Honestly it doesn't feel any different than Firefox. The only con really is juggling with the fact that older add-ons do not get updated. Which in essence, renders this whole ordeal moot. The rest is all personal like I've used the FT Deep Dark theme for years, probably since it's inception and that's a real pain to leave behind. I don't know what the future of Waterfox will be, maybe it will get better, maybe not.

All I know is that whether I keep using it as the main browser or not is irrelevant to me. I will always keep it as a secondary browser, if I switch back to FF, for tools like Burp Suite and what not. It's great that Waterfox has it's own profile folder, compared to using 2 different versions of Firefox can be very problematic and a pain to set up.

I have like 5 web browsers installed and each have a use XD

EDIT: Hold on... Tor, Vivaldi, Chomium, SR Ware Iron, Firefox Quantum, Firefox 52 ESR, Waterfox. If I'm not leaving any behind, that's 7 browsers XD

Yeah, there is a "split" - some of them are ok, some of them discontinued their legacy version.

I've just checked a few, the most "crucial" legacy ones:

- Tab Mix Plus v0.5.5.0, released 2018-08-29
- NoScript v5.1.9, released 2018-10-06
- UBlock Origin v1.16.4.4, released 2018-07-18

It seems that these are still "in shape", but many others (smaller) probably are not. :/

BTW: I've just found this: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/08/21/196225/mozilla-to-remove-legacy-firefox-add-ons-from-add-on-portal-in-early-october

That's REALLY BAD... :( I need to download all legacy extension I used, ASAP. :/

Use Palemoon, it support most of the Firefox 52 addons.
It same as old Firefox, but not abandoned and secure browser.
Tab Mix Plus, DownThemAll, FlashGot,ChmFox, UnMHT, NoScript, Adblock Latitude, ScrapBook - all addons works flawlessly.
Tab Mix Plus have native Palemoon version.

If you still need Firefox-style interface, then you can use Basilisk. It is same as pre-Quantum firefox but with Palemoon codebase (all applicable security patches from Gecko/62, etc). Waterfox is dead and will be unsecured There was xpi plugin (30Mb) for Firefox with archive of all extensions

A release on Oct 9th and the project is dead? Sources plz ty.
https://blog.waterfoxproject.org/

What do you mean by "dead"? Last version with security fixes was released just a few days ago.

On the contrary, I've read some not optimistic opinions about Pale Moon you mentioned, like it is based on a very old Firefox code and this makes security patches harder.

You mean that I can somehow download them all as one file?

Oops. My mistake, I confused it with Cyberfox.
So, Cyberfox is dead, Waterfox is not.
It's hard times for all Firefox forks now, but Palemoon is more independent, MHO.
Have own layout engine, etc. Palemoon won't give up so fast and have some chances to survive in this new Quantum world..
Waterfox is not so unique, "Firefox 56 with telemetry off", as some people say.
I's not, but it will became Quantum (with Servo or Rust) someday or will be dead, MHO. It have very custom engine, MHO. Very classic look, but even UI is not based on Austalis (pre-Quantum UI).
I think these rumors are due to the classic interface.

It not a best solution if you need netflix, youtube, Full-HD streaming, webRTC, etc. (high CPU usage or not supported)
But Waterfox is not much better for that too. If you use software like steamlink, VLC, etc it is not a such big problem.

Palemoon also is buggy a bit, especially his UI. But, in the last revisions it was fixed. It seems to be stable now Yes, but I can't find this addon anymore. =(
You can download legaty extensions on github:
_https://github.com/TarekJor/Firefox-52-ESR-legacy-addon/tree/master/xpi

Palemoon and Basilisk have xpi version check disabled for Firefox addons, so they can be installed.

Nowadays you can't have only one browser good for everything, so I use these ones:

Pale Moon (portable installation), as my main browser for almost 4 years now and I'm happy with it.

Opera (portable installation), mostly for youtube and GOG.

Firefox Quantum (normal installation), mostly for important sites that I have to login into (email accounts, payments sites, banks, e-shops, etc)

Firefox ESR (portable installation), rarely using this one, mainly when some add-ons are not working in Pale Moon.

TBH, I do not need something "unique" - I just need Firefox with support for legacy extensions :D

Is it possible to support two types of extensions (legacy and Quantum-like) at the same time?
Maybe this could be good solution for "the problem".

I've found this info:
https://blog.waterfoxproject.org/waterfox-56.2.4-release-download That last sentence! :D

Info from Waterfox forum: this backup has size of (at least) 60GB.

I also think so
Pale Moon (portable installation), as my main browser. It works fine for GOG too.
UCWeb for twitch VODs (low CPU usage and video-in-window feature)
Firefox Quantum for important sites.
Chatty+streamlink+GUI for Twitch.
and I watch YouTube very rarely, so any browser is Ok. Cent Browser (chrome) or Yandex Browser (chrome) is the best for youtube, MHO. They have video-in-window feature and have actual Chromium engine

Well, that's not really good for me. :D
I need "other Firefox" because I would like to use it like I used to do and it was enough for me. :D

You two do not seem to "trust enough" any other browser?

Not for security reason. Palemoon is most secured, I believe (even don't have WebRTC). Other browsers (except Quantum, Palemoon included) can have some compatibility issues. Chrome is now "standard de-facto" for web, you know.. and Quantum is more close to Chrome but still Firefox.
Sometimes I need WebRTC and Netflix. Palemoon not support it.
UCWeb is Okay, but it collecting private info for aliexpress and have very outdated Chromium engine.
Yandex Browser is not private enough too and don't support many of Chrome extensions.
Quantum also have very convenient feature "send tab to mobile" and sync with mobile Firefox. I like mobile Firefox for Ublock support, so I use Quantum on PC a lot too.
Firefox Quantum is private and secured enough. Not as much as Waterfox and Palemoon but I don't care

I guess your solution at the moment is to try out Pale Moon and Waterfox (portable installations) and see what suits you best.


I do trust Pale Moon and Opera, but the thing is that I have many tabs opened in them, but when I login in some important site, I prefer to do it in a freshly opened browser, with cleaned history, no cookies, no other tabs, etc. So using Quantum seem the perfect candidate in this situation, plus it gets updated frequently.

Maybe this is stupid question, but... how does exactly portable version work here in case of browser?

I got used to fact that if I downloaded portable version of some application it was smaller zipped file. Such application could have been unpacked even to external USB drive and didn't use any Windows registry entries.

I tried to download portable Waterfox but it was still some exe file and it was even bigger than normal setup exe, so I'm a little confused. Tagging you as well to help answer my above question because you had some experience with Waterfox.

Right, some developers make portable versions of their softwares and they are usually available in archives (zip etc) or .exe, though some like the ones I'm about to share, use an installer, but the end result is still a portable application. The larger size could simply be due to the compression used or the way the application is packaged required a bit more data. It's case specific so I can't give a definitive answer.

PortableApps has been around for years and offers a great collection of apps turned portable. See here:
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
(I use their packages on a USB key I bring everywhere so I never have to deal with other peoples stuff etc.)

And now for the unnecessary extra info:

Some applications require some tinkering to go portable. You can use special software that allows you to package them, but it's a tedious process. Numerous tasks like hijacking registry edits from the installers and what not to recreate an environment where the application thinks it's installed (think of it like the people that package Photoshop to be portable for example). I ventured in that world once but gave up on it, too much work. XD

So in the case of FirefoxPortable from PortableApps, you'll have all the folders you would find i.e. on /user/AppData/Mozilla in the FirefoxPortable's folder. (See attached image) So it will never interfere with the installation you have on your machine etc. If you simply took your Firefox install and moved the folder to a usb key, it would still look into ~/AppData/... for it's profile etc.

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Sorry this post is a bit all over the place but I'm brain ded atm XD

EDIT: Sorry I wrote so much, basically that Waterfox.paf.exe file is like the FirefoxPortable installer from PortableApps. I hate when I take the long route to explain something -_-

My old version of Firefox is good enough, with the exception of GOG...but that's their fault. And if I had to choose between GOG and my Firefox, I will always choose the latter and never visit this website (non-forum) again. Well, that's pretty much already what is happening now.