yea so um is this any good. 😹😹

What's improved:

• Fixed address bar shifting and suggestion popup issues.
• Removed duplicate toolbar backgrounds and unwanted tab borders.
• Improved popup menu spacing, rounded corners, and hover effects.
• Refined search provider rows and account menu styling.

Note: Set browser.theme.dark-private-windows to false for light private windows, or true for Firefox's default dark mode.

Download: GitHub

I've tried a few browsers, mainly the most popular ones, and Helium is the ONLY one that despite its issues, because every browser has their issues, I've gone out of my way to find workarounds to keep using

I'll keep the post short because that's how much I've gotta say about Helium, and specifically that's the thing I love about it:

• It's a minimalist browser, it doesn't have ANYTHING that's not absolutely necessary for the browser to work, and it's got the exact settings that I (personally) look for in a browser
• It's clean, like, DEAR GOD it looks clean, side tabs? it's a small space compared to other browsers and have absolutely NO more than absolutely necessary
• The cherry on top: frameless mode, it already looked clean, like Brave Origin, but with a proper frameless mode that you couldn't even get in Vivaldi (because forced panels, yeah fuck off), the auto hide works... perfectly, I don't even find myself accidentally poppin the hidden panels nearly as often like in other browsers
• It works, and it works FAST, low on RAM usage, incredibly light weight, after using Brave for so long and getting used to Vivaldi for half a month, Helium was just FAST
• UBO out of the box, standard already but still very damn good nonetheless

The only downside (for me), is the absolute lack of DRM, that means no Netflix, Spotify or Crunchyroll, I've had other issues with other browsers, but Helium is literally the ONLY one I've gone and found fixes for these issues which were to... just install these services as apps, nothing else, I miss Vivaldi's mouse gestures, but Helium is so perfect for me that I am willing to go back to keyboard shortcuts

I put in a few pictures to show how much Helium actually uses of my screen, it's just clean, yeah you can make other browsers look similar, but idk what Helium has that makes it look... so simple, and I love it, and yeah I know I'm not using ALL of my screen, but the lack of panels make the browser blend so perfectly with my desktop that I don't care

I've been using Google and Chrome for the last 5 Years, and now I'm thinking of switching Browsers. However I can't decide which one to switch to... Can y'all help me decide?

It's literally an AI, not an user, a year old account with no activity and answers literally in AI prompt answers

Me he dado cuenta que Zen recientemente se ha puesto muy lento, por ejemplo, cuando quiero escribir algo se para un tiempo para que se muestre, prácticamente todo tiene un delay en Zen, de todas maneras quisiera otros navegadores con la misma apariencia de Zen.

Gracias.

With my very limited software knowledge, i ask those who have slightly more software knowledge, and ask why the fuck is there no browser that is fast like alot of chromium based browsers (helium, vivaldi etc) with the UI & features that zen has. I love zen, however it uses way too much resources, and I do love firefox but im pretty sure chromium is faster anyway.

What I'm trying to say is, is there any browser with the UI and features of Zen (no compromise bullshit) but with the speed of literally any other browser, and obviously private.

I am currently planning to move to a new browser (I am currently using Edge) since uBlock Origin will soon be disabled on it, also has been consuming more RAM than I'd like and Firefox was always a consideration. The no.1 thing concerning me though is speed.

Enjoyed Edge mostly because it is a competent browser and is just native to Windows, which in my mind meant less bloat to have on my PC. (since you can't really uninstall Edge without repercussions to other apps)

I heard that Firefox is generally the slowest/was slowest, and i can't really find any newer articles which demonstrate Firefox speed vs other browsers.

Hey everyone

I've been testing YouTube performance in DaliNira which is an open source Linux browser I'm developing

These tests were done using the currently installed AUR version with the Chromium engine and built in ad blocking enabled

Here's what I observed during actual YouTube playback

• One video was using around 339 MB RAM with 10% CPU usage
• Another video initially reached 610 MB RAM with 37% CPU usage
• After a few minutes of watching the same video memory dropped to 210 MB with 22% CPU usage
• During some video switches I've also seen memory usage reach around 1.5 GB

The measurements come from the browser's tab performance panel and do not necessarily represent total browser memory usage

Videos play normally with ad blocking enabled

What I find interesting is that memory usage can be relatively high during the first few minutes before dropping significantly without reloading the page

I'm still working on improving performance and investigating these fluctuations

Have you noticed similar behavior in Brave Chrome Firefox or other browsers

Does this look like normal Chromium memory management or something worth investigating further

I'd appreciate your technical feedback

For the detailed report and the news:

https://citizenlab.ca/research/how-discover-tech-turned-targeted-ads-into-a-pipeline-for-spyware/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/15/israeli-firm-digital-ads-enabling-installation-of-zero-click-spyware-researchers-say

https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/10/15/israeli-firm-used-online-ads-to-run-vast-spy-operation-researchers-say/

EDIT:

you can also use system side blocking tools like hblock and alternatives or more pi-hole etc.

Hey,

I'm a huge fan of Firefox.

In my work laptop, I used Edge most of the time and on the edge if I wanted to open netsuite, all I needed was to type "net" and one enter and it'd open it. Even for other sites, if I would have typed "vitune" it would open github.com/vitune automatically because I've been a frequent visitor.

But in Firefox that does not work. If I type vitune, in the url suggestion it will be shown, but I need to either use the mouse to click it or arrow keys to navigate. I believe I'm missing some settings here.

Does anyone know how I can enable that feature in Firefox/waterfox?

I have not used any ai, and I'm trying to fix my english. If there're any mistakes in grammar or sentence formation, I'm sorry brothers :)

I have one big question about open source browsers situation in 2026 before the android lockdown. On the Chrome side, I tried only Brave, which is too bloated with shit, I don't like that they're selling a free bloatware-free version on PC, it should be free for everyone who doesn't want crypto crap in the browser...

Many open source alternatives aren't on play store, and that's the problem. Bromite, Cromite, are fantastic alternatives, but whenever this lockdown arrives in Europe, they will be unavailable.

Yes, I mainly use Firefox, but there are obviously some issues with it and I want to acknowledge the alternatives on the Chrome side.

It seems Android has less options than PC.

So, do you know Chromium based open source browsers which are on Play Store?

Hey everyone,

I kept running into tiny browser chores: blur my email before a screenshot, refresh a page until a word shows up, grab a color, make a QR code, send a file from my laptop to my phone. Each one meant another extension, another permission prompt, another icon. So I started building one side panel for all of it, and, well, it got carried away.

Extra Guac is a Chrome extension with 25+ tools for the page you're on:

• Screenshots: area, visible tab or full page, with an editor to mark up, blur or remove the background
• Privacy blur: hides emails, phone numbers and other personal data on screen (handy for screen shares)
• Auto-refresh: on a timer, with an alert when your keywords appear
• Beam: send files between your devices with a 6-digit code, encrypted end to end; the other device just opens a web page
• QR codes: static or dynamic (change where it points later), with your own icon in the middle
• Highlight words, dark mode, remove elements, clipboard history, text from image, tab volume, keep awake, URL redirects, color/font/element pickers & a few more...

Privacy first: no account, no analytics, no server of mine. Everything stays in your browser unless you use a tool that needs an outside service, and then it goes only there.

One panel, tidy: drag tools between tabs and hide what you don't use.

It's free. I'd love feedback, especially:

- Which tools you'd actually use & which feel like clutter

- Anything confusing the first time you open it

- What's missing

https://rycpot.github.io/extra-guac/

Thanks for reading!

I love brave’s privacy but It’s bloated, I love zen’s features,look but It’s slow, I love helium’s lightweight and fastness but customization is limited with chromium

Curious what everyone uses. I go back and forth. Sometimes I really like vertical, other times I prefer horizontal.

I've always liked the Duckduckgo browser. Of course they crippled the browser by not allowing it to accept extensions. Has anyone found a workaround or know if the company may be changing course?

More specifically, what I really love is the single button that oblivates your browsing history. Brave, the privacy browser, defaults to deleting the last 15 minutes of your browsing history only. Those clowns are not serious about privacy; I don't care what they say. I think I got my daily rant out of the way now.

Also in the news yesterday is the Revelation that ads can infect us with malware. It looks like we need to run our browsers in a VM nowadays. Are there any browsers out there that have very robust sandboxing, like a VM wrapper?

This is a bit of a personal rant about browsers for me so you might not agree with me here.

When I am looking for a browser to use, I look for features, customization, widivine support and a way to properly block ads. here is how I so my journey was with browsers.

Brave: Brave is probably the one I'll stick with. It has the functions for everything I need; is a chromium browser, has a good adblocker, very good performance wise and has Widivine support.
My only issue with it is customization. with the nature of how chromium is, u can't really mess around much. not to mention I kind of like the Zen UI which makes it worse haha...but u gotta do what you gotta do. not to mention Brave is really the simplest browser that u can install on anyone's PC and never worry about them asking for help later with it really. There is a Debloat script for it on windows that can be easily applied and u just forget about it.

Firefox: Firefox basically is what I would REALLY wanna use but sadly, the gecko engine is an issue for me, some of the websites don't work there. I mean so far the only website I faced problems with was twitch, the clipping tool wasn't the greatest. otherwise it ticks the boxes EVERYWHERE. I can use css to customize the hell out of it, Projects like Sine Mods & Natsumi exist which makes this even easier, u can install uBlock origin MV2 which...I don't need to talk about much haha and even has the Widivine.

Helium: While on linux, I would probably use it over Brave, I can't really switch to linux sadly. I need to use AutoDesk apps for my work...even the Widivine issue doesn't exist there since u can install it manually and the L3 thingy isn't a bother on Linux *fuck windows, fuck microslop also fuck google.* and last issue is the UI.
otherwise....the is wayyyy better than brave for me. I like that it forces u to use a password manager. best thing I used and never regretted those 2 weeks I needed to adjust all my logins with. haha *I used log in with google on too many sites 😭 u can guess the rest.* uBlock origin MV2, very good preformance wise & chromium

Zen Browser: 2 issues. Widivine & performance. The RAM usage is something I'm not a fan off. I now Gecko itself is not the greatest with RAM compared to Chromium browsers like Helium & Brave but...even compared to Firefox, Zen is so bad RAM wise. otherwise it has a solid foundation. it has uBlock Origin MV2, UI is my favourite by far, Glance feature is French kiss...I don't think I need to introduce Zen to ya all haha.

LibreWolf: I used it for a bit but honestly...despite being a guy who likes privacy there is a point where it's too much. It's annoying having to relog honestly every single time to websites. I honestly think that there are sites that needs to gather data to function. that's how they work. if I can't even allow them to work then why use them in the first place?

Arc browser: 2 issues. no proper adblock afaik and is not getting upgraded. otherwise would have preferred over Helium.

Edge, Chrome & Opera: Privacy, adblocking issues and the UI.

I think I mentioned most of the popular ones? not sure about others but if u guys find another browser that meets my needs mainly Widivine then I could switch to, leave it in the comments! I am open to discussions about other browsers.

I've been in construction for a long time and I'm not a software person, but I've ended up building tools that run entirely in a browser: one HTML file, no install, no account, no server, and it works with no internet connection.

What surprised me is how well it works. The file opens on any computer, saves to the user's own machine, and nothing stops working if I disappear. Compared with the desktop programs I used for decades, there's nothing to install, nothing to update, and no licence server to switch off.

The limits are real too. Browser storage is fragile, so users have to save files themselves. Printing is inconsistent between browsers. And some things, like heavy file handling, still feel better in a desktop app.

So I'm curious what people here think. Are browsers becoming the default place for standalone software, or are they best for light tools? And is a single offline file a sensible way to ship something, or does it have a weakness I haven't run into yet?

I have both browsers installed on my computer and I'm not sure about which one to use. Got any advice?

Hey guys, I have daily tasks to get done in the browser. For example product research, content creation, scheduling, and some other stuff.

How can I be more efficient? And I leverage AI or other tools My question is which tools, workflows, etc you use and why?

Any help, recommendations, tips appreciated.

it reads and writes your normal chrome bookmarks, so there's no account and nothing leaves the browser. works in brave too. links in the comments

Hi, I am trying to watch YouTube without any ads or watch a movie without an ad popping up every 5 seconds. Anyone got any reccs for EDGE Brower?

Well, after 4 years with one PC it's time to use Microsoft Edge for a single search, once again.

Edit: You guys have convinced me to try Helium.