Firefox performs much worse than it has in the past.
Okay, so I've been using Firefox for ages, and I guess the general idea of my problem is that it is, in all ways, worse than it was any time previous to about a year or so ago. Now, I freely admit that I am an abuser of tabs, and I want to make it clear I'm not asking for FF to 100% support my behavior, but I offer this information for comparison's sake.
The most tabs I have ever had open is 1793. Firefox would be a bit slow, but things would still function. Now, I can barely open 10 tabs without it freezing or running slow, and I'm on a 5-year-newer computer with insanely more power than before. The problems have taken multiple forms, and on both computers, but here are some of the things that happen:
-general slowness when opening new tabs or attempting to navigate between tabs -'blackout' of parts of pages, usually noticeable on Facebook before anything else, as shown in the attached screenshot -unresponsive script messaged -"not responding" and that cloudy fade that happens when it freezes while trying to click on a new tab or scroll or what have you -freezing temporarily while scrolling through pages -inability to use mouse wheel (have to click scroll bar and drag manually)
There's probably some more, but basically, everything is worse. All around. So some background. The original computer was an i7 quad core w/ hyperthreading with 8 GB of RAM, right now I am running this:
Processor: Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W Desktop Processor BX80648I75930K Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 450D Black ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4-21300) Memory Kit Model F4-2666C16Q-16GRB Video Card: MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card Power Supply: CORSAIR RM Series RM850 850W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply Water Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H110 280 mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler SSD: SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) HDD: Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000 HDD 4 TB SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive 5900rpm DVDRW Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black)
So what my process usually was was to go through my Facebook feed, see some interesting articles, and middle click them to open them in new tabs to read later. With work literally every day in addition to college, this would create me a backlog, and that's how the tab count would get so high. Again, I'm not asking for FF to support 1800 tabs like nothing, but *it worked before*, and that included having Steam, MS Office, Photoshop, WMP, and probably like 3-6 other programs open at the same time. It was never a problem, and when it was, it was because I just tried to open like 20 links in the span of 5 seconds. It would crash, and I would restore the session (usually manually killing the plugin container process to stop 30 videos from trying to play at once).
Now I open, I'm not kidding, less than 10 tabs total, and it behaves like I'm running some garbage computer from 10 years ago.
Steps I've taken:
-cleared cache/cookies -run in safe mode -disabled add-ons/plugins (of which I only used Flash, Shockwave, Session Manager and AdBlock+ -refreshed the browser (keep in mind this behavior crossed to a new computer built in January after it was happening on the old one for months) -installed older versions of the browser (I remember it first seeming like it happened around version 29, but the same problems persisted with 28 installed) -updated all plug-ins/add-ons (repeatedly) -turned off hardware acceleration -updated Windows (7 Ultimate, by the way) (repeatedly) -updated video card drivers (repeatedly)
To a lesser degree, I would say browsing is worse, overall, in other browsers as well, but I never liked anything as much as FF, so they might actually be the same. Any idea what is going on? I've searched around for solutions, and the only answers I can find in addition to what I've already tried are (clearly idiots) telling users to literally never use tabs.
All Replies (7)
I just wanted to apologize for the formatting getting destroyed up there. Here's some of that info again in a more readable format: _________
The problems have taken multiple forms, and on both computers, but here are some of the things that happen:
-general slowness when opening new tabs or attempting to navigate between tabs
-'blackout' of parts of pages, usually noticeable on Facebook before anything else, as shown in the attached screenshot
-unresponsive script messaged
-"not responding" and that cloudy fade that happens when it freezes while trying to click on a new tab or scroll or what have you
-freezing temporarily while scrolling through pages
-inability to use mouse wheel (have to click scroll bar and drag manually) ____________
The original computer was an i7 quad core w/ hyperthreading with 8 GB of RAM, right now I am running this:
Processor: Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W Desktop Processor BX80648I75930K
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 450D Black ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4-21300) Memory Kit Model F4-2666C16Q-16GRB
Video Card: MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card
Power Supply: CORSAIR RM Series RM850 850W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Water Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H110 280 mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
SSD: SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
HDD: Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000 HDD 4 TB SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive 5900rpm
DVDRW Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black) ______________
Steps I've taken:
-cleared cache/cookies
-run in safe mode
-disabled add-ons/plugins (of which I only used Flash, Shockwave, Session Manager and AdBlock+
-refreshed the browser (keep in mind this behavior crossed to a new computer built in January after it was happening on the old one for months)
-installed older versions of the browser (I remember it first seeming like it happened around version 29, but the same problems persisted with 28 installed)
-updated all plug-ins/add-ons (repeatedly)
-turned off hardware acceleration
-updated Windows (7 Ultimate, by the way) (repeatedly)
-updated video card drivers (repeatedly)
bump up from page 6 in the queue
Answering your own question removes a thread from the "attention needed" queue that Moderators (and maybe Contributors - IDK, been a Moderator too long, I guess) can see with the unanswered threads - slowing down response time as the thread moves back page by page. Using the "Edit This Post" button the the right of your posting would have been better.
Sorry, I have been up for too many hours to wrap my mind around your question, but hopefully in the morning some one else with a fresh cup of coffee and some sleep can provide you with a plan of action for troubleshooting.
My "hunch" is the GeForce drivers and Hardware Acceleration in Firefox. I'm no expert, but when I built this PC back in April I did a lot of research into which video card and drivers worked the best with current versions of Firefox - and GeForce was quickly ruled out. I don't do gaming - Firefox, GIMP, and Libre Office are what I use the most. So my build is probably 1/2 or less of what you have as far as hardware goes.
Didn't realize responding would cause that to be the case. Doesn't help that the edit post button is hidden in a drop down menu. Oh well, anyway:
I've been running for a few days with a max of 20-30 tabs with zero add-ons after doing the FF refresh, and the problem is still happening. If it is the GeForce thing as you suggested (which I am having trouble finding any information about before your reply), is there any solution? Or should I just switch browsers until Nvidia fixes it's problems.
Is this a new thing? Like I mentioned, this issue happened on an older computer, but only towards the end of me using it, and for the 4+ years previous, its GeForce card didn't have any issues like I am experiencing now.
It's just sort of depressing to see this beast of a machine seem like I never upgraded when I can barely open a few tabs with nothing else even open despite it being objectively a much more powerful machine.
It's Adobe Flash Player.
Control Alt Delete, Start Task Manager, Processes Stop both the flash player and flash player plug in.
When you try to simply surf the web, every web page is covered with ads, and they use flash player. That is what's slowing down the system. They have to load, then they have to deposit a cookie, then they have to attempt to gather as much info about you as possible, then they have to "customize" your advertising experience based on the mega-data they have collected, then they play the gd video that is distracting as h , attempting to get you to interact IN ANY WAY with the gd video.
Turn off flash player, surf the web in peace, and when you find some video content you would like to watch, there will be a grey box that asks your permission. Choose "allow now" to allow flash player only right now, only on this page.
That's what I figured, but even killing the plugin (which I've been doing for quite some time) in addition to using AdBlock+ doesn't seem to prevent the problem entirely, and it doesn't always return a slower/blacked out browser to it's previously-working state.
I heard in some cases AdBlock+ made pages run slower, so I've had that off for a while with no discernible difference in performance.
I'll give disabling Flash a shot. I thought that was happening when I booted FF in safe mode, but it's in task manager right now, so clearly that isn't the case.
Firefox is performing badly for me too.
Firefox 40 and other recent builds have become terrible with addons.
Examples: Video Download Helper icons does not show/function
Roomy Boomarks disappears and can only be brought back by restart with addons disabled. Works for a while then problem starts again.
Firefox has become a major pain. Must I restore to Chrome?