FF57 is S-L-O-W

[DVB]

I've been putting off making this complaint for a couple of weeks, hoping the new all-singing, all-dancing Firefox with go-faster stripes would sort itself out and start working as promised -- but not so. (And from the many other threads on here complaining about different aspects of it, I'm not the only FF user to be seriously unimpressed by it.)

With any new version of Firefox I expect some of my add-ons to stop working, and predictably that's so this time, but worse than ever. Firefox's original USP, that really made it stand out from its competitors, made it great to use and made it fun, has been completely thrown away: the wealth of add-ons. But Firefox's self-destruct of its former unique identity has been going on for a while.

My main problems with FF57 are: it's slower to start up than the previous version, it's slower in normal everyday running -- and it's disastrous for running videos, including basic stuff like YouTube or short videos on the BBC News site. It's incredibly slow starting to play them, it often stops then restarts from the beginning, or stops and starts repeatedly during play -- and sound and vision quickly get more and more out of synch. Pressing Pause then Start solves that -- for another few seconds. This is new since FF57.
Any thoughts?

[RobertJ]

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Your complaint is not shared by many.

This is a support forum, if you have a specific issue on a specific web site (URL) ask it. We have heard some complaints about extension not working; this has been advertised for many months.

Again, this is a SUPPORT forum not the complaint department. We will try to help with problems; we DO NOT TAKE COMPLAINTS!

.

[DVB]

I did actually ask, "Any thoughts?" By that, I assumed it was clear that I meant that if any of you, moderators or not, have any suggestions as to why FF57 has slowed down Firefox for me instead of speeding it up as promised, I would be grateful for your assistance.

I am well aware that this is a support site; I've been on it for 12 years. Sometimes I've even received useful support, rather than unhelpful snarky responses.

[malliz]

What Anti Virus are you using?

[DVB]

Thank you for a positive response. I use Avast, ZoneAlarm firewall, SpyBot and CCleaner.

[RobertJ]

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CCleaner is known to cause issues with Firefox.



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[malliz]

Also Avast ZA firewall and Spybot have historically caused problems for Firefox. Usually over zealous web checking
https://support.avast.com/en-us/article/167/#idt_050

[DVB]

So security programs which are amongst the most efficient, useful, popular and well-respected in the world -- ZoneAlarm, Avast, Spybot and CCleaner -- all "cause problems for Firefox"?
Really?
Doesn't that perhaps suggest that the problem might actually lie with Firefox rather than with these really excellent and well-established programs?

If all of these really cause problems with Firefox,
1. why doesn't Firefox warn against using them if they're so harmful to it?
2. what would you recommend instead for keeping my computer safe and clean, that Firefox might be able to cope with?

[LIMPET235]

Hi,
Just a suggestion, but I also run AVAST, free version, along with Comodo free firewall.
I've had no problems with either. (Well, I did have one when Comodo updated to v10, but that's been sorted.)
Comodo Firewall > https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-se ... track=8237

Otherwise, all is fine.

I got rid of Spybot years ago, as it caused a lot of probs, particularly slowing Firefox down.
re; CCleaner...
Just open it & remove any references to both Firefox & Thunderbird from the Applications tab.
It has caused a quite a few "glitches", no, problems in that it removes stuff that it shouldn't.
They are more than capable of taking care of themselves.

[DVB]

Thanks, LIMPET235, for your helpful suggestions.

I tried Comodo some years ago, I think on the recommendation of someone here. One of its updates really messed up my system, so I went back to ZoneAlarm, which I'd always liked; it's entirely unobtrusive, and does its job. Comodo never stopped telling me what it was doing, and how clever it was for doing it -- a pain!

I've used both Spybot and AdAware over the years; I'm happy with either. Would you recommend AdAware over Spybot? I've also tried Malwarebytes in the past, but was never particularly impressed with it; maybe I should give it another go.

For AV s/w, I've always preferred either Avast or AVG123. I stopped using Norton/Symantec many years ago, as soon as I realised there were alternatives which were not only free but far superior. My university provided me with a free version of McAfee when I was doing my PhD some years ago; then it updated and stopped giving out a free student version, much to my relief, because it prompted me to find better solutions! I tried Kaspersky once; a big mistake. When I uninstalled it, it left bits of itself behind which simply could not be deleted; the only way I finally rid myself of it was when I bought a new computer. So, Avast or AVG -- or anything better?

But dear old CCLeaner? It gets rid of the crap which other s/w leaves behind, and does it brilliantly. I'll try your suggestion, and see if it helps.

[LIMPET235]

Hi DVB,
Your comment re; Comodo is valid, but it's just doing what a "good firewall" should.
If you don't receive any notification from your firewall, then how do you know what is going on?
A new program wants to ......install this or run that or whatever.
Comodo soon learns. Just give it time.

Malwarebytes free is very good. You can run it at any time, as it does not do real time monitoring.
Just keep it's defs updated, say every 5 days or so?
I believe the paid version does real time monitoring

The only thing is, not to run 2 programs that run in the back ground as they may/will conflict.
You only need one & that is AVAST.
It does auto-updates it's defs., hourly? & notifies you of any Program updates.

re; Un-installing any AV program...
You should always go to their site & use their Un-Install tool.
A normal Window's un-install will never remove everything associated with that AV Program.
NB: AVAST & AVG are now under the AVAST banner.
AVAST acquired AVG a few months ago.

A FWIW...
I use "spywareblaster" from > http://www.brightfort.com/
It takes care of those Tracking Cookies etc., etc.
Works well & uses hardly any resources.
Just do manual updates occasionally.

Just heed what we say about CCleaner & it's effect/s on Firefox & Thunderbird.
Best left to their own devices..

[therube]

Make sure you're updated to 57.0.1, then try toggling the "slow" Pref, accessibility.force_disabled, http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14777585.

[James]

So security programs which are amongst the most efficient, useful, popular and well-respected in the world -- Avast .. and CCleaner -- all "cause problems for Firefox"?
Really?
Doesn't that perhaps suggest that the problem might actually lie with Firefox rather than with these really excellent and well-established programs?

If all of these really cause problems with Firefox,
1. why doesn't Firefox warn against using them if they're so harmful to it?
2. what would you recommend instead for keeping my computer safe and clean, that Firefox might be able to cope with?

They are not neccesarly well established programs.

One of the most common issue that Avast and some other antivirus clients have caused lately is the "SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER" error. This is due to the antivirus clients attempt at keeping you safe by inserting its own certificate and instead making it so Firefox users may not be able to connect to https sites if related feature is enabled in antivirus client.

Some so called well established antivirus clients can do false positives on something clean every so often after a new Firefox install or update. Over and over in some cases as Norton/Symantec has been singled out in the SeaMonkey Releases notes for some years now due to the high frequency at times.

Ccleaner does not need to touch anything Firefox related as Firefox can cleanup its own stuff just fine and safely at that as people should not check these in Ccleaner or Ccleaner should even remove the ability to clean Firefox stuff.