Firefox is not working properly with some websites while Chrome is fine with them
Lately I have been having some real problems with Firefox. PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) does not support Firefox (I get a message telling me that Firefox is not a supported browser and I need to use Chrome, Edge. I also am having problems with sites like Petsmart where I keep getting logged off and nothing actually ends up in my cart. I don't like Chrome and I won't use Edge under any circumstances. What is the problem that these sites are having with Firefox? I have been using Firefox from it's first being offered (yes I'm that old) and I don't want to change. I use DuckDuckGo with both Firefox and Chrome so I'm reasonably certain that the issues I am experiencing are Firefox issues. I have tried turning off the add blocking extensions and even my firewall but that hasn't helped. I get the feeling that these sites (and others) are part of an effort to get rid of Firefox in favor of the 2 giants Google and Microsoft. Am I just paranoid or what?
I use Windows 10, McAfee Security software, Firefox browser with DuckDuckGo search engine. I also use Chrome browser with DuckDuckGo search engine. Everything works fine with Chrome.
All Replies (2)
Hey jjobuild, sorry to hear you keep getting these issues on sites that you use frequently.
For a few years now, PG&E has been trying to get rid of Firefox users & stop their site from supporting it. We have gotten many questions about PG&E since then. They just don't want to pay their web developers for the extra time it takes to test in Firefox and other browsers. They support only Chrome & Safari now. Edge will also work because it uses Chrome's browser engine underneath.
I've also seen the same problem on DirectTV's website. But they are going bankrupt due to losing too many subscribers so they're making budget cuts everywhere. Including their web development team. And so Firefox users see a message there that their browser is not supported and to switch to Chrome or Edge.
And there a few other websites trying to pull this same behavior. So you are not paranoid at all. You've been really good at picking up on the signs & trends of these websites. Occasionally even certain banks will throw up a "Firefox is not supported" page or cause odd issues to appear because they don't test their sites in Firefox anymore.
We even have Youtube causing playback & performance issues on their site for Firefox users only. But that one's more about Google creating a bad experience so that users will switch away to Chrome. And we have antivirus products like Avast & AVG (owned by the same company) blocking certain websites only in Firefox thru a faulty "Web Shield" feature they designed. Causing a ton of confusion & anger. So there are some big battles going on across the web regarding Firefox & its hard to keep track of it all. *sigh*
I haven't heard of Petsmart's site having issues yet. I'll try searching our site for that one.
But for now, I'd advise you to use the least evil of the Chrome based browsers & use Edge to pay your gas bill & for any other important site that seems not to be working well in Firefox. Getting these websites to fix all their issues is going to take a long time & some will just ignore whatever issues we point out to them.
I've been using Firefox for as long as you have so this is frustrating to see. Hopefully one day things will get better but I don't think that's happening anytime soon. Public pressure & public shaming from social media & tech news sites might help get these companies to fix their websites faster.
Modified by NoahSUMO
If you're really adamant about not using Chrome or Edge. You can install a addon to change your useragent version to fool websites into thinking you're using Chrome or Edge while still using Firefox.
Some websites do not fall for this trick & just keep operating badly. And some others (like Google Docs) cause a weird glitch or two to happen & it won't go away until you turn off the useragent switcher addon. But for the most part, most sites fall for it without any issues.
Here's a few you can use: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-string-switcher/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/ Example of the random website glitch I was telling you about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/reviews/2115421/ 4 stars by Firefox user 17011104, 4 days ago Works great to fix YouTube illegally slowing/breaking functionality on browsers other than Chrome. However, it completely breaks functionality in Google Docs, making it impossible to type in a document while the add-on is activated. As someone who does a lot of work in docs, this is a really significant issue, so a fix would be appreciated!
Final note: So keeping all this in mind, the web is getting more & more complicated and I don't like it one bit. Websites are breaking in very annoying and mysterious ways. Sometimes its caused by a addon, the website itself (bad webdev team) or a 3rd party software like AVG, Avast or NordVPN.
So if you can stomach using Edge in private browsing mode or as they call it "InPrivate", that might be another option for you to pay bills or shop certain Chrome-only sites.
I do get your hatred & distrust of Google & Microsoft though. But if your web experience gets really bad, I'd like for you to have a fallback browser you can use to get important stuff done without any surprises. Just make sure to turn off every single metrics, analytics, usage sharing options they have by exploring all of their settings. Set it to never remember cookies or history. Always use a private browsing window & always clear the cookies & cache manually afterwards just to be sure Edge really erased your browser session.
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