Firefox very slow, sluggish and unresponsive on Windows 8.1
Basically everything is very slow and every action takes a whole lot of time to complete - Switching tabs takes about half a second to a full second (About 5 seconds if there's another tab currently loading/refreshing), clicking the middle mouse button takes again, about half a second to a full second for the scroll arrows to show up, same exact thing with regularly clicking the scroll bar on the right, Firefox pretty much freezes for about a whole second before reacting to the click.
I've tried running Firefox with addons disabled, that hasn't helped, which I was sure it wouldn't since this problem started out before I even got any addons - pretty much the second I installed Firefox. I've running Firefox on a brand new SSD card and a fresh installation of Windows 8.1. I've tried both Aurora and Nightly (currently using Nightly), both are just as slow.
I haven't tried resetting, since again, issue was already there when I first installed Firefox.
Chosen solution
Figured out what the problem is -- it's a DisplayFusion software that I use for multiple monitor support that's causing the issue. I'll just look for an alternative until (if ever) the issue ceases to exist.
Thanks for the help.
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Although extensions are disabled in Firefox's Safe Mode, plugins are not...
As a diagnostic to see whether Flash might be the culprit, try setting the Shockwave Flash plugin to Click-to-Play ("Ask to Activate"). This will delay Flash from starting on a page until you approve it.
To set "Ask to Activate", open the Add-ons page using either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
In the left column, click Plugins. Look for "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".
When you visit a site that wants to use the Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and one of the following: a link in a black rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.
Of course, some pages use Flash just for nice advertising or to store/retrieve tracking data on your computer, so you really only need to allow it where there is some media you want to play.
Any improvement?
By the way, are you running the regular Nightly or the UX Nightly?
No improvement whatsoever. I thought Flash might have been the problem, because of which I tried to install an earlier version of it (some people reported their browsers not performing as well with newer versions of flash), but that was of no help either.
I'm running the regular Nightly right now.
How would I go about backing up everything, including extensions and what not, before trying to reset firefox?
When you use Reset on a regular version of Firefox, your old settings folder is moved to the desktop in a folder named Old Firefox Data. But I'm not sure about Nightly; a manual backup sounds like a good idea.
You can open your currently active Firefox profile folder using either:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table of information, click the button to "Show Folder". This should be everything.
For future reference: Recover important data from an old profile.
Alright, resetting had no effect on the performance, unfortunately.
Do you recall the last version of Firefox that ran normally on this system?
Or did the problem start after something else updated, such as Windows, graphics card drivers, security suite?
This started after I upgraded to an SSD and installed a fresh copy of Win 8.1 (Which is what I was running prior to the upgrade too).
In earlier versions of Windows, it sometimes was useful to restart Windows in "Safe Mode with Networking" and test Firefox there. I don't know how that works in Windows 8.1.
Firefox performs "way" better while running windows in safe mode. All of the problems I've listed are gone there. This obviously does not solve the problem, though.
Hi Syth, it's a useful data point. I wonder whether there is a way to grab a list or snapshot of all the active processes in both modes and compare them to see the difference... I'm not very familiar with the tools for that.
Chosen Solution
Figured out what the problem is -- it's a DisplayFusion software that I use for multiple monitor support that's causing the issue. I'll just look for an alternative until (if ever) the issue ceases to exist.
Thanks for the help.
I've done everything suggested and nothing works. It's an impossible situation so I no longer use Firefox. Very disappointing because I really liked it and used it for years.
Hi mtatters, if you decide you miss Firefox and want to try some new ideas, please start a new question including your system information. There is a link at the top of each page here ("Ask a question").
Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
I'm also seeing horrible performance in Firefox on my Surface and it's driving me crazy. It gets even worse when using Flash. This is also happening on my desktop PC which is far more powerful than this device. Can I provide any info to help troubleshoot this?
Hi kop48, does your device also use the DisplayFusion software mentioned in the solution for this thread?
If not, could you start a new question at the following link. Scroll down past the suggestions to continue with the form (I think it has 3 different screens). https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems