Firefox hesitation

Sometime after 1 March, Firefox has hesitated for anywhere from 1 sec to 3 secs for most actions.  For example, if I were typing this WOE in Firefox, it would type a few words and then stop for a couple of seconds.  Then most of what I typed would appear, depending upon how fast I am typing.

When I am scrolling up and down a page, using either the scroll wheel or dragging the sliding bar on the right, the scroll will stop.... and then resume (leaping to where I stopped moving the wheel or scroll bar).

Since this is not happening in other browsers, I googled for firefox.  I found some possible answers from back in 2008 and some more recent.  But many are talking about old versions of FF (one was addressing FF 6 when the current version is 28).  It referenced FF files that no longer exist (manual and auto searches on my PC did not find them).  So no help there.

Since this is a fairly new problem, I reviewed all my add-ons and extensions and made them all ask-to-activate or manual except for a couple of security ones I have used since day 1.  I reviewed the MSCONFIG start-ups, CCleaner start-ups, and ASC start-ups.   Nothing unusual there.

Anyone have other ideas to try?

I should have added that this started when FF started checking add-on compatibility every single time I open FF.  It used to only check one time after an update, not every time it opened.   And that just started up for no apparent reason long after FF updated itself to V28.

After post #2, I realized I had never googled "checking add-on compatibility".  So I did and found a YouTube video that said to delete a "user" file.  I moved it rather than deleting it, but moving it out of the Mozilla/FireFox folder seems to have worked for the compatibility check and, after some short, quick tests, seems to have corrected the hesitation problems.  If it doesn't I will come back and add to the post.  If it has, this has just, once again, proven how writing out a problem frequently leads one to the answer.

Good show, Inspector Gadget    .

-Bill

bdahm wrote:Good show, Inspector Gadget    .

-Bill

HOWEVER, today all the hesitations are back.  The file I moved out has not been recreated, so what to do, what to do?

I am now willing to see what happens when I follow Firefox's trouble setting instructions.  Don't know what else to do.  Trying to make this post as informative as possible and save you, the reader, the trouble of possibly wondering, I will quote what it says it will do when I reset Firefox to default.   I can load what it will delete, so there should be no problems.  

BUT..... I shall see what happens next.....................

 Reset Firefox to its default state .....If you're having major problems which you can't resolve, start fresh with only your essential information.


Firefox will save these things:

• Bookmarks
  
• Browsing history
  
• Passwords
  
• Open windows, tabs and tab groups
  
• Cookies
  
• Web form auto-fill information
  
• Personal dictionary
  

These items and settings will be removed:

• Extensions and themes, website-specific preferences, search engines, download history, DOM storage, security settings, download actions, plugin settings, toolbar customizations, user styles and social features will be removed.
  

Note: Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named "Old Firefox Data." If the reset didn't fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by [url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Recovering important data from an old profile#w_copying-files-between-profile-folders]copying files to the new profile that was created[/url]. If you don't need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.

Sorry.... I re-read your original post... answered my question.

Mike

mspain wrote:Sorry.... I re-read your original post... answered my question.

Mike

I may have answered your question, Mike, but I sure didn't solve my problem.  It is as bad as it has ever been, or maybe even worse this morning.  I am having to type this reply in another program and then copy and paste into the reply block.  

I tried to send a PM to Thai Visa poster and had the same problem.  I am a touch typist and type quickly.  So I would type maybe 5 words and then the next five words would not appear for 2 or 3 seconds.  Then they would appear but spaces dropped or moved into the middle of the next word. 

If I can not solve this pretty soon, I will have to give up on FF.

Any and all suggestions welcomed!!!!!

I don't use Firefox too much. If I do use Firefox, it is the Nightly build.

I occasionally have typing hesitation in IE on my Windows 8.1 machines.  I have narrowed that down to another programs maintenance (or Windows itself) running in the background.  The hesitation goes away once the maintenance is complete. My guess is a conflict in program calls when this happens.  I haven't tried to change settings in maintenance programs yet because it has not, so far, been a big problem for me.

I understand what you mean about the touch typing thing. 

Sorry I can't be of help.  All I can suggest, since it seems to only happen for you with Firefox, is check if there are some Firefox maintenance or reporting calls taking place.

In reseting to factory defaults, FF delete a couple of extensions but left the ones I wanted.  Have no idea how it figured out how to do that.  Now it is working like it should, for the most part.  

The maintenance program in the background is a good thought and makes a lot of sense.  I am still testing and will double check on that.  I pretty well purged all the FF start up programs but there might be something else, like Norton or Webroot background checks, even though they are only supposed to run when the CPU is idle. 

Testing, onwards and upwards forever......

Since my FF Nightly is similar to beta, it asks upon installation if it can send information to help improve it.  Many newer programs seem to want to report things, send information, or track your browsing.

Finding them is the hard part.

Forgot about FF performance reporting.  I just now turned that off !! 

Working OK so far today,  2 sessions hours 5 hours apart.

Automatic updating of anything can slow things down sometimes.

Windows 8 also has Automatic Maintenance.  I forget if that is also in Windows 7. 

Can't think of anything else right now.

A partial quote from this page  http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/34374-automatic-maintenance-enable-disable-windows-8-a.html

"Responsiveness to users is reduced when maintenance activity runs while users are actively using the computer."

When maintenance is running on my computers there is an indicator in the task bar.

I did not restart after letting Windows up date and was writing a comment on Thai Visa and the old problem occurred.  I have now restarted and started typing this...no delays.  Now to reopen TV and try typing there again.....OK, went there, did that.  Typing there and here is back to the good ole days.

So, having FF going into default mode and deleting a couple of extension seems to have been the real cure.  And since I can not remember what all extensions are gone, they were not ones I really needed.  One was the YouTube continue video at last viewed spot, which never seemed to work anyway.  It may have been trying to apply itself to any FF web site?  Who knows?

I will follow up on maintenance programs, though, as a good idea.  I would rather be the one to say when they run, not let them do what they want to me when they want to do it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

How is FF working, Noise?

I think it is working OK.  I adjusted some maintenance programs run times and stopped some other completely, ones that I did not recognize as fulfilling any purpose I wanted. 

And when I once again reviewed my Plug Ins, I found a whole bunch were, some how, set on always start upon FF start up.  I put the ones I wanted to keep on "ask to activate" and deleted a couple that I can not imagine how they got there. 

One example is Canon iMage Gateway, photography resource and service for owners of qualified Canon products.  I have never owned a Canon camera.  

So, good for now....

I am now able to type msgs like this with no problem, no hesitation despite my lightning fast touch typing.


EDIT:   I LIED AGAIN.   I can not figure out how to delete plug ins.   One method said to click delete but there is no delete button.  I can make it never activate, but.....  I will figure it out sooner or later but will remain irritated that it is not a simple task in the meantime.

Not sure if you have been here  http://mzl.la/Ll3xVk

There might be some help on the list link on that page.

And a link from that page to manually uninstall  http://mzl.la/NYtGci

Good luck!

Thanks, Mike

I thought I had looked at those and done everything, but the problem has come back somewhat so I looked again. Don't know why, but going to your links made me see some new actions that seem to apply and that I completely over looked before. So, off to see what I can see and do.

Good thing I like doing this stuff, engaging my brain a little as I digest what I do against what my problems are. My computer knowledge is growing, or at least my Firefox knowledge is growing.

I thought using computers and the internet DISENGAGES our brains....  maybe that is just me...

(joking)   

Happy Songkran!