Netscape Browser 8.1 released

[Fulvio]

I was very happy with Netscape8.0.X and its many great features, like passcards, individual on-the-fly site security.

I switched to Seamonkey with IETab, and set it as my default.

Now, I try out Netscape 8.1, and it is painfully slow. I do not remember it being s-o-o slow. I have not changed my profile or anything else. I just installed it on top of 8.0.4.

Any advice?

Richard,
I have had the same experiences which you had. I guess, take or leave it. I will keep it for the heck of it.
By the way, I decided to scan all my files. About half of the total were scanned. It took about 40 min. Considering that the early AOL AntiSpyware took 2 hrs., and had to keep the browser open, it is pretty good. I will have to compare it with the Microsoft AntiSpyware. The Netscape AntiSpyware found 3 items.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) Netscape/8.1

[stevemf50]

Everything in the new netscape seems to work OK Except, when I try to run a full scan and hit the button netscape shuts down. This only happens when I try to run a full scan. Has anyone else had this same problem, I installed 8.1 on my laptop and it scans and seems to run fine.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060111 Netscape/8.1

[Antony]

I was being told by Sailfish in Netscape Community that there's a new feature to undo tab close.


Fantasitic new feature. I hope Firefox and our beloved Safari can implement this feature.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060111 Netscape/8.1

[minnetonka]

Have been using NS 7.2, but several days ago we lost our email and in the browser I couldn't get the personal toolbar back, plus all the bookmarks were gone.

I've downloaded Thunderbird once I read that the new Netscape version doesn't have the email function any more. I'd like to try the new Netscape, but I don't want to use their built-in anti-spyware utility (PestPatrol? which I already have installed and Spywatch).

My preference would be to use NS 7.2, but even after using a registery cleaner and reinstalling, I can't drop links on the personal toolbar. I'll try this question out on another forum--

I've used the SillyDog streamlined browsers in the past, and maybe I just need to wait 8.1 out for a version that has more options to streamline or a SillyDog version that isn't so bloated?

I see that that media player and ani-virus are options, but couldn't tell if the anti-spyware feature can be disabled.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

[Fulvio]

I don't know if I understand your NS7.2 issues, but it seems to me that you may have a profile issue. If you don't see any bookmarks when you select Bookmarks|Manage bookmarks, it means to me that you are not pointing to the correct folder. And, when that is combined with Mail loss, it seems again like a profile problem. Like, did it happen all in a sudden, or what? Where you cleaning up the program or did something to the profile?
But, all this is unclear to me.
Sillydog and other people were able to create streamline versions of 7.1 and earlier. But, permission was not granted by AOL to do anything about it.
so, if you want the name Netscape, and an unbloated program (or as bloated as you want it), there is Mozilla, and the Seamonkey suite, which are up to date, unlike 7.2. AOL was using Mozilla as a starting point, after all, putting its brand. so, why bother with Netscape?
As for NS8.1, derived in part from Mozilla Firefox plus all the AOL paraphernalia, you will not get much in a way of options. So far, all the evidence which I have is that the AntiSpyware in 8.1 is based on Stopzilla, a good program, but not identical to Pest Patrol. How do I know this?
1.I found a number of stopzilla.com cookies, only in NS8.1. I am using several other mozilla-related browsers, and none had stopzilla.com cookies.
2. Finally, a scan with Adaware brought up 6 spyware items, localted in the Temp files, and in IE cookies. I do not use IE, but they were stopzilla.com. When I quarantined the items, the Antispyware was disabled. At this point, I don't care very much, because Adaware has been known to see things, but it is very suspicious.
I think that you could send a feedback to Netscape, from the Help menu, to make the extras optional.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060126 SeaMonkey/1.5a

[minnetonka]

Fulvio, I think you may be right about the profile issue, but I deleted so many files and folders, anything I could have salvaged is gone now--or maybe not since all my efforts to delete the original NS 7.2 did not prevent it from reinstalling portions of the old verison--which I promptly uninstalled again in frustration. I think I'd better search for some old profiles to see if they are still around--it's the email that is most upsetting.

My husband called me at work to say he'd gotten a message that the CPU fan failed and to shut down immediately. He did, but then rebooted and that's when he told me the personal toolbar was gone. We've got a new fan now, but I never was able to even recreate a new personal toolbar.

Fortunately, I'd already been using Firefox intermittently and so with your information and the amount of control available, I think I'll stick with Firefox and Thunderbird. I tried Opera this afternoon, but it's too different to spend the time trying to change old habits.

VERY good detective work on your part to track down the Stopzilla connection! As for AOL--it figures they would shoot themselves in the foot by restricting SillyDog from streamlining their browser. Above all, that does it for me!

Anyway, you are right about the Netscape name--it's the Mozilla-based browser I want and while I'd use anything over IE, I know Firefox is a more consumer-based product than anything cluttered up by AOL. Thanks for the information, and for my own interest, I'll look into the Profile issue.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

[ColdFusion650]

does netscape 8.1 support chrome.manifest?

UserAgent: Firefox/1.5 (Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/2006012

[richard mitnick]

Especially to Fulvio-

Hey, Dude, how are you?

I now have 8.1 running basically the way I want. Here is what happened, and, BTW, on both of my computers exactly the same experience:

I installed over top of 8.0.4, you know, kept my profile, etc. It ran like a rat. It would not function at all on my test web site, my ISP's web mail, where 8.0.4 had been really good and crisp and fast.

I uninstalled, kept my profile, got a new install from setup, but kept my profile- again, this is on two machines. Again, it ran like a rat.

So, I uninstalled everything, and started from scratch, new profile, you know, I re-did ALL of my passcards, pure torcher. Re-did all of my site security configurations for each site- more torcher.I got my bookmarks from Seamonkey, my default. I did a deminimus coinfiguration of the general security settings in Tools|Options, because I do not need any of it.

Now, it runs just fine, except it does not launch fine. A couple of times I launched it and it just sat there with the hourglass. I had to kill the launch and re-launch. I wonder what that is about?

And, BTW, someone above said that it is 18megs, as vs 13 megs for 8.0.4. I checked my installation and, after configuring everything, it is 29 megs. So, like, is 18 megs the install with no bookmarks and so settings, etc?

I hope you are well.

::RSM

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060111 Netscape/8.1

[Fulvio]

Hi there,
if someone has dialup the difference in the setup file sizr does matter, but the program, as installed, will vary in size because of the plugins, and then you will have to add the profile, which is very much personal data. In other words what is on the hard drive will differ from user to user.
So, my Netscape Browser folder in the Program Filrs|Netscape is 27.7 MB. And, my Profile is about 5.7 MB.
Now the important question. How do rats run? What species are talking about. since, fortunately, I have not seen any such critters, in a while, I can't compare them with NS8.1. But, my NS8.1 is doing ok. I would not use it, in preference to any Firefox, but it is not so bad. Will I keep it? May be, or may be not. There is a limit to what one can look at, and be fair.
I just don't believe that it was properly tested.
fp

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7

[richard mitnick]

Fulvio-

So, here is the problem, the conundrum, as I see it:

These guys, all of them, Netscape, Mozilla Corp, maybe Seamonkey conmunity, ship new versions, and we have to take them or leave them. We need to take them, because we need the security upgrades that they always include. But when we take them, we get them with things broken, extensions, etc, that we really like.

So, we are stuck. I am very big into Public Radio, and one of our favorite sayings is that it is public, but it is not free. Well, the same is true of "free software": There is a constant cost in aggravation, down time, lost work hours, lost data- it *ain't free*.

I mentioned Seamonkey above. I am running 1.0beta as my default. It is solid as a rock, light, fast, a couple features I love that are not present in Firefox 1.5. But, who knows what damage they will do? There is a 1.5 alpha. When it goes to beta, I may go there. I may have to go there. It may suck for me. Who knows. That is the problem, and that is the reason I want Netscape to work for me. It is heavier, slower, but it does all of what I want and more.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060111 Netscape/8.1

[James]

Interesting discussion. Like Fulvio, I also have retained the NS 8.1 browser but I don't run it much simply because it has crashed on me too many times and my frustration level was reached.

Now... here is another consideration: Opera. It's fast... very fast. It's reasonably light on resources. It is a suite and is safe and stable. The fact is, it has yet to crach on me. In fact, I have the Pin Ball skin on right now and it's hard to tell it from Mozilla.

UserAgent: Opera/9.0 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)

[richard mitnick]

James-

I had tried Opera. For a brief period, I was one of these browser junkies, trying to figure out life. Then I went into browser rehab.

But, before I went cold turkey and cut down to four browsers, I installed Opera as soon as it went free. I have two sites which I use as tests, and any browser that will work for me will run these two sites. One is my ISP's web mail, the other is a music site. The music site was out because it is designed for I.E. and uses ActiveX. I could have gotten past that because I have no problem running IE. But the web mail site, Opera just failed miserably. It would not perform on Reply, Forward, or Compose. This web mail site runs fine on I.E., Firefox, Mozilla, Seamonkey and Netscape in either engine. And, I use this site all day at work to check email and play with these guys. I will come back to Opera from time to time, just to see if anything has changed.

Thanks very much for your input and your suggestion. This forum can be and has been a lifesaver. With folks like Anthony, and cool dudes like Fulvio, you know, it is a great safety net.

Best,

::RSM

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20060111 Netscape/8.1

[DLWilson61]

I installed Netscape 8.1 on 2 of my computers and have had nothing but problems with it. Every time I would start up NS it would take several minutes to load and then I would get a run time error wanting to shut down the browser. I contacted NS and they said my operating system was corrupt. Unlikely as it sounded that both machines would be faulty I had one checked out ant Windows XP varified as not corrupt. Still got the error. I had to go back to NS 8.0.4 which gives me no problems what so ever.

Anyone else having a similar problem or know how to resolve the situation???

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20051012 Netscape/8.0.4

[J-M]

I was being told by Sailfish in Netscape Community that there's a new feature to undo tab close.

In fact, this was listed at Netscape 8.1 Release Notes page and mentioned at Joji Ikeda's first posting at this thread.

(http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/support/relnotes.jsp )

But without a screenshot it is hard to find this new feature. This is really cool. I have been using this in Firefox via SnapBack Tab feature included to SessionSaver extension about one year (and am very satisfied).

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; fi-FI; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050919 Firefox/1.0.7

[Antony]

I was being told by Sailfish in Netscape Community that there's a new feature to undo tab close.

In fact, this was listed at Netscape 8.1 Release Notes page and mentioned at Joji Ikeda's first posting at this thread.

I noticed it was mentioned in the Release Notes after I was being told. I did not read it careful at first time.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051229 Camino/1.0b2