SOLVED: Firefox 7 is extremely slow...

[nanquan]

I can now say for sure with absolute certainty that I can recreate this problem with 100% accuracy.

I restarted Firefox in Safe Mode (ALL add-ons disabled), cleared the cache, and did some testing trying to open random websites.

In all cases the websites took an inordinate amount of time loading. In all cases opening a new tab (be it blank or opening another webpage), snaps Firefox out of it, and the page which was taking forever to load displays instantly. Needless to say, same webpages tested in Chrome load instantly within 1-2 seconds tops.

Something very strange is happening here.

[mightyglydd]

I applied the tweaks BECAUSE firefox was slow.

Whatever....
@DeviantArt, first visit, loads in 3/4 secs here, around 2- revisiting.

Something very strange is happening here.

Not really......in the circumstances, predictable behavior I'd say...

Adios

[nanquan]

I applied the tweaks BECAUSE firefox was slow.

Whatever....
@DeviantArt, first visit, loads in 3/4 secs here, around 2- revisiting.

Something very strange is happening here.

Not really......in the circumstances, predictable behavior I'd say...

Adios

Not really sure I know what you mean...

[nanquan]

I believe I solved the problem... tried uninstalling 1. Firewall, 2. Antivirus 3. Other internet related programs...

Once I uninstalled "SpeedBit Video Accelerator" Firefox's strange behavior which I described in previous posts stopped, and it seems to be working fine now.

So for anyone else who might be having this problem, for future reference, SpeedBit Video Accelerator slows down and creates major problems with Firefox 7.

[xed]

Glad you figured it out and reported back with your solution. It may help others.

[nanquan]

Glad you figured it out and reported back with your solution. It may help others.

Thanks! I like helping others!

[shlifs]

I believe I solved the problem... tried uninstalling 1. Firewall, 2. Antivirus 3. Other internet related programs...

Once I uninstalled "SpeedBit Video Accelerator" Firefox's strange behavior which I described in previous posts stopped, and it seems to be working fine now.

So for anyone else who might be having this problem, for future reference, SpeedBit Video Accelerator slows down and creates major problems with Firefox 7.

THANK YOU! I had the exact same problem -- very slow web page load time -- and it has been driving me crazy for over a month.
I just moved to a new laptop, and encountered the same problem with a fresh FF 7.0.1 installation on this laptop.
Uninstalling SPEEDBit Video Accelerator seemed to have resolved the problem on both laptops.
The page load time on Firefox is still not like in Chrome, but at least it loads in a reasonable time.
Thank you also for the other Firefox information links.

Note:
* I didn't suspect the SPEEDBit application because I had not installed the FF add-on for this browser, and the problems occurred even when the application was not (knowingly) running.
* When I initially tried to debug this problem on the old laptop, I also encountered slow web page load times with Google Chrome and I believe also with IE. It could have been a temporary network glitch, but perhaps it's related to the fact that I had the SPEEDBit Video Accelerator Chrome and IE add-ons installed on that laptop? I didn't encounter load-time issues with Chrome or IE on the new laptop, even when the SPEEDBit application was installed; I had not installed the application's browser add-ons on this laptop..

[Banditech]

I've recently upgraded to FF 7.0.1. At first I had a problem with firefox not loading pages and freezing often, but that turned out to be due to incorrectly configured firewall rules which I managed to resolve.

However now there is no explanation I can think of for Firefox's extremely slow behavior. I've noticed that it's usually lightning fast when you first load it with one open tab. But as soon as you start opening more tabs, and the longer it's running - the worse it gets! Pages start taking FOREVER to load. I'm talking about trying to open the same URL in multiple tabs and seeing firefox "Waiting for somesite.com..." and taking forever to load. While taking the same URL and pasting it in Chrome loads in <1-2 secs. In the meantime FF is still struggling. I can't explain this. I've tried loading FF with add-ons disabled, but honestly that felt even slower.

I've also noticed a very peculiar phenomenon: Often times I would try to open a page in a new tab, and it would take forever to load as usual. However, the moment I open up another new tab (either blank or trying to load another URL), or if I switch back to a different tab that's already open, the page in the previous tab which was taking forever to load suddenly loads instantly! It's like firefox is loading the page into the cache but doesn't render it for some reason, and then by opening a new tab that somehow triggers firefox to immediately render what it loaded into the cache. Can anyone explain this?

So far I've tried the tips/tricks described here, but that made little to no difference. I'm guessing those tips are intended for when firefox is working properly, and to make it even faster, but in this case there's an underlying problem with something else rendering those tweaks useless.

Now I realize this cannot be a fundamental flaw in the browser itself otherwise Mozilla wouldn't have released it in such a state. Obviously there is something wrong with my installation, probably due to the fact that I constantly upgrade from one version to the next, rarely doing a clean install. I guess somewhere along the process something "went wrong". However, from doing some research online, I found this to be the case for many users. There is definitely something "going wrong" either during an upgrade from one version to the next, or just from long term usage making the browser slower over time. I just really wish that Mozilla would figure this out already instead of making people reinstall all their sh*t every time, which is extremely annoying and time consuming.

UPDATE: I am going to try the configuration tips described in here, updated specifically for Firefox 7, and then check back and update!

HEY GUYS! once you do all this the most important thing of all is to go to: Tools - Options - Advanced - Browsing - UNCHECK: "Use hardware acceleration when available" THIS REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE... feels like FF 3.5 AGAIN!!!

[James]

If you read the rest of the thread you would see that those so called Tips are not recommended.

[DanRaisch]

Most of those speed tweaking guides are rubbish, doing more to slow things down than speed things up.

[Banditech]

If you read the rest of the thread you would see that those so called Tips are not recommended.

i know, but they do speed things up a bit... anyways, if you just uncheck the "use hardware acceleration" the difference is incredible, hope this helps

[patrickjdempsey]

It's incredible difference on your machine because you have either bad hardware drivers or hardware that is incompatible with hardware acceleration, which does not apply to all users.

Various "speed tips" are not recommended because some of them *may* increase speed on some websites, while causing others to not load at all, or hang while loading.

[VanillaMozilla]

And for the record, please note, Nanquan, that your problem was caused by a third-party speed-em-up program that adds unauthorized software to Firefox and that doesn't work.

Also note that had you followed the very first advice given here instead of ignoring it and following a snake-oil salesman, you would have would have instantly discovered whether an extension was the problem.

Finally, please note,

Various "speed tips" are not recommended because some of them *may* increase speed on some websites, while causing others to not load at all, or hang while loading.

DanRaisch, was there not a sticky note that described Nanquan's problem? And was there possibly another one that described the max connections problem? What happened to them?

[LIMPET235]

VM,
Apparently it's been unstuck, for some reason.
Here's both rel: links...
> viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2323823
> viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2329079

[VanillaMozilla]

Unstickied? But there are still lots of problems with those, no? Let's see, there's

max-connections (your first link)
hardware acceleration (your second link)
bug 686025 (your second link) and
SpeedBit

Here are two links (maybe not the best) on SpeedBit:
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2330909
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2191457
Besides messing up networking, t's also acting a little like malware, in that they ask you to download a utility to get your default search engine back.