Slow start with FF 70, otherwise fast. [Solved.]

[ghot]

When I first open FF 70 in normal or safe mode, it takes like a full minute before becoming responsive. This problem only began since update to FF 70.

I'm using the latest: custom css for fx v2.7.9 (Aris T2), but problem only occurred with update to FF 70. The v2.0.5 and the v2.7.9 Aris T2 from github... same problem.

Nothing else on computer has changed.



/edit Browser works fine even when closed and reopened, after the initial 1 minute delay on starting after a CCleaner run.
I know you folks don't like CCleaner but until FF version 70...this problem did not occur.

CCleaner v5.38.6357 (64 bit)


I'm assuming it has something to do with the internet cache?

[Frank Lion]

When I first open FF 70 in normal or safe mode, it takes like a full minute before becoming responsive. This problem only began since update to FF 70.

First thing to do is to create a new clean testing profile via about:profiles. (just put about:profiles in the addressbar/urlbar and press Enter)

[Brummelchen]

outdated ccleaner trashed the profile, there is nothing more to comment. firefox is able to delete its own data. furthermore ccleaner shows fake data (in special cookies). "outdated" means that ccleaner screw on modern sqlite files with outdated sqlite libraries so that must fail.

concerning css/aris - this is also valid for stylish/stylus - the more css firefox need to load the slower it acts. stylus affects (only) page loading speed. for firefox it take more time to load and prepare the ui.

[the-edmeister]

There's a "startup routine" that Firefox does the first time Firefox is opened each day; looks for updates for everything that Firefox has or does - program update, add-on updates, gathering fresh data for all the crap that is on the Home Page / New Tab page, ans so on. I have been seeing that "first time each day startup routine" delay being fully usable since Fx 60 or before. Gets worse as add0ons are installed and it's worse during "business hours" in the US when the Mozilla servers are probably busiest with "first launch of the day". Nothing scientific, just seat of the pants observations mostly due to my still using very old legacy versions most of the time and very noticeable on the Quantum versions when I do go to use them after using the legacy versions.

Symptoms I get are not being able to do much of anything for the first minute or two, and the URL bar is unusable; where the UI is still physically loading and some add-on icons haven't appeared or are moving as more icons get loaded. BTW, I am running a 32-bit version of Win7 with 4-GB RAM which is more than Fx 32-bit can use. I don't see these symptoms once the version of Firefox has been used for the first time each day, which is why I "blame" all the crap that Firefox insists on doing all those checks on the first launch of the day. And using a different Home Page or disabling all the crap on on the default Home Page does make the situation better - - but not 100%.

Just my thoughts ...

[cfkerchner]

Hello: I'm having exactly the same problem. When I first launch FireFox 70 (64 bit) I see that little dot going left to right in the upper left corner and also a message in the lower left that it is performing a TLS handshake with my home page. But either it takes a long time to load the home page or it never loads and all I see is a white screen where the page should be. If I then click on the House symbol for the home page, it loads immediately. I tried changing my home page. But the same thing happens on the first time launch each day or hour that I open FF 70. So it is not the page I'm trying to get to on launch of FF. This all started 3 days or so ago when I was upgraded to Version 70. I uninstalled Version 70 and re-intalled Version 69 and the problem was gone. Then re-updating to version 70 today the same problem comes back. There must be a bug in the new FF Version 70 (64 bit). Glad to know others are experiencing the same problem. Hopefully FF will fix the issue soon.

[therube]

5 second delay with Bug 1553399 Firefox start slowly when started through ProfileManager.

Other then that, cannot say I've seen any startup issues (in particular what ed has mentioned), much less any 1:min delay.

[Brummelchen]

slow first page loading, not really related but thats what antivirus can cause also
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1591691#c9

[ghot]

Thx for all the responses and suggestions. My guess is that the cause may be Bitdefender Internet Security 2020. Among other things it's probably doing, it has installed 2 addons which I have disabled but cannot "remove" BD wallet and BD anti-tracker.

In the C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/defaults/perf... I find the file: bd_js_config.js, which I don't seem to be able to open.

Like I said above... this problem ONLY started with the update to FF 70 (64bit).




/edit I just shut down FF 70, then accessed the properties sheet for: bd_js_config.js, and set it to read only.... then ran CCleaner. Problem solved. Opening FF 70 no longer has ANY delay at all. I have http://www.google.com as my home page, and FF is set to open to that page when it starts. Now takes under a second to become usable.


So, I guess Brummelchen, gets the gold star with his link to the bug report that mentions that file.

I guess we can mark this as solved.



/edit 2 Just retested after another CCleaner run AND a Win 7 reboot. bd_js_config.js remains as Read Only and problem is 100% solved.

P.S. For others, especially those on Win 10 do NOT use CCleaner. I keep complete OS system backups and know for a fact that CCleaner has issues with Windows 10. I use this program knowing full well the risks it entails.

[ghot]

Update: The above did NOT fix the problem.

[mightyglydd]

Of course it didn't, you were advised to create a New test Profile and stop screwing around with CCleaner; for some reason you chose to completely ignore the obvious.

[cfkerchner]

This is the temporary solution I have found that gets around the issue for now. The problem started 3 or so days ago with the v70 update. That is all that changed on my computer in the last 3 or so days. I have in my own limited diagnosis ability testing, DISABLED both my virus checker and my Acronis backup software Active Protection option, and it does not eliminate the problem with v70 64 bit first page home page startup being delayed or not loading at all. There is clearly something amiss in the FireFox Version 70 (64 bit) update as is noted and admitted by others in the BUGZILLA discussion thread: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1591691 It has something to do with using the Custom URL setting for a home page at launch. I did a simple test of changing the home page from a custom URL to the FF Home (Default) page and that eliminates the problem. This all started with the FF 70 update, disappears if I uninstall v70 and re-install FF v69, and comes back again if I update again to v70. Refreshing FireFox v70 64 bit and/or creating new test profiles and testing them does not fix the problem either. For now I will simply keep using v70 and use the option to start FF using the FF Home (Default) page and not a Custom URL. Others are reporting this problem. Possibly many use the FF Default Home Page and thus don't see it. Maybe many more just accept the slow first page startup and are not annoyed by it. And many just don't bother taking the time to come to forums like this to report problems. I'm sure eventually it will be fixed. It will just take some time to figure out exactly what is going on that causes this in v70 64 bit and not in v69 64 bit. In the meantime my using the FF default page for the home page on FF launch is satisfactory work around to me until the problem is fixed. And detailing this temporary work around for the problem can probably help others until the v70 slow start up - initialization for the first page launched - bug is fixed and v70 64 bit loads Custom URL pages just as fast as V69 64 bit does.

[mightyglydd]

Anyone know what this person's ^ talking about, it's unreadable?

[ghot]

Of course it didn't, you were advised to create a New test Profile and stop screwing around with CCleaner; for some reason you chose to completely ignore the obvious.

Ok, problem still exists in WINDOWS Safe Mode. Acronis True Image and Bitdefender have ZERO processes running. As per task manager, in Windows Safe Mode with networking... I see ONLY Windows processes running.

The problem I have with NOT using CCleaner on Win 7 is that using Firefox's cache cleaner wipes out some very complicated logins.
Due, I guess to security concerns... the logins I am referring to are a royal pain in the but to have to redo.

THIS is the reason I still use CCleaner.

I intend to UNcheck "internet cache" under the Firefox heading in CCleaner and see if that solves the problem.

As for new profile... not the issue. So that is pretty much off the table. If it turns out to be necessary to create a new profile, I will just re-install from scratch... FF 70. I seriously don't like all the issues I've seen in FF with more than one profile.

I don't WANT to have to deal with all the BS that FF seems to need dealt with as time progresses. I already have a text file with 3-4 things I need to edit, change, fix... etc. before I can get FF to work as it should work.


Anyways... thanks for the help so far... will post the reseults of UNchecking "internet cache" in CCleaner under the Firefox section.


Normally, this are the things I do have checked under Firefox in CCleaner...









/edit. Well UNchecking "internet cache" in CCleaner under the Firefox heading didn't help. To reproduce the problem, I have to open 5-6 tabs to sites that have a lot going on... like image hosting sites, news sites etc. Then I close FF and run CCleaner...and I get the frozen start page (www.google.com), when I run Firefox again.

[Frank Lion]

Of course it didn't, you were advised to create a New test Profile and stop screwing around with CCleaner; for some reason you chose to completely ignore the obvious.

Many people have, without foundation, an inbuilt belief that they are special and that therefore all problems they have must also be special and incapable of being solved by solutions that they see as only applicable to 'communi hominum'.

Geeks are by far the worst in this regard.


@OP - try a new testing profile? If you are such an advanced user then you will already know it is illogical not to do so.

As for new profile... not the issue. So that is pretty much off the table. If it turns out to be necessary to create a new profile, I will just re-install from scratch... FF 70. I seriously don't like all the issues I've seen in FF with more than one profile.

How would one know 'if it turns out to be necessary to create a new profile'? I'm keen to hear how you're going to establish that it would be necessary? Seance or something....or maybe when this thread hits Page 4?

[ghot]

Of course it didn't, you were advised to create a New test Profile and stop screwing around with CCleaner; for some reason you chose to completely ignore the obvious.

Many people have, without foundation, an inbuilt belief that they are special and that therefore all problems they have must also be special and incapable of being solved by solutions that they see as only applicable to 'communi hominum'.

Geeks are by far the worst in this regard.


@OP - try a new testing profile? If you are such an advanced user then you will already know it is illogical not to do so.

As for new profile... not the issue. So that is pretty much off the table. If it turns out to be necessary to create a new profile, I will just re-install from scratch... FF 70. I seriously don't like all the issues I've seen in FF with more than one profile.

How would one know 'if it turns out to be necessary to create a new profile'? I'm keen to hear how you're going to establish that it would be necessary? Seance or something....or maybe when this thread hits Page 4?

In how ever many years I've been posting on here.... it has NEVER been because of my profile. I can't count how many times I've created one, just to make someone on here happy. The same can be said for running Firefox in Safe Mode. Not ONE time has it solved any of the few problems I have had.

I am the sole user of this computer, and no one but me even has access to it. Like I said above... I've seen numerous posts on here about issues with multiple profiles, since about FF 67 or 68 maybe.

I'd rather just do a clean install, but I feel that won't help in this instance either. The problem ONLY began with an update to FF 70. I even went back two weeks to a Oct 13th backup (full OS backup) and had zero issues with FF 69.0.3. As soon as I updated to FF 70... again, the problem resurfaced.

I ran FF for approx. 20-24 hours, after recovery of my Oct 13th backup on FF 69.0.3. The problem would not recur. So I once again updated to FF 70... and pow, problem resurfaces.

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that eliminates the profile.






/edit2 Just for you... I recovered again from an Oct 13th backup. (not incremental or differential).
Since the recovery, I've update my Bitdefender (definitions), imported my newest copy of my bookmarks from a local html file (Firefox only), and updated my HOSTS file with the Oct 23rd version from MVPS.


So, I'm back on FF 69.0.3 again. With zero issues. YOU tell me how long I should stay on 69.0.3 before again updating to FF 70. I really don't want to make a new profile.