Firefox works faster in Windows 8.1 Safe Mode, but not normally.
So. When I run Windows 8.1 as normal (no safe mode), Firefox takes several minutes to load and attempting to view any websites takes a very long time. Firefox in Safe Mode (Windows still as normal) doesn't fix this. And Hardware Acceleration is disabled.
But when I run Windows 8.1 into Safe Mode, Firefox instantly loads and all web pages load without any issues.
I'm unsure what can be causing this, can someone give me suggestions? (Please don't tell me to run Firefox in to Safe Mode, that doesn't work.)
All Replies (3)
What security software do you have?
It is possible that your firewall or other security software 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 install for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
I have Kaspersky, and the instructions above didn't fix anything I'm afraid.
Firefox has a built-in tool called the Network Monitor which shows you what Firefox is retrieving for a page and how long different aspects of the request take. I'm attaching a screenshot as an example. If you don't find any other suggestions, you could compare the same page request in normal mode and in Windows Safe Mode with Networking to see which aspect is slow or whether it's all just slower.
You can open the Network Monitor from the Developer menu, either:
- "3-bar" menu button > Developer > Network
- (menu bar) Tools > Web Developer > Network
It's normal for the list to be blank until you reload the page. To bypass the cache and force all files to be retrieved from the server, you can use Ctrl+Shift+r instead of the regular Ctrl+r.
