Firefox - getting to be more trouble than it's worth

[El Toker]

I'm just wondering if other people are having the same problems as me with Firefox on Windows XP and Windows 7. I've used it for years with no problems, then a few months ago, every time I watch a youtube video or any other flash based videos, it stutters along using 100% CPU and is generally so bad that I have to use download helper and then watch the vids with VLC. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions for dealing with it? I've re-downloaded the flash player a few times to no avail.

 

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Try Google Chrome.

mgk

 

[foggy1]

USE GOOGLE CHROME INSTEAD!!

USE GOOGLE CHROME INSTEAD!!

GOOGLE CHROME!!!!!
Exactly what I was typing!! (Faster with my VPN by miles)


Type in msconfig into your operating systems search window and look under startup in msconfigs menus.
See if you have any unwanted 3rd party start-ups that can be turned off.
Also go into C: Drive and look in your windows file for the TEMP folder. Completely empty it out into the waste bin.
If you're gonna carry on with Mozilla make sure you always empty the cache and browsing etc as I'm sure you already are.

 

[soulfly22583]

I was experiencing similar things with FF on my machine last year. I made it a point to go and update the software to the newest STABLE release (do not get developer builds) and seemed to clear it up.

Can you give us some more info? What kind of connection are your running (DSL, Cable, Modem?) and what kind of computer hardware are you running (is it a new computer or older?)

 

[Dovepistil]

Hey Toker! It ain't Firefox, you probably done caught some compucooties. Unfortunately, the web has become a bit slimy here and there. Some bored russian kids, don't you know. Root kits and keyloggers and such do their very best to hide themselves, but the steps they take to hide also consume machine cycles and make for hiccups in data stream handling, like music play and video. I'm using a new HP with factory Win7. I run a good firewall and anti-virus. When I look at running processes, I am already finding running processes (start task manager, select processes tab) which look suspicious, Google them, and find them to be malware. Damn! It's really hard to walk the pastures these days without stepping in the occasional cow pie! If you haven't already, get one of those TB sized USB drives which cost well under $100 now, dump all your saved stuff, and go thru the misery of doing a clean install of the op sys. I'll bet you that videos will run as smooth as a baby's butt.

Yes, Chrome is now a solid piece of code, is very secure as each page now runs in its own sandbox (virtual computer), which limits a lot of antisocial code antics. But Google is in the ad biz, and they have deliberately omitted the code "hooks" necessary for a script cop like the wonderful Firefox No Script plugin. Run it on your FF and you will be amazed at the scripts running on every web page you visit. This web site is exceptionally clean; I only need to allow the icmag.com script to run for this site to function. Usually, you will see things like the google-analytics.com script which is how Google logs which web sites you visit. I leave it permanently blocked as I do not trust them to keep such data out of the hands of the government control freaks. I also block scripts for sites like adhost.com (now owned by Google) which serves up those obnoxious flash ads in your face. The pages I see now show peaceful blank white spaces where you usually see messages about how to make your penis bigger. Google doesn't like that, but I do! Only Firefox gives you this control over what gets shoved in your face. I love the way Chrome runs, but I won't surf without No Script, or something like it.

One caveat, after all the pain of that clean install has passed, be very careful about what you load back in from that USB drive. It holds copies of the crap that was crippling your machine, so you must be careful not to execute the malware that your archive now contains or the cooties will be back! Another caveat, Win7 still lacks drivers for some hardware, so be sure that you are covered before upgrading from a stable XP install. I've installed two Win7 drivers for my Brother all-in-one which ran perfectly under XP, and it still has problems scanning into my image processing program. I have to call up the printer driver and scan from it, as a work around. A minor hassle. Brother will probably come up with a working Win7 driver someday!

I wish you the very best in your adventure to return to a clean machine. I know some folks, who have the spare coin, who simply buy a new box with a factory install of Bill's latest and greatest, and they are back on the web with minimal pain. Good luck!

 

[El Toker]

I'm fairly sure I've got no cooties, I'm pretty good on security. Thanks for the suggestion to look in MsConfig, which is usually the second place that I look for problems. Another good place for that is to spark up Regedit and look at
Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and also runonce below it.

I've got Chrome, and it is nice, but I don't like ads and use adblock. I don't see much chance Google offering anything like that for Chrome as they make all their money through Internet advertising.

I always update to the latest version of firefox, I'm currently on 3.6.6. The only thing that's not standard is that I have VLC installed. I'm going to un-install it later and see what happens. Thanks for you ideas.

 

[LIQUID SWORDS]

I'm watching 1080p youtube videos using Firefox and aren't experience any of those issues. Try this: right click on a flash video, click settings, and uncheck hardware acceleration.

Let me if this does anything.

 

[olddaffy]

I use chrome now.
I could not keep FF from crashing.

 

[grapeman]

I don't do google anymore. Their motto "Do no Evil" is bullshit.

When they scrub "google cache" in tandem with obama's announcements so the average joe can't say "I thought he pledged not to do that", and then can't find it on the net any longer, it is evil and I do what I can to move my business to bing, safari or others.

They are "BIG BROTHER".

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

How often do users right click the flash player, go to the Adobe site and delete their history?

 

[soulfly22583]

I always update to the latest version of firefox, I'm currently on 3.6.6. The only thing that's not standard is that I have VLC installed. I'm going to un-install it later and see what happens. Thanks for you ideas.

I HIGHLY, repeat, HIGHLY doubt that VLC is causing any kind of conflicting problems with FF. I use VLC exclusively (meaning, if it don't work in VLC, I do not need it on my computer) with FF and have never had this kind of issue.

Now that doesn't mean that its not creating an issue for you - go into advanced options and change ALL of your media settings away from VLC. Change them all to default or to their MicroShaft(Soft) equivalent and try again.

Let me know if that does anything for you (good or bad).

Good luck!

 

[Pseudo]

google can s#ck my d#ck

 

[The_Grim_Reefer]

Opera is probably the best choice in my opinion, firefox is simply bloatware, with the ability to add several thousand more bloatware addons, Chrome is too simplified, safari is shocking, inernet explorer is sluggish and as a web developer it pisses me off