Sorry if I use wrong terms: in my native language Internet data package that I used today /this month is called «traffic»: 500MB daily, 20GB monthly, etc. I am not sure that in English «traffic» means the same and as I know you, guys, use «usage» for Internet data.
The main reason to hate Brave
I have a limited Internet usage per month. It mean I’m worried about how much Internet data I have already spent, but it’s relevant only for my daily traffic – my night traffic has no limits. That’s why I try to download updates for software and OS at night. For me this is a really important aspect of my live online.
A few months ago I noticed something really strange in my Internet bandwidth: 10MB/sec instead of usual 10KB/sec. It looked like a download, but I didn’t download anything. After about 100MB, everything returned to normal. It was unpleasant, and very soon it repeated again…
The second time it happened, I noticed something weirder: that day Brave tweeted about updating, but and used Vivaldi and ignored it. I was sure that I would download the update at night, but when after the next Internet traffic growth I checked «About Brave» I saw that I already use current version. The preliminary conclusion was simple: Brave use auto updating and even if you did not run the browser today / this week, it will be updated on background without your desire.
For me, this is completely unacceptable! I see no reasons for this features: many users have the same problems like me and for many users it could be the main reason to leave the browser. But this is an official position of Brave Software: «Automatic updates is security issue and we do not see any reason to remove this». And this is disturbing news: so many users have been asked about this for so many years, but Brave has not changed anything. But there is something worse…
Yesterday I again noticed an increase in bandwidth, but when I opened Resource Monitor to check what process «eat» my Internet traffic I did not see Brave, it was svchost.exe (netsvcs) – Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). I went to Windows Services, found BITS, turned it off and chose «Run manually». When after a few minutes I saw another increase in bandwidth I returned to Services and switched «Run manually» to «Disabled». I hope it will help, but I need to wait the next Brave update to check it.
This situation makes me frustrated: I don’t want to use a browser with so aggressive automatic update and I’m almost ready to uninstall Brave and forget about promising browser. But I’m not sure it will help: svchost.exe is more than just BraveUpdate.exe! What if when I remove Brave part of code will be saved and auto update will work even for uninstalled browser? I read a lot of posts from angry users who wrote about the same problems even after deleting and I don’t want to be one of them…
I like Brave. I really think this is one of the most promising browser, but indispensable auto updating makes me mad! I don’t see any reason to force the users to update the browser immediately. Give us a choice! We really need it and you know you can do this today. Do it! Or at least release one update per month as other browsers… Or just reduce update size. Brave’s update is about 100-120MB. Why? Because other browser need much less!
There are many ways to fix the issue. But we need Brave Software to want to fix the issue. Today the don’t see any really serious problems. You users need this, your users want you to do this. Do this!
P.S.
That’s why I ask for portable versions so often: if Brave Software release official portable or stand-alone version, I would never have these problems or I could solve it.
UPD
If you criticize something, you should offer a possible solution. Yesterday the developers replied to my tweet and I see they’re ready to change the things we don’t like. And I want to help. What can they do to solve the issue?
- Disable automatic updates and give your users a choice:
– Download all updates automatically
– Сheck for updates, but ask user before downloading
– Do not check for updates, download updates manually through «About» - If a user choice «Auto updates» (or while you keep automatic updates), you should show him a notification «Brave is downloading an update. Don’t panic!». Today the browser shows no notifications and sometimes it scares.
- Try to reduce the size of updates, use small patches instead of large (full / whole) updates. Every time when you release a minor update for Brave, you users need to download about 100-120MB, but Firefox users need about 15MB only (even if this is a major update).
- Think about the schedule: releases periodic updates instead of spontaneous ones. I don’t think that minor update of 120 MB every few days is convenient for users. Many browsers use 40 days modal.
Summing up: small patches on the schedule, update start notification and the ability to disable automatic download of updates. That’s more than enough. Make me happy!
