Opinions of Firefox 4...

I'm still using version 3.6.17. I generally make it a point not to upgrade to a new version of major releases until a few months and several updates have passed. I'd love to hear some opinions from people from a community which I have grown to trust though.

Functionality?

Improved Security?

Improved Speed? - I've heard this is the case.

Perhaps most of all... will my add-on's still work with it? This is the main reason that I'm not upgrading as of yet. It is absolutely essential that NoScript, AdBlock Plus, WOT, CookieSafe and others play well with this new version.

Thanks in advance.

 

Speedwise huge boost
For some its faster than chrome/opera for some slow...u will have to try to see what it has in store for u
all the addons u have mentioned are working

Its my primary browser and m lovin it

 

Mostly speed. Major UI changes, profile sync, etc. Minor increase in security (Content Security Policy and redirect/reload warning). Your listed add-ons are compatible.

 

In my opinion, they kinda shot themselves to the leg by rearranging the main UI. Upgrading to Firefox 4 was the first time I had to manually put everything in place. Also, needing to download addon to enable the status bar was something I didn't like.

Speed is also up to a debate. I haven't noticed the difference at all, maybe this is more about benchmarks. I think in my case it has something to do with the fact that one of the big features, hardware accelleration, failed so much that I had to turn it off. Some bug related to drivers and Microsoft's directwrite, made all my fonts blurry.

Not wanting to be all negative-like, I have to admit that the browser has been more stable. Not a single crash or anything like that after updating. All my addons work with it.

 

I like it. I like having fewer toolbars yet having everything within easy reach, which makes for added screen space that I need on my smaller monitor screens.

Acadia

 

It's good

 

i like it and i'm using it.

it's not as secure 'out of the box' as Chrome but just as good a browser and in some ways better than Chrome.

 

It's faster and I like the new GUI. AdBlock Plus and WOT are both working, and Trusteer Rapport has been updated to support it. Sandboxie 3.55 beta also works well with it.

 

I run it on all my PCs and have had no issues except for one extension that's not been updated in a while. I hand modified the version number in the extension and it has ran fine after that.

Speed-wise, I see no difference.

GUI-wise, I don't see why browsers have to keep changing. The new IE 9 sux big time with the new GUI. IMO, FF 4 copied Opera's tabs on top look. I don't care for Opera. So, I made my FF 4 look like FF 3.

Overall, FF 4 is fine. I am glad they keep making safety and other similar improvements to it. As long as they leave GUI/setup flexibility in it, I'll keep using it! (I do wish they would build better granular cookie and privacy controls in it!)

 

I'm using Aurora which is a "dev" version of Fx 5 as my main browser. You'll be happy to know that there's not going to be significant GUI changes in Fx5 compared to Fx4.

And the flexibility in configuration is really a big plus for me.

 

It is probably the best Fx since #2 version. Setting up the GUI can be a little frustrating, but it works well if you can get it right. NoScript, ABP, Flagfox & all my other extensions work fine. IMHO it isn't necessarily as fast as Chrome/Opera, although it launches very quickly. There are a few teething bugs, one is that the add-ons auto-updater doesn't always update automatically, although this is a minor problem I think. All in all ... it wins the goldfish, which IE 9 sadly doesn't!

 

I have no major complaints with FF4 except for the user interface. I'm with those who wish they would have just left it alone. There was nothing wrong with it at all and FF4 brings a whole set of new challenges to deal with.

 

I love all the versions just because I have it customized with my extensions. I think the few clicks and drags it took to get it back to appearing like the previous version took less than a minute.

 

It's whatever, a browser is a browser as long as it's decently secure and is fairly fast. By fast I don't mean those stupid benchmarks, I mean you yourself aren't sitting there counting while pages load. If it gets you where you need to go quickly and without having to deal with some punk trying to hijack it or exploit it, you're good.

 

Has anyone else had problems with Firefox 4 and KeyScrambler? I am using the latest version of each. After I have been using Firefox 4 for a while Keyscrambler just disappears and does not seem to be doing anything. Both the icon in the system tray and the panel at the top that shows the encrypted keystrokes vanish. Other than that I have no problems with Firefox 4.

 

No problems at all with Firefox 4 on our two setups. (XP Pro SP3)

 

This is old news but --- FF4 and Prevx Safe Online (SOL) are not speaking.

AVG, Norton, etc, were all very quick to get their apps compatible w/FF4. But dragalong SOL still won't work with FF4. Worse yet - if you run FF4, SOL doesn't even warn you that its protection has ceased. Mentioning that fact in their forum got me naught but mild censure.

When Prevx forum is queried as to when SOL will work with FF4, their rejoinders mostly boil down to "wait until next year!" {This excuse reminds me of when the Giants had a long losing streak under Leo Durocher. - - - Yes, I am very old. }

 

I switched to Trusteer Rapport for that reason. I was not prepared to remain on Firefox 3.6 just to be able to run SafeOnline. As my Prevx subscription was coming up for renewal anyway, I opted to renew just the Prevx anti-malware without SafeOnline.

 

"Next year"? Lol, they are aware FF5 has just gone Beta? And FF is moving to a Chrome-like release schedule? Mozilla doesn't even want people on 3.6, and FF4 will likely be dead next year as well. Really, they ought to just drop SOL (which is at this point also meaning "S outta luck") and just stick to their main program.

 

Most people will probably be running 5 by the time I upgrade to 4. But then you are talking to somebody that's still running XP Pro SP3, and has no plans to upgrade until support ends in 2014. I like to keep my AV's engines & defs up to date, but with most things I take the "if it aint broke, don't fit it" approach. Too many times have I upgraded to a major release as soon as it launched only to experience bugs. So now I wait a while for the wrinkles to be ironed out.

Or maybe I'm just old school.

 

I didn't want to pay to upgrade Roboform so I'm sticking with 3.6.17 for now.

 

lucid, I'm the same way. When software is released to the general public it's assumed that's it's been thoroughly tested and stable. But this isn't always the case, especially freeware. A lot of freeware developers try to rush people into using the latest thing because: a) they depend on the general public as guinea pigs; and b) it's less work and cheaper to work on one version of a product rather than three or four. They use familiar scare tactics, invoking words like "security" and "stability." But in my opinion it's rather unwise to rely on a web browser for security as there are a lot of better options. And oftentimes new releases are less stable, not more.

 

Been running Firefox 4 since the day it came out and so far its been running great. Browsing speed is very zippy, its as fast if not faster than any version i've used before. Dunno much about the security changes but FF has always been fairly secure as far as i know. All the addons i use work perfectly. I try other browsers from time to time but i always seem to come back to firefox.

 

Yep, same here

 

Same. It's still as customizable as before, so even if you do not like the new look, you can change practically anything about the UI.

The main annoyance i have is that i don't get tabs on the very top, to save screen space like the Windows version.
So Firefox 4 looks the same for me, icons to the right of the tab bar, menus as icons and to the left of the address bar, same as before.