I stopped using firefox, a while back but most of the things you’ve mentioned come under personalization tabs (that is what it was called when I was using it). Under settings> Personalization.
Usually, the updates come with new features. Of course, not all new features are useful to all of us. If you like the older version, you can actually scrub this one and re-download the older version…and then disable the auto update feature. You will only have this version for as long as they continue to support it in the backend.

@AK, thank you—didn’t know I could go back. What do you use now? My impression has been that the others were even worse.

I try to avoid Firefox updates as much as possible. I think mine has downloaded one which will install if/when I restart Firefox, so I’m not restarting Firefox, to avoid that. Firefox has also become broken when using cut & paste.

I prefer Vivaldi, and Opera, but even with Firefox’s bugs and evil updates, I prefer it to IE, Edge and Chrome.

@kneesox I use a whole host of browsers in my line of work, when I have to check for optimization and load speeds. Personally on the laptop, I juggle with Chrome, Edge, Opera for browsing and to open sites like fluther…to be honest Chrome is the fastest of them lot. The only problem is, they track every bit of activity and store them for future use. Google knows more about me than my wife!.....or myself…..!

I stopped using firefox when it became too buggy a couple of years back. I hear that it is alot better now but I can’t be bothered to go back to it. There are enough options and I don’t browse that much anyway.

I like Vivaldi best because it doesn’t track you and the UI doesn’t annoy me or change frequently.

@Zaku, that’s pretty persuasive. I suppose I can import bookmarks and such? Change like that scares me, but sometimes things really are better on the other side. It’s also reassuring that you called Firefox’s updates evil—so it’s not just me.

Do you have to be a techie to be comfortable with Vivaldi? Wikipedia says it appeals to “experienced users” and “was first and foremost targeted towards technically-inclined users.” That’s a little bit intimidating.

It’s definitely not just you who hates Firefox updates. It seems like most people I know hate Firefox updates, and it’s easy to find pleas for help such as “Firefox is terrible lately it crashes all the time why?” and “How can I stop Firefox from stupidly updating?”

Yes, Vivaldi lets you import bookmarks and even stored passwords and/or search history from other web browsers on the same computer.

It doesn’t remove or affect Firefox to try Vivaldi. About the most you might do is set another browser to your default browser, but it’s easy to set that back.

I would say to just try Vivaldi and see if you like it or not. It doesn’t hurt anything and can be easily removed.

To me, it just seems like Vivaldi has some slightly different icons and features but is mainly very similar to other web browsers, and it doesn’t change features or UI often. I don’t know what’s techie about it except the lack of forced updates or of hiding features and settings.

@Zaku Thank you for the Vivaldi suggestion. I just installed it and has saved many brain cells and eyeball cells from hell. However, I keep trying to import bookmarks/passwords from Firefox and can’t seem to do it. It tells me it has done it, but it hasn’t. Any advice?

@anniereborn
Well, what I tested just now, which worked for me, was, starting with the V in the upper-left corner of the Vivaldi window:

V -> File -> Import from applications or files -> From Mozilla Firefox -> Bookmarks -> Start Import

That did it’s thing, then I clicked the Bookmark icon, and there is a subfolder there named Imported From Firefox, and if I click the little arrow to the left of it, it expands to show all the bookmarks I had in Firefox.

Do you not have that folder?

@Zaku Oh I do have it! Thank you! The other thing I can’t figure out is how to set a home page. When I launch Vivaldi I get the Vivaldi website.

Oh, please keep going. This is great. Thank you both.

@anniereborn, would you please come back in a few days, after you’ve tried it out, and tell us how you’re getting along with Vivaldi?

@kneesox I will. So far I like it a lot better than Firefox. The one thing I noticed is that YouTube loads a TON faster with Vivaldi

Changing the home page is done by:

V -> Settings -> General -> STARTUP -> Homepage

You can click “Specific Page” and then type or paste any address in the box below to have it start with that.

You can also use the “Startup with” controls to the right of that. I set that to Last Session and Lazy Load Restored Tabs. That way, I can close Vivaldi without losing my tabs, and when I reload, it doesn’t actually do the work (and use the resources) of reloading all those tabs, until I click on each one.

@Zaku I can’t thank you enough. You have been so helpful.

You’re both very welcome. Glad to help!