Is it just me, or does Firefox suck especially hard these days?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

Admittedly, I don't have the best computer. It's in the mid-range of what walmart carries. (I know, I know, but I needed a computer fast for as low cost as possible and a family member was able to get a 10% discount.)

Any way, it seems to do well with everything, including Chrome and IE, but as soon as I start using Firefox (which I've used for years), my computer (or maybe it's just Firefox) starts seizing momentarily with each command, even just moving the mouse across the page. Also, I get a lot of script errors asking me to stop the script.

Anyone else been having issues while using Firefox?

[LittleBlue]

1. I don't have an issue. But if a recent version of Firefox is giving you trouble

and it worked in the past, try using an older version

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/

[prairierose]

2. I stopped using firefox a few years ago...

I had loved it for years but then it would not let me do things I had been doing for a long time and needed to do online so I started trying out other browsers(NOT IE). Now I use chrome and although I don't like some of the things google is doing with it, it works pretty well for what I need to do.

[Duckhunter935]

7. I have found it is the flash plugin

I CTL, ALT, DEL and stop the flash in task manager and it fixes it.

[prairierose]

29. Thanks but I have gone too far away from it now...

the thought of getting it all set up the way I would want is more than I can bear.

[shawnainthome]

73. love these posts

dunno if this will work, but just googled... er a... startpaged... "is it me or does firefox suck"... going to give this a try and if it works, and if i find this page again... will def holla back...

about me: been using FF for since 1.0... maybe it was 2.0... who remembers, right>?

and a few weeks ago, i disabled a bunch of add-ons (with IT degree) because i always have 5-100 tabs open... and therefore had to crash FF every now and then because it would suck up too much ram(??) and freeze nonetheless... I blv I have 6 GB of RAM... lol with a 4 GB SSD and a 500 GB HD... the integrated video sucks and may be dying but this wouldn't explain why FF sucks... anyway, once FF used to get to say >700MB or >800MB of RAM... it would start freezing and/or slow waaaaaay down...

so's i's google's some's stuff's about's it...

and disabled a bunch of add-ons and what not... whatever... i think it's the freaking adobe plug-in NSA spygrid PLUGIN... and now i'm just babble-typing so yeah... flip adobe flash if you guys suck and it's not FF b/c I LOVE FF!!!

or wait, it is b/c i didn't donate that three dollars the other day??

[TransitJohn]

36. Everybody should disable flash anyway if they're concerned about privacy

Background: http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/blog/new-breed-super-cookie-defies-removal-almost
If you want flash functionality in websites, than run better privacy in Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/

Also indespensible is Noscript:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/
and Adblock Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/

[betterdemsonly]

42. Noscript is the reason I can never give up FF

The equivalent in Chrome won't work unless you accept all cookies, which defeats the purpose from my point of view.

[Faryn Balyncd]

59. THANK YOU - Noscript just instantly solved my sluggist/frozen computer problem.

I was not familiar with it, but after reading your comment, googled it, installed it, and instantly pages load lightning fast like in the old days, and without all the garbage.

And not only do pages load instantaneously, but scrolling is rapid & smooth, like it was years ago.

Apparently all the garbage script that website designers have been stuffing into their bloated pages have been choking my CPU.

Thank you!



I have a feeling this might help the OP's problem also.

[NYC Liberal]

62. Problem with noscript is websites load so many scripts from so many

different sources and can't even function with JavaScript turned off, it's a pain in the ass trying to figure out which ones of the dozens of scripts you have to whitelist for the site to work.

Websites SHOULD degrade gracefully but too many don't.

[Faryn Balyncd]

63. Well, I've only used it for an hour, but it seems very simple to "temporarily allow" a page with one

click if you need to sign in,etc.

For browsing, it seems an absolute pleasure on my laptop, which has been horrible lately in both opening pages and scrolling (slow and jerky, almost unusable), both of which immediately resolved with Noscript.

And so far, most of the garbage that Noscript has disabled (with the exception of pages one wants to sign in or otherwise interact with, which be enabled with a one click "temporarily allow" command) seems to be exactly that: pop-ups & other bloat I could not be happier to get rid of.

It is a pleasure to have the speed restored to my browser. I did not realize the problem was 100% a script problem.

[betterdemsonly]

64. You can temporarily allow all scripts on a page

if you don't visit it often enough to disentangle it. You can also allow all scripts globally if there is a crosscripting problem. The big one with me is disqus. I use lots of disqus sites, so when I have a fresh noscript install I go to the site and enable scripts there first. You can also whitelist a website, like I did with the ACA website.

You can also try yescript which automatically whitelists all javascript unless you have a problem than you blacklist it. Noscript autoblacklists javascript unless you want it, then you whitelist.

[TexasTowelie]

58. I also like Tile Tabs 11.9.

It allows for multiple tabs to be viewed on the same screen, including duplicate tabs. It comes in handy when cutting and pasting between tabs.

[tecelote]

3. The end times are near.

Look at the crap that they try to have you download with every new installation. Desperation.

[Lindsay]

4. I haven't had any problems

with Firefox. I use it almost exclusively, as I find it less annoying than Chrome or IE. Maybe you need to remove it and install a fresh download?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

22. Hi Lindsay,

I've read in a couple of places that a fresh install might help resolve the seizing issue. I'll keep that in mind as a possibility.

Hope you're having a nice Sunday afternoon!

[conservaphobe]

5. Absolutely horrid.

I ditched it for Chrome awhile ago.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

23. I like Chrome but I don't like that it doesn't have the most-visited drop-down addreass bar. nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. I don't know about in general

but I do know the version I have (18.0.2) seems to have memory leakage issues, as well as a few other with large image display and DNS caching that have me killing off the process and restarting it probably once every hour on average, unless it beats me to it by simply crashing itself, which it does about once every day or two.

[yourout]

11. That is a pretty old version. I am using the lastest(version 30) and it works great for me.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

12. I'm still in fedora core 16.

And I think it's the 'latest and greatest' supported for that version of the OS.

[Aerows]

49. I use Mint 17 64

It is solid. I use the KDE front end because I like toys, though

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

50. Mint, eh?

That's the secure one, right? Does it use the SELinux stuff or something else? (Since I thought SELinux was some sort of NSA offshoot.)

[Aerows]

51. That's TAILs

I just use Mint because it is convenient, and I can use KDE .

As far as I know, it isn't an offshoot of SELinux, or SUSELinux which you might be thinking of. This is a rather barn-grown variant. I'm a homegrown Debian build fan, but this won me over. I can send you instructions to use a 4GB pen drive to boot it off of USB without touching your OS, if you'd like, to see for yourself.

It's well hardened, though.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

53. SELinux isn't an OS variant,

it is (to quote wikipedia)

Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a Linux kernel security module that provides the mechanism for supporting access control security policies, including United States Department of Defense–style mandatory access controls (MAC).

SELinux is a set of kernel modifications and user-space tools that can be added to various Linux distributions. Its architecture strives to separate enforcement of security decisions from the security policy itself and streamlines the volume of software charged with security policy enforcement. The key concepts underlying SELinux can be traced to several earlier projects by the United States National Security Agency.

So I wasn't sure if Mint would include that module, or handled its own kernel security policies through a separate module of its own.

[Aerows]

54. It includes enhanced modules

You are free to judge for yourself. If it is completely SELinux, I can't say, because I believe the community has gone far past that at this point due to the revelations Snowden made.

Judge for yourself. You can either compile it, or just use an image.

[Aerows]

55. Download it to a stick - BUT

the first thing on the desktop will be "Install Mint".

Don't do that. Peruse it at your leisure as a separate OS. I've already had one DUer get upset with me because I showed them a Linux Live OS and they messed up their GRUB. It will operate just fine on a usb drive.

[madokie]

8. Have no problem here with firefox

[840high]

57. Same here.

[Blue_Tires]

9. Everything's been going to shit ever since we lost Netscape Navigator

[immoderate]

13. +1

--imm

[Omaha Steve]

14. It is still out there

http://download.cnet.com/Netscape-Navigator/3000-2356_4-10145004.html

[ChisolmTrailDem]

24. It's not lost.

And I'm not sure if you were serious, sarcastic, or snarky.

[Aerows]

52. I don't know if I'm puzzled, appalled or laughing hysterically.

Netscape remembered fondly? Am I on AOL?

[reflection]

44. wow.

I can still download Nutscrape? I'd forgotten all about that browser. Now I'm jonesing to check it out again. I remember when it was the dominant one...

[etherealtruth]

10. ESPECIALLY hard! n/t

[RebelOne]

15. I have Safari and Firefox, but I have few problems with Firefox. n/t

[betterdemsonly]

16. I thought the recent update improved performance considerably.

Maybe you just have a bad installation and should try uninstalling it, erasing the mozilla folder and reinstalling.

I did have a problem with my touchpad not scrolling on the particular laptop I use, , which is a T61, but there was an about:config hack for it that worked. I like my privacy and will try and fix problems on firefox before I will use Chrome. They all have problems and can all be screwed up.

[icnorth]

41. Erasing mozilla folder and reinstall

is worth a try. I had issues a while back as well and after wiping the old Mozilla folder and a fresh install everything was back to normal.

[Snotcicles]

17. I thought it was punishment for dragging my feet on upgrades from windows. Because it gets

real bad after I do remind me later's.

[gvstn]

18. I would just download a new copy and install overtop of your old one.

See if that fixes the script errors.

[ohheckyeah]

19. I'm not having any problems as

long as I keep all the plugins up-to-date and clear the cache and cookies regularly.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. I stopped using it due to 'unresponsive script-not responding' freezups

Don't get them with any other browser, even IE is better. Firefox has features I really like but the basics don't function well so I moved on. I'm not very brand loyal. If it sucks, I don't use it.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

25. That's the biggest problem I've having, the unresponsive script freezups. It's driving me

crazy because it happens all the time.

I think I'll try the re-install and see if that clears it up.

[MANative]

21. Started giving me trouble about five months ago...

constantly hanging, crashing, causing the whole computer to crash and lag. Uninstalled and reinstalled twice with no joy. Finally gave up and started using Chrome, which has been marginally better. I used Firefox almost exclusively for at least eight or nine years, only using IE for times I had to go on Microsoft's site for specific admin purposes (they host my company's website, so had no choice there). Very disappointed in the difficulties I've had with it over the last few months.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

26. My machine seems to be able to keep up with me until I start using Firefox. Then,

I have the same issues you're having. I haven't tried to re-install yet but will. I'm like you in that I've used Firefox forever but this is a relatively new occurence which started sometime after I got my machine. But when I'm running Firefox eventually it will lag, freeze, then crash.

I have tried using Chrome but there are some features, or lack thereof - mainly the drop-down address bar with the most-visited sites, that I don't like and am not used to.

[betterdemsonly]

32. Here is an interesting about:config hack

Script Freezing Firefox

1. Run Firefox.

2. In the Firefox address/bar, type about:config, and then press Enter. (Do not type http in front of that)

3. Either scroll down to find or use the search filter to locate: Scroll and locate dom.max_script_run_time

4. Double click on the line of dom.max_script_run_time, and change the value to a higher number (in seconds) that you want Firefox to wait before getting the Unresponsive Script warning. By default, the value is 5 or 10 seconds. You can safely set the magical number to let’s say 20. You can set the value to 0 to instruct Firefox to wait foever – no warning and dialog whatsoever. Note that the whole Firefox may be not responsive and cannot be used while waiting for scripts to execute, so the number should not set too high in order to give you an opportunity to stop truly nasty or buggy scripts and recover use of Firefox. [I have set mine to 20]

5. Click OK.


6. Restart Firefox.

More here http://just-ask-kim.com/fixfacebook-unresponsive-script-freezing-firefox/

[betterdemsonly]

33. Here is an official word from Mozilla on this issue

Webroot Spy Sweeper

Webroot Spy Sweeper can cause this problem. Disabling Spy Sweeper's Tracking Cookies feature (or disabling Spy Sweeper altogether) can solve the issue.

Letting the script run longer

If you find that pressing the Continue button brings up the same dialog again, letting the script run longer won't help you; it will just make Firefox hang for longer. However, if you can use Firefox normally after pressing Continue, then the script may just needs extra time to complete.

To tell Firefox to let the script run longer:

In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.
The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise! to continue to the about:config page.
In the about:config page, search............

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/warning-unresponsive-script

There is some more troubleshooting info if you scroll down.

[Louisiana1976]

27. I've been using Firefox. At times it's slow, but I've been dealing with it.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. It seems to crash a lot more than it used to.

[PasadenaTrudy]

39. I've noticed this too

I use it on my MacBook Air. Lots of crashing in the last few months.

[hunter]

30. My computers are thoroughly obsolete.

I use Linux and Opera 12 or Chromium, the generic Open Source Chrome. (Later versions of Opera are Chrome relatives.)

I do not install Adobe Flash even though this excludes me from some commercial and BBC news videos. Too many advertisers do too many irritating things with Flash, and in combination with Firefox this can make an old computer stutter or freeze up.

Opera 12 is becoming problematic with the increasing use of Ajax, other complex javascript, and similar modern web technologies.

It looks like Google has won the "browser wars" with Chrome and Chrome's Apple sibling, Safari.

Internet Explorer, Firefox (aka Iceweasel in Debian) and Adobe Flash are slip-sliding away. Well over 90% of youtube videos posted here on DU play for me just fine without Flash installed. Generally this is the only place I'll take time out to watch a video. I'm not a patient person. I can read fast or slow, I can glance at an image quickly or take it all in, but a video traps me in it's own pace.

My own "go-to" browser for sites that are problematic has gone from Internet Explorer 6, to Firefox, and now to Chrome.

[The Straight Story]

31. I have been comparing it to Chrome, on MAC OS X 10.8.2 running memory clean

What I have found (as have others) is that Firefox tends to memory leak. Chrome is more responsive - close tabs and more memory is reclaimed.

Memory clean lets you watch memory usage and free up inactive ram. I routinely go into the red (I have it set to alert when less than 50 megs, I have 4 gigs) and since it is in title bar I can watch real time.

I typically start out with about 2.6 gig free of ram. Chrome and FF bit eat up around a gig when first starting. FF continues, slowly at times, to go down (right now at 349.92 MB, I have have a terminal window and emacs running). Chrome, sometimes, does this, but usually bottoms out and recoups ram.

When I go to bed I turn on a youtube video of rain sounds that is 8 hours long. When I wake up the ram use has been eaten up a lot more when using FF than Chrome, even though nothing is scheduled to run and I only have two tabs open.

Might be worth checking plugins you have (I try to use the same for both browsers) and getting a similar program for windows to watch and free up ram (I can clean it up with two clicks -- odd thing though, often even then FF will act terrible but Chrome keeps moving along). There are some plugins I can't get with Chrome so I like using FF (and never use Safari...it is so clunky...).

[Aerows]

48. I think Chrome is superior to Firefox

On linux, it certainly is, but neither are horrible.

[hunter]

68. The computer I'm posting this from has one gig of ram, total.

My laptop has half that.

I've got a bunch of tabs open here in Opera, a bunch of smaller apps and windows open, and I'm only using 648 megabytes of ram, including the Debian operating system and Mate Desktop.

I opened Chromium to google news in another window and my RAM use went up to 710 megs and about 22 megs got swapped out.

Posted for comparison.

[cally]

34. No problem

and I try to avoid all Google products so I won't use Chrome. I don't get freezes with Firefox but I have to keep disabling some of the security apps for some sites to work properly.

[kimbutgar]

35. Adobe shockwave crashes all the time in Firefox

I can only use shockwave with firefox on my old windows xp computer. No matter how many time I reinstall shockwave on my vista it crashes.

[Aerows]

47. It works better under Linux

Under Windows, everything I have seems to be a crash fest lately. I wonder why ...

[betterdemsonly]

56. You can disable it in about:addons /plugins

You can also make it ask to activate. I do this with all my media plugins You can also make youtube use html5. https://www.youtube.com/html5 .

Also with many xp era computers you need to disable hardware acceleration for flash to work properly. http://lifehacker.com/disable-firefoxs-hardware-acceleration-to-fix-slowness-749344037

[kimbutgar]

70. Thanks for this hopefully it will work

[davidn3600]

37. Their plugins tend to conflict with a lot of programs

I notice if I have a lot of stuff running with it, it tends to crash a lot.

[msongs]

38. no problems ever w/firefox here. it is something on your computer causing probs nt

[ananda]

40. Firefox is running ok on my computer.

But I'm using version 12. I tried the latest update
and it was so annoying I went back to 12, which
is fine though not perfect.

However, the new Mavericks OS is not so great.
I think that's because my Mac is older than it
probably should be for that OS. But everything
is running well enough for now, so I'm keeping
it all until I just absolutely have to have a new
computer... hopefully later rather than sooner.

[mike dub]

43. I use two Mac Pro's and one MacBook Pro at work and *never use Firefox

It's slow on my machines - my Macs seem to not like it, Sam they am.

I only use Safari, so therefore I have no frame of reference here (I'm out of my element).

[Aerows]

45. I had issues with Chrome due to "waiting for cache" issues

I rebooted into Linux Mint, and I'm fine with both.

[steve2470]

46. no problems here nt

[greatlaurel]

60. Firefox works just fine for me. No problems at all.

Must be something on your new computer that was already installed that is causing problems. You could ask for help on a Firefox troubleshooting site. Windows 8 makes everything more difficult.

[TransitJohn]

61. I think it's the bloated websites you visit

Firefox renders web pages faithfully. You should take advantage of FF's customizability to consume the web on your terms.

[Uncle Joe]

65. Viewing videos really sucks with FireFox, I had Google Chrome on a previous laptop and that worked

well but this one won't accept Google Chrome so I had to download FireFox Mozilla.

I keep seeing this window pop up every now and then when I'm on youtube about downloading a "video converter tool" but I don't know if I should do that or not?

I probably need to get another laptop.

Thanks for the thread, ChisolmTrailDem.

[betterdemsonly]

66. Sounds like you have some malware.

I would run and antivirus check and reset it completely. Start fresh. If that didn't work I would reset windows defaults.

[Uncle Joe]

67. Thanks for the tip, betterdemsonly.

[raptor_rider]

69. Firefox sucks

However don't go with chrome!!!

[Xithras]

71. Firefox has been getting worse for years.

At this point, it's the least secure browser you can use, according to multiple third party security testing groups (yes, Firefox really is less secure than the latest versions of Internet Explorer). It also suffers from memory leaks and numerous performance issues.

Firefox's marketshare has been sliding for several years now. They are also facing a serious demographic problem. Firefox is picking up "new" users at a fraction of the rate of its competitors, and it's userbase is skewing older. The percentage of younger PC and mobile users (under-25's) who use Firefox is incredibly small (3%-5% according to some surveys), and most of their users can trace their history with that browser back a decade or more. Because products wither and die when they fail to attract younger users, this puts their long term viability at risk.

While there's no longer one "big" browser on the market, most of the heat and attention goes to Safari, Chrome, and yes, even IE nowadays. Firefoxes REAL problem is that, when someone asks the question, "What does your product offer that the others don't?", the Firefox people no longer have answers that people care about. While many FF fanboys like to regurgitate decade-old talking points, the reality is that FF has fallen way behind on the performance and security fronts, and their featureset is almost universally available in other browsers. Their only real claim to fame anymore is their addon system with it's comprehensive set of tools and utilities to expand the browser, but those haven't proven to be a big marketing point when attracting new users.

[TeeYiYi]

72. It's been sucking and simultaneously blowing for awhile now...

...but I still use it because of AdBlock.

I think the problem is tied to the Adobe Flash player. I'm on a Macbook Pro.

TYY