Launching Firefox is sometimes extremely slow.
Hello. Over the past few months or so, I've been having a problem in which Firefox SOMETIMES (as in certainly not all of the time, and when it happens is pretty random) takes an extremely long time to open once I've closed it. That is, if I already have at least one tab open, opening a new tab is almost instantaneous. But once I close out of all tabs and have to click on the Firefox icon again, sometimes it will say "connecting..." and the little wheel will turn for up to 2 to 3 minutes. But, again, sometimes it will open without a problem. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this bizarre behavior and what can be done about it? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you!
Svi odgovori (10)
Did you give enough time for Firefox to fully close?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Issues_with_Firefox
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox.exe_always_open
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs#Hang_at_exit
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-slow-how-make-it-faster
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-hangs-or-not-responding
Also, can you please update to the newest version of firefox? The version you are using is almost a year old, and is no longer supported. You can download the latest version from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/.
You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database file in the Firefox profile folder.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
- Places Maintenance: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/
Are you using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear any personal data?
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history
Thank you to all of you! I did just, in fact, do the update. I somehow doubt that the fact that I was running the old version is what was causing this problem, but what do I know. As for giving it time to close, yes, sometimes hours. That is, sometimes this will happen after not having used Firefox for a while (either not using my computer or all, or using, um, another browser that sometimes I'm required to use).
Use this link to check that your plugins are up-to-date. If any are listed as unknown or research, do not worry about them.
Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac:<Command>)<Shift> A)
In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. At the top right is a "gear" icon. Press it and check for updates.
After, restart Firefox. Is the problem still there?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options) key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?
Fred,
I clicked on that link, and there was no indication that any plugins need updating. I then went to the Extension page and clicked on check for updates, and it said "No updates found." So, I don't think that's the problem. For whatever it's worth, while it's taken a little while to launch a few times today, it's been better than usual. So, maybe updating to the latest version did have an effect. Still, as I said, this always happens on-and-off, so it's too early to tell.
Thanks again.
Try to create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.
Okay, so sure enough, since I upgraded to the latest version, the launch times have been better. It still gets stuck sometimes, but it's not nearly as cumbersome as the 2 to 3 minutes it sometimes took before. That's the good news. The bad news, though, is that a different problem has cropped up. When I watch Youtube videos now, I often get crashes, with a box popping up saying "Shockwave flash may be busy, or it may have stopped responding..." It's not the first time I've seen this error message, but it's happening a LOT more now -- sometimes two or three times in a row. Could there be some kind of incompatibility with the new version -- something that I have to update? Again, if anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
You can check for problems with current Shockwave Flash plugin versions and try this:
- make sure you have the latest Flash version:
http://www.adobe.com/special/products/flashplayer/fp_distribution3.html - check for updates for your graphics drive drivers
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration - disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Flash 11.3+ on Windows Vista and later)
- disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
See also:
Thanks cor-el! I'll definitely check out all of those links.