hello, this is unfortunately a known regression in firefox 25 that is affecting a small portion of users, for reference please refer to bug #933733.

your best option is probably to downgrade to firefox 24 at the moment until the issue gets resolved.

Install an older version of Firefox

Yep, I had the same problem. Because I hate I.E. and the other browsers, I chose to download Firefox v.24. It has solved the problem, thanks! However, I'm worried about potential Security exposure, so the sooner you are able to get the bug in v.25 fixed, the much happier I'll be. Here's wishing every, and speedy, success!

hello covkid, if you want to, you can test-run firefox 26 beta 4 which has just been released and comes without the changes that originally caused the regression in firefox 25 (but all the security fixes): mozilla.org/beta

Hey, Philipp, that's a very kind offer/suggestion but, regretfully, my wife (who is the one who uses the affected computer) says she's so happy to have her 'working' version (v.24) back, she has no interest in further testing her patience by now installing a non-fully proven version, which may present her with additional, new bugs. Sorry, but we'll have to pass on the offer, and take our chances with the security risk, albeit, hopefully temporarily. Gotta keep the little lady happy, you understand.

Non-fully proven version, that's a joke in itself. If version 25 were fully tested , then we would not be having this problem or conversation.

Hi Philipp, As you know, I downgraded to v.24 and everything was working fine, but I think somehow today Firefox automatically upgraded itself (to v.25 ?) and the 'freeze' problem is back. Is there any way to temporarily disable the auto updating feature, so that I don't have to keep re-loading v.24 ? Until you get the v.25 bug fixed, that is.

you can temporarily disable auto-updates in firefox > options > advanced > update. the bug-fix (firefox 25.0.1) is scheduled to be released later on friday, we will keep you updated once this happens...

I have the same problem, screen freezes when web search is initiated in Firefox unless the mouse is kept moving or the keyboard is continually active. Video (youtube) will not play: black screen or "an error occurred, please try again later" which later never works. I have tried all the suggestions (except loading v24) and none of them worked.

That's great, on both counts! Thanks a lot, Philipp!

The update to Firefox 25.0.1, which should address the particular problem of pages not loading unless the mouse is moved, has just been released now.

If you have downgraded to Firefox 24 to work around the issue, please go to Firefox > Options > Advanced > Update and turn automatic updates back on. Then go to Firefox > Help > About Firefox which should trigger the update to Firefox 25.0.1.
In case you need to download the setup file for Firefox 25.0.1 separately you can do so from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#firefox

Thanks for your patience while Mozilla's developers have been working on getting this issue fixed!

Thanks, Philipp! Will download 25.0.1 and give it a whirl. Will advise if encounter any further problems. Thanks again!

Try getting rid of Mindspark in programs and plug-ins. It worked for me.

Thanks, buddy, but the latest (v.26) release seems to have totally solved the problem (for now at least!) Thanks again!

Been running into this issue too. Firefox 25.0.1 has been hanging and freezing lately. Tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it with no success.

Will be either downgrading to v.24 or moving to v. 26.

Been using Google Chrome due to this issue.

Edit: Decided to move up... it loads better. Still seems to hang a little, but not enough to be a real issue.

Bad news folks. While this problem is certainly bad with 25 and 25.0.1, I have also seen it on 24 on Windows 7 after downgrading from 25. The behavior on 24 is quite erratic (a YouTube may play fine once but freeze on the replay) but it is still there intermittently. I never saw it before upgrading to 25 so my suspicion is that some damage is done by the upgrade (perhaps register entries or links to flash player) that can't simply be undone by reinstalling 24.