Troubleshooting Firefox problems - Tips to prevent Firefox issues like hanging, reduce memory usageCommon issues associated with Firefox 1.5
1. Sometimes when you try to restore or maximize a Firefox browser window, Firefox doesn't respond to either mouse clicks or Alt+Tab keys. This is generally due to a memory leak. All you can do is either rightclick the minimized Firefox tab in task bar and click "Close" or kill the firefox.exe process from Windows Task manager and restart Firefox.
2. Did you ever experience Firefox 1.5 crash with the Dr. Watson (drwin.exe) error ? Yes, SessionSaver extension remembers all text your typed in an input text field and saves all open browser tabs in the event of a session error but SessionSaver is not yet ported to Firefox 1.5
3. Firefox may freeze for a moment and then run normally. If you click a hyperlink in Outlook email, Firefox takes a long time to open the webpage and also becomes slow. Or Firefox won't launch until an existing "firefox.exe" process is killed manually from Task Manager. Sometime if you drag and drop some text on the search bar, Firefox will need be restarted.
Smooth browsing with Firefox - Here, in this guide, we will discuss tips and methods to speedup Firefox launch time, save your Firefox 1.5 from freezing unexpectedly and preventing Firefox crashes.If Mozilla Firefox hangs as soon as you launch the browser, the issue is probably either with an installed extension or a theme. Try running Firefox in Safe Mode (firefox.exe -safe-mode) - If it runs normally, disable or uninstall the problem causing theme or extension.
Firefox can hang is there is a memory leak. Installing too many extensions or opening lot of browser tabs can hog memory. Disable all extension that you haven't used since the past week
Sometimes, my Firefox returns an error when I try to download and save pictures from my Yahoo Photos webpage. The problem disappears when I clear download manager history. The memory usage increases greatly after downloading files unless the Download box is 'cleaned up' after they finish downloading. To do this automatically, change the download manager's history setting to remove files from the download manager "upon successful download".
The Back and Forward button caching functionality -which speeds up the display of recently viewed Web pages can also contribute to memory problems. Disable the fast back/forward caching (bfcache) feature by setting browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers to 0 using about:config.
Adobe Reader browser plugin can consume huge amounts of memory. To disable the Adobe Reader Firefox plugin, open the Firefox plugins directory and delete or rename the nppdf32.dll file.
Firefox can also crash when you close a tab that is loading or playing a Java Applet - Always disable Java plugin, it will also reduce the CPU usage.
In certain configurations, disabling Mouse Gesture in Firefox helps curb memory spikes.
Don't install Adblock extension with Firefox 1.5 as it causes an increase in Firefox memory usage. Instead use AdBlock Plus.
Setting the browser history to extremely large values will increase memory usage. Keeping the history to a reasonable level is a good idea for this reason.
Install FasterFox tweaking extension - it allows you to prefetch links and tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay.
config.trim_on_minimize - If you experience slow startup after long periods of inactivity (minimized Firefox window or other), it is because the Microsoft Windows Operating System reclaims the memory Firefox used in anticipation that other open applications might need it. This can cause a delay when Firefox is restored. Therefox, you can set the config.trim preference to disallow Windows to reclaim memory from a minimized Mozilla application. Always set config.trim_on_minimize to true in Firefox
Other about:com changes to speed up Firefox:
1. Disable prefetch: go to about:config. Search for prefetch, you'll find network.prefetch-next. Double click it to turn it false if it is on.
2. Limit the memory cache: about:config, new integer, browser.cache.memory.capacity, set it to the memory in KB you want to limit the memory cache to.
I hope these tweaks improve your web browsing experience with Firefox. One last thing, Mozilla has published a list of situations that can lead to massive memory leaks and slow down computers. You can use this to diagnose problem with individual web pages.
- Bad live bookmark causes Firefox memory usage to grow endlessly and make the browser unstable
- Memory leak (especially in graphics-intensive webpages), freed upon minimize
- When saving a picture, HUGE memory leak! Also slows machine down!
- memory leak if page contains a refresh meta-tag
- Memory leak when I leave firefox up with a few sub tabs open
- Firefox begin to eat memory and hangs after opening this URL
- very slow restore from minimize after memory growth compared to other applications
Essential Firefox Tweaks References: 1 | 2 | 3
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/01/solutions-to-common-firefox-15.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Um, npnul32.dll is the *default* plugin. It's the one that handles embeded content for which you don't currently have a plugin to handle. It puts up the prompt that lets you search to download a plugin to handle that particular type. If you want to uncouple Acrobat from Firefox, you want to delete nppdf32.dll. nppdf32.dll is the Adobe PDF plugin.
Written on 9/1/06 12:55 AM
Session saver has been out for 1.5 for a while. I'm using it now!
Written on 9/1/06 1:17 PM
With Acrobat, I just always hit ctrl+alt+del after I'm through with the pdf and select and delete the Acrord32 function. Works like a champ.
Firefox doesn't seem to close out of Acrobat like IE does so I do it for it.
Written on 26/1/06 7:34 PM
Alternatively try Foxit reader, a much smaller pdf reader. It doesn't run as a plugin, but it won't hog resources.
www.foxitsoftware.com
Written on 28/1/06 3:46 PM
Installed 1.5 without problem (but failed to delete previous releases or back-up profile, doh). Mostly working well but unable to download any extensions (other than updates to the ones that were already in use in previous releases).
I'm on Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5 and am running behind Norton Internet Security.
I've already tried the usual: told NIS to accept downloads from Mozilla etc; set the "xpinstall.enabled" to "true" in "about:config" but no joy.
I can get as far as clicking "Install" in the extension box but nothing happens. Any advice/assistance would be hugely appreciated.
Chris
http://writeantiques.blogspot.com
Written on 1/2/06 11:34 PM
When I open my GMail Inbox bookmark in Firefox, the browser crashes. It looks like GMail Ajax interface loads some javascripts which are not compatible with Firefox browser and takes it down.
Does anyone else notice the problem ?
Written on 12/4/06 4:24 PM
I have just found that the shockwave 8 plugin seems to be causing the problem for me. Once unclicked both play and loop firefox stopped eatin up all the spare cpu power and the memory use stopped its inexorable increase. Tested by going to www.theregister.co.uk and turning off the adverts on the right which is the shockwave
Written on 25/4/06 1:53 PM
i can also see the gmail inbox in firefox but as soon as i click on any message, it crashes with a script failure error. and also firefox has problems with text boxes of sites like ORKUT. the cursor location simply misses the place of typing making typing a hell like job of guessing your cursor position..!!
Written on 14/6/06 2:33 AM
I have a problem in which i have to re-install firefox aafter shutting down my computer.
Written on 27/10/06 9:09 PM
When I select a message from the inbox, a blank screen appears if Java scripts are enabled.
Written on 28/10/06 8:24 AM
Great Site! I was looking for this since, since, I don’t know when….
At last, everything worked
Written on 9/11/06 4:17 PM
Where do you DO those changes?
I.e., config.trim_on_minimize
Not in Registry.
Not found via search of all HD.
Not in FF options.
Now what?
Written on 23/12/06 11:51 PM
i have a problem with firefox. No matter what version! I cant't browse the internet with it! i start it and it seems like it's about to open the requested page,but then it stops and says "DONE"! bato_game@yahoo.com help please
Written on 6/1/07 5:06 AM
To bypass Firefox 1.5 (Mozilla 1.7+) problem of not executing OnLoad event, as you can't change users'config, you can use:
<body onload="myFunc();done=1;" onpageshow="if(!done){window.onload();}; done=0;">
TH
Written on 21/8/07 4:18 AM
I was running Firefox with multiple tabs on Windows 2000 for more than a year, no problems at all, then it started hanging as soon as I opened it. None of the "standard" fixes seemed relevant (e.g., no addons, no hyperthreading, etc.). As a last-ditch, I ran RogueScanFix and Brute Force Uninstaller. Works like a charm. I don't know why it worked, and it could be coincidental, but it works now, and that is all I care about.
Written on 9/10/07 11:39 PM