I'm a satisfied Firefox user. After years of use, I've tailored my config so that it fits all my needs in a browser (except for being the fastest, arguably).
However, since about 6 months, I've been having some difficulties.
I used to able to click-hold anywhere on the navigation bar (that's where you put the buttons usually) and I could drag the Firefox windows as if I were holding it by the window bar, which was extremely convenient since the window bar is often filled with tabs and I simply have nowhere to grip it from.
For some reason, that possibility vanished from one day to the next, and I don't know what caused that to happen.
To my knowledge, I none of my plugins had anything to do with that.
I use FabTab which changes the aesthetics of the page, but I disabled it and nothing changed.
Some of my visual effects in Windows 7 are disabled, but not Aero Peak, Desktop Composition, not Transparent Glass.
Would anyone have any idea why I was struck by this curse?
I've never noticed being able to grab windows from the Nav bar, and it doesn't work for Waterfox 16. There is a tiny little area underneath the close/minimize/maximize buttons I use.
I usually enjoy browsing in Ubuntu/Mint more for one of the reasons you mentioned. I can alt+click anywhere on any window and drag it around.
So you both use FireFox 64bits, but one can move with the nav bar and the other can't? That's interesting...
There's also a program called "alt-drag" that lets you drag any Windows window by keeping the alt button in. But I'm lazy. That's too much of a chore.
Would any of you 2 happen to use the same plugins I use? I'd love to get your input, because I don't think you can turn that feature on and off in the basic options:
I might be doing something, or something in my config in Windows is turned off that needs to be for that function to work (I turn a lot of things off). I'm just using Adblock, Download Them All, HackTheWeb, and HTTPS Everywhere. I also have DuckDuckGo, and Amazon Wishlist, but thats it. Too lazy to deal with NoScript, so I'm putting some faith in Avast AV.
I think Waterfox works better than Firefox. From its FAQ:
Waterfox was compiled with Intel's C++ Compiler with the following optimisations: Intel's Math Library, SSE3, AVX for supported Intel processors, jemalloc, Profile-Guided Optimisation and the /O3 switch.
Of course, the biggest reason for my using of Waterfox is the fact that it is a 64bit browser. As a heavy multi tasker, the stability of 64 bit means a lot. Firefox would start slowing down or down right crash if memory usage went to about 1.4GB. I have had any slowdown with WF so far. As far as I can tell, WF still works with FF 32bit plug ins.
I'd hold off an switching to WF for a little bit, unless you don't mind using an older version. There is a compiler bug, so WF17 got cancelled, and the dev took a break for holidays, so we're still waiting on WF18. Hopefully the release schedule will be fixed by 19, but still awaiting a status update. WF is still stuck on 16.
Commissar I actually looked into WF when you mentioned it 4 days ago and have adopted it since. It works like a charm on my systems and I managed to solve my Flash player hangs in the process. It pushed my old profile and adapted with no trouble. The only little issue is that it's incompatible with FireGestures, which is a shame, but I'll get over it. The only feature I can't seem to replace is the ability to scroll through tabs when keeping the right mouse button held in.
However, that didn't solve my initial problem. I've found a plug-in in the process called "Drag-2-move" which lets me drag the window from anywhere within when keeping the right mouse button held in. But it's buggy and quite a mediocre alternative, especially since it's an "artificial" way of grabbing the window, so Windows Aero doesn't recognize that as a drag gesture and won't snap the Window on the ledges. Perhaps I'll check IRC like ztrain suggested, or I'll go ask on the Firefox developer’s forum.
I've actually managed to find a 64bit version of FireGestures which is compatible with WaterFox on a site called x64bitdownload! So I've transitioned with no problems! I don't know how they've managed, but it works as advertised, so all is good.
So as an intermediary solution concerning the drag-able space around the tabs, I've discovered that the TabMixPlus extension give you the option to leave a small crease between the edge of the screen and the TabBar on both sides. It's not as great as having a drag-able ButtonsBar, but it sure helps a lot. So until I get my hands dirty by learning to code Mozilla extensions myself, I guess I'll leave it to that.