Google Chrome: Is It Just Me?

Being that I am a techy-geeky-sort, I often play with new technology, either to see what it can do, because I'm interested, because it's hyped or because something about it caught my eye.

I am a devout user of Mozilla Firefox.  Have been for several years, and usually when I install a new system, the first thing I do is download and install it so I don't have to use Internet Explorer.  However, being that I use several Google products (Earth, Reader, Gmail, Blogger) I often see these sites or programs suggesting I try Chrome.

Now, when it first came out, I downloaded it and had a play.  Being that it was new software, it didn't really do all the things I wanted it to do.  No, correction.  It wasn't Firefox with all it's fancy extensions/add-ons, and I didn't like it.  Mainly, I didn't like having to see Ads, and I didn't like not having Mouse Gestures.

Never mind, I thought, they'll come with time.

A while later, I heard there was an adblocker for Chrome, downloaded, installed and hunted down the adblocker.  Turns out it was a third party program, and being that I hate clutter and like things neat and tidy, it annoyed me too much.  And the Mouse Gesture addon wasn't customisable, and used different gestures.  So I again removed it.

A couple of weeks ago, I read that Adblock - the extension I use on Firefox - was now on Chrome.  Excellent stuff.  And, even better, there was a customisable mouse gesture addon.  So, I downloaded, installed the browser and the addons, and off I went.

I spend a LOT of time on the internet.  If I am on my laptop, invariably, I am on the net.  Even if I am watching a movie or something, I've got my email open.  Even if I am playing a game, I am flicking to my mail or whatever.  I switched my default browser to Chrome so I didn't cheat while playing around online.

It IS quite good.  I don't believe it's faster - or, at least, noticeably faster - than Firefox, regardless of bench tests done by proper tech people.  A few microseconds here, or half a second there is just not noticeable to normal people.  The options windows are limited, and while I often like to go into Option Menus and fiddle till I break something, there just isn't that much to fiddle with.  OK, so minimal is good for some, but I like to customise as much as I can.  I hate the download bar across the entire width of the window, and hate even more that it sits there until you shoot it in the face.

The Adblock extension is quite handy, but for some reason, I find myself seeing ads that I just don't see on Firefox.  I don't know if Chrome processes them differently, or if it's just not exactly the same as the Firefox version, but it's irritating.

Those of you on Blogger, I don't know if you've seen these, but when you publish a post, on the right of the screen you'll get some reference to Chrome... Blog Faster, Blog Side by Side, do this, do that.  Well, I've tried these, and honestly, I can't tell a difference.

I can't tell you exactly what it is that is annoying me so much with Chrome, only that it IS annoying me.  For some reason, I also couldn't copy & paste from one tab to another. NO idea if that was a bug, or something I had somehow triggered with changing options, but I don't get it.  And the spell checker also seemed very hit-and-miss for me.  I'd see a word underlined in red, right click it, select the word I wanted and... The whole word vanished.  Very strange.

It got to the point where I had to open Firefox in order to do what I wanted to do.  When I went from Opera to Firefox, I switched and never went back.  When I went from Internet Explorer to Opera, again, I switched and never went back.  This is my third attempt at using Chrome, and it just seems like we're destined to not get on.  Even when I got Chrome to pretty much how I wanted it, I still had to resort to opening Firefox...

Who knows, in the coming days/weeks/months/years, it might get to a point where it IS better than Firefox, works better and does more things, but until then, Firefox is my favourite , and will remain installed and used and a regular basis.

Newer Post Older Post

2 Responses to “Google Chrome: Is It Just Me?”

Fi from Four Paws and Whiskers said...

and now I use Flock as a browser and feel lost when I don't have access to it...
similar to Mozilla F... but I can't handle Mozilla anymore.
Strangely, I occasionally use the new Explorer - it is not as bad as it used to be!

Adullamite said...

I sometimes use Chrome. I have just added the AD blocker, and it blocks Google ads as well as others! I wonder if they realise? :)
While it loads faster at the beginning it does not run much faster, barely noticeable.
The layout on Firefox is easier to use in my humble opinion, I find the Chrome one annoying in some ways.
However, as Pipex, or is it Tiscali now, have 'improved' the exchange the downloads are slower than before and not even Chrome can help there!