How can I made Firefox work without delays???

[groston]

I am a very long-time Firefox user (having started with the original release of Netscape…) Anyway, I am currently running Firefox V91.0.2 on my Window 7 machine (fully updated/patched). Firefox has been behaving ‘weirdly’ for the past few months. As an example, both yesterday and today, when I launched Firefox, I had to wait almost a full minute before I could do anything with it. I have also, several times a week, experienced having to wait for Firefox for no apparent reason.

It was suggested that one of my Add-Ons could be causing the problem. The only Add-Ons currently active are the ones I feel are necessary: Cookie Autodelete, Gesturefy, HistoryBlock, Privacy Badger, Sticky Password manager and safe, and uBlock Origin. I have no themes installed and the only enabled plugins are ‘OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc.’ and ‘Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc.’.

Is it possible that one of these Add-Ons or Plugins is causing the problem? If not, what might I be able to try? I really want to keep using Firefox, but this having to wait is getting rather annoying…

[tomdkat]

I would suggest disabling ALL of your extensions and see how fast Firefox starts. Then, start enabling them one-by-one until you start seeing Firefox take longer to load. Then, you can decide what to do about that extension.

Peace...

[DanRaisch]

You can quickly see if there is an issue with one or more extensions by starting Firefox in Mozilla Safe Mode -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode

If Firefox runs properly in Safe Mode, disabling all extensions but one and then close and restart the program. (Disable them by using menu path Tools->Addons->Extensions->click on "Disable" for every extension but one.) See if the problem is present. If not, enable an additional extension and close and restart the application. Repeat this procedure until the problem reappears. The last enabled extension will be the cause of the problem.

Another possibility: What security software are you running on that system? It's possible that an anti-virus or firewall may not be fully compatible with some recent update of Firefox, causing performance issues. If Mozilla Safe Mode does not correct the issue, you can then investigate whether security software may be involved.

[groston]

tomdkat and DanRaisch - thanks for the feedback. Guess that I will need to run in safe mode - but I will need to be particularly careful (says paranoid me).

I am using Avast Free, and it is fully up-to-date.

[DanRaisch]

You don't need to run in Safe Mode. Follow the steps I posted above to determine which of those necessary extensions is causing the problem and you will be able to keep all but that one.

[LIMPET235]

Groston,
If I may offer a suggestion re; AVAST.
I used AVAST for many years, but noticed that my PC was starting to load slowly
along with any program loading.
I used their AVAST CLEAN tool to remove AVAST in Window's safe mode.
I then thoroughly checked the M/C & the registry for any left-over garbage.
(There was a heap.)

After a few cold starts to check, my PC now runs so much faster.

Good luck.