Why do browser authors overcomplicate config files?

[Rekrul]

To address the thing that EVERYONE is going to fixate on; Yes, I'm using a really old version of Firefox. I do so because I don't like the changes Mozilla made to the later versions and the last time I tried to update to anything newer, it screwed up royally. Also new versions (the ones I can still run) conflict with my firewall software and randomly cause my system to blue screen for no apparent reason. In any case, I've looked at newer browser versions and they generally suffer from the same problem that's annoying me today.

Also, yes, this is more of a rant than a question, although I wouldn't mind hearing people's opinions on the subject.

Today I opened a ton of tabs on one Tumblr site. I know from experience that this can cause Firefox to slow to a crawl/freeze and even crash because this version lacks the option to not load a tab before you switch to it. At least not that I know of. Worried that it might crash, I decided to save my session using the Session Manager add-on. Sure enough, it crashed not long after. I reloaded Firefox, told it to restore the tabs and wandered off to do something else as I knew it would take forever and a day to reload them all. When I came back, Firefox was frozen. Even though it loaded all those tabs once, it's now apparently more than it can handle.

So be it, that's the consequence of using an old version. At least it doesn't cause my firewall to instantly blue screen the system, like the newer versions do.

Anyway, I figured I'd just find the saved session file, open it and pull the URLs out of it. Yes, I was deluded. I should have known that the author wouldn't have made things as simple as just saving the URLs in an easy to find file. There's nothing obvious in the profile directory. The only session files I can find are labeled as being from TabMix. OK, maybe they're the files I'm looking for. Do they contain the name of the site that I was on? Yes. Do they also contain the names of sites that I haven't visited in almost a decade? Of course they do! Are they full of URLs for sites that I haven't visited in months? Yup!

OK, so maybe each one contains all the sessions I've saved. Do they contain the session I saved the other day? Well, two of them do. Do they also contain old crap that I've long forgotten about? Sure do!

ARGH!!! Why isn't each session saved to an individual file? Why does every file contain a random mix of old and new URLs? Why do they contain URLs that I never saved? Are these even the Session Manager files???

I can't find any other files in Documents and Settings with "session" in their name. I can't find anything named "session" related to FIrefox in the Program Files directory. There's nothing in the registry as far as I can see. So where the is the Session Manager storing its information, and why didn't the author include the option to export the list of saved URLs to a text file? Oh, I know the answer to that; It would have made things too easy!

It's not just add-ons either. Fiorefox, Pale Moon and every other browser splits up their configuration files into cryptically named parts. If I were writing a brower and it had the option to save passwords, I'd save them to an encrypted file named "Passwords". Does such a file exist in the Firefox profile directory? Of course not. I don't even remember what's it's called now, but I remember that you needed two different files to make it work. Is there just one file for saved cookies? Can elephants fly? Change a setting for a particular web site? That's stored across 2-3 different files. WHY???

Why don't browser (and extension) authors use simple, intuitively named files and store everything in nice, concise files? Why must everything be overly complicated and hidden?

[LIMPET235]

Moving to Firefox General, as support does not seem to be required...

[Rekrul]

Moving to Firefox General, as support does not seem to be required...

Sorry, I wasn't really looking at the forums names.

As an addition to what I posted, can I just say that I really, REALLY appreciate the fact that the whole damn internet has been scrubbed of any add-ons that might work with my old version, and that the "old versions" link on the add-on pages goes back a whopping 2-3 months! I'm so glad the choice to find add-ons that might work for me has been eliminated. Thank you.

EDIT:

It's been so long since I've installed most of my extensions that I don't remember the details of them. I though Session Manager was a separate extension, but apparently it's part of Tab Mix Plus because if I disable that extension, Session Manager goes away. So the TabMix session files are the stored sessions. Now the question is why none of them contain just what I've saved and why they contain tons of crap that I never saved mixed in with the stuff that I DID save.

[the-edmeister]

As an addition to what I posted, can I just say that I really, REALLY appreciate the fact that the whole damn internet has been scrubbed of any add-ons that might work with my old version, and that the "old versions" link on the add-on pages goes back a whopping 2-3 months! I'm so glad the choice to find add-ons that might work for me has been eliminated. Thank you.

Catalog of classic Firefox add-ons created before WebExtensions apocalypse:
https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive


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[kerft]

Some legacy extensions are on http://legacycollector.org/ but generally ones that work with Firefox 52, not 13. If you switch brands of firewall, maybe you would be able to use Firefox 52.9.0. For security, Linux might help you instead of XP. There are lots of Linux browsers to choose from, some that are quite primitive.

[Rekrul]

Some legacy extensions are on http://legacycollector.org/ but generally ones that work with Firefox 52, not 13. If you switch brands of firewall, maybe you would be able to use Firefox 52.9.0.

I've though about switching firewalls, but every one I look at seems bloated with extra features, and/or they don't look as easy to use. I'm using Kerio Personal Firewall, 2.1.5, which is the last free version. Making or editing rules for programs is easy and it even warns me if an executable file has been changed, when it tries to access the net.

Are there any other firewall programs that are easy to use and that are JUST a firewall, rather than a "security suite"? I like Kerio because it's easy to use, lightweight and doesn't try to be anything else other than a firewall.

Originally, I had planned to switch to Pale Moon, but that conflicts with Kerio as well. Not all the time, just at random. Although it seems more likely to cause a blue screen if I open a large number of tabs.

Even that is no longer viable on all web sites. The last version that I can use no longer works with Google's reCAPTCHA, which naturally is the choice of about 99% of web sites that use a captcha. For that, I installed the last version of Opera to work on XP. Of course Opera refuses to load about half the sites that I actually want to use it on, claiming it can't establish a secure connection.

Honestly, I have more aggravation from web browsers and web sites trying to force me to use the latest browser versions than anything else I do with my computer.

For security, Linux might help you instead of XP. There are lots of Linux browsers to choose from, some that are quite primitive.

I've looked at Linux and for its alleged ease of use, I couldn't figure out how to do anything in it. I booted the disc, got dropped at a desktop like environment and that was as far as I got.

At some point, I plan to upgrade, I just really can't spare the money now. Windows seems the obvious choice as it has the most software support, but I absolutely hate the lack of user choice and the privacy violations built into Windows 10, don't like Windows 8 at all, and Microsoft is doing its best to kill off Windows 7. So the future of Windows looks kind of bleak for me. Linux doesn't have as much commercial support and I have no idea how to do anything with it.

Anyway, I did find a work-around for my problem of the saved session freezing Firefox. I blocked the tumblr site with my Hosts file so when I restored the saved session, I got 200 "Unable to connect" tabs, which popped up almost instantly. Once I deleted the Hosts entry, I could manually reload each tab as needed.

[kerft]

I can't suggest a firewall for XP, I heard of Comodo but I don't know if it is good.
Lightweight or Windows-like Linux that are often suggested to users with old computers or former windows users are IMO not so great. A lot of Linux users use Ubuntu or Kubuntu, and either of those give a polished consistent interface and access to many thousands of packages (programs). Your computer would have to have a 64-bit processor to run the latest versions of them, and at least 2GB of ram, 4GB or more is better. Ubuntu puts a Firefox icon on the left, Rhythmbox for music, and an icon for "Ubuntu Software" which is a graphical software installer / package manager. Commercial support? Steam is converting more games to run on Linux, they have an icon on their steam page if they run on Linux. There are free programs similar to most popular windows software- Libreoffice for word processing, dozens of browsers, gimp or Pixlr for photo editing. It used to be you couldn't run tax software, but now most tax software providers have a web only version.

[mightyglydd]

Do you actually use Linux?
Those are among the most resource hungry Distros you could use with an 'old computer' !
I won't bother to recommend ones that work well as obviously the OP has no intention of changing

[Frank Lion]

Why don't browser (and extension) authors use simple, intuitively named files and store everything in nice, concise files?

Well, they are not likely to learn the art of being concise from you, are they now?

[James]

A lot of Linux users use Ubuntu or Kubuntu, and either of those give a polished consistent interface and access to many thousands of packages (programs). Your computer would have to have a 64-bit processor to run the latest versions of them, and at least 2GB of ram, 4GB or more is better.

The OP is using a 32-bit system and not 64-bit.

There are still some 32-bit Linux distros around and if you are going to suggest a flavour of Ubuntu then Lubuntu or even Xubuntu would be FAR better over Ubuntu (using Gnome 3) and Kubuntu (using KDE) for old systems with less RAM.

Firefox 52.9.0esr was the last version to still run on Windows XP and Vista.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/en ... -and-vista

[Brummelchen]

any issues are not website-based, they are cause by v13. it does not matter which oudated extension he like to add. v13 is beyond evil and bad.

[earther]

Devuan (Debian fork) has 32 bit isos and many of the Devuan derivatives are also 32 bit and very light.

[Brummelchen]

yes, this is more of a rant than a question

...

[DanRaisch]

Also, yes, this is more of a rant than a question, although I wouldn't mind hearing people's opinions on the subject.

I think we've heard enough opinions on the subject. Locking this as non-productive.