Hello James.

Yeah, it might be a slow connection from the host or from yourself. The best way to try and see if it is is to download something from somewhere you know is fast. Microsoft's site is usually very fast, for example, I use it to try my connection speeds.

If it's slow too, try another browser. Maybe it's just Firefox, but I doubt it, since it's not a widespread issue. Of course, it's possible that you are having a problem with some Firefox add-on that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?

Whenever you have a problem with Firefox, whatever it is, you should make sure it's not caused by one (or more than one) of your installed add-ons, be it an extension, a theme or a plugin. To do that easily and cleanly, run Firefox in safe mode (don't forget to select Disable all add-ons when you start safe mode). If the problem disappears, you know it's from an add-on. Disable them all in normal mode, and enable them one at a time until you find the source of the problem. See this article for information about troubleshooting extensions and themes and this one for plugins.

If you need support for one of your add-ons, you'll have to contact its author.

If the problem is not disappears when all add-ons are disabled, please tell me, so we can work from there. Please have no fear of following my instructions to the line, as all can be easily undone.

The problem I am having is the same as James's above, and, to look at recent feedback from other users, the problem IS pretty widespread and begins (as it did with me) immediately upon the upgrade to 3.6.8.

I will try the suggestions you make and hope one or the other works. Otherwise I guess it is back to IE.