Linux Mint Forums

Greetings all;

As I've only been using Linux Mint for around six months, I'm still very green - so please forgive any shortcomings on my part.

I really regret upgrading to 18.3 from 18.2 mainly due to the fact that 18.3 updated Firefox to the latest version (Quantum) - which is shtie (anag). This being the case, I completely removed FF Quantum and installed an earlier FF version which I'd used previously (V 45.0.1) which (for Mint 18.2) worked absolutely fine - especially as it ran all of the extensions which I required for the browser.

However now when I open FF it loads up as it should, but whilst trying to navigate through sites the browser starts to slow down until it freezes. As the hard drive light is flashing constantly - it looks like the memory is being sapped to the point whereupon the system then accesses the swap file continuously - at this point I have to use the terminal "killall Firefox" to close the program. In addition to this, I've also noticed that the update manager shield icon changes from blue to a red cross after shut down of FF - maybe a coincidence?

Unfortunately the system back up I "thought" I'd performed didn't work so I cannot revert back to 18.2. Can anyone offer any constructive advice and methods on how to address the above?

Please advise

Cheers

Chris D

Using an old version of a browser is never a good idea. What I did was replace the standard version of Firefox with the ESR version, using the instructions found at the link below. The instructions seem hard, but in reality it was very easy. Of course this is only a temporary solution as the ESR version will be bumped up to version 60 (I think) sometime around Aug 2018. You may want to consider another browser, in which case I would suggest either Pale Moon or Waterfox.

viewtopic.php?p=1053056#p1053056

All Linux Mint versions have the same Firefox version. Right now that is 57.0.3. Going back to 18.2 won't make a bit of difference. I would offer you have to make a different choice: either learn to live with Firefox 57+ or switch to another web browser. Especially your Firefox 45 is an extremely bad idea—Firefox updates include the fixes for security bugs, which means such an old Firefox version has a lot of security bugs that malware will exploit. (The same goes for those extensions you want to use that have been abandoned by their developers a good while ago...) Stay safe, use an up to date web browser.

Edit: Firefox ESR is a solution for just a month or two more. Firefox 60 is the next ESR so after Firefox 60 is released you can also no longer use Firefox 52 safely.

FF also leaks on my Mate...

Install a session/tab manger to save sessions automatically and simply restart once a day...

Or download and install a ESR version.

No big deal.

xenopeek wrote:
Firefox ESR is a solution for just a month or two more. Firefox 60 is the next ESR so after Firefox 60 is released you can also no longer use Firefox 52 safely.

Firefox ESR 52 will be supported until August so that would give plenty of time to experiment with other browsers, if he so chooses.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/

Thanks Schultz. Didn't know there was that big of an overlap for ESR versions.

I also tried LM 18.3 MATE and was flabbergasted with both the increased memory requirements and FF 57! Firefox has been going downhill for years and what used to be the best browser for the web has now become one of the worst bloatware browsers. I will continue using old versions of FF until I can find and test a "good" alternative. I refuse to be "forced" to upgrade and lose my freedom of choice, which is what Linux is supposed to be all about. Period.

rbeltz48 wrote:
I will continue using old versions of FF until I can find and test a "good" alternative. I refuse to be "forced" to upgrade and lose my freedom of choice, which is what Linux is supposed to be all about. Period.

I would humbly suggest then that you at least use the ESR version so that you would be using a browser that has patched it's security flaws.
BTW, I agree that FF has been going downhill, for quite a while now.

rbeltz48 wrote: I refuse to be "forced" to upgrade and lose my freedom of choice, which is what Linux is supposed to be all about. Period.

Oh, no worries, you are free to stick with old, unsupported versions and leave your system wide open to security risks. Just don't expect people here to tell you how to do this.

Schultz wrote:

rbeltz48 wrote:
I agree that FF has been going downhill, for quite a while now.

The morons even shipped the latest release with a pre-installed hidden extension (Looking Glass 1.0.3).

Another option to continue reckless behavior is to run old FF from Docker.

Pale Moon.
Just export/import your bookmarks.

Palemoon is the best option for now if you want a FF experience, i use it in arch and linux mint. i personally gave up on firefox and use chrome but have many extensions for privacy and i block google phone home with a etc/hosts

trytip wrote:Palemoon is the best option for now if you want a FF experience

Pale Moon is indeed great and so is Waterfox.

Many thanks for the responses and points taken.

I've used Palemoon on Windows and found it okay - but never thought to use in on Linux. Also, I've never heard of Waterfox - Reckon I'll give that a dose of looking at.

I've also got Chrome installed but (to my mind) it lacks the extension functionality of FF. Anyway, In the meantime - I'll ditch Firefox accordingly.

Cheers all

Chris D