hello, could you go to the firefox menu ≡ > help ? > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

Sure! Thanks for your response. Here it is:

Application Basics

Name: Firefox Version: 32.0.3 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/32.0

Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days

All Crash Reports

Extensions

Graphics

Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics Adapter Drivers: igdumd64 igd10umd64 igd10umd64 igdumd32 igd10umd32 igd10umd32 Adapter RAM: Unknown Device ID: 0x0106 Direct2D Enabled: true DirectWrite Enabled: true (6.2.9200.16581) Driver Date: 3-20-2014 Driver Version: 9.17.10.3517 GPU #2 Active: false GPU Accelerated Windows: 1/1 Direct3D 10 Vendor ID: 0x8086 WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0) windowLayerManagerRemote: false AzureCanvasBackend: direct2d AzureContentBackend: direct2d AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

Important Modified Preferences

accessibility.blockautorefresh: true accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0 browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 2 browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.search.update: false browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash: false browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20140923175406 browser.startup.homepage: https://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=12&ct=1388161004&rver=6.1.6206.0&wp=MBI&wreply=http:%2F%2Fmail.live browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20140923175406 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 32.0.3 browser.tabs.warnOnClose: false browser.urlbar.default.behavior: 2 browser.zoom.full: false dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 32.0.3 font.minimum-size.x-western: 13 font.size.variable.x-western: 13 gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0 media.autoplay.enabled: false network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 3 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1414687715 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 102480 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true plugin.state.flash: 1 plugin.state.npctrl: 1 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_bgimages: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_colorspace: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_command: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_duplex: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_evenpages: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_in_color: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_bottom: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_oddpages: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_orientation: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_data: 1 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_size_unit: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_width: 8.50 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_plex_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_resolution: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_resolution_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_reversed: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_scaling: 1.00 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_shrink_to_fit: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_to_file: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies: false privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata: false privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps: true privacy.clearOnShutdown.passwords: true privacy.popups.showBrowserMessage: false privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown: true storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1414286121

JavaScript

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility

Activated: false Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions

NSPR Expected minimum version: 4.10.6 Version in use: 4.10.6

NSS Expected minimum version: 3.16.5 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16.5 Basic ECC

NSSSMIME Expected minimum version: 3.16.5 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16.5 Basic ECC

NSSSSL Expected minimum version: 3.16.5 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16.5 Basic ECC

NSSUTIL Expected minimum version: 3.16.5 Version in use: 3.16.5

Experimental Features

unfortunately nothing particular stands out there or would be known cause of the high cpu usage. maybe the clue lies in the behaviour of the sites where this problem becomes apparent - would you be able to share their urls or what action needs to be triggered to get the problem?

Hi again! Yes, the two offending sites are:

wral.com drudgereport.com

The only action needed to trigger the freeze is simply going to the site. Sometimes even if I hit ESC before the page is fully loaded (to stop the unwanted, byte-gobbling images and ads from loading), the page stops loading but the CPU continues to rise until it hits about 30-35%, it freezes, and the CPU continues to rise to 55-65% or higher.

Both sites "autorefresh", and as you can see I blocked that. That made things perfect....for a few hours. Then it was right back to seize-n-freeze.

Sorry I didn't include this too, but as a reminder: this was all working perfectly until mid-July 2014. I have the same hardware and except for the Windows updates and keeping (almost)current on FF, nothing has changed, including my browsing habits. TY!

Hey there,

Try Firefox Safe Mode and see if the load reduces. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings, disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

• In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button , click Help and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
• In previous Firefox versions, click on the Firefox button at the top left of the Firefox window and click on Help (or click on Help in the Menu bar, if you don't have a Firefox button) then click on Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

• On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
• On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
  (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

Hope this helps you, please get back to me with the results!

Curtis Parfitt-Ford Mozilla Support

Freezing web pages happens to me sometimes

I would recommend to try using

Adblock Plus

and

NoScript (Forbid Scripts Globally)

and see if you notice a difference.

Adblock Plus only causes a viewing issue for me 10% of the time.

NoScript causes an issue more often (but it's tolerable), so I leave it off most of the time, but if I want to see a page, I use it to forbid all scripts, and then I can get through the page fast.

I see that this setting in Options is the same:

How to Stop Redirecting in Firefox - to prevent hackers: http://www.ehow.com/how_8523353_stop-redirecting-explorer-firefox.html

Options / Advanced / General / [check] Warn Me When Websites Try to Redirect or Reload the Page

Alternate: about:config \ enter . . . then set . . . accessibility.blockautorefresh . . . to TRUE

Thanks for the response, sludge. I'm going to differ with you, though. The Options/Advanced, etc. was one that I checked right away, but 2 days ago when I went into about:config, the boolean was FALSE. Maybe it's not supposed to be that way, but it was.

Matter of fact, the little female dog froze up AGAIN while I was typing another response. Maybe it's just time to give up, give in, and use IE.

Ad Block reduces my speed to worse than dialup. Sounds as if No Script is even worse.

Sure wish FF would admit they did something in July and, you know, FIX IT.

Better type fast before it seizes up AGAIN.

Thanks for your response, Curtis. I have no themes, no extensions, and my 4 plugins (JDTK, Java, Flash, and Silverlight) are all disabled. I can try Safe Mode but not hoping for better results. I'll try it tomorrow and get back to you.

I just tried Safe Mode and it froze INSTANTLY, and it froze not just the browser, but the entire machine.

Any other ideas?

Programs / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer . . . see if anything looks bad in Application and System

How often do you scan for viruses?

How often do you do updates?

- - - - - - - -

Go to: Computer Management: ... Performance / Reports / System / System Diagnostics / Computer Name

Look at ... Diagnostic Results / Warnings I only have 3: mouse, keyboard, missing events in event log ... but wait, look at the top, this is from 11/22/12 ... how do I get the current diagnostic?

Start / Run / type: perfmon /report ... it takes 60 seconds to generate

Look at ... Software Configuration / OS Checks / Operating System Information ... two query results are 0x0? ... read up on "Viewing the System Stability Report"

I just tried this on my system and got some error: An error occured while attempting to generate the report. The operator or administrator has refused the request.

I have run it before and it worked. How? . . . Probably this: Go to msconfig / Services / disable all non-MS program Go to CCleaner / Tools / disable all Startups Restart - then you will only have MS running Then try the report Reverse the above to get back

I don't understand some of what you're saying, but I update when I get the notifications within 48 hrs; the virus scan is supposedly done automatically but then again this is Windows 8 so who knows; I've looked at the Computer Diagnostics and the Event Viewer which are no help at all because when I see something that I think might be an error, there is no help for it.

Is anyone listening when I say that this started in July after 8 months of no problems????

Oh, and apparently blockautorefresh....DOESN'T.

This morning Drudge is reloading just as often as it wants to, again after apparently working for a couple of days.

Let's close this thread, Moderators. No one seems to know the answer, dozens are reporting the problem, and no one's actually fixing it.

Thanks all for your replies.

What AV do you have running? Windows Defender? (in Win 8, they combined Win Defender into MS Security Essentials, which sounded good to me, then I saw a report where it was only something like 79% effective, here:

AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute . . . Click on Home User - Shows Win Defender at 79% (June 2014?) / MS Security Essentials - gets a low score . . . http://www.av-test.org/en/home/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sound like you're unsure about the Anti-Virus . . . I would like to suggest trying this (this is what I do once a week):

Run in this order:

1.) Create a Restore Point

2.) Run ADWCleaner . . . https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/

3.) Get Avast Free, and run a full scan

4.) Check your Firewall, maybe reset it to defaults

5.) Run CCleaner, clean files and registry

6.) Install and Update SpywareBlaster

7.) Do a full scan with Malwarebytes

8.) Run Win Update

9.) Run update for your computer manufacturer, like HP or Dell

10.) If good, create a Restore Point

In the Event Viewer, yes, they don't make it easy, you have to read the detail, and then start googlin'

That's a huge effort to go to every week, not to mention I didn't buy the machine and pay for an ISP so I could use up my monthly allotment downloading software that might maybe sorta help, if you're a systems engineer.

Or it might just turn the machine into a paperweight.

Not knocking you, and I appreciate the effort, but no.

Oh, that's nothing. I do a lot more than that, having studied and modified the settings. It doesn't take that long, after you've done it a few times, and know your way around.

What ISP do you have that limits you?

Doing the above has never had any adverse affect on my machine - but that is why I set a restore point, first, just in case. (Have you made the USB Recovery Drive?) Then, I would get into Safe Mode, and probably be able to get back to where I was.

A couple of other commands Win 8.1 uses to fix things (run from an elevated command prompt):

C:\>sfc /scannow

C:\>dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth