Hi Douglas, what is your opinion: is Firefox starting up or running unusually slowly? Please check this article for information about what Refresh changes to make sure you want to proceed: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.

To begin with, I would ignore that " popup on my home page saying that firefox is loading slowly." That feature is "programmed" wrong, IMO; let a device go unused for too long (like a backup laptop that is rarely used) and the user will get that message merely because Firefox hasn't been opened in like 2 - 3 months.

If you are referring to the Refresh Firefox button on this page - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings - I never used that. But I have used the Refresh button on the about:support page inside Firefox that is reached via Help > Troubleshooting Information. And I only did that to discover how that feature works - or didn't work as expected - by a person who has used Firefox since 2002.

IMO, the Refresh feature leaves a lot to be desired. You are probably lucky that it didn't work for you from the press of that Refresh Firefox button on the KB page.

My main complaint is that there is no "progress meter" to keep the user informed that Firefox is working hard to complete its tasks. I have had the "Refresh" run 5 to 7 minutes each time I used it, and the first time I thought that Firefox was "hung up" so I closed Firefox thru the Windows Task Manager. --- Big mistake! All the files being "refreshed" must have been held in RAM and got "dumped" - all my data was lost! Fortunately I made a backup of my Profile before I tried that Refresh for the first time. Then "lo and behold" when I did a 2nd Refresh on that same Profile just a few minutes later it still ran in excess of 5 minutes to complete its routine. No "progress meter" and no warning that Refresh would take (what I consider) way too long to do it thing.