Octopus Overlords

Anyone else having problems with Firefox lately being really sluggish? Scrolling a webpage causes 1 to 2 second pauses. Sometimes all the graphics will not load. Videos sometimes become slow or will not load. Clicking a tab or closing Firefox has a delayed response. I have cleaned out my cache. Ran CC Cleaner, and turned off all the add-ons except ad-block.

I switched over to using Chrome and it runs so smoothly but I still like the layout of Firefox better but I cannot handle the choppiness.

I switched to Chrome after many years of FF use. Just could not handle the slop and speed of late (past year or so really)

Carpet_pissr wrote:I switched to Chrome after many years of FF use. Just could not handle the slop and speed of late (past year or so really)

I have noticed it for a while but it is really bad now.

I use Firefox religiously and haven't noticed any slowdowns at all, no. Is it possible it is downloading updates in the background? Click on Help and "About" to see if that is contributing.

Smoove_B wrote:I use Firefox religiously and haven't noticed any slowdowns at all, no. Is it possible it is downloading updates in the background? Click on Help and "About" to see if that is contributing.

There's a fast/ slow internet / can't notice load times joke in there somewhere.

Yeah, maybe that's true. When you're using low-speed internet, maybe I just can't notice because it's all slow. then

The only time I see Firefox slowing down is when there's a large script running on some website. I run both Adblock Plus and Ublock Origin (since Adblock pretty much sold out and whitelists stuff that's not from reputable sources), so it's not necessarily ads anymore, but some sites just have lots of scripting for dynamic content. That's usually when I pull up Task Manager and confirm that Firefox memory usage is spiking.

gilraen wrote:The only time I see Firefox slowing down is when there's a large script running on some website. I run both Adblock Plus and Ublock Origin (since Adblock pretty much sold out and whitelists stuff that's not from reputable sources), so it's not necessarily ads anymore, but some sites just have lots of scripting for dynamic content. That's usually when I pull up Task Manager and confirm that Firefox memory usage is spiking.

Does it on all Websites even OO. Just tested it now and it loads half the page then pauses before loading the rest. A lot of pages it loads the first half then just has icons on the bottom of the page where images should be. Just changing forums in OO it paused and said connecting for 2 seconds. It acts like it has a slow internet connections but I am running at 40+ Mbps.

Anyhow, Chrome runs very smoothly so I need to just get used to it's layout.

I would try to uninstall Firefox, completely, and do a fresh reinstall. Something must have gotten corrupted.

gilraen wrote:I would try to uninstall Firefox, completely, and do a fresh reinstall. Something must have gotten corrupted.

I found an option to refresh Firefox and did that. It lost all my add-ons and themes though.

But it seems to have sped it back up.

Ive noticed a slow down. if I have 2 Twitch tabs open then its slow. If Im browsing YouTube vids it slows down and has pauses loading tabs. Most times in normal surfing its fine then other times its a tad slow. I REALLY dont want to switch. I started around 1994 or 1995 with Netscape. Then moved on to IE. Then Im not sure when I switched to FireFox. Maybe 10-15 years ago? Id have to check. But I really dont want to change again.

It feels like my net is slow but when I check my net speeds are fine it must be the browser.

Daehawk wrote:Ive noticed a slow down. if I have 2 Twitch tabs open then its slow. If Im browsing YouTube vids it slows down and has pauses loading tabs. Most times in normal surfing its fine then other times its a tad slow. I REALLY dont want to switch. I started around 1994 or 1995 with Netscape. Then moved on to IE. Then Im not sure when I switched to FireFox. Maybe 10-15 years ago? Id have to check. But I really dont want to change again.

It feels like my net is slow but when I check my net speeds are fine it must be the browser.

gilraen wrote:I would try to uninstall Firefox, completely, and do a fresh reinstall. Something must have gotten corrupted.

I tried everything, because I REALLY loved FF, well realistically I loved its extensions, which I had honed to perfection for my browsing habits.

Refreshed? Check. Several times.
Completely uninstalled, and reinstalled? CC Cleaned in between? Check.

Still a slow, sloppy mess IMO (currently - it wasn't always so, so I think it's maybe one of the updates to the engine in the past year or so...just my anecdotal pet theory).

In comparison to a Chrome or an IE Edge, it's pathetic really (speed-wise).

Carpet_pissr wrote:I tried everything, because I REALLY loved FF, well realistically I loved its extensions, which I had honed to perfection for my browsing habits.

Refreshed? Check. Several times.
Completely uninstalled, and reinstalled? CC Cleaned in between? Check.

Still a slow, sloppy mess IMO (currently - it wasn't always so, so I think it's maybe one of the updates to the engine in the past year or so...just my anecdotal pet theory).

In comparison to a Chrome or an IE Edge, it's pathetic really (speed-wise).

For what it's worth I left FF for Chrome as a result of that (I don't use Edge, it sucks IMO). Chrome + Extensions does what I need -- basically I use Privacy Badger and ABP Plus (and custom referrers to block adblock detectors) on sites like Forbes).

Wonder how much Chrome knows all you do kinda stuff.

I don't use Edge either (tried to use it as an alternative when I bailed on FF), but it was very fast for the few days I did try it.

Off hand I can only think of so many browsers over the years..

Mosaic
Netscape
Internet Explorer
Opera
Chrome
Firefox

Carpet_pissr wrote:I tried everything, because I REALLY loved FF, well realistically I loved its extensions, which I had honed to perfection for my browsing habits.

Refreshed? Check. Several times.
Completely uninstalled, and reinstalled? CC Cleaned in between? Check.

Still a slow, sloppy mess IMO (currently - it wasn't always so, so I think it's maybe one of the updates to the engine in the past year or so...just my anecdotal pet theory).

In comparison to a Chrome or an IE Edge, it's pathetic really (speed-wise).

give Pale Moon a try. it's basically Firefox with legacy code support stripped out.

FF back to pausing and slowing down. Been using Chrome and I'm getting used to it.

Are you guys using 32- or 64-bit FF? I know by default, installing from mozilla's page gives you the 32-bit. Maybe try switching versions?

Be warned, the 64-bit kills a lot of compatibility for plugins (only Flash and Silverlight work still). All your other addons/extensions should work just fine.

I checked it is 32 bit, I could have sworn I had installed 64 bit...

Mines 32 bit also but its always been fine before now.

You can start firefox from the commandprompt with -p als qualifier (firefox.exe -p) and create a new profile (it keeps the old one with all your settings etc.) that way you can check if plugins or the like slow your system down.

I installed the 64 bit and deleted the 32 bit. If its helped its very little.

Yea, 64 bit ran well for a day and it was slow again today.

Maybe firefox or one of the extension that you installed has memory leak?

Try to check and see how much memory firefox is using when it is slow. You can use Resource Monitor to find out how much memory firefox.exe is using.

and also do try out Pale Moon. it's still Firefox, but it may well work much better for you

Not just FF but a good place to say...its sad when Im faster than a PC / Internet / Tablet and I type something or wait on it or have to retype it because I was too fast. Star Trek this is not.

I have made the transition to Chrome. Found an extension for a start page that I really like. It is Called Start-A Better New Tab.

if you're going to switch to Chrome, at least use a Blink-engine browser that doesn't track you:

Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome)
Opera
Vivaldi

FireFox just pushed an update. Not sure what for. Maybe its my mind fooling me but it seems faster. Not used it long enough to know for sure yet.

that Google Chrome seems headed towards establishing another browser monoculture (like Microsoft IE6 in the early 2000s) is worrying to me.

It messed up on me again so I installed the Firefox Quantum beta. Seems nice so far. Full release should be Nov.

Just realized I dont have my mail icons at the top now and will have to look through threads to see what i was using.

EDIT: Ok have both emails working again. This Quantum is FAST and supposedly it uses very little memory. Its a little different in some areas but not a lot. Should get used to it quick...I hope.

hitbyambulance wrote:that Google Chrome seems headed towards establishing another browser monoculture (like Microsoft IE6 in the early 2000s) is worrying to me.

I agree with this. I'm using Chrome because of issues I had with Firefox when last I switched, but part of the appeal was that it wasn't the Big Target browser.

The thing with Chrome is I hear they track everything you do with it...most likely for ads and sales revenue somehow.

Daehawk wrote:The thing with Chrome is I hear they track everything you do with it...most likely for ads and sales revenue somehow.

correct. if I have to use a Chrome-compatible browser (Blink engine), i use Chromium (the open-source version that doesn't track you) or Vivaldi (the new hotness, from the former CEO of Opera) or even Opera. i do like Vivaldi a lot and it's my main work browser, since we're currently using Google's business platform.

The latest major update for Firefox has fixed my slow down issues. I tried Chrome for a good while but there was too many things about it that I did not like. The major issue is whenever I wanted to open something like pdf I would have to download it first instead of just opening it from the browser. I know you can select always open this type of file when it is downloading and it supposed to fix it but Chrome would never save that setting for later.

And it's incompatible with many systems at work so I was still using Firefox at work and Chrome at home. That got confusing sometimes.