Waterfox as Browser

krs


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I would like to try Waterfox as my default browser instead of Firefox.
One reason is that the "DownThemAll" capability still works in Waterdfox whereas it broke in Firefox with one of their updates.

I have used Waterfox before with no problem, but now I want to do a complete new install so that I can import all my settings, bookmarks etc from Firefox.
Turns out that just trashing the Waterfox application is not enough, chdecking google I see a recommendation to use MacRemover to remove all the bits and pieces of Waterfox in various places on the Mac.

Is anyone using MacRemover?
I never heard of it before and I want to make reasonably sure it doesn't screw up my Mac if I use it to get rid of all Waterfox files and install Waterfox again completely new.
 

Raz0rEdge

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Don't know about MacRemover, but try AppCleaner instead.
 
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I have used AppCleaner.app but not MacRemover.app, but found with just a small extra amount of work that Find Any File.app (FAF) actually worked better and found all bits and pieces.
http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/index.php








- Patrick
======
 

Rod


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Aha, the manual method. I used AppTrap myself, that used to work for me but these days I mostly use CleanMyMac3 for complete app removal. Not sure how well AppTrap actually works with Mojave although it did update at the macOS upgrade.
 
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krs

krs


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I copied Patrick's post here:

To get the import to work properly, I had to Trash the install Waterfox.app then open the .dmg installer again, and then open the Firefox.app icon that gets created while it's in the window And before driving it to the suggested Applications folder.

And then gives you an option of what you want to import.

I found the bookmarks got imported but not where I was expecting them, and most of the login and passwords to various sites such as mac-forums and some others didn't work without manually logging in.
But not even that was a easy as I had to Re-login AND change my password to get in, and then had to change my password the second time back to what I wanted and use normally, And then I had to do the same thing with Chrome. I guess some thing thought it had been changed again. All a bit of a PITA actually just to try it running Waterfox which is not working out as well as I expected or led to believe.

Not exactly impressed and leaves me questioning the whole application.

Also some extension and plug-ins I would like to use are not available or don't work properly, even if they say they do.

BTW: In this case I am running Mavericks 10.9.5.

I'm also using Chrome at the present time in order to get some work done and will look into maybe trying and using Waterfox again sometime later.

I used AppCleaner to get rid of all Waterfox installed bits and pieces.

Then downloaded Waterfox and imported everything that was offered.

Just started using it - and so far so good.
But I should know more in a few days to see how it compares to Firefox.
BTW - I'm using El Capitan as my macOS right now.

Waterfox Import.jpg
 
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krs

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My comments related to what Patrick posted about Waterfox:

To get the import to work properly, I had to Trash the install Waterfox.app then open the .dmg installer again, and then open the Firefox.app icon that gets created while it's in the window And before driving it to the suggested Applications folder.

I had an easier time -
Once I got rid of all the old bits and pieces of Waterfox, I just downloaded the app and imported everything they offered.

I found the bookmarks got imported but not where I was expecting them, and most of the login and passwords to various sites such as mac-forums and some others didn't work without manually logging in.

From what I can tell so far, all the bookmarks and also the bookmark bar were where I expected them.
Login and passwords for some sites worked with user name and password automatically populated, including the mac-forum and other forum sites - however none of the financial institutions had the user name filled in (or the password where I had it set up that way).
Also in one forum where I had changed the background colour, Waterfox went back to the default rather than the one I had chosen and the one Firefox brings up automatically.

But not even that was a easy as I had to Re-login AND change my password to get in, and then had to change my password the second time back to what I wanted and use normally, And then I had to do the same thing with Chrome. I guess some thing thought it had been changed again. All a bit of a PITA actually just to try it running Waterfox which is not working out as well as I expected or led to believe.

I decided not to re-login or change any of my passwords to accommodate Waterfox.
It's possibly on purpose that none of the user ID's etc on financial sites are automatically filled in.

Not exactly impressed and leaves me questioning the whole application.
I agree, I would have expected the switch from FireFox to WaterFox to be more transparent

Also some extension and plug-ins I would like to use are not available or don't work properly, even if they say they do.
Can't comment on that; I only use two Firefox plug-ins and they work.

My main reason for looking at Waterfox is because it still supports DownThemAll which broke in Firefox.
So I will use Waterfox just for that functionality and keep FireFox as my default browser for now.

BTW: In this case I am running Mavericks 10.9.5.

I'm also using Chrome at the present time in order to get some work done and will look into maybe trying and using Waterfox again sometime later.
 
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Has anyone gotten Waterfox to work with Mojave? I get a crash report for an EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) and a KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000. Happened ever time I tried to run it. Version 56.2.7.1, which is supposed to be the most recent.
 
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I decided not to re-login or change any of my passwords to accommodate Waterfox.


I wasn't planning to either, except for the one little detail (sarcasm), I couldn't log in to mac-forums automatically when I went back to using my normal Chrome without having to go through the reset its password PITA routine.

I don't know what the relationship was but I gather it must be something on the mac-forums end that may have noticed some sort of change or something. I thought it was rather odd, and certainly not normal.





- Patrick
======
 

Rod


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Jake, I'm sory to hear that. My experience was the same as krs, I did not have a previous installation of Waterfox. I installed via the .dmg from the developers site transferrred everything in the options from Firefox (then default browser) and started using it.
I'm using it now.
Did you ever have it installed in the past? Could there be some remnants mucking up the process?
I feel a bit guilty for promoting it now. I didn't have Patrick's problem with login to Mac Forums either. Just started entering my name and it autofilled the rest including password. Still works as per on Firefox and Chrome although I have logged in to Waterfox although it looks like your'e logging into Mozilla again. That may have made a difference.
 
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Rod, don't worry about it. I've given up on it. Not ready for prime time, so not worth even testing.
 
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krs

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Talking about prime time - I always wondered what possessed people to create more and more different browsers that then end up playing catch up all the time with new OSs.
I used to use iCab for a while, liked it because it indicated if a web site was coded properly or not - but that was when I was more interesting in coding my own.
Then for some sites I use Opera, don't remember how that started.
And when Maxthon was first created, I of course had to try that out.

In the past there were more websites that rendered better with some browsers than with others, but I don't find that this still happens very often.
 
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Talking about prime time - I always wondered what possessed people to create more and more different browsers...

Because it's low-hanging fruit.

Most of the work for creating a new browser is already done, because *all* Web browsers (even Apple's) are based on already existing and free to use open-source code. Mozilla, Chromium, and WebKit are the most commonly used open source Web browser engines.

Web browser companies make their money by serving up Web searches and sites that Google then pays for visiting. So it's easy money for these folks.

The exception is the Epic browser. Google refuses to pay them because they block all ads and all of Google's spyware. Google is trying to strangle them out of existence. Have a look at:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-crushed-a-privacy-browser-2014-11.
 

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