very easy to demonstrate and reproduce - I start scrolling up and down very quickly using the trackpad and it is visible that there is a very short interruption every say 3-4 seconds that last for about half a second. Scrolling stops and resumes right after that but is generally not smooth, especially if the webpage contains lots of images or a video....

Compared to FF, both IE 9 and Opera 11 are MUCH smoother, no matter if the webpage is full of graphics or videos and scrolling and typing is NEVER interrupted!!

Once I kill FF and restart it it gets better, but with time gets back to its laggy mode...


2. Every now and then FF stops loading pages, UNLESS the mouse cursor is being moved the loading circle stops spinning and web-pages are not loaded. Once you start moving the mouse, page loading continues normally until you stop moving the cursor

Restarting the browser fixes the problem but it is irritating - it happens once every few days...

Again for comparison - Never had such an issue with IE or Opera!



Those are the 2 major problems I have been experiencing since forever. 4.0 definitely got better but didn't fix those issues. I'm feel more and more forced to use Opera as it is so much smoother and faster than FF

 

-> Just thinking:
That lag, is that in Full Screen in power saving mode? Or normal windowed mode?

 

Well in any mode ... I'm not sure I've tested it in Full screen mode (F11), as I normally use it in maximized window mode...

And what do you mean by power saving mode? Of the laptop? No - under performance mode with power charger connected. As I said I never experience any problems like that with Opera, IE or any other software....

 

Power Saver -> Pointless, use Balanced

But back on topic, Firefox:
If I maximize Firefox is lags, if I use the minimized window mode it doesn't generally in power saver mode (on my SZ) with a downclocked CPU.
-> I have a feeling that might be an issue with Firefox in general.

 

To be honest I never use anything different than performance....
I rarely use my laptop on battery for one, but does it really effect battery life that dramatically? (an offtopic question...)

This is a problem of FF since version 2 I guess.... been like that for a long long long time. Got definitely better with 4.0 but the problem is not fixed. Once I switch to Opera or IE 9 I literally say WOW!!!

 

-> There was a thread in the Windows forum once, apparently balanced can even get higher scores in benchmarks.

On that note - balanced will throttle down when idling and up the multiplier when needed: Result, cooler laptop and lower power bill.

On Firefox - maybe submit a bug? -> It does seem to be a systematic issue though if you have the same as I have -> maximize window, no smooth scrolling, windowed mode smooth scrolling.

 

I'd be thankful if you can forward me to any discussion about the 3 modes... I have used balanced the least, thought there is nothing to loose using the performance mode, as none of those actually changes anything about the FAN... so noise is no factor. I'd be very interested to know what each mode changes exactly and how it affects usage. I can't feel any difference in performance either...
Switched to Balanced now and will see how it does.

I will try the scrolling thing with both maximized and windowed mode when I get a chance - it seems FF hasn't been on for too long now and it works fine at the moment.

Also - I think the more browser windows and tabs opened - the worse it gets...

Really pity - I do like FF, it has so many more options and has IMO much better usability.... but they obviously aren't able to release a bug-free version which is really sad. During the beta period of 4.0 I was writing short reports about the issues every other day... main problems remained.

 

Well, for Firefox I haven't noticed a correlation to open tabs
-> It might be because my pagefile is on maybe?

The only thing I have noticed is, that in windowed mode it scrolls smoothly, and in maximized window mode it doesn't... at least in battery saver mode.

Regarding the power plan, a simple google search doe the trick... alternatively, here is the thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/410831-power-plan-controversy.html

 

I haven't noticed any issues with the final release of Firefox 4, although the Beta had some issues. Uninstalled the Beta, then installed the final release. Presto, no problems.

Firefox 4 seems to represent a functional improvement. In any case, for the people who are dissatisfied, there's always Seamonkey.

 

Gracy, if you already use Opera why not just switch to it entirely? Just curious. I personally think firefox is on the lower end of the browser spectrum.

 

* No addons
* Less optionality
* Some stupid things such as that opening a tab in new window has to be done with shift (instead of Ctrl) and the browser goes directly to this tab which I don't want....

Mainly because I am so used to FF that every time I try to use Opera for primary browser I miss so many features and find the usability worse...
But what's true is true - Opera is by far more smooth and "easy-going" ...

Thanks for the link - I remember having read it some time ago, will have a look at it again.

The problems with FF I've been having exist since long before I disabled my pagefile Even before I even had this PC. So it is certainly not the PC itself. For what it's worth FF actually also seems to have become more responsive ever since I disabled the pagefile... just like everything else

Update:

the article/thread you linked to is about the Windows 7 modes, whereas I was talking about the Vaio Control Center options! Using the Performance mode in Vaio Control Center does not switch to Performance under Windows 7 settings! Don't know what the difference is and if any, but fact is - those seem to be 2 independent settings...
So I always used Performance in Vaio Care but Balanced in "power options" in Win 7.

 

So what about Chrome?

edit: Not trying to convert/ get off topic. Just curious why you'd put up with the hassle.

 

Picasa and Google search is all I want to use from Google.... No Gmail, no Chrome

Opera looked like a very good alternative, but pity....

 

Why no gmail or chrome? I suppose gmail I can understand but Chromium is open source, you'd know it there were privacy isses.

 

Umm, no. Chrome just isn't very flexible. Better than IE, safer than IE, but that's not saying much.

 

The Vaio modes are built on the Windows 7/Vista power options.
i.e. Vaio "Performance" will be built around the Win7/Vista "High Performance" power plan.
The key difference in the Vaio plans is, that they support some additional Vaio functions that Windows otherwise doesn't know about and would leave alone. e.g. switching off the CD/DVD in power saver for my SZ, however you can modify the Win7/Vista plans to do the same.

With Firefox - if it's an installation with a long update history it could be an idea to back up your bookmarks and completely remove Firefox, reinstalling if afterwards... I did this once, but I was running through the Beta 4 updates....

 

I'm still not sure we are on the same page. I have 2 different set of options inside Vaio Control Center - even when performance mode is chosen, once I disconnect the charger, the CD/DVD drive power is turned off and the PC remains in Performance mode. There is certainly a connection between all of those, I am just not sure what it is and haven't looked into it that much as I honestly don't really care about battery life that much (I usually charge up to 50% which gives me enough power when I am without a charger even in performance mode with no additional power-saving options enabled). But I am now curious to benchmark under performance and under balanced mode and determine the difference...

I will try completely uninstalling FF and installing it again and let you know. Which reminds me of another great feature available to FF that I have not yet found in Opera - exporting saved passwords!! What is the point of having saved some passwords in your browser if you need to reenter them every time you reinstall the PC/browser!!? FF has great addons that export the passwords (just like bookmarks) to a file which you can use for importing them afterwords...

It is "small" stuff like that that still keep me attracted to FireFox and make me avoid other browsers for a primary one....

 

Yes we are:
The Sony Plan is built on the Win7 one - yes, there are options that are different, as your CD drive, I never said there weren't.
The key thing is:
The underlying "system" is the same.
Put it that way - in the UK you can send a letter with Royal Mail or TNT.
-> Both will finally get delivered by Royal Mail, they do "the last mile". (Couriers are different, e.g. DHL)

The Sony setup only draws from Window 7's settings and features + adds a few Sony specific options.
I.e. it is not something completely different. The other advantage a balanced plan should give you is also a cooler laptop.

 

Well my laptop is always cool, no matter which setting is active. And the FAN mode seems not to be affected either (which proves that there aren't any or no significant changes in the temperature), so I would go with the one allowing best performance... that's why I was using performance mode all the time. But will experiment and benchmark. Based on the thread you linked to it really seems to be individual...

 

It seems to me as if the fan on the SZ also isn't affected by the setting... but maybe it just feels like that.

The "balanced" mode (or Vaio Optimized as Sony calls it on the SZ) isn't meant to be limiting in any way -> it just makes the best use of your electricity.
But try, see what the benchmarks tell you.

 

Improving Add-on Performance
Top 50 Slow Performing Add-ons

Plus: Firefox 5: Social Sharing, Home Tab, PDF Viewer, Tab Apps

 

I really like that they listed the addons and the % effect they have. I would LOVE to have that in Chrome.

 

Ok... tried reinstalling Firefox after completely uninstalling it - unfortunately same issues again. I also checked - the behavior is not affected by the size of the window (the same with maximized and windowed) ...

No idea...
I only know other browsers don't have those issues (or any other that I was able to find)... Pity :-/

 

I see no speed difference between FF4, IE9 and the latest Chrome.

 

I've never used Chrome and don't yet have enough experience with IE9 to be able to compare.... but Opera 11 is by every meaning noticeably faster and smoother than FF4.

 

It also breaks tons of sites, despite the dev team's sperg obsession with standards compliance.

EDIT: and not to get too off topic, but Opera for Android is an absolute disgrace.

 

Really? I do.

I realize synthetic benchmarks aren't real-world enough for some people but it's there... recently Chrome beta's flash got much faster. It's much much much more noticeable on very slow computers (single core atoms for instance)

There are other reasons to choose one over the other. FF4 is for customizability, Chrome is for Speed/security.

 

Got the ugly fonts with hardware acceleration enabled, fine when disabled (HP AMD\ATI). Apart from that, installed flawlessly & seems fast & stable.