Intenet browser question

[BobT]

Anybody else seem to be having issues with Firefox lately? I installed the browser about a year ago and immediately enjoyed the increase in speed over IE not to mention the oodles of add-ons for personalizing it.

About two weeks ago I rather suddenly began to notice periodic problems where it seemed to be locking up or taking an extra long time to accomplish various tasks like closing for one. Sometimes when I click on the Close button it takes so long to shut down I finally force it down using my task manager.

When it acts up I've checked my processes in Task Manager and the value shown in the CPU column is about 50. I just checked it now while typing this and it shows a value of about 2. My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, which I've been using for two years.

Other symptoms I've noticed are when I click on my menu tabs it seems to take a long time to respond with the drop down menus. I might see a border appear but I have to wait for the menu to populate.

Once I've got a sight open it seems to work fine. I can navigate through the various links, navigate to other open tabs, scroll down the page, etc. without any indication of a problem.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software although I didn't uninstall my saved preferences and personal data. I've tried increasing and decreasing the size of the cache. I've tried dumping the cache and now I just configured it to dump the cache every time I exit Firefox. I've tried recreating my profile and starting over. I've run a complete scan with AVG Free, Spybot S&D, Lavasoft Ad-Aware, Malwarebytes, HijackThis, Windows Defender, and Disk Cleanup and nothing was found. The only thing I haven't tried is a complete uninstall of the software including my personal data and then reinstalling.

These symptoms aren't constant. It seems to work fine one minute and then acting up the next. I've tried IE and it seems to work as always and with the way things are going, I may decide to reset IE as my default browser.

Any thoughts?

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

My thoughts: get a copy of ccleaner and run it often. Try Google Chrome, I use both Chrome & Firefox.

[DTro]

Yes!

Sounds like the same thing. In fact it won't even load from the desktop shortcut, I need to open it using the Start menu.

It will also just randomly lock up, and or get very glitchy, so bad that I have to force it down with the Task Manager.

I pretty much gave up and resigned to the fact that I would have to do a clean install of the browser. But instead, I just started using Google Chrome.

[Nick Kuhn]

Do a complete reinstall. Typically you will have add-ons that can be a bit leaky in certain situations, and a memory leak will eventually bring your computer to a crawl. The only real problem with a clean install of Firefox is facebook chat is really really bad.

[spearchucker]

Do you have any Firefox addins loaded? Also make sure you are running the latest 3.63 version and update you Java and Adobe Flash. Flash has a lot of bugs that can cause problems. I noticed this a couple revs ago with Firefox.

[DTro]

what is the best way to do a clean reinstall?

Add/Remove programs?

[upnorth]

That and before you uninstall find the directory it was installed in and after you remove the app, go in and find the directory and delete it. Sometimes removals don't get rid of the directory and leave remnants of the app behind.

[spearchucker]

There is also a Mozilla directory in the Application Data folder of your Windows Profile folder (c:\User\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla). The directory path is off the top of my head, but I think it is right. Delete this folder as well if it is there. It contains your Firefox profile. You will lose your favorites by doing this, so back them up.

[BobT]

My thoughts: get a copy of ccleaner and run it often. Try Google Chrome, I use both Chrome & Firefox.

Oops. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I also ran ccleaner.

[BobT]

That and before you uninstall find the directory it was installed in and after you remove the app, go in and find the directory and delete it. Sometimes removals don't get rid of the directory and leave remnants of the app behind.

This was going to be my next step before giving up on it for now. I am aware of the Mozilla folders too. I don't even think I'll keep the profile. Start fresh if I do it I guess.

Never used Chrome...yet.

[Shack]

Bob I had the same issue this last week. Uninstalled and reinstalled (via the remove programs feature in Windows) and is is working as smooth as can be. Thank god I never did removed IE (just turned it off). What would a guy do then.

[upnorth]

Another web browse option is Opera. It has come a ways as of late. I have it installed one on PC and use it every now and then.

[BobT]

Well, for now I uninstalled Firefox and installed Chrome. Not only have I found Chrome to be lightning speed compared to both Firefox (when it was working) and IE8, I find that I really like how they have organized the application. I did take a look at Opera but the layout just didn't appeal to me. Maybe if I would give it some time my opinion would change but for now I'll give Chrome a shot.

From the reviews I've read, Chrome ranks as well as Firefox, IE8, and Opera in all tested categories. It's a relatively new browser so it's hard to say where it will go from here but so far I'm liking it.

Thanks for the input.

[upnorth]

I just ran this procedure on mine and it made a huge difference.

Firefox Running Slow? Make It Fast Again Without Re-Installation

Ads by Google

Recommended Download - Boost PC Speed. Microsoft Certified. Free Download Uniblue.com/PCSpeed

Problem: You cannot imagine life without Firefox but over time, your favorite browser keeps getting slower and slower.

Not only is it slow, Firefox sometimes hangs for no reason, consumes a large amount of memory and CPU usage can climb to 90% or more when you have multiple tabs open simultaneously.

You have uninstalled most of the extensions and toolbars, deleted all the cookies and internet temporary files, cleared up the file download queue and disabled the background check for software updates - but none of this has helped you speed-up Firefox.

Solution: This is a common problem especially if you have been running Firefox for some time - I don't know why Firefox slows down but here's a small trick to rejuvenate the aged copy of Firefox without doing a fresh install.

Step 1: Start Firefox and export your bookmarks as a file on your hard-drive (we'll need them later).

Step 2: Type firefox.exe - P in the Run box of Windows. (see screenshot)

Step 3: Click the Create Profile button without making any modifications to your existing profile (which is normally called "default") Uncheck the "don't ask at start up"

Now when you Start Firefox in the new profile, you are very likely to be impressed with the speed. You can import the bookmarks that you saved in Step 1. If you have made any changes to the Firefox Dictionary, copy the persdict.dat word list file from the old profile folder to the new one.

Yes, there won't be any old Firefox add-ons in the new profile but the browser will be extremely quick and won't hog the CPU - just the way you want Firefox to run on your computer.

And if you ever need to revert to the old profile, just type Firefox -P again and click the old profile. Nothing is lost.

[deadeye]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who runs chrome. The way it is set up is really nice. Very well thought out.

[LMITOUT]

I've liked Chrome since it was released. I was a Firefox user but Chrome just seems to work better and have used it ever since.

[BobT]

upnorth, I had already tried recreating the profile as suggested but in my case, for some reason it didn't help. Thanks for the effort. I do appreciate the help. I figure that I'll continue with Chrome for now and then maybe reinstall Firefox when they come out with a newer revision. It does seem that the issues I have been having began about the same time I installed the latest update. I can't absolutely say that with 100% confidence though. So far Chrome seems to be faster than Firefox ever was. Maybe lacks some of the tweaks available with Firefox but then maybe it was the tweaks that got us into trouble to begin with.

[upnorth]

I have tried Chrome a few times but just have not spent enough time to get used to it. I might have to give it a whirl again.

[BobT]

When I first downloaded Chrome I was a little unsure. But I decided to give it a try and within a day my thoughts changed. It's a little different from the Firefox and IE layouts but now that I'm getting more comfortable with it, I find that I like it.

[Shack]

You want Firefox to run faster than any browser? Type in "about:config" in the URL bar, hit "I agree/I know", and make sure your:

network:http:pipeling's value is set to "true"

&

Network.http.pipleing.maxrequests is set to 15 or above. I run at 20 or 30 and have not seen a huge difference. I have seen a huge difference between the default of 4 and 30 though.

[CJH]

Thanks for the tip, Shack!!! This definitely made my Firefox snappier!!!