Looking for a new web browser

I am currently using Orca and Avant Browser as my browsers, along with Internet Explorer on some machines as I have not downloaded an alternative browser yet on those machines. However I am having some issues and am trying to find an alternative that meets my needs.

Orca is no longer supported and uses and old version of Firefox. It does everything I need, but I want something up to date. I use Avant as well, it has the same features as Orca, but it gives me problems at times - e.g. sometimes open web pages stop being displayed, and there and error message displayed, and you need to refresh the page to load it again. While Avant essentially combines Avant and Orca together, I still prefer to use Orca.

So I'm looking for an alternative, but I have very specific functionality I'm looking for:

To open every URL entered in a new tab.
New tabs to open next to the current tab, not after all other tabs.
To be able to do a web search in a new tab from the address bar. For example in Orca/Avant/Maxthon I have the following configured:
g + search terms Does a Google search
ga + search terms Does a Google search for only Australian results
s + song name Searchs for the song at songfacts.com
along with a few other search configured.

I want to be able to do such searches - and always in a new tab. I know it's not a big deal to press Ctrl+T to open a new tab, but in Avant and Orca I never ever have to do this.

I can do all of the above in Maxthon as well, but I had a config issue a while ago which turned me off Maxthon. With Maxthon and Orca/Avant you get to create an online account to which your settings and favourites get saved to. This means that you can install any one of these browsers and then enter your account details, and then your configuration and favourites are downloaded.

A while back when I upgraded to a new version of Maxthon, my saved configuration was not downloaded, meaning that I would have had to take the time to reconfigure it to work how I want. That was something I didn't want to do, so I ditched it. Avant and Orca share the same online account, and on any machine I install them on, my custom configuration with my custom searches is download and I don't have to configure anything at all.

Edit: I'm not looking for the most secure browser, or worried about things like script bloocking, I just want a browser which work how I want it to.

 

My Opera Portable is configured in a similar way.

 

Thanks for the link. I've just taken a look a Opera. While Opera lets you create your own search shortcuts, which is great, as far as I can find there seems to be no option to open every address entered and every search in a new tab. This is something I can't live without as I been used to it since first using Crazy Browser 9 years ago.

 

Have you thought about Firefox? I'm still using an older version so I may not be the best one to get advice from, but I have the Tab Utilities add-on for Firefox and it allows you to do all the things you want to do with tabs. You'd have to check the Mozilla add-on site to see if it works with the new Firefox but my guess is it does, or if not, there's likely a compatible replacement. You can configure Firefox to do the type of searches you want by bookmarking the search site. For example, create a bookmark for http://www.google.com/ then right click the bookmark and in Properties, enter g in the "Keyword" box. Then you can enter g + in the search bar and it'll search Google.

 

Also a browser which opens every tab as a seperate process would be nice, so that the memory used is returned to Windows as soon as a tab is closed, rather than when I close the browser.

 

I have got the custom searche working for Google, and will be able to add other sites when I find time. Also, I've installed Tab Utilities and it is working fine.

Thanks for your help

Does anyone know if the if a Firefox based browser which uses sperate processes for each tab?

 

You are wrong. Opera has that option:

Opera button > Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Tabs

Uncheck Reuse current tab.

 

Opera releases memory when tabs are closed too. Monitor its process to confirm this.

 

Multi process browsers (such as Chrome and IE) are good for security/stability reasons, not memory/performance reasons. Both Opera and Firefox (single process browsers) release memory when tabs are closed.

 

No... they all release memory because all programs manage their memory. When you have a multiprocess browser you can kill the process and all of the memory is released, memory management is far simpler. With a single process browser leaks persist throughout the session and while some memory can be released through garbage control... it's just not the same as killing the process entirely.

Multiprocess browsers actually will perform better, they just require more initial RAM.

 

Leaks are actively being removed in both Opera and Firefox, so this occurrence is getting rare.

Multiprocess browsers consume far more "initial" RAM.

 

Yes, but the memory used is not completely released until the browser is closed. Open Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and then go to the View menu and Select Columns and then check "Memory - Peak Working Set", and you will see the total memory the browser is using. This value never decreases until you restart the browser. As an example if I have a large number of tabs open in Orca then I end up with very little free RAM left. If I close down most of these tabs it does not fix the siutation. The only way to do it is to shut down Orca and then restart it.

 

Opera decreases its memory usage when I close tabs. I'm seeing it right now. And it's explained by Opera's devs: http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/show.dml/49982052#comment91388382

Again, you need to verify things on Opera, instead of talking about how Orca behaves and making wrong analogies. Opera isn't Orca.

 

I did my own testing. I opened 10 tabs in Opera. The memory useage for Opera.exe was at 239,924, and the peak usage at 261,612. When I close all but the first tab I had open, the memory usage dropped to 176,384, but peak usage did not drop (it can't).

I then closed and reopened Opera and with the one tab open again, memory usage was at 61,688 and peak memory usage at 80,592.

 

Of course. Peak memory usage doesn't drop unless you close the process because peak memory usage represents the historical highest memory usage of said process - not what said process is using at the moment.

 

I've also looked at the Commit Size, and it deos drop when a tab is closed, but not by much and it does not release anywhere near the amount of memory that was used by the tab.

 

Opera presumes that you will reload that tab or its elements at some point. You can modify this behavior at Preferences > Advanced > History.

 

No it's not that. Even if I disable memory caching and restart Opera, if I open 10 tabs and then close them all. Opera is using 3.5 times more memory with all the tabs closed than when I start it with no tabs open.

 

Weird. I can't reproduce this here. Whenever I open new tabs and close them, all memory is recovered. All caching-related settings are enabled but on the minimum possible values.

CleanMem may help with this as well - http://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem

Are you also waiting after you open Opera - letting it use all the memory it would normally use - before opening 10 tabs? If not, that may be what is screwing your stats.

 

I don't believe that CleanMem will be able to reduce the commit size.

However I am now using TheWorld Browser and it is working very well in terms of memory management. By default it uses multiple processes but not one for every open tab, but is able to release used memory when tabs are closed.

There also is the option to have every tab open as a seperate process, but this uses very large amounts of RAM, and I see no reason to use this mode, as it it not needed to be able to realease ram when tabs are closed.


I tried TheWorld earlier in the year and in the end decided it wasn't for me. I can't remember why, but all is good so far this time.

The current English version is 3.5.0.3 (it's up to v5 Beta in Chinese), it listed on the download page - but on the home page an older version is mentioned.

 

SeaMonkey utilises the Gecko engine, like Firefox, & also has synchronisation. It's worth a 'butcher's hook' (look).

 

I'll take a look when I get a chance, but TheWorld seems to be working quite well so far. It's just a shame that the English version is a few releases behind the Chinese version.

 

OK, I've been using SeaMonkey for around 4 years now & I normally prefer it to Firefox. If you download it I recommend the Disable Add-on Compatibility Checks' extension. Ignore the Not available for SeaMonkey 2.14 caveat as this extension will allow extensions to be installed. It's not that many SeaMonkey extensions can't be used, but has more to do with Mozilla's crazy 42 day upgrade cycle. This extension was specifically created for SeaMonkey users to cope with the 'Mozilla Madness' of the Chrome-style update frequency.

Disable Add-on Compatibility Checks

 

I just realised why I ditched TheWorld the first time. Autocomple does not work in the address bar.

However it is working in the China beta v5 so I'm going to give that a go.

 

http://www.sleipnirbrowser.com/