Why do firefox pages load faster if I switch to different application on the taskbar?
Using XP sp3, Firefox 27.0.1. Firefox spikes resources usage. I've tried resetting firefox. Granted, my pc is older, and only has 2.25 gig of ram, but until recently the loading time was acceptable. Now it's not. This seems to happen occasionally after firefox is updated.
Pages are loading much more slowly recently, maybe since security update on 2/14? The odd thing is, if, while the page is loading, I click on another non-firefox application, like the task manager, in the taskbar, the firefox page seems to load faster. Is this possible? The delay seems to be when the spinning circle (I don't know what it's called - favicon?) with the ball has turned green and is rotating to the right. I'm not talking just a few seconds of difference. It could be a minute's difference.
Thanks for any help you can give.
All Replies (7)
Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps in case your security software is causing this issue.
Hi cor-el, I did that. A page that takes over 90 seconds to fully load in normal mode took 10 seconds in safe mode. Now what?
Which security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?
It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
I have since upgraded from AVG 2013 free to AVG 2014 free (no change) I just went into my Windows Firewall and unchecked all the programs under exceptions. I'll see if that makes any difference.
Oh, and I added Firefox to the exceptions - is that right?
The firewall change (taking firefox off then re-adding it) didn't make any difference. Safari loads much faster, but I don't to give up on firefox, especially since I use firebug all the time.
I changed the network setting to no proxy. I re-installed firefox.
Why would switching to another program while a page is loading speed up the loading? I doesn't matter what program I switch to either. I usually switch to task manager, because I can see when the page is loaded easily since I can see both at the same time.
Ok, so I installed a program called Process Explorer, which is like Windows Task Manager, but with a bit more information. When Firefox is loading a new page, and is the current window, the page is slow to load and firefox takes between 65-80% of the cpu. If I click off firefox, it can take as much as 97% of the cpu, giving some up to AVG's avgrsx.exe, vprot.exe and sometimes plugin-container.exe, but loads the page faster.
Your instructions: "let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process. "
I'm not sure what you mean - should I see this happening (as in it asking permission from me to grant access)? Because I don't.
I've attached a screenshot of Process explorer top cpu processes while the page is loading.
