Before doing anything at all, FF downloads 7MB. Why?
I have a fairly slow link to the Net (because I'm cheap). I also have an older machine (32-bit Dell, same reason). Hence I have noticed recently that certain pages/sites have greatly increased in size. In particular, when I invoked FF this morning with a blank starting page, approximately 7MB had to be downloaded before anything happened. This took 56 seconds, which is rather a long time to bring up a browser whose code is already on my disk. Is this the new normal? Am I doing something wrong? I have a few extensions like Adblock (a necessity) but I would think these could be backgrounded while the initial page is being set up.
All Replies (8)
What is the file being downloaded?
Did you get your Firefox from Mozilla?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
Came right up, so it looks like extensions are the problem. Is there any way of getting FF to list what files are being downloaded? Thanks for you help in any case.
You can check the about:networking page (DNS tab) via the location bar to see what connections have been initiated.
Very useful. Fascinating stuff.
It could be the work of one of your add-ons, or it could be Hardware Acceleration. How to disable Hardware Acceleration {web link}
Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> A)
In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Disable a few add-ons, then Restart Firefox.
Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All Of them.
If the problem continues, disable some more (restarting FF). Continue until the problem is gone. After, you know what group is causing the issue. Re-enable the last group ONE AT A TIME (restarting FF) until the problem returns.
Once you think you found the problem, disable that and re-enable all the others, then restart again. Let us know who the suspect is, detective.
Looks like the Duckduckgo privacy essentials add-on.
Check with its support. Could be it was updating.
Yes, I'm going to write to them. The downloading time may be an artifact of my primitive equipment.