Firefox & Thunderbird slow to load [SOLVED]

[Riki]

I am on KDE4.3.4 and both FF and TB take between 50 seconds and 1 minute to load. Is this sort of average loading time? I find it far too long.

[tschommer]

Riki,

this has something to do with GTK settings, although I'm not sure what. What I've done previously is to delete all of the hidden files/folders related to GTK/GNOME in my home directory, namely

• all files/folders  .gtk*
• all files/folders  .gnome*
• .gtkrc-2.0*

This can't be the correct way, but I've had no negative effects whatsoever, and all GTK based applications come up extremely fast again.

Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this a little more...?

Torsten

[Hootiegibbon]

Riki,

My laptop (athlon64 turon dual core tk57) takes about 10 seconds on initial launch of the apps then if I exit and restart them it takes between 5-6 seconds.

I would suggest having  top active in an instance of konsole and then launch each from another instance in konsole - to see what process is taking too long or eating processing power.

A lot would depend on the processor/RAM as my wife's laptop (single core amd) takes slightly longer (about 20% longer).

Jase

[Riki]

Riki,

My laptop (athlon64 turon dual core tk57) takes about 10 seconds on initial launch of the apps then if I exit and restart them it takes between 5-6 seconds.

I would suggest having  top active in an instance of konsole and then launch each from another instance in konsole - to see what process is taking too long or eating processing power.

A lot would depend on the processor/RAM as my wife's laptop (single core amd) takes slightly longer (about 20% longer).

Jase

Jase, sorry but I don't get your "top active in an instance of konsole". 

[Riki]

Riki,

this has something to do with GTK settings, although I'm not sure what. What I've done previously is to delete all of the hidden files/folders related to GTK/GNOME in my home directory, namely

• all files/folders  .gtk*
• all files/folders  .gnome*
• .gtkrc-2.0*

This can't be the correct way, but I've had no negative effects whatsoever, and all GTK based applications come up extremely fast again.

Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this a little more...?

Torsten

Thanks Torsten. I'll wait till others suggest other ways, if any, before I start manipulating the system and know what I'm doing.

Edit. I've only found gtkrc-2.0*

[Hootiegibbon]

Riki,

Close firefox, then open two instances of konsole in the first type 'top' in the second 'firefox' keep an eye on the first to see what is running prior to firefox and see if anything is taking cpu % away from the system. The konsole used to launch firefox will show warnings that complain about a theme these can safely be discounted

Is this an upgrade from an existing install or a reinstall over a previous install?

Jase

[daveleh]

I am on KDE4.3.4 and both FF and TB take between 50 seconds and 1 minute to load. Is this sort of average loading time? I find it far too long.

I was getting similar with FFox and OOo and I found this suggested in another thread (cant find it at the mo, but noted the instructions down)

Open synaptic package manager and search for package gtk-qt-engine, kde4-style-qtcurve, qtcurve-gtk2.
Mark them for installation (oxygen-molecule will be removed with it)
Reboot
Open KMenu > System > Configuration > Configure Your Desktop
Find and Click Look and Feel > Appearance > Gtk Themes and Fonts
in GTK Styles choose Use another style and pick QtCurve
in GTK Fonts choose Use KDE fonts in my GTK applications
Click Install scrollbar fix below
Click apply
Reboot or restart X server.

This worked for me - all apps open fast as expected

Regards

[Riki]

Many thanks Torsten and Jase. Vast improvement: 20 seconds! And if I close FF and open it again, 10 seconds. That'll do me! It would appear that the main culprit was nepomuk/strigi, which I have disabled, but I have also trashed (not deleted, just in case) similar hidden files/folders to the ones suggested by Torsten. Appreciate your help.

[Riki]

I am on KDE4.3.4 and both FF and TB take between 50 seconds and 1 minute to load. Is this sort of average loading time? I find it far too long.

I was getting similar with FFox and OOo and I found this suggested in another thread (cant find it at the mo, but noted the instructions down)

Open synaptic package manager and search for package gtk-qt-engine, kde4-style-qtcurve, qtcurve-gtk2.
Mark them for installation (oxygen-molecule will be removed with it)
Reboot
Open KMenu > System > Configuration > Configure Your Desktop
Find and Click Look and Feel > Appearance > Gtk Themes and Fonts
in GTK Styles choose Use another style and pick QtCurve
in GTK Fonts choose Use KDE fonts in my GTK applications
Click Install scrollbar fix below
Click apply
Reboot or restart X server.

This worked for me - all apps open fast as expected

Regards

Thanks Dave, I'm saving your post for later.

[vatsok]

Riki,

this has something to do with GTK settings, although I'm not sure what. What I've done previously is to delete all of the hidden files/folders related to GTK/GNOME in my home directory, namely

    * all files/folders  .gtk*
    * all files/folders  .gnome*
    * .gtkrc-2.0*



This can't be the correct way, but I've had no negative effects whatsoever, and all GTK based applications come up extremely fast again.

Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this a little more...?

Torsten

Solved indeed! I had the same problem and now everything is back to normal. Thanks a lot tschommer.

[tschommer]

Glad it works for you! 

[Joble]

I had forgotten about this, read it some time back in another thread but forgot to actually do it.  Mine is working properly again too.  Thanks!

[Ramchu]

 I didn't know that mine was loading slow until I applied the settings  - Thanks Also !