Firefox 3.6.15 & Google Image Search

[ErrorMagnet]

Hi again guys. A couple days ago this began. I switched back to version 3.6.15 after I tried the beta version. Okay, so any search that I do in google images is extremely slow.

I made a short video. There is no sound, I have no microphone currently. It shows me scrolling on an image search, the periods where the screen is standing still, I am still turning my mouse wheel, I never stop. One second it scrolls down, then it freezes, some thumbnails don't show up. Just strange stuff.

Here is the video -> [ame="[MEDIA=youtube]CkDFPVsv-AY[/MEDIA]"]YouTube - Google Image Search - slow!![/ame]

I took screenshots of the add-ons I have in FF. I have not installed any new ones in about 2 weeks.

Any ideas why it's so slow for me?

 

[catilley1092]

Error Magnet, good to see you again. My suggestion is to review your massive collection of add on's, and extensions that you have added to Firefox. I've found, through personal experience, and through various forum postings, is to keep your add on's to what you need.

What you don't need all of the time, you can disable, and enable as you need to do so.

Running CCleaner may help too, to rid your system of the accumulated junk files that's laying around. And don't forget to defrag. Auslogics Disc Defrag is a good freeware for this. Both CCleaner & Auslogics Disc Defrag can be found at:

http://www.filehippo.com

Also, a full system virus scan may help, too. An excellent free online scanner is ESET, it can be found at:

http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner

It's best to run this through IE, as it'll allow you to select more options for a more precise scan and cleanup process.

Best of Luck,
Cat

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Error Magnet, good to see you again. My suggestion is to review your massive collection of add on's, and extensions that you have added to Firefox. I've found, through personal experience, and through various forum postings, is to keep your add on's to what you need.

What you don't need all of the time, you can disable, and enable as you need to do so.

Running CCleaner may help too, to rid your system of the accumulated junk files that's laying around. And don't forget to defrag. Auslogics Disc Defrag is a good freeware for this. Both CCleaner & Auslogics Disc Defrag can be found at:

http://www.filehippo.com

Also, a full system virus scan may help, too. An excellent free online scanner is ESET, it can be found at:

http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner

It's best to run this through IE, as it'll allow you to select more options for a more precise scan and cleanup process.

Best of Luck,
Cat

Hello catilley! I do lots of treatment of my PC. I run CCleaner, Avast Free, Advanced System Care Pro, Perfect Disk 11, Hijackthis & Spybot. I usually only have 1 or 2, maybe 3 malware things once a week. I will try that eset thing in IE. I will tell you if it helps.

 

[catilley1092]

Some of the software that you're running is great. I run Perfect Disk 11 myself. Perhaps the best paid defrag tool on the market. It does what the free ones cant do.

Avast Free, it's OK for web browsing (see the specs on their home site), but as far as banking, making transactions, etc, no. They offer a 3 user Pro pack for $29.99, which includes full protection. They also have a 3 star rating with AV Comparatives, meaning it's among the best in the industry. Had I not found the 3 Pack of ESET NOD32 AV 4 for $29.99 (thanks to the link that yodap provided), I would have chosen Avast Pro or Ad-Aware Pro. Both can be had for $29.99, but Ad-Aware is only a single user pack.

Advanced System Care (Pro or Free) concerns me. It (the free version) wiped out an XP install a couple of years ago. It's "cleaning" is too aggressive for my comfort level. That money would be better spent on a paid AV (see above). CCleaner does a good job of cleaning the junk files from your computer, plus it has a SAFE registry cleaner. It reminds you to backup the registry to your docs, as always, you should do so.

HijackThis, I have it, but haven't actually had to use it, and hope that I don't need to.

Spybot, I've ran it for a limited time, I had problems with the Tea Timer function on it. Other than that, I didn't run it enough to really say how good (or bad) it is, so I'll leave it at that.

If by chance you do keep Avast Free (I really recommend the paid version for it's extra security, I believe that a single user license is $19.99/year, if you don't need the 3 pack), you need to run that ESET Online Scanner weekly. Most of us do make purchases on the internet, it's more convenient to shop the net, rather than drive around, plus you can hunt for the best deal, while saving a ton in gas (which alone can pay for the pro version of Avast). And keep in mind, that "free" AV's leave out critical components that we need to stay safe at all times.

By running ESET weekly, you'll at least know that you have a fairly clean computer, but remember, it's not "realtime protection". I also feel that's a step that you should take, ASAP, to be sure that you don't have any viruses or other bad code that Avast Free may have missed.

I think that the bases have been covered, but I still feel that you need to disable some of the addons that you don't use daily. The more that the browser has to load at startup, the slower it will be. For example, when I start IE9 RC, it offers to disable addons to gain startup speed. And I only have 5 addons.

Hopefully, my post is of some help to you, it looks like you're doing some good things. I hope that you get your images running fast again. If you need further assistance, post back. There's usually help around somewhere, and I'll keep an eye out for you, too.

Cat

 

[etalmar]

With every new release of Firefox 3.6+ (currently at 3.6.15) I have noticed that more and more extensions are being flagged as incompatible, which is sad. As the coding is "improved", there will be an increase in extension issues, which is a bittersweet consequence of strengthening security and introducing new or improved features.

I counted 45 Firefox add-ons! That alone will contribute to a significant slowdown in your browsing, not to mention consume a lot of memory. Check your processes section under Windows Task Manager to see exactly how much. The slowdown in Google images is most likely being caused by one or more conflicts with add-ons, so I would try disabling one at a time to see if you can pinpoint the culprit. The hesitation and periodic freezing is often a result of incompatibility with one or more extensions, especially when you have as many as you do.

I am also a longtime Firefox user, but I use only 11 add-ons and I thought that was a lot! Do you really need 45 add-ons? You should start getting rid of the ones that you rarely use, or at the very least, disable them and notate any changes.

I also noticed that you have multiple Java console entries, which can be deleted by selecting "Run as administrator" to launch Firefox, which renders java console's uninstall button clickable and no longer greyed out. Then, just uninstall the older Java add-on (6.0.22) and only keep the most recent one (6.0.23), as that is all you need. Speaking of java, the current version is now 6.0.24, so you should upgrade your java, then delete both of the older console entries.

If you can streamline your add-ons, it should help to resolve the problems that you're experiencing.

Also, be sure to look over your plugins section to see if there are any that can either be disabled or deleted altogether. Ask if you need help.

 

[catilley1092]

Also, I'd like to mention, if you either can't or don't want to pay for an AV, Comodo has an AV that you can use that will protect you better while shopping, banking, etc. I run it on a couple of VM's, and it's very effective for a free AV.

They also have a free firewall, but unless you've had problems with the Windows one, you can leave that alone. I was using it, but it was very worrisome, and I removed it with Revo Uninstaller and turned the Windows Firewall back on.

Comodo AV can be found at:

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

All three options will be listed, the Firewall, the AV, & Comodo Internet Security (which simply includes both the Firewall & AV together as a pack). Make sure that you choose the proper download for your system (either 32 or 64 bit Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7). Either bit version works with all 3 OS's.

And work on those addons.

Cat

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Some of the software that you're running is great. I run Perfect Disk 11 myself. Perhaps the best paid defrag tool on the market. It does what the free ones cant do.

Avast Free, it's OK for web browsing (see the specs on their home site), but as far as banking, making transactions, etc, no. They offer a 3 user Pro pack for $29.99, which includes full protection. They also have a 3 star rating with AV Comparatives, meaning it's among the best in the industry. Had I not found the 3 Pack of ESET NOD32 AV 4 for $29.99 (thanks to the link that yodap provided), I would have chosen Avast Pro or Ad-Aware Pro. Both can be had for $29.99, but Ad-Aware is only a single user pack.

Advanced System Care (Pro or Free) concerns me. It (the free version) wiped out an XP install a couple of years ago. It's "cleaning" is too aggressive for my comfort level. That money would be better spent on a paid AV (see above). CCleaner does a good job of cleaning the junk files from your computer, plus it has a SAFE registry cleaner. It reminds you to backup the registry to your docs, as always, you should do so.

HijackThis, I have it, but haven't actually had to use it, and hope that I don't need to.

Spybot, I've ran it for a limited time, I had problems with the Tea Timer function on it. Other than that, I didn't run it enough to really say how good (or bad) it is, so I'll leave it at that.

If by chance you do keep Avast Free (I really recommend the paid version for it's extra security, I believe that a single user license is $19.99/year, if you don't need the 3 pack), you need to run that ESET Online Scanner weekly. Most of us do make purchases on the internet, it's more convenient to shop the net, rather than drive around, plus you can hunt for the best deal, while saving a ton in gas (which alone can pay for the pro version of Avast). And keep in mind, that "free" AV's leave out critical components that we need to stay safe at all times.

By running ESET weekly, you'll at least know that you have a fairly clean computer, but remember, it's not "realtime protection". I also feel that's a step that you should take, ASAP, to be sure that you don't have any viruses or other bad code that Avast Free may have missed.

I think that the bases have been covered, but I still feel that you need to disable some of the addons that you don't use daily. The more that the browser has to load at startup, the slower it will be. For example, when I start IE9 RC, it offers to disable addons to gain startup speed. And I only have 5 addons.

Hopefully, my post is of some help to you, it looks like you're doing some good things. I hope that you get your images running fast again. If you need further assistance, post back. There's usually help around somewhere, and I'll keep an eye out for you, too.

Cat

With every new release of Firefox 3.6+ (currently at 3.6.15) I have noticed that more and more extensions are being flagged as incompatible, which is sad. As the coding is "improved", there will be an increase in extension issues, which is a bittersweet consequence of strengthening security and introducing new or improved features.

I counted 45 Firefox add-ons! That alone will contribute to a significant slowdown in your browsing, not to mention consume a lot of memory. Check your processes section under Windows Task Manager to see exactly how much. The slowdown in Google images is most likely being caused by one or more conflicts with add-ons, so I would try disabling one at a time to see if you can pinpoint the culprit. The hesitation and periodic freezing is often a result of incompatibility with one or more extensions, especially when you have as many as you do.

I am also a longtime Firefox user, but I use only 11 add-ons and I thought that was a lot! Do you really need 45 add-ons? You should start getting rid of the ones that you rarely use, or at the very least, disable them and notate any changes.

I also noticed that you have multiple Java console entries, which can be deleted by selecting "Run as administrator" to launch Firefox, which renders java console's uninstall button clickable and no longer greyed out. Then, just uninstall the older Java add-on (6.0.22) and only keep the most recent one (6.0.23), as that is all you need. Speaking of java, the current version is now 6.0.24, so you should upgrade your java, then delete both of the older console entries.

If you can streamline your add-ons, it should help to resolve the problems that you're experiencing.

Also, be sure to look over your plugins section to see if there are any that can either be disabled or deleted altogether. Ask if you need help.

Thank you guys. I will try your recommendations. Thank you for taking the time to explain everything.

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Okay, update time.

The eset scan came back with nothing found. As my avast did.
I removed a CRAP LOAD (That's a technical term us Ukrainians use) of add-ons for FireFox.

The image search has gotten better, still not the same as it was before, but it doesn't lag as much.

I am considering getting that avast pro, it's just I don't have an income source as of now. So I need to compare some things.

 

[catilley1092]

You may want to consider Comodo AV then. It's at the link that I provided above. For a free AV, it does a good job, much better than any of the other free ones on the market. It protects you while you browse, shop, whatever.

Still, a monthly scan with ESET won't hurt.

Good to see things are improving. You may still need to narrow down a few more addons. Remember, you can disable addons without removing them entirely.

Cat

 

[etalmar]

Which add-ons have you kept? I may be able to help you to determine which ones may still be contributing to the Google images slowdown, although I'm starting to think that you could also have a lot of processes running in the background, which can cause Firefox to slowdown. Not to mention that FF 3.6 is still somewhat of a memory hog after it has been opened and running for a while. I will periodically close Firefox and clear all of the temp files after it has been running for quite a while, which from trial and error has proven to help improve performance. Hopefully, FF4 will reduce the memory usage issues.

To check your system processes, right-click anywhere on your taskbar, then click on "Start Task Manager". Once the GUI opens, click on the "Processes" tab and take a close look at exactly what is running. How many processes are running? The number is in the lower left corner of the GUI. That should give you a better idea as to what system memory is being used for. Also notate "CPU Usage", which is listed as a percentage.

Other freeware programs to try that are good for scanning your system for malware and spyware are ..

SUPERAntiSpyware 4.49.1000

Malwarebytes 1.50.1

 

[catilley1092]

SuperAntiSpyware is really good for this. It often catches things that many AV's (even the top notch ones) misses. A lot of what it will catch are adware & tracking cookies, but it also catches trojans, too.

Last week, it found one (a trojan) on my desktop. It may have been a false positive, so for the time being, I have it quarantined. As I recall, it was named "pyron .exe", or similar wording. Also it was found in the temporary files, so it could have been a recent thing, and didn't have time to spread yet.

I always do a full scan with SAS weekly, and a short scan with MBAM prior to shutting down my desktop nightly. Even though ESET NOD32 is my primary AV, I still use the others, as a single AV is not 100% foolproof, if it were, we'd all have it.

The only 100% surefire way not to get a computer infection is not to turn it on.

Cat

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Guys, this may be crossing the line, but I want to punch every firefox developer in the head

Why? For the 5th time in 2 weeks, my dog damn firefox updates by itself to the new RC. There is a dog damn reason why I clicked the option not to download any firefox updates!! Every frackin time I reinstall the older version I make sure to check the option that says do not check for new firefox versions or updates. I can do it manually. Now it updated again.

 

[ErrorMagnet]

SuperAntiSpyware is really good for this. It often catches things that many AV's (even the top notch ones) misses. A lot of what it will catch are adware & tracking cookies, but it also catches trojans, too.

I broke down and bought this, I had read about it before. I hope it can do a good job for me.

 

[etalmar]

I am running Firefox 3.6.15 and in the advanced section (Tools-->Options-->Advanced button) under the updates tab I have the "Automatically check for updates to:" section completely unchecked, so that it doesn't check for any updates of any kind. I have never received any auto update for FF4.0 RC1, so there is something else in your option settings that needs to be changed.

Go into about:config and make sure these settings are set to false. Double clicking on the entry will change its value from true to false, or you can right-click on the entry, then click on Toggle. Either way works.

app.update.auto
app.update.enabled

Also, regarding your add-ons issues, I would suggest that you delete the "Ghostery" add-on, if you haven't done so yet, as I have read on several Firefox forums that it can be very buggy and cause other issues.

SUPERAntiSpyware is very good, but you should also download and use Malwarebytes, as they're both effective at detecting different types of malware and spyware. A layered protection approach using more than one program is always much better than just relying on one program.

 

[ErrorMagnet]

I am running Firefox 3.6.15 and in the advanced section (Tools-->Options-->Advanced button) under the updates tab I have the "Automatically check for updates to:" section completely unchecked, so that it doesn't check for any updates of any kind. I have never received any auto update for FF4.0 RC1, so there is something else in your option settings that needs to be changed.

Go into about:config and make sure these settings are set to false. Double clicking on the entry will change its value from true to false, or you can right-click on the entry, then click on Toggle. Either way works.

app.update.auto
app.update.enabled

Also, regarding your add-ons issues, I would suggest that you delete the "Ghostery" add-on, if you haven't done so yet, as I have read on several Firefox forums that it can be very buggy and cause other issues.

SUPERAntiSpyware is very good, but you should also download and use Malwarebytes, as they're both effective at detecting different types of malware and spyware. A layered protection approach using more than one program is always much better than just relying on one program.

Yeah I checked to make sure that option is set not to self update. Hopefully this time it will stay that way.

I find that having too many anti-malware, spyware, virus programs is too overwhelming, each of them is constantly popping up messages that the websites I visit are dangerous or that the word documents I download for college are infected. I think I should be good for now.

---- However, I don't want to start another topic for this, when I used to type in a search term into the address bar of my FF, the results would come back with google, now they come back with bing. How do I change it back to google? This is the address bar I'm talking about.

 

[etalmar]

When I used to type in a search term into the address bar of my FF, the results would come back with google, now they come back with bing. How do I change it back to google? This is the address bar I'm talking about.

Click on the Bing icon. It should open a dropdown menu where Google should be listed as well. Then just select Google and the icon should change and you should be able to search with Google now.

If you do not see Google listed, click on the dropdown menu, then click on "Manage Search Engines...". When the menu opens, click on "Get more search engines..." and you will be taken to an extensive listing of different search engines to choose from, a few of which are variations of Google search.