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Firefox is running SLOOOOW. It takes five minutes to open a web page. IE works fine on the same computer. I have tried everything in the troubleshooting guide,

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Windows XP, Service Pack3, all the latest updates done. Scanned for viruses & malware, ran CCleaner. Defragged HD. Reset Firefox, uninstalled firefox & reinstalled. The only thing I haven't done is throw away my user profile. I exported my bookmarks to an HTML file so I can restore them. Will that work?

Windows XP, Service Pack3, all the latest updates done. Scanned for viruses & malware, ran CCleaner. Defragged HD. Reset Firefox, uninstalled firefox & reinstalled. The only thing I haven't done is throw away my user profile. I exported my bookmarks to an HTML file so I can restore them. Will that work?

Chosen solution

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:


Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

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.

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Chosen Solution

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:


Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

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.