Sep 26 2008
Mozilla Firefox 3 Getting Slower Each Day
It has been months since the new Mozilla Firefox 3 version came out of the shelves. I was awed when I first run it — it was so fast — and prior to the release of Internet Explorer Beta 2, Microsoft’s and other company’s web browsers were out of my mind. However, I noticed significantly now that Mozilla Firefox 3 is getting slower each day I use it — and I still use it each day. So, tell me — where is the speed it once boasted? It’s gone, and it’s a shame.
What Causes Firefox To Slowdown
Well, here are the things I observed that causes Firefox to slow down significantly:
- The more tabs or windows you open, the slower Firefox gets as it increases significantly more RAM consumption and CPU usage.
- Viewing web pages with Adobe Flash and streaming videos on many tabs simultaneously will cause Firefox to slow down heavily until sometimes it becomes unresponsive. If you are in Windows Vista and your memory is low, the more you are to experience this kind of slowdown symptom. Adobe Flash player is a monster plugin and it causes Firefox web browser to consume more RAM and CPU. In fact, I have experienced on my system that the videos streamed through this player pauses every two seconds and it sucks.
- If you have installed and enabled a lot of Firefox extensions, there is a big chance that Firefox 3 will eat a lot of RAM and CPU, causing the web browser to slow down as a result. While there are lots of nice and useful Firefox extensions out there that adds more exciting to your web browsing, I highly recommend that you only enable the extensions you really need if you want speed.
- Same would be the case if you have a lot of plug-ins installed and enabled. However, unlike Firefox extensions, plug-ins are usually invoked on certain pages who use it. So, the slowdown chance is not that great. By the way, Adobe Flash player, the one that is invoked when you watch YouTube and similar sites, is a Mozilla Firefox plug-in.
- If you have a slow computer system. If your laptop or personal computer is slow on system RAM and your processor has slower clock speed, you will definitely notice more how Firefox will slowdown each day especially if you experience the above-mentioned causes. I am on a decent laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a SATA hard disk drive and 3 gigabytes of RAM, so it’s a bit mysterious as to why Firefox 3 still slows down.
How To Make Firefox 3 Faster
Now, for sure these procedures will make Firefox 3 feel faster again:
- Defragment your hard disk drive.
- Clear Firefox cache and all your system temporarily files.
- Disable all your Firefox extensions.
- Get a faster computer with higher clock speeds and generous RAM supply.
- Don’t visit sites that uses plugins that causes Firefox to slowdown (well, don’t follow this if you like to watch YouTube a lot).
Now, if those things don’t work for you, maybe it’s time to consider other newer web browsers that runs simultaneous threads at the same time: Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 and Google Chrome are the best alternatives.
If you experience slowdown on Mozilla Firefox 3 web browser too, drop your comments below and let’s tell the world that this browser gets worse each day.
Update: By the way today, Mozilla released Firefox version 3.0.2, let’s see what it can do.
I too have been experiencing this.
It’s too bad too because I solely use FF for it’s security. I refuse to touch EI and don’t know enough about the security the other browsers have.
Yeah, unfortunately that is the case. I hope the next Firefox version will be a little faster otherwise Google Chrome will be able to overtake its place.
I haven’t had a problem :-s
Been extremly fast.
Well, maybe because you got a supercomputer!
lol. What I don’t get is how can firefox be fast on a slow connection?
– not in an insulting way, I’m asking how you figure out that it’s slow.
Well, IE 8 Beta 2 and Google Chrome are very fast so you see why I wondered. And of course, with advanced knowledge of computers, I can easily spot the difference between a slow application and a slow Internet connection.
I’ve been testing Firefox 3.5 thru. out it’s beta and now June RC. Unforturnately to say, flash and Java is what’s killing firefox unless you have a super fast computer. Intel Core 2 Duo processor is not fast enough for flash heavy website. A good testing site would be http://disney.go.com/princess/
I am force to return back to IE8 and very please with it’s performance. Way much faster than firefox 3.5.
I am wonder is there some sort of agreement (between microsoft and adobe) to make flash plug-in to run flash faster on IE8 than on firefox. Afterall, they don’t share the same plugin. Likewise, Java is the same slow story.
Firefox 3 is fast. the only thing that makes it slower is the extensions. specially the “The browser Highlighter” after I unistall it. it became super fast again. ^_^.