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Why is Firefox so slow?

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I was wondering why Firefox is slow? I've noticed when clicking the Firefox icon, it takes a minute to open up. I've tried to open up Internet Explorer and it opens up almost instantly. Why is this? I prefer Firefox over IE any day as it is more safe and secure. Even loading up many websites takes a minute. It's like this on 3 different PC's I have, even after a fresh install or restoring to factory defaults.

I was wondering why Firefox is slow? I've noticed when clicking the Firefox icon, it takes a minute to open up. I've tried to open up Internet Explorer and it opens up almost instantly. Why is this? I prefer Firefox over IE any day as it is more safe and secure. Even loading up many websites takes a minute. It's like this on 3 different PC's I have, even after a fresh install or restoring to factory defaults.

All Replies (4)

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The code that IE uses is part of the Windows OS and is usually already loaded. Only the IE shell needs to be loaded and that doesn't take much time. Firefox needs to be loaded fully from disk, so the first start usually takes more time but subsequent starts should be significantly faster.


It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) 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 internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

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I will give that a try. I ask because even Google Chrome loads up pretty quick but I don't like Chrome.

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Nope...still slow.

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For me this problems started with version 29. In another thread it was suggested that hardware acceleration might be the problem. I turned off hardware acceleration, and that fixed the problem.

>>Tools>Options>Advanced>General Tab>Use hardware acceleration when available <<= uncheck