29
votes
Forgot Chrome's unusable, any recommendations?
I'm streaming Firefox to watch Riverdale, so I opened up Chrome to browse while I wait for them to join. Youtube has ads on it, and I realized I can't grab uBlock or anything (meaningfully) privacy focused. So, I wanna try out one of the cool new browsers, what do people use and recommend?
I'm on Windows and a proper techie, so give me anything that's a bit strange and off the wall as well! The only one I tried out recently was Comet, but it needs more time to bake, total waste of time IME. I remember using IceWeasel for some reason lol
Can't you just open another window?
I suppose what they mean here is that they're streaming video of Firefox to others and want to avoid streaming any other tabs/windows in Firefox where others could see it. That said, streaming stuff might allow you to choose a specific window anyway, not sure.
All major streaming solutions let you target specific windows, at least that I'm aware of.
OBS certainly does
Not to stop you from exploring other browsers, but for now it's still possible to install uBlock Origin by creating a shortcut with this appended to the target address:
--disable-features=ExtensionManifestV2Unsupported,ExtensionManifestV2Disabled
I only use Chrome for one site on a windows box. I did this and also disabled the update services.
Between mv2 going away and their shit widevine support with other browsers, its a dark time for browsers
Lite is working perfectly fine for me as well. Youtube has a blank loading screen for 10-15 seconds sometimes but that's the only thing it doesn't properly work on and I'm not in a rush anyway.
(I'm gonna change at some point, just procrastinating like with Windows 11 that also takes some getting used to)
are you using this list in uBo for youtube ads?
as an aside, I switched to Firefox a few months ago and it's pretty good. Some things are just made for Chrome, but for the most part everything is good. More customization, too
I'm not. What do I do with it?
its regularly updated and blocks the ads / nags when they try it again. I think the quickfixes.txt from the repo also helps.
Thanks for the additional uBlock list for YouTube. Appreciated.
My solution has been to combine uBlock Origin and using ad-blocking DNS - it has been mostly successful. Sometimes Google trials something clever and evil on YouTube and ads come through, and I try to poison their analytics by refreshing that video multiple times as though I were trying to get it to load, then closing it and not watching YouTube for a while.
youtube ads are the worst. I've only ever had one -- but it was plenty. This should fix it, though. I block everything on youtube... here's some more stuff that might also play in to blocking their ads
Some of this ditches the overlay when you pause a video, the last one ditches the 'next up' or whatever they have at the end. Here are some more toward adblock detection.
I completely support your poisoning mission :) It might also be worth getting the Cookie Remover by Adam. I use it on a lot of sites anyway, but it might also help with yt.
Your poisoning attempts on youtube must be commended. Thank you.
Waterfox is based on Firefox and can use the same extensions. Not sure it fits the new, cool, or strange vibes, but it is a useful browser to use alongside Firefox.
Grabbing! For the curious it's Firefox sans any telemetry, with some (well chosen) privacy add-ons bundled in. Seems perfect for the circumstance.
Not entirely, generally speaking it is several Firefox versions behind. One of the reasons you see more Chromium based browsers compared to Gecko/Firefox based browsers is because the architecture makes it easier to incorporate upstream updates including security fixes.
The current version of Waterfox for example is based on Firefox 140.0, the version before that was based on Firefox 128.0. This has some potential security implications, also because afaik it is mostly one person working on it (at least this was the case in the past).
128 was and 140 currently is the "Extended Service Release" (ESR) version of Firefox, and was/is fully supported by Mozilla.
(Honestly, even if you're using Firefox, I would highly recommend running the ESR version. It will insulate you from a lot of the churn and dumb misfeatures at tip.)
That doesn't mean that all patches to those versions are implemented. You are right that it might shield you from a bunch churn and features to a certain degree.
In the case of watefox I also remember there being a time when it was several ESR versions behind. I am not saying people shouldn't be using it, I am just noting that it isn't exactly like Firefox minus telemetry either.
This is what I do when I need multiple browsers. Waterfox + Firefox side by side.
I will only use something chromium-based in very specific circumstances.
If I can't get Firefox to run something, I use Vivaldi, which still allows ublock and uMatrix.
Vivaldi has been my browser since 2016, and it's so good. It looks like Chrome to any website you're on, and you can use any Chrome plugin...but it just works. Major customizability, better back-end memory management, and excellent privacy reputation. Oh and I just found out it's owned by the employees in Norway.
By the way, uMatrix is deprecated and there's no reason to use it because its functionality is built into uBlock now
uBlock definitely doesn't provide the same functionality as uMatrix. They have some overlap but uBlock does many things that uMatrix couldn't and uMatrix does things that uBlock can't. I ran both for years for a good reason. I really miss uMatrix, but I didn't feel comfortable using it when I knew it was not receiving any more development and could end up with unfixed security flaws.
Can you give an example of features that uMatrix provided that uBlock's dynamic filtering mode doesn't? They seem basically the same to me, just with a slightly different UI
Vivaldi is the only chromium browser I use now, and it's generally excellent. Takes some time to configure how you like it, largely because it has more configuration options than any other chromium browser I've tried.
It supports native ad blocking (even on iOS!) or you can install uBO, you can sync between browsers, have multiple profiles etc.
It's really good. Honest!
If I was to criticise it, I'd say it might be a smidge slower than other browsers, but not so much that I really notice it.
I'm also on Vivaldi and like it for the most part. So far it's been better for my browsing experience and uses than others I've tried, but in fairness there's some bias there as I've not tried other browsers in recent years.
I haven't heard of uMatrix - I just found the GitHub page and saw the description, but I'm not sure I understand, could you help me understand what it does?
Well, I guess it has been deprecated. It is by the same guy who does uBlock origin-- I find it easier to personalize and I've been using them together, but I guess I don't really need it any more, except I've grown accustomed to it.
YouTube on Firefox just became unwatchable. How does Tildes feel about Brave?
Wait, what has been bad about your experience using YouTube in FireFox? I haven't noticed any issues but maybe I have add-ons compensating for it.
Same here, Firefox 143 on Linux working without a problem, on multiple PCs.
If anything, my YouTube experience in Firefox (144) in Linux with uBlock Origin improved in the last few days, with the new YouTube UI rollout that just hit me - for a few months I was getting a spinning circle for about 10 seconds before a video would start playing, but now it's back to starting right away, no more spinning circle!
That may have been unrelated to your setup. There were worldwide infrastructure degradation issues that seems to have affected various services and providers over the past few days. Still not sure of the cause.
I think youtube may be either gradually rolling out or AB testing various features that cripple adblocks. The only problem I have is that sometimes videos take about 10 seconds to start loading initially, but some other people either do not have this issue or have worse issues.
The usual adblocks suddenly stopped working.
Running Firefox with uBlock and everything works just fine?
Usually CTRL+F5 fixes any issues with yt, but I've had not had those in a long time.
I can't speak for everyone on Tildes, but I personally absolutely despise Brave's Prop 8 supporting, homophobic CEO, Brendan Eich. Not to mention the shady and unethical shit they did with BAT "donations".
It's really a shame, since I like the ideas behind Attention Tokens, and think it could have been game changing... but I just can't support Brave while Eich is still running the company.
Never heard of this and it sucks, but I am not surprised - just because Firefox does 1 thing right does not mean that they are not still a big tech company, which, as we all know, are all mostly at best morally and ethically questionable.Edit: oops, bit too quick to comment. Missed the date from the first article is 10+ years ago.
The comment isalso about brave, not Firefox. Firefox is a FOSS nonprofit, which sets it apart from most tech companies imo. they're not perfect, but a country mile better than the rest, and most of their failures are down to lacking resources.
Ah yeah, sorry I should have been more clear. Brendan Eich is Brave's co-founder/CEO. He was very briefly Mozilla's CEO for only 2 weeks over a decade ago, until his homophobic beliefs and anti-LGBT rights political campaign contributions were discovered, after which he "resigned". cc: @chocobean, in case my comment confused you too.
And on a personal level, it's also worth mentioning that I've actually had a number of unpleasant interactions with Eich on HN too, which is another reason why I genuinely dislike him so much. He scrubbed his account there a few years back to remove most of the controversial statements he's made over the years, but I distinctly remember him claiming that anyone against Prop 8 (which he supported) was on "the wrong side of history". So he's still totally unrepentant about that, and his homophobic beliefs clearly haven't changed one damn bit since he was ousted from Mozilla.
Thanks cfabbro, you've convinced me to switch . But yeah, like @611828750722 , I'm just tired, boss. I'll go with whatever you're using, what's your preferred browser + setup?
Firefox (with uBlock Origin) has been my primary browser for ages now. It's not perfect, and I occasionally do have to temporarily switch to Chrome whenever Google decides to break shit for Firefox users, or a site doesn't work well in Firefox for whatever reason, but that's thankfully been pretty rare over the years.
p.s. Out of curiosity, what changed with YouTube that you find it unwatchable on Firefox now? I've had the opposite experience lately... but I also use SponsorBlock, Hide Youtube-Shorts, and pay for YouTube Premium now, so I no longer have to deal with uBlock issues whenever YouTube temporarily breaks its adblocking capabilities again.
For me, Firefox + uBlock Origin YouTube was stuck loading (gray box loading icon) and unable to neither show ad nor load video. Yeah whenever google make new improvements there'll be temporary blocks. Just looking for something a bit more permanent, and still refusing to pay for yt premium.
Ah yeah, I figured that was what was going on thanks to YouTube's recent UI changes. The uBlock devs usually manage to fix the issues pretty quickly though, so you shouldn't have to wait long for a solution. Just make sure to update your filter lists to get any fixes ASAP. And clearing your browser cache or doing a hard refresh (CTRL-F5 on YouTube) might also help too though, if a fix has already been implemented by the uB devs but it's not working for you for whatever reason.
Other than actually paying for YouTube Premium, there is likely never going to be a "permanent" solution to this issue, no matter what browser or adblocking method you choose. It's unfortunately just the nature of the beast, with it basically being a perpetual arms race between adblockers and ad companies. :/
@chocobean, to @cfabbro's point, I ended up getting a 'family' YouTube premium plan so that YouTube doesn't serve me any ads. It works across devices, which means no more ads on phone or when I'm watching on my smart TV box, and that was unexpectedly nice. I split it between four people so even with the price hikes we all still get value out of it.
I also realised just yesterday that between Dropout and Nebula, I am almost ready to cut the YouTube Premium subscription. Almost all my favourite actors and artists and performers are on those two platforms now and it feels better giving them a much greater share of the ad revenue than giving it to an ad company
I use Brave although I know most people here don't like it because of the CEO or crypto garbage. I have no excuse. I like it, it does a reliable job of blocking ads and I ignore all of the crypto nonsense. I guess since it works I'm too lazy to switch.
I used Brave (despite knowing about the awful CEO). I financially divested myself from most of the awful horrid right wing companies I was unknowingly supporting, and by the time I got to Brave, I had run out of steam. It still supports uBlock origin and it works great.
Since switching to Mac I've been trying to get away from Brave by using a privacy-focused version of Safari called Orion, and using AdGuard to replicate the blocking I got with Brave + uBO. To be honest, pages load slower in Orion, it's still in beta, and I sometimes have to open Brave to get a page to work.
But Orion is owned by Kagi, who have a partnership with Brave. The CEO's also a bit of a dick on their forums and Discord, and it took a lot of him calling people names before he put out a statement saying 'sorry but not really'.
Something something no ethical consumption under capitalism I should burn my computer and farm geese.
I prioritise ethical supply chains for things that have a material impact in areas I am familiar with, like modern slavery (clothing, chocolate, coffee, etc), so when it comes to a browser I can't find one that isn't bad in some way and I've run out of energy to care.
I don’t like Brave, and there was a whole list of controversies related to it that I can’t remember most of it off of the top of my head but search for “brave controversies reddit” and a couple of people made posts about it
I stick to Firefox + uBlock Origin + Privacy Badger
I have zero issues with it
Maybe you meant this article? https://thelibre.news/no-really-dont-use-brave/
BTW, I stopped using Privacy Badger for the reasons mentioned here: https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions#-dont-bother
I use Grayjay for Youtube. Louis Rossmann is somehow connected with Grayjay and knowing how he fights for right to repair and no bullshit policy, I believe in that project.
Interesting.... I'll keep an eye out when they have a desktop version (don't watch media on mobile) . Thanks for the recommendation
They already have desktop version and I'm also.using it.
Desktop version seems to be a bit behind and sometimes Youtube doesn't work properly on it - Youtube is doing what it can to stop such apps I guess but Grayjay team updates very fast to keep on track. If I really need to see some Youtube video and desktop app doesn't want to work and there are no updates (it fetches them automatically, the same goes for Youtube plugin if you set it so) I get my phone to watch rhis one video I need right now. Phone app seems to work more reliably. But still the desktop app is worth it.
Have you tried Zen? It's a fork of Firefox with some nice UI/UX improvements and extra features, I personally really enjoy it
Can second Zen, my daily driver and you can sync it with your Firefox instance so have a seperate browser but share bookmarks etc
At work I use exclusively Microsoft Edge. It's a decent browser, chromium-based, and you can still use uBlock even though Google doesn't like it. Opera is also a decent chromium browser, but I only use it for mobile, not desktop so I can't attest to its quality there.
Anyone with even mild technical inclination should set up some kind of dns level network filtering. It works really well, and works outside of browsers. So far, pi hole has exceeded my expectations.
I apologize for the long post, but Here's my take on browsers:
What I use:
N.B:
TLDR: Unless you're into some deep customizations, FireFox is good.
This doesn't answer your question, but why do you need to use another browser while streaming Firefox? Can you not just open another Firefox window?
You should set up Aquafox inside SheepShaver. (This is not a serious suggestion.)
Echoing the recommendations in here for Zen. I switched to it from Vivaldi after Chrome nuked ad blockers and it takes a minor amount of adjustment UI-wise but I find I prefer it. Firefox extensions and Sync work, uBlock works perfectly, I never see YouTube or Reddit ads, etc. I particularly like the minimized audio player controls in the sidebar, useful if you're listening to a YouTube music playlist or streaming Spotify or Apple Music etc. in a background tab without switching over to the tab.
I've tried pretty much every browser out there, including the experimental and goofy ones, and here in 2025 in a post-Manifest landscape, it's the best browser going if you just want something simple without a ton of bells and whistles that just plain works.
Well, OperaGX had been pretty good for me so far. It takes a little getting used to the left-hand sidebar icons, though. And some extensions arent compatible with it, like YT Sponsor Block.
If I were not using Firefox, I'd go with Zen Browser. But there's also these cool experimental ones you may wanna play with:
And if you need it to be Chromium based, then Vivaldi.
Brave is a perfectly ok chrome replacement, there's even native buttons to enable ublock origin.
Sure you gotta disable some features, but which browser doesn't?
Sounds like you already like Firefox, your only problem is that you don't have enough Firefoxes installed. So how about installing Firefox Developer Edition alongside normal Firefox? It's based on the beta build so you'll get to try out shiny new features a bit sooner too.
https://www.firefox.com/en-GB/channel/desktop/developer/
With all of this talk about other browsers, I thought to myself, "Whatever happened to Ladybird?" It doesn't look like they have released anything public lately so I decided to pick up the source and compile the latest off their git repository.
The current minimalist state of it wins instant points, and it can handle rendering most webpages to an extent, but it's very clearly not ready for a public release, especially for something that's looking to supplant other browsers. The rendering engine has many small bugs, so text will continue out of bounds instead of wrapping, for instance. Font rendering is very lacking; going to a random japanese website showed me nothing but empty boxes and a scant few roman characters. Performance is practically abysmal right now; while Tildes generally works flawlessly, dimensionally large pages like this one will freeze up while it renders the entire surface. Oh, and if you resize the window, it will take a moment for the page to update. It's also burning CPU cycles like there's no tomorrow.
But hey: it works! I looked at the ladybird.app that it built and it comes in at 13.2MB, which, for the record, is about 1/35th the size of Mozilla Firefox and 1/100th the size of Google Chrome. There are lots of things that remind me of my pet favorite micro-browser NetSurf in that I like some of the little "off" ways it renders some things, but unlike NetSurf, Ladybird actually runs javascript so you can use (some) modern websites. You can surf through YouTube (but not watch any videos), and I can listen to music on Battle of the Bits, where most of the links work the way you'd expect them to! This is all an astonishing amount of work being done in such a relatively short amount of time. I can't wait until Ladybird is ready for primetime.
(I will say, though, that I desperately want it to have vertical tabs. I'm using the MacOS native UI right now, but I may try out the QT one later.)