Feedback: Sorry, I'm giving up on Firefox

[Jemby51]

I have a cruddy old tower PC that was born with Windows 8.1 then "upgraded" to Windows 10.  Sue me.  It still works for what I need, which is pretty minimal.  Still running stand-alone student versions of MS Word and MS Excel.  Not flush with funds, and really don't want another computer, tablet, or other kiddie toy.

Got totally frustrated with Google hogging memory.  I emptied trash, deleted search history, etc. etc.  Still the Task Manager showed Google using 97% of my computer - memory, disc drive, CPU.  The successive "updates" from Google and Microsoft over the years have swamped it entirely.  I uninstalled my antivirus program* (NOT recommended) because it was chewing up whatever Google didn't get, with nine background processes all waiting to jump in (Google showed 20+).  *Never had this problem with Kaspersky.  Sorry it is gone, or at least isn't what it was

Thought I'd try a different browser, but the recommended one I picked will not function on my computer at all - inadequate resources.  Lucky for me the publisher gave me a refund same day after I tried to install it.

So, I went back to Firefox, which I used back in the '90s.  Checked the memory usage the first couple days and it looked better than Google; but I had to choose Google for my search engine, and of course use gmail.  Not so good now; programs run OK but the keyboard and mouse response times are ridiculous and getting worse.  And there are interrupts while watching YouTube.  Didn't have those things with Google.

Whether this is Google sneaking in the back door, or Firefox overloading the system, it just frustrates the heck out of me.  I count to 30 or more waiting for an email to open.  Or close.  Or move to a folder.  Sometimes a screen just hangs. And no, I do not want Firefox archiving my credit card or bank information anywhere, you shouldn't even be asking that; this is a PC, not a cell phone.  

Firefox is still usable but it's not making me happy.  I went to a lot of trouble to make the change, but will do it again now to go back to the evil I already knew.

[Boobieta]

You seriously need a hardware update, and it seems that just about anything would be an upgrade from what i can read. You know some people have built gaming pcs all from cheap used parts.

You are blaming firefox and i think it's unfair, but anyway, i bet you will get same or other issues with any other browser on a weak and old pc like that.

Good luck!

[Jemby51]

Actually, I only needed to replace that old Windows 8.1 / Win10 tower, so I now have a Dell micro.  It's a rebuild by my local computer repair shop; they provided connectors (old USB to HDMI) for my aged monitor and keyboard, and transferred all my programs and bookmarks, etc. to the new device so it looks and feels like nothing has changed much.  Love those guys.

It's hard to keep up with software needs without having to replace the whole computer!  Can't avoid automatic Windows updates.

I've had my car since July 2003; I keep it maintained and don't do commute driving any more, and it's running just fine.

 I've had to buy three computers since then, only one of which actually died - the laptop motherboard burned out.  But software updates are killing the hardware.  I wish the community of tech professionals would find a way to provide and maintain backward-compatible operating systems and give ordinary non-tech people a choice!  Most of us just don't want or need the "additions and enhancements" in current generation computers, and it's only getting worse.  My first computer had a keyboard, a CRT monitor, a dot-matrix printer, and two 5-1/4" floppy drives.  No mouse, no graphics, certainly no animations, and no external speakers.

I'm surprised no one in the tech industry has thought to produce a line of equipment and software in a low-cost, minimal extras format.  I'm thinking something equivalent to the arrival of the Volkswagen bug in the 1950s-60s: that revolutionized (and darn near destroyed) the old U.S. auto industry.  Somebody with smarts could do something similar with personal computers and take down both Microsoft and Google, and we'd probably all be a lot happier.

[XAIDNROASTSPLAS]

Yeah chrome will make it even worse so I would use internet explorer at that point

[Jemby51]

I went with DuckDuckGo on my laptop after Chrome "disappeared" all my shortcuts, and the "Customize" option.