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JSBench reports Firefox faster *without* the mitigation.

Speed Battle reports Firefox faster *without* the mitigations.

Bearing in mind that those are ran from inside a VM.
Firefox isn't "allowed" to touch my HOST MACHINE

I'm going to stop at those tests. There are dozens of such online browser tests.
In general, Firefox does run *SLOWER* when you enable mitigations that strive to prevent lightning from striking your big toe.
I'm not saying the difference is night and day. But that also depends on the computer you are running.
The older the computer, the more adverse of a slowdown just to prevent something that literally NEVER HAPPENS "to the common user".

I should also report that Firefox **CRASHED** a half a dozen times just trying to get Speedometer 3.1 scores!
D@mn near threw my computer monitor out the window!
I'm sure this was a result of running from within a VM and getting THREE scores insread of just one, BUT MY CHROME v140 HAS NO CRASH ISSUES IN THE SAME VM!

But anywhooo...

The-10-Pen wrote: *

10 Jan 2026, 22:18

Quite seriously, the "average user" has higher odds of being struck by lightning than being affected by Spectre!

What is the source of this screenshot ?

The-10-Pen wrote: *

10 Jan 2026, 23:23

In general, Firefox does run *SLOWER* when you enable mitigations that strive to prevent lightning from striking your big toe.
I'm not saying the difference is night and day. But that also depends on the computer you are running.
The older the computer, the more adverse of a slowdown just to prevent something that literally NEVER HAPPENS "to the common user".

Yep, the differences are not clear and not that spectacular. Plus I'm not sure how does it affects our normal, regular daily browsing experience. One more second for loading a page ? Bah!
That said, I wouldn't recommend to anyone to disable these options since we don't really know what could be the side effects. It's up to each user to understand then to take and to assume the possible risks related to these options.

The-10-Pen wrote: *

10 Jan 2026, 23:50

I should also report that Firefox **CRASHED** a half a dozen times just trying to get Speedometer 3.1 scores!
I'm sure this was a result of running from within a VM

I guess it's because of the VM because I don't get any crashes at all with my Firefox, R3dfox and LibreWolf.
Maybe because of hardware acceleration ? Anyway, VMs don't act and don't react like real computers

Agreed. But VMs really are the ****ONLY**** way I ever run Firefox and most Firefox forks.
I do like IceCat and it is allowed on my host machine. I'm still at v115 and have not looked to see if there is anything newer.
The Linux distributions are updated more fequently than the Windows distributions.
And Linux (to me) is really just a "hobby project" no different than firing up the ol' Commodore 64 emulators for some nostalgic games.

Though I often feel like speaking against Firefox "herein" is grounds for detention.
Too many "fanboys" here.

Duke wrote: *

11 Jan 2026, 14:24

The-10-Pen wrote: *

10 Jan 2026, 23:50

I should also report that Firefox **CRASHED** a half a dozen times just trying to get Speedometer 3.1 scores!
I'm sure this was a result of running from within a VM

I guess it's because of the VM because I don't get any crashes at all with my Firefox, R3dfox and LibreWolf.
Maybe because of hardware acceleration ? Anyway, VMs don't act and react like real computers

Because I'm on such low end failing hardware I have to completely turn off hardware acceleration on my systems and its less slow (notice I didn't say "faster") with is disabled. I have no experience with VM's and I still have a lot to learn even though I learned a lot from my days at MSFN when I joined in 2018 when I didn't know shit. I joined MSFN for Roytam1 back them when pale moon no longer supported XP. I really only came here for K4Sum1 because he reached out to me with concern.

The-10-Pen wrote: *

11 Jan 2026, 14:41

Agreed. But VMs really are the ****ONLY**** way I ever run Firefox and most Firefox forks.
I do like IceCat and it is allowed on my host machine. I'm still at v115 and have not looked to see if there is anything newer.
The Linux distributions are updated more fequently than the Windows distributions.
And Linux (to me) is really just a "hobby project" no different than firing up the ol' Commodore 64 emulators for some nostalgic games.

Though I often feel like speaking against Firefox "herein" is grounds for detention.
Too many "fanboys" here.

I also see Linux as more of a hobby, and, for me, a necessary evil but I don't like it. I don't own a smart phone and don't want one either.

Duke wrote: *

11 Jan 2026, 14:24

The-10-Pen wrote: *

10 Jan 2026, 23:50

I should also report that Firefox **CRASHED** a half a dozen times just trying to get Speedometer 3.1 scores!
I'm sure this was a result of running from within a VM

I guess it's because of the VM because I don't get any crashes at all with my Firefox, R3dfox and LibreWolf.
Maybe because of hardware acceleration ? Anyway, VMs don't act and don't react like real computers

I don't use a VM and I have Mypal68 on 'bare metal' and no crashes here

I really do not browse with Firefox.
The only time it ever gets loaded (and always inside a VM) is for testing purposes.
Speedometer 3.1 would crash Firefox if only 4 GB RAM allocated for the VM.
4 GB RAM should be PLENTY for a browser (tab-hoarders aside) !!!
Firefox wouldn't even run "Kraken 1.1" and it's a MOZILLA test - https://mozilla.github.io/krakenbenchmark.mozilla.org/
Or maybe I just didn't WAIT LONG ENOUGH.
The test only takes a few SECONDS in Chrome.
In Firefox, it kept locking up on the first row of pink squares.

And yeah, we can "blame" VM all we want. "Fair game".
I've been using VMs for the better part of TWO DECADES.
*NOTHING* is ever installed on my HOST without *first* being tested inside a VM.

Modus Operandi.
It really is a great way to keep your system CLEAN.
Install, test, uninstall - leaves too much garbage behind.
But install and test inside a VM then delete the VM when done, ZERO *garbage* left behind.

I didn't look into "why" Firefox kept crashing. Didn't really care, to be honest.
BUT that doesn't mean that FORKS would have crashed also.
I had a HELLUVA time ever getting Supermium to run when it first came out.
But recent versions of Supermium run just fine (again, INSIDE A VM).

Duke wrote: *

07 Jan 2026, 00:26

Backup your whole profile folder.

OK, backed it up, installed 137, and it found my old profile.
The one that came with the old browser is called
----default-default-1 (dated 6/1/2025)
and the one I use is
----default-default (dated 1/27/2025)
I don't think I want to know why.

It has stopped asking me for a new profile. I'll see if all websites are working properly.
Thanks, guys and ladies.

Ror3dfox wrote: *

13 Jan 2026, 02:52

It has stopped asking me for a new profile.

Perfect