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Firefox won't load some sites e.g. google.com after upgrading to Windows 10

  • 3 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Phoxuponyou

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I've just upgraded to Windows 10, now I keep getting timed out errors on all the google sites like Google.com, Youtube, Gmail etc. as well as many other websites. Some sites like Engadget.com and Imgur.com would take a long time to load, too. Overall it just performs very poorly.

Edge and Chrome both work fine. So I assume upgrading to Windows 10 has somehow made Firefox go a bit wonky, but I'm not sure how.

Everything worked fine when I was on Windows 8.1.

I have tried everything from the support site like Microsoft Family Security (which I don't have), clearing cache/cookies, cmd netsh promts etc. to no avail, and I don't use any anti-virus programs except Windows Defender.

I'm not very tech savvy, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm using Firefox 42.

I've just upgraded to Windows 10, now I keep getting timed out errors on all the google sites like Google.com, Youtube, Gmail etc. as well as many other websites. Some sites like Engadget.com and Imgur.com would take a long time to load, too. Overall it just performs very poorly. Edge and Chrome both work fine. So I assume upgrading to Windows 10 has somehow made Firefox go a bit wonky, but I'm not sure how. Everything worked fine when I was on Windows 8.1. I have tried everything from the support site like Microsoft Family Security (which I don't have), clearing cache/cookies, cmd netsh promts etc. to no avail, and I don't use any anti-virus programs except Windows Defender. I'm not very tech savvy, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm using Firefox 42.

Chosen solution

Phoxuponyou said

My first thought was "bad proxy". You have a disabled proxy plugin in your System details - check about:preferences#advanced (type this into Firefox's address box like you would a normal URL/web address) > Network tab > Connection title > Settings button to verify no proxy is being used. If anything but the No proxy radio button is selected, take a screenshot and then select the No proxy radio button and try to load the pages. Avast has been known to cause this behaviour, but as Chrome and Edge work and you use Windows Defender only, this is not the case here - important to note still. If a proxy is not the cause, try Safe Mode in Firefox next to completely rule out Extensions. Plugins will stay active, however. How to get to Safe Mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode#w_how-to-start-firefox-in-safe-mode. Hopefully it's just a bad proxy, as that is simple to fix.

After having done what you suggested, again to no avail, I tried hitting the new "Refresh Firefox" feature and now it's working again!

I can access the google sites and other pages are loading normally. It was so obvious yet I'd never thought to try it LOL.

I still don't know what had caused the hiccup in the first place... oh well :-p

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My first thought was "bad proxy". You have a disabled proxy plugin in your System details - check about:preferences#advanced (type this into Firefox's address box like you would a normal URL/web address) > Network tab > Connection title > Settings button to verify no proxy is being used.

If anything but the No proxy radio button is selected, take a screenshot and then select the No proxy radio button and try to load the pages.

Avast has been known to cause this behaviour, but as Chrome and Edge work and you use Windows Defender only, this is not the case here - important to note still.

If a proxy is not the cause, try Safe Mode in Firefox next to completely rule out Extensions. Plugins will stay active, however. How to get to Safe Mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode#w_how-to-start-firefox-in-safe-mode.

Hopefully it's just a bad proxy, as that is simple to fix.

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Chosen Solution

Phoxuponyou said

My first thought was "bad proxy". You have a disabled proxy plugin in your System details - check about:preferences#advanced (type this into Firefox's address box like you would a normal URL/web address) > Network tab > Connection title > Settings button to verify no proxy is being used. If anything but the No proxy radio button is selected, take a screenshot and then select the No proxy radio button and try to load the pages. Avast has been known to cause this behaviour, but as Chrome and Edge work and you use Windows Defender only, this is not the case here - important to note still. If a proxy is not the cause, try Safe Mode in Firefox next to completely rule out Extensions. Plugins will stay active, however. How to get to Safe Mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode#w_how-to-start-firefox-in-safe-mode. Hopefully it's just a bad proxy, as that is simple to fix.

After having done what you suggested, again to no avail, I tried hitting the new "Refresh Firefox" feature and now it's working again!

I can access the google sites and other pages are loading normally. It was so obvious yet I'd never thought to try it LOL.

I still don't know what had caused the hiccup in the first place... oh well :-p

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Great! Thanks for reporting back - Refreshing Firefox will create a new profile and do some house-cleaning that way, so it was probably some setting or other in the old profile that Windows 10 didn't like.

I used to suggest Refresh Firefox as the first step, but most people are hesitant to migrate to a new profile, even though it's not much of a hassle compared to endless troubleshooting. Glad to see a brave soul. ;)