Firefox is taking ages to load? Any alternative?

[waken]

Okay, I've been using Firefox for quite some time now and really love all the add on and features that it has. However, it's getting slower and slower to load pages and crashes quite often too (It didn't crash, but it always frozen for a minute or two actually and that's really annoying).

I first thought it was the connection problem but when I open up Google Chrome, it was damn fast. However, it was just too plain with minimal features that I used to access from FF.

And I've found Flock recently which was said to be designed by an ex from FF. Was wondering if it's going to any good.

What browser are you using? I need something that gives as much features (flexibility on add on etc.) as FF and load fast.

Thanks.
Waken

[Zeus66]

I'm not sure you're going to find anything i FF's league if you use a lot of add-ons. I use Chrome when I need to do a lot of quick surfing between pages without the need to use any add-on functions. Chrome is super-fast, but as you say it has limited features.

I've not tried Opera, but there are Warriors I've seen laud it as a good browser. Maybe try it out?

By the way, I freaking HATE the most recent version of IE! That thing is a behemoth and it causes all kinds of funky problems. They really screwed the pooch with that one.

John

[iw433]

You to? I though it was just me. FF crashed a few weeks ago and I have been using IE. Hoping FF will get its act together soon.

[Nick Desai]

Hi Waken

I am having the same problems as you so I hope someone offers some good tips here.

At first I thought it was my computer memory ( RAM) being too low because Firefox does consume more memory than say IE...

Anyone know the exact reasons why firefox is so slow ?

[waken]

Well I really have no idea what's the problem but some people say it's some add on that causes that. Hmm...

Perhaps John's right. Use Chrome for super fast browsing and FF for other activities where add on is needed.

And BTW, it takes about a minute to startup FF as well vs Chrome that takes less than 10 seconds to start. What is wrong? I really hope that I know and fix it. Anyway, if RAM could be the reason, I'm going to add some RAM to it this weekend and see if things improved.

Thanks guys!

[NowIstheTime]

Wow.. you're the second one to post regarding a slow firefox connection today. Here's the other thread: If all Internet connections are running slow, the problem is the computer, right?

Which exact version of ff are you using? I'm using firefox 3, and hated how slow it was till I made some config changes to 'speed up firefox 3', you can google them or post here if you need some help.

Two other things you can consider to handle 2 big reasons why ff slows down: Flash and PDFs:
1. Install flashbock which will allow you to control which sites you CHOOSE to allow flash to run on.
2. Open up adobe reader, and in the tools/preferensces/options, you will in a tab for "Internet" . Remove the option to display PDFs in browser, and they will open in adobe reader from that point on.

This seems to be a common theme today, so let us know if these suggestions do the trick for you.

[waken]

Originally Posted by NowIstheTime

Wow.. you're the second one to post regarding a slow firefox connection today. Here's the other thread: If all Internet connections are running slow, the problem is the computer, right?

Sorry dude.. check the time the thread was created..

Originally Posted by NowIstheTime

Which exact version of ff are you using? I'm using firefox 3, and hated how slow it was till I made some config changes to 'speed up firefox 3', you can google them or post here if you need some help.

Two other things you can consider to handle 2 big reasons why ff slows down: Flash and PDFs:
1. Install flashbock which will allow you to control which sites you CHOOSE to allow flash to run on.
2. Open up adobe reader, and in the tools/preferensces/options, you will in a tab for "Internet" . Remove the option to display PDFs in browser, and they will open in adobe reader from that point on.

This seems to be a common theme today, so let us know if these suggestions do the trick for you.

Thanks for the suggestions..
Well I'm using the latest version 3.5.3.

Config changes? Well, I've tried a bunch of them on Youtube alone and no notable improvements seen even after the numerous changes. If you don't mind, please post the most effective tricks that you've found here. I believe many would be glad to have that.

1) the problem is, it's damn slow even if no sites with flash was opened. In other words, don't think it's the flash issue here.

2) you're right on this point that loading pdf will slow things down. I have this add on called "pdf download 2.2.0.02" that gives me the option to choose to view the pdf in html or in a pdf viewer or right from the browser. But again, the slowing issue is there even if there's no pdf loading.

Hm ..

[spearce000]

I'm using version 3.5.3 too, and it seems like it goes on strike every once in a while, especially if I've got two or more tabs open. I find that if I exit Firefox, click "yes" to save the tabs, and then open Firefox again, the slow pages load up right away. Very strange.

Does anyone know if it's possible to "downgrade" to an earlier version? I don't recall having this problem with version 2.

[NowIstheTime]

Wow... Not sure if I can pinpoint exactly which config worked for me... but I can say I was happy with the result. I've even implemented the same bunch of changes on a colleague's firefox install (also v3.5) and a 5 year old pc, and the results were equally satisfactory.

But here's the list of sites I used for speeding up Firefox 3.

1. How To Speed Up Firefox 3 | Universe Firefox
2. Speed up Firefox 3 page display time - Vox
3. Speeding up Firefox the right way - Darrell Norton's Blog [MVP] - CodeBetter.Com - Stuff you need to Code Better!
4. Speed up Firefox with these tweaks
5. Speed Up Firefox 3
6. Speed Up Firefox: Tweak Network | Universe Firefox

If you don't feel like mucking around with these config otions, there is a tool that will do it for you based on your network connections and computer speed: Firetune:
Speed up Firefox 3.0 in a flash with Firetune ? Digital Quest

Anyway, do try anything and everything you can to get ff flying for you, I think you will be rewarded.

Peace!

[daveanderson]

I think mine slowed down when I upgraded to the newest version. It is getting really bad.

[NowIstheTime]

spearce, I know how you felt... I was seriously considering moving back to version 2, before I made the changes.... but I'm quite happy now... and would not or could not go back to version 2 which doesn't have the better address bar history search feature (where you can type in any part of a url or page title and have it show up) or the better tab management features.

Try the changes in the sites I listed above, and let us know if it did the trick for you.

[Mmfh]

My Firefox, the latest version was running very slow and crashing.
I found that when the last update was done I had a add on that was causing the crashing, I disabled the add on and no more crashing.

Running slow, I mean really slow turned out to be a spyware I had picked up. I did a full scan with avast and it found one spyware and deleted it.

Everything is good again!

Good Luck!

Mm

[NowIstheTime]

Oh and spearce, I guess one way to downgrade, is to simply install firefox 2 in a different directory.

At least that's how I've always 'upgraded' firefox for each of the major versions from version 0.x to 1.x, etc.

And before you guys start thinking I am the official spokesman for ff. You can even try the maxthon browser, which is supposed to be fast.

And one more plugin for speeding up firefox, is fasterfox.

[Nick Desai]

1. Which FF Add-On needs to be reomoved ?

and ...

2. How do you remove it ?

[spearce000]

If you don't feel like mucking around with these config otions, there is a tool that will do it for you based on your network connections and computer speed: Firetune:
Speed up Firefox 3.0 in a flash with Firetune ? Digital Quest

Anyway, do try anything and everything you can to get ff flying for you, I think you will be rewarded.

Peace!

I installed Firetune, and now it seems to run much faster . Many thanks.

Shaun

[NowIstheTime]

@Nick: Which you got? No seriously... try disabling all of them.. and re-enable each one by one... same as wordpress plugins, or any other modular system. But before that.. try some of the tweaks listed above.

@Shaun: NP.. Glad it worked!

Bill, Zellandia, Dave: Would love to hear if these tweaks worked foryou.

[sweetfranky]

I'm having the same problem, it might be your running too many addons. I've noticed my bootup time is faster now that I no longer have SEOquake installed.

[Kirk Ward]

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you're all using Skype and recently did a Skype update, where eBay pushed "The Browser Highlighter" out into the Google Toolbar.

This "add-on" from eBay slows Firefox to a crawl and pings information back to eBay.

You can disable the add-on in the FF tools >> add-ons option.

One note of warning, don't delete the two services it adds into your system, unless you're really skilled at working inside your registry. The two "services" are tbhDaemon.exe and tbhMonitor.exe

Don't touch them!

My personal opinion is these are also related to the "Black Screen of Death" Microsoft is investigating. See this ... ?Black screen of death? for some Windows users - Security- msnbc.com

Have a nice day!

Kirk

[InternetMarketingIQ]

It's usually a suspect add on. There is also no substitute for power. The fastest PC you can afford the better. The fastest connection the better.

I use Firefox with a number of add ons and there is no real problem on my end. I also use IE and have noticed they are about the same speed.

And when you have a few bucks left over get yourself an SSD. Amazing!

[Wakunahum]

It is the addons.

You can make multiple profiles in firefox. Keep one for addons and one that's nice and clean without any. You will notice a difference in speed.

[Loren Woirhaye]

The browser I'm happiest with for general, fast use, is SeaMonkey -
based on the same engine that drives Firefox, but faster and
less bloated.

I've used Chrome, Opera, FF, a couple others... Seamonkey's my
favorite of the lot. I still use Firefox on a near-daily basis,
but for most of my stuff it's slower than Seamonkey.

[zmonique2007]

Too many add-ons can really affect the speed. For me, I only used Firefox because its faster than any other browser.

[Ralf Skirr]

Browser slowdown can also be caused by spyware.

I had problems recently, and after changing my virus software and running microsoft's malicious software removal tool my firefox was ok again.

Ralf

[321sitemonitor.com]

I do have some problem with it but when i try to open it without any toolbar installed it bumps as fast as none other browsers.

It might be the case that you have too many toolbars installed in your FF.

[Jeff Poulton]

Buy a Mac and surf with Safari. I use FF for web development b/c of a few key plugins, but when I'm browsing/researching, I use Safari exclusively. It handles 20-30 simultaneous tabs effortlessly (except when it crashes ;-)

[AM Faisal]

Give Google Chrome a shot! it works really good for me.

[rapidscc]

The fastest browser I've used so far is Chrome..In fact I'm doing this with Chrome right now..

I've tried IE, FIREFOX, SAFARI, and opera..

So far the fastest I've used is Chrome...

However, the lack of add-ons make me return to using Firefox but only when necessary...

All the best,

Omar

[WinsonYeung]

Use a Google Chrome, I just switch to google chrome from firefox because firefox DOES NOT SUPPORT WINDOW 7 64 BIT!!!

Regards,
Winson

[JustVisiting]

Firefox Problems sorted with new update.