Brave does not work smoothly with Zorin

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I've been using Linux full time for over a year (after having been a user of Windows since the DOS days), starting with Pop!_OS (unfortunately I still have to use Windows 11 at work but that is a completely separate system). I've been testing some different distros and fell in love with Zorin and recently took a day to reinstall the OS and move over (my first distro hop).

For many years I had used Chrome since beta, but when Firefox quantum came out in 2017 I decided I would check it out and I really appreciated the freedom with how it could be customized so that has been my main browser since then.

When I was testing out Zorin it was on version 17.2 and I was aware that with 17.3 the default browser had switched to Brave, and I was interested in giving it a shot due to the recent controversy around Firefox privacy; I went ahead and installed Brave on my VM so I could get a preview of what it was like. After wiping my machine with the full OS install I went through the settings of Brave to customize it to my preference.

Although Brave doesn't have as many customization options as Firefox, I was really enjoying the vertical tabs (mouse over to expand which Firefox doesn't have yet) that I wasn't utilizing in Firefox previously. I was content on sticking with Brave until I realized there were a couple nagging issues that were quickly becoming tediously annoying.

When I use my browser I have it set to start automatically with the OS, be positioned in a particular spot (on my second screen), and open all the tabs I previously had open. On my previous OS with Firefox this worked perfectly, with Brave it does not.

Although I can have Brave start automatically on boot, it is slightly out of position and size, and prompts me each time to restore my previous tabs (no option here to restore by default). So this means with each boot I need to click to restore tabs and correct the size and position of the window (I have stickynotes and discord that I also have starting up on boot that retain their position perfectly). I also noticed that if I just close the Brave browser and reopen, it is still out of position and size, so it would be no real improvement to preemptively close the browser before I shutdown/restart.

Attempting to fix the issue (specifically the restore tabs issue) I did some searching and from what I could gather this is an issue with Brave and Linux in general, not specific to Zorin; sounds like it isn't an issue on Windows. Apparently Brave doesn't like to not be gracefully closed, or something to that effect. From this perspective it would seem that Brave doesn't go out of its way to properly support Linux.

I went ahead and installed Firefox, configured it to startup on boot and set its position and size. After opening some random tabs I went ahead and did a reboot and found that it worked perfectly as it did before on Pop!_OS, retaining its size and position, and opening the previous session's tabs without prompting.

So despite the recent privacy issues with Firefox, I will continue to use it for now until I can look at some other browsers/forks to test.

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You should really take a look at zen browser, it has vertical tabs and opens with previously opened tabs. It is a fork of Firefox. Sadly you will only be able to use the App Image in Zorin. My daily drive is normally PCLOS Debian (Plasma) and they have zen browser in Synaptic Package Manager so it will always get updates in its Beta release. Looking forward to ladybird browser when it comes out next year. It won't use any existing engines it is being built from the ground up. The guy behind ladybird wrote Serenity OS whilst in rehab recovering from drug addiction. Another OS for me to test.

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Zen will probably be among the other browsers I try, but its low on the priority list right now. Wife has been adding things to the honey-do list, and I have a couple more computers I need to move from Windows to Linux before support ends.

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I gave up on the Brave browser. Using Firefox now. Think I will try Zen as well. Brave kept disappearing when launched so I just unpinned and gave up.

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Hello, I started using Brave with Zorin OS last month. I'm noticing constant freezes, especially when using pages that require significant memory and log resources. Same thing on Chrome and its derivatives. So I uninstalled Brave and Chrome. I should point out that I'm using a Ryzen 9950x, AMD 7900XT, 64GB of RAM @6000, NVMe PCIe Gen5. So it runs very well here. No issues with browsers like Firefox, Zen Browser, or Floorp, all based on Gecko, while I've also noticed that they manage memory much better. I strongly advise everyone to keep Firefox and continue to give importance to Mozilla and all other free projects that respect your privacy.

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Mozilla's recent Privacy Policy changes that do not respect privacy is the cause of the change of default browser.

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I didn't know that, thanks for the clarification.

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Me either. At least it works. Simple thing like privacy is too much to ask I guess. Sad.

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The state of the current "modern" web is immensely regrettable. I can't barely believe my eyes when I'm on someone else's computer without an ad-blocker. Maybe even more impressive to me is how much people have grown used to it and just... don't care.

Anyway, if you care about privacy and want to use a Firefox-based browser, Librewolf is probably the best one out there right now. It comes with strong defaults focusing on privacy and I'd suggest not changing them (you'll blend in more with the rest of Librewolf users who also haven't changed the defaults).

You can, and most likely will have to, change the rules of the ad blocker to make some sites work properly again. This will be time consuming and frustrating at first, but you will be amazed how the loading time from many popular websites drops instantly.

To give you an example:

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Top screenshot if with uBlockOrigin enabled; bottom is disabled. Nearly 6 seconds difference in loading time, and 10 times the bandwidth. This is sometimes even more drastic with some pages, but it's also true that it isn't always this bad.

uBlock Origin also tells you how many connections are blocked, which the screenshot above doesn't reflect accurately since it only shows actual resources (files, etc.) and not any other type of connection:

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74 connections blocked... and the page continues to work.

For reference, the page in question that I'm using for this example:

https://gael-duval.medium.com/murena-e-os-2025-another-leap-towards-usable-privacy-for-all-991e5d29db80

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i was on zorin before and used brave all the time , i use it on all the distros i try ...
i never ever had a problem with it , it just worked .
recently i tried librewolf for a few weeks , but some things i didn't like so now back on brave
the size problems OP is referring to i never had a problem , maybe cause i'm on xfce , and it remembers the last window size , idk

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I've been using uBlock Origin for years, it has never let me down. Another extension I recently found out about that is great for YouTube is SponsorBlock.

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I've been using Brave even before it started shipping with Zorin. No issues whatsoever and wouldn't use another browser.

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14

I got around to trying some Firefox forks and I'm finding I like Zen the most for sure, and have set it as my main browser. Its so clean with how the bookmarks bar is hidden and the side panel can also be hidden for maximum viewing space. I like the default layout with the single toolbar so there isn't any wasted space for the address bar.

I've been tinkering with the split tab feature, its nice but seems like it could use some improvements. I like how the tabs stay grouped between browser restarts, but unfortunately they aren't retaining their layouts so that's a bummer. I have one tab where I have arranged four pages from the same website together in a 2x2 formation, but after restart they come back in a vertical 1x4 formation.

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I have to agree as I am using Cinnamon DE on both Zorin and Mint (Cinnamon is default on Mint) in the 2 years I've been using Brave on Cinnamon Zorin I have never experienced a problem .... not one single glitch .....

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Heya! Sorry for the long inactivity!

So yeah, I even had similar issues with Brave like you, but I also get mad with the unnecessary Web3 and NFT integrations that I never asked for. Sure, it respects your privacy, but it just wasn't made for me specifically.

I went with the Zen Browser that I used in both Zorin OS and Windows, the browser is truly brilliant and I am never going to another browser ever again! You should go with the browser as well.

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I was wanting to open a new tab in zen the other day but either I don't know how to split screen or it means launching a new instance. I opened Chromium and it now states ublock origin is no longer supported. Your observation of people's poor lack of knowledge, or CBA, reminded me of the saying on a 'mind.in.a.box' postcard: "With freedom came apathy, with apathy came slavery".

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Would love to know how you do that. Save me opening another browser. One thing that could be improved on is copying links. The only way it can be done is via launching History.

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You just drag another tab off the sidebar and onto the window you are currently viewing, or you can also hold Ctrl and click 2-4 tabs, right-click and select the Split option. There are also hotkeys for it you can lookup in the settings, and if you use the glance feature (alt+click) there is a button there to split.

Not sure what you mean by the copying links issue, I'm able to right-click a link and copy from there. Otherwise could open a link in a new tab and copy the URL from the address bar.

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I can't copy by right-clicking - whether this is a limitation of the App Image version I don't know. What I usually do is go to the three dots and select History, the last tab opened being at the top of the list, right click and copy - I can't right-click and copy from the tab:

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