Firefox slow on certain sites

[Sureshot324]

Autoblog.com is the worst example. If I load this page on Firefox, and open a few articles in new tabs, firefox slows to a crawl. It takes several seconds to switch tabs, open menues, or do anything really.

If I start Firefox in safe mode, I don't have this problem, but if I run it in normal mode and disable every single add on, the problem still happens. Same thing on my laptop. Chrome and IE don't have this problem at all.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[ninaholic37]

Wayyyyyyyyyy too many advertisements and images on this site for my liking. You might want to try the m version instead:

http://m.autoblog.com
http://m.autoblog.com/2012/06/13/camaro-zl1-goes-head-to-head-with-shelby-gt500-in-1-242-horsepow/

 

[thetechfreak]

Using the Adblock plugin should also help 🙂

 

[mikeymikec]

If I start Firefox in safe mode, I don't have this problem, but if I run it in normal mode and disable every single add on, the problem still happens. Same thing on my laptop. Chrome and IE don't have this problem at all.

Anyone else experience this?

My Firefox profile has NoScript and Ghostery so it wouldn't be a fair test.

Have you tried a new Firefox profile to see whether the issue is profile-specific?

Assuming 64-bit OS and default install location:

Start > Run (Windows key + R)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
Create new profile, leave the old one intact. Start new profile, test for problem.

Firefox sometimes has an issue with an out-of-control disk cache which gives itself away by performing quite sluggishly. Check this in your original profile through Tools > Options > Advanced > Network, it'll tell you how big the cache is. I personally don't think a browser can be any faster for the average user by having a cache over 100MB, but I've seen the 'automatically managed' cache get over 1GB in size and loads of sites took ages to load. Having said this, I would have thought that it would have the same problem in safe mode, but perhaps the disk cache doesn't get used then? Don't know.

If you don't get a fix for the problem here, try the mozillazine forums. They're the closest thing to official support and they're quite popular.

 

[Sureshot324]

My Firefox profile has NoScript and Ghostery so it wouldn't be a fair test.

Have you tried a new Firefox profile to see whether the issue is profile-specific?

Assuming 64-bit OS and default install location:

Start > Run (Windows key + R)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
Create new profile, leave the old one intact. Start new profile, test for problem.

Firefox sometimes has an issue with an out-of-control disk cache which gives itself away by performing quite sluggishly. Check this in your original profile through Tools > Options > Advanced > Network, it'll tell you how big the cache is. I personally don't think a browser can be any faster for the average user by having a cache over 100MB, but I've seen the 'automatically managed' cache get over 1GB in size and loads of sites took ages to load. Having said this, I would have thought that it would have the same problem in safe mode, but perhaps the disk cache doesn't get used then? Don't know.

If you don't get a fix for the problem here, try the mozillazine forums. They're the closest thing to official support and they're quite popular.

I've already tried doing a fresh install, deleting everything and creating a new profile. My cache currently has 0 bytes cached.

 

[mikeymikec]

Straw-clutching idea: Upgrade graphics driver? Perhaps something weird is going on that only Firefox has a problem with.

Otherwise, maybe Firefox doesn't get on well with that site. What's the memory usage like before and after loading that site?

I just tried my Firefox setup on that site, and temp-enabling all the JavaScript that the site wants to run (NoScript blocks JavaScript on a per-site basis by default), Firefox still seems normally responsive. I have Ghostery installed as well though, so some web bugs are being blocked.

 

[atreader]

I didn't notice any performance issue with firefox on my machine.

If a fresh install isn't fixing the issue then maybe you have a bad plugin. Try disabling/enabling plugins.

Also check if plugins are up to date: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Beside the Adblock, you can also run privoxy locally. It will cut down ads in all browsers.