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Why is Firefox suddenly making my internet so slow?

  • 7 replies
  • 65 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by smurth

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Firefox is running very slowly now. Videos on all sites take forever to load, if they load at all. & games are choppy & run in slow motion. Firefox is also often completely unresponsive, & randomly freezes when typing comments, clicking links, etc. I had some problems before, but since upgrading to Firefox 13, it's been ridiculously bad. I even called my internet provider, Charter, cause I thought it was somethin they were doin. Their Speed Test is one reason I know it's not them. When I run the Speed Test using Windows IE, I get these results: http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/1702077109.png When I run that same test through Firefox, I get these results: http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/1702070678.png I've already tried several things to fix this, including a complete uninstall/re-install.

Firefox is running very slowly now. Videos on all sites take forever to load, if they load at all. & games are choppy & run in slow motion. Firefox is also often completely unresponsive, & randomly freezes when typing comments, clicking links, etc. I had some problems before, but since upgrading to Firefox 13, it's been ridiculously bad. I even called my internet provider, Charter, cause I thought it was somethin they were doin. Their Speed Test is one reason I know it's not them. When I run the Speed Test using Windows IE, I get these results: http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/1702077109.png When I run that same test through Firefox, I get these results: http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/1702070678.png I've already tried several things to fix this, including a complete uninstall/re-install.

All Replies (7)

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That's really strange.

  • First, can you click on the Firefox button, go to Options, click on Options.
  • In the options windows, please select the Advanced pane.
  • Under Connection, click Settings. If anything other than Use system proxy settings is selected, change it to that option.

If that doesn't work, please do the following:

  • Click the Firefox button at the top left, then click the Help menu and select Troubleshooting information from the submenu. If you don't have a Firefox button, click the Help menu at the top and select Troubleshooting information from the menu.

Now, a new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.

  • At the top of the page, you should see a button that says "Copy all to clipboard. Click it.
  • Now, go back to your forum post and click inside the reply box. Press Ctrl+V to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.

If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues.

Thanks in advance for your help!

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A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that 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:


You can try to reset Firefox and create a new profile.

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Application Basics

       Name
       Firefox
       Version
       13.0.1
       User Agent
       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1
       Profile Folder
         Show Folder
       Enabled Plugins
         about:plugins
       Build Configuration
         about:buildconfig
       Crash Reports
         about:crashes
       Memory Use
         about:memory
 Extensions
       Name
       Version
       Enabled
       ID
 Important Modified Preferences
     Name
     Value
       accessibility.blockautorefresh
       true
       accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar
       0
       browser.cache.disk.capacity
       1048576
       browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run
       false
       browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value
       901120
       browser.display.background_color
       #C0C0C0
       browser.display.use_system_colors
       true
       browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion
       3
       browser.startup.homepage
       http://www.bing.com/?pc=MOZO
       browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID
       20120614114901
       browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone
       13.0.1
       browser.startup.homepage_reset
       http://www.bing.com/?pc=MOZO
       dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.np2zstub.dll
       false
       dom.max_script_run_time
       0
       extensions.lastAppVersion
       13.0.1
       general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet
       ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)
       keyword.URL
       http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&p=
       network.cookie.prefsMigrated
       true
       places.database.lastMaintenance
       1340513480
       places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages
       51864
       places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size
       82982010
       places.last_vacuum
       1295680592
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies
       false
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.sessions
       false
       privacy.cpd.formdata
       false
       privacy.cpd.sessions
       false
       privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs
       true
       privacy.sanitize.timeSpan
       0
       security.csp.enable
       false
       security.enable_ssl2
       true
       security.enable_tls
       false
       security.warn_entering_weak
       false
       security.warn_viewing_mixed
       false
       security.warn_viewing_mixed.show_once
       false
 Graphics
       Adapter Description
       Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
       Vendor ID
       0x8086
       Device ID
       0x2a42
       Adapter RAM
       Unknown
       Adapter Drivers
       igdumdx32 igd10umd32
       Driver Version
       8.15.10.2302
       Driver Date
       2-11-2011
       Direct2D Enabled
       false
       DirectWrite Enabled
       false (7.0.6002.18592)
       ClearType Parameters
       ClearType parameters not found
       WebGL Renderer
       Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 1.0.0.963)
       GPU Accelerated Windows
       1/1 Direct3D 9
 JavaScript
       Incremental GC
       1
 Library Versions
       Expected minimum version
       Version in use
       NSPR
       4.9
       4.9
       NSS
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
       NSS Util
       3.13.4.0
       3.13.4.0
       NSS SSL
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
       NSS S/MIME
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.4.0 Basic ECC
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Why do you have TLS disabled (security.enable_tls)?

BTW, SSL2 is not longer supported (Bug 593077 - Remove SSL 2.0 support), so you can reset the security.enable_ssl2 pref.

Did you try a new profile or reset Firefox?

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Don't know what TLS is or how it gets enabled/disabled. Also not familiar with SSL2. (I guess I'm not what you'd call an "advanced" user) As for the trying a new profile or resetting, I completely uninstalled Firefox, including my personal preferences, & started over. This is a fresh download, with only the most basic add-ons, like Flash & Java. I never had problems this bad until the update to 13.

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See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/settings-network-updates-and-encryption#w_protocols


Which security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?

more options

I have the same issue. I completely disabled Norton 360 Firewall after removing and resetting setting permissions to Allow. It is still slow with no firewall.


 Application Basics
       Name
       Firefox
       Version
       17.0.1
       User Agent
       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/17.0
       Profile Folder
         Show Folder
       Enabled Plugins
         about:plugins
       Build Configuration
         about:buildconfig
       Crash Reports
         about:crashes
       Memory Use
         about:memory
 Extensions
       Name
       Version
       Enabled
       ID
       Greasemonkey
       1.5
       true
       {e4a8a97b-f2ed-450b-b12d-ee082ba24781}
       Java Console
       6.0.35
       true
       {CAFEEFAC-0016-0000-0035-ABCDEFFEDCBA}
       Motive Extension
       1.0
       true
       [email protected]
       Norton Toolbar
       2013.2.2.3
       true
       {2D3F3651-74B9-4795-BDEC-6DA2F431CB62}
       Norton Vulnerability Protection
       11.1.1.5 - 3
       true
       {BBDA0591-3099-440a-AA10-41764D9DB4DB}
       RoboForm Toolbar for Firefox
       7.8.4.7
       true
       {22119944-ED35-4ab1-910B-E619EA06A115}
       Xmarks
       4.1.3
       true
       [email protected]
       Skype extension for Firefox
       4.2.0.5198
       false
       {AB2CE124-6272-4b12-94A9-7303C7397BD1}
 Important Modified Preferences
     Name
     Value
       accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar
       0
       browser.cache.disk.capacity
       1048576
       browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run
       false
       browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value
       890880
       browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion
       4
       browser.startup.homepage
       https://www.google.com/
       browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID
       20121128204232
       browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone
       17.0.1
       browser.tabs.warnOnClose
       false
       extensions.lastAppVersion
       17.0.1
       gfx.direct3d.prefer_10_1
       true
       network.cookie.prefsMigrated
       true
       places.database.lastMaintenance
       1353868932
       places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages
       104858
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies
       false
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.downloads
       false
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata
       false
       privacy.clearOnShutdown.history
       false
       privacy.cpd.offlineApps
       true
       privacy.cpd.siteSettings
       true
       privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs
       true
       privacy.sanitize.promptOnSanitize
       false
       privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown
       true
       privacy.sanitize.timeSpan
       0
       security.warn_viewing_mixed
       false
 Graphics
       Adapter Description
       NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.2)
       Vendor ID
       0x10de
       Device ID
       0x0dd2
       Adapter RAM
       3071
       Adapter Drivers
       nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
       Driver Version
       9.18.13.286
       Driver Date
       6-21-2012
       Direct2D Enabled
       true
       DirectWrite Enabled
       true (6.2.9200.16433)
       ClearType Parameters
       ClearType parameters not found
       WebGL Renderer
       Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.2)) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 1.0.0.1242)
       GPU Accelerated Windows
       1/1 Direct3D 10
       AzureCanvasBackend
       direct2d
       AzureFallbackCanvasBackend
       cairo
       AzureContentBackend
       direct2d
 JavaScript
       Incremental GC
       1
 Accessibility
       Activated
       1
       Prevent Accessibility
       0
 Library Versions
       Expected minimum version
       Version in use
       NSPR
       4.9.2
       4.9.2
       NSS
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC
       NSS Util
       3.13.6.0
       3.13.6.0
       NSS SSL
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC
       NSS S/MIME
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC
       3.13.6.0 Basic ECC