Why is FireFox slow & how to improve it ?
I use several browsers and when it comes to functionality I consider FFox to be the best however with 1 major drawback - it's speed / lag issues which is why I stopped using it as my primary browser and only as secondary one
I can have 2 different Chromium based browsers open simultaneously and while this impacts the performance somewhat if I open Firefox and another browser responsiveness grinds to a halt (sometimes even crashes)
Even just starting Firefox by itself takes 5x as long as other browsers
So I'm wondering is Firefox just more resource intensive or is there something wrong with my setup?
The main difference between my Firefox install and my other browsers is the number of Bookmarks (10000s) due to me having it installed for much longer so is it possible for a large number of Bookmarks to slow the browser down even when not open ?
Other possible causes I read elsewhere are 'Cookies and site data' (currently around 50mb)
I clear the 'Temporary cached files' & 'Browsing history' on regular basis so they shouldn't be an issue
The add-ons I have installed are NoScript , Ublock Origin & Firefox Color
In regards to troubleshooting is it possible to install a 2nd install on the same system simultaneously without overwriting the current one ?
Thanks
All Replies (7)
"In regards to troubleshooting is it possible to install a 2nd install on the same system simultaneously without overwriting the current one ?"
You can make a new profile: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
But will a separate profile still be using the same installation ?
Here
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dedicated-profiles-firefox-installation
it mentions separate installs for different versions of FireFox but is it possible for the same version ?
If I run the FireFox installer how do prevent it from overwriting my current install ?
As for the slowdown can the number of Bookmarks have an effect or is that a non-issue ?
I looked inside my profile folder and 3 files stand out as larger than the rest
places.sqlite - 145 mb favicons.sqlite - 106 mb webappsstore.sqlite - 61.5 mb
Does Firefox need to 'load' all the Bookmarks every time even when not in use ?
Thanks
"But will a separate profile still be using the same installation ?" Yes.
"If I run the FireFox installer how do prevent it from overwriting my current install ?" Maybe you can choose a different folder.
"As for the slowdown can the number of Bookmarks have an effect or is that a non-issue ?" Maybe. I too have lots of bookmarks and sometimes my Firefox is slow. Or maybe it is because of lots of site data.
My file sizes are: places.sqlite - 80 MB favicons.sqlite - 90.9 MB webappsstore.sqlite - 89.8 MB
My storage folder has more than 41,000 files and 1,49 GB.
Maybe you can choose a different folder.
When you run the auto-installer it creates multiple folders in Program Files Users ProgramDatabut it doesn't allow you to manually choose the destinations for each one so how am I supposed to accomplish this ?
Also does FireFox create any registry entries that need to be taken into account ?
Chromium browsers that have their own dedicated Bookmarks file
As I understand it Firefox stores the Bookmarks in the places.sqlite file - is that correct ?
"When you run the auto-installer it creates multiple folders in Program Files Users ProgramDatabut it doesn't allow you to manually choose the destinations for each one so how am I supposed to accomplish this ?" Try a different installer: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
"As I understand it Firefox stores the Bookmarks in the places.sqlite file - is that correct ?" yes
darkwolf573 said
Maybe you can choose a different folder. When you run the auto-installer it creates multiple folders in Program Files Users ProgramDatabut it doesn't allow you to manually choose the destinations for each one so how am I supposed to accomplish this ? Also does FireFox create any registry entries that need to be taken into account ?
You are likely using the small online stub setup and not the full offline setup from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/desktop-release/
The desktop Firefox is not just for Windows as it is for macOS and Linux also so it uses the registry very little on Windows. The settings are in the Profile folder https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.