Is there a problem with Firefox???

[OrdiDoc]

For now FF is relatively fast but i know that it will slow down later on so i'm using Chrome when FF is slow......it's a bugger!

[longtom jr]

Try using Midori For fast browsing...

Iron is also cool

[menotu]

It's odd but I rarely get Firefox performance issues (that are directly related to Firefox anyway)

When I use FF4 in my VBox installs it runs very well indeed - I do hope that FF4 final is good as I'd be loathe to not use FFox.  And for me Panorama (Tab Candy of old) will be extremely useful.

And sometimes I find even if it doesn't load the web site as fast as others the "overall" usage is better because of the addons that can be used.

But of course, so much of these types of things are down to personal choice (and on occasion a feeling of loyalty  

[coonhunter]

I still use firefox for all its extensions but chrome is now my default browser for non specific browsing (despite of the occasional flash-plugin crash!)

Just curious..do you find that it is a firefox issue in Linux or is it the same in windows as well?

[parnote]

coonhunter,

I also still use Firefox on my faster computers. The "freeze" isn't as severe as it is on my older, slower computers. Like I mentioned, CPU speed has a lot to do with how long the "freeze" lasts. But, like you, I use Firefox for all of the add-ons that it has available (and that I use). Many of those add-ons don't have replacements on Chromium. And definitely not on Opera, which seems to be the weird duck of the browser bunch. Opera is a nice browser ... don't get me wrong ... but it does so many things differently and no one seems to want to write add-ons for it.

As for Windows, I cannot weigh in. I don't run Windows unless I'm forced to (like at work, and even then I grumble about being forced to use the most insecure OS on the planet to record mission-critical, life saving information on).

parnote

[menotu]

Just curious..do you find that it is a firefox issue in Linux or is it the same in windows as well?

Ditto with parnote - haven't used Windows for an age (but would if I had or needed to)

[coonhunter]

Since i have a dual boot with windows xp i can say that firefox always takes a tad bit longer to start in a linux distro than in xp.Once its started the web browsing experience is similar.Anyhow i try not to use windows for browsing..just ain't safe enough.The users have been warning the mozilla developers for ages about bloat and if you remember it has a history of being plagued by memory leaks..some of which have been apparently sorted.

[mikkl]

One way to improve Firefox performance is to run BleachBits and under Firefox check "Vacuum".  This cleans and optimizes the various .sql files that Firefox uses and mismanages.  After time, so I have read, these files become full of useless leftbehind bits that slow down Firefox.  BleachBits will go through and optimize/clean these files, saving lots of hard drive space and returning some level of performance to Firefox...at least in my experience.

I have successfully used BleachBits on Linux and Windows for just this reason but YMMV.

mikkl

[parnote]

mikki,

I appreciate your tip, but I've experienced the "Firefox Freeze" (it's so prevalent, it really deserves a name) on a fresh install of PCLinuxOS ... any flavor. As I previously mentioned, I never noticed the "Firefox Freeze" before Firefox 3.2 -- only on the Firefox versions after 3.2.

Definitely, bloat is coming back around to bite them in their now-huge, lazy arse.

parnote

[The Chief]

Ever since FF 3.2, I've had a problem with random "freezes" where everything just freezes up while using FF, and I cannot move my mouse and I cannot access anything else on my system.

This may be related to Firefox periodically saving the current tabs for restoration in case of a crash.  The interval is adjustable in the config page.  Or you can just turn it off, is it's not that important to you.  Or turn it off long enough to see if that's the problem.

[mikkl]

@parnote - understood.  The OP was noticing a difference between installs, which is potentially a different problem.  If you have no add-ins running in Firefox, do you have the same lockup/pause/hesitation problem?

When Firefox misbehaves, I check this listing of misbehaving extensions to see if perhaps it is not a direct Firefox problem:  http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=Problematic_extensions&printable=yes

mikkl

[menotu]

Firefox 3.6.9 now released

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,79200.msg654096.html#msg654096