FIrefox Slow at Start

Topic

New Reply

After I turn on my laptop running 21H2 Home my FF browser initially takes ages to open and render a page ( approx. 50 secs) .  All subsequent closing/opening of the browser window takes about  7 secs. The HDD has been  replaced with a new Samsung 870 EVO SSD, power mode switched to high performance, all FF telemetry settings disabled and various other settings tweaked to speed up FF but to no avail.

In comparison Chrome takes 8 secs to open the first time, what gives? Both browsers are up to date.

Cheers

 

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Reply | Quote

Replies

I have almost the same problem as you do, but not quite your long lengths of time.  For me it’s around 30 seconds on the first start up and from 3 to 5 seconds on subsequent start ups.  Also, once Firefox is up and running it can take 10 to 20 seconds to fully load a page.  I might have to blame that last sentence on a very slow DSL telephone line Internet connection and the fact that my local telephone company is not servicing copper telephone lines in my area in the Mid Atlantic.

I might expect this from my old 2007 Sony Vaio with only 2 GB of RAM and Linux, but not my newer 10 year old Azus MoBo, Intel Core i3, 3.3Ghz with 4 GB of RAM.  Oh and I’ve replaced the Sony’s old HDD with a new Samsung 860 EVO 250 GB SSD.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

What are your download / Upload speeds at Fast.com (Netflix) ?
Do you have extensions installed ?

Reply | Quote

[Charlie]

Download – 88.6 KB/s, upload 18.2 KB/s.  Used to be 92 KB/s and around 20 KB/s years ago.  Have one extension on both computers – uBlock Origin, and I don’t clog my browser up with lots of tabs and other stuff.  Usually only use one tab, sometimes going to two, and maybe even three.

Edit:  That would explain the webpages loading slowly, but not the FF browser.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Charlie.

Reply | Quote

Oh wow, I couldn’t handle those speeds, onviously NO Netflix for you then?

Could you ‘upgrade’ to wireless/satellite  internet service?

Reply | Quote

I can watch standard def and low high def (720p) videos on youtube, but anything higher is almost constantly buffering.  I am planning to get Verizon’s FIOS which is now in my area.  I’m trying to educate myself on all the options.  I only really need Internet and Phone.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

 

Charlie: ” I only really need Internet and Phone.”

So do I, but I’m stuck with my old Verizon bundle that includes TV: it gets more expensive if one changes down to just Internet and phone. Clearly Verizon does not like its FIOS users to have just Internet and phone accessible through its fiberoptics links. If you try to get just that from the start, it might be easier, as you do not have TV in the mix already.

But going from others’ experience, it takes some really very hard bargaining to get, essentially, Verizon so tired it surrenders and says: OK, have your &^@#! Internet and phone and I’ll give you that at a price that is reasonable. Maybe things are different these days.

Good luck, Charlie!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

1 user thanked author for this post.

windbg

Reply | Quote

I think your 3G,4G,5G cellular smartphone connection is 10+ times faster.
Can you tether to your smartphone..
Or you may add a SIM adapter.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

I have found that the launch speed of FF is directly related to the number of extensions and add-ons that are installed.  As more and more add-ons start, more and more memory disappears.  I have 11 add-ons installed, and when they’re all activated, it takes 4 seconds for FF to launch (from an SSD) and be ready to use.  With all of them deactivated, it takes less than a second.

Tabs are another thing.  My FF is set to open with a blank page. I use Morning Coffee Quantum add-on and I’ll load up 27 tabs at a pop after launch. Those tabs eat memory, but I haven’t noticed any slowdowns except for page loads due to my abysmal DSL service —- the only ‘broadband’ in my neck of BFE.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

Reply | Quote

I started FF in safe mode ( extensions  not loaded) and didn’t notice an improvement in its initial startup after the pc was turned on.  On normal use I only have 2 extensions installed in the browser so I can confidently say that my problem is not extension related.

Setting FF to open with a blank page results in a slight improvement, opening up in 40 secs which is frankly still too long.

Thanks for your suggestions though.

Cheers

Reply | Quote

Charlie wrote:

local telephone company is not servicing copper telephone lines in my area in the Mid Atlantic.

That may be good news. Maybe fiber is coming??

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

Reply | Quote

Yes, see my post #2438693 above.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

That happened where I live, also in the Mid Atlantic: Verizon, in this case, started not to service the copper lines and to push people offering some OK but temporary “Promotion” prices to switch to fiber.

But when I use both FF (now and then) and its close relative Waterfox (a lot more) I have an initial delay, when I first launch them at the start of my daily sessions. But after that, when I click them off, they start much faster every time I click them on again. My computer, as you can see below, is a Mac, but I have no idea if this is a factor. Otherwise, Matador’s system looks quite OK to me.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Reply | Quote

Try a test with Firefox Portable.  If it is roughly as fast as Chrome, to me that would show you have a corrupt Firefox “profile.”  Firefox has a reset option, that hopefully would fix it.  It does delete extensions – so make a backup first https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems?redirect=no

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

@OP did you have any joy with the workarounds suggested by anon #2438651?
(ignoring the blatant hi-jack)

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

Reply | Quote

Tested with Firefox Portable; 38-40 sec to load page after initial system start then subsequent loads take approx. 3-4 secs.

I’ve reached the end of this little adventure and the only thing to try now is  the reset option as suggested by our Anon friend’s post above.  But I doubt that will fix it also……will report back.

 

Cheers

 

Reply | Quote

When Firefox starts, it makes a number of connections behind the scenes. This undoubtedly is slowing load times for you.

How to disable Firefox’s Captive Portal test connection on startup

You can also set Firefox so that tabs don’t load until selected.

browser.tabs.loadInBackground = false
browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground = false

I use a self-modified version of Firefox portable with 20 active extensions. I have all telemetry and related services disabled. With 8 or so tabs, it loads in 2-3 seconds to a blank startup page (wired 250/10 internet connection).

There are a lot of settings that can speed up initial and page load times. For example, if you have RAM to spare, the disk cache can be disabled entirely and the memory cache used instead.

3 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, wavy, Matador

Reply | Quote

Carl wrote:

There are a lot of settings that can speed up initial and page load times. For example, if you have RAM to spare, the disk cache can be disabled entirely and the memory cache used instead.

I take you are referring to RAM as the system memory and not the SSD memory? When you say ‘spare’ do you mean memory in standby or free memory as shown in Task Manager. I have about 300MB ‘free’ but 3.2GB in ‘standby (cached)

Anyway I have made the following policy change for my main internal drive and was wondering if that is the correct setting to use?

 

Cheers

Reply | Quote

I would not turn off write caching. It won’t affect load times as it speeds up writes.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Makes sense Paul for the primary drive, but for any external SSD or Flash drive I would leave the setting as above or not? because I don’t want the risk of corrupting the data if I have a power outage.

Cheers

Reply | Quote

External disks should already have write cache disabled. You should not need to adjust anything.

Worrying about data loss due to power outage is a waste of time IMO. If your data is that immediate and important, get a UPS and ECC memory and a NAS…

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

No, I’m referring to Firefox preferences only and not OS settings. Firefox utilizes two caches for web pages which are both enabled by default:

1) Disk cache
2) Memory cache

If you type “about:cache” in the address bar of the browser, you will see how Firefox is utilizing the caches on your computer. I have Firefox set up so that the “Storage disk location” for both caches says “none, only stored in memory”.

Note that the portable version of Firefox should automatically set the disk cache capacity to 0 (zero) which effectively disables it.

browser.cache.disk.capacity = 0
browser.cache.disk.enable = false

If not using the disk cache, then the “smart size” feature should also be disabled:

browser.cache.disk.smart_size.enabled = false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run = false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max = false

2 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Matador

Reply | Quote

Moderator, the above anon post is mine, thought I was logged in when submitted, sorry

Reply | Quote

If you have a slow internet connection, I would also recommend disabling features on new tabs:

browser.newtab.preload = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.aboutHome.enabled = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.section.topstories = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsored = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry = false
browser.newtabpage.enabled = false
browser.newtabpage.enhanced = false

Reply | Quote

? says:

Hi Matador, maybe look at this:

Putting the Firefox network cache into the RAM

from:

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/firefox.html

thank you, Microfix for the link

there are other good Firefox tips as well. i found lots of about config tweaks from ghacks\arkenfox by searching “Firefox about config privacy\security” and there is a page here at woody’s with good info, too…

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

My Firefox 98.0.2 was slow to start, but only on the first start after booting up.  Now after installing the FF 99.0.1 update, it’s slow every time I start it.  I have a blank start page and only uBlock Origin extension.  System requirements are 2 GB of Ram for the 64 bit version and I have 4 GB on my otherwise zippy Win 7 machine.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

I agree, seems like it gets slower with every subsequent update.

Seriously considering switching browsers if I can’t get this issue fixed. It only happens on the first startup daily, subsequent ones are fine, 3-4 secs. It’s really annoying.

Cheers

Reply | Quote

According to here, slow Firefox start up all of sudden in version 99 looks like a program bug that some but not all users are seeing.  https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&p=14922987  A reply says that if default window is not maximized but is a smaller window that it will be fast.  Since it is a bug hopefully will be fixed eventually.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Matador

Reply | Quote

Maybe the bug is prevalent in older versions of FF as well?

Reply | Quote

Firefox startup speed is most likely not related to internet bandwidth. A close examination of the local computer would probably be more productive.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

Please guide me down the correct path.

The Toshiba Satellite laptop is approx. 7-8 yrs old with a quad-core and 8GB of RAM. The HDD has been replaced with a new SSD with ample free space available.
Chrome loads and renders page about 80% quicker.

I’m on a 50mbps connection to the internet (FTTN) so speed shouldn’t be a problem.

 

Reply | Quote

You mentioned that Firefox “Safe Mode” made no difference. Since the problem appears to be specific to Firefox, and your system is running OK otherwise, the problem is likely in your Firefox profile.

Have you tried creating a new profile (temporarily, at least), to rule it out?

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

The Firefox Profile Manager allows you to create an additional profile while retaining your original one. This is useful not only for having separate settings for multiple users, but also for troubleshooting. You should NOT delete any existing profile unless you are absolutely sure that you will never need it again. If in any doubt, then please leave alone.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

2 users thanked author for this post.

Ascaris, Matador

Reply | Quote

The way I’m seeing it this whole Firefox slow starting problem started with version 98.0.2, and got worse with version 99.0.1.  I made no other changes to my Win 7 computer so it’s Mozilla that messed something up.  They should fix it, not me!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

Have you tried resetting FF? Any change?

I haven’t performed it yet so can’t comment if  that fixes the issue.

 

Reply | Quote

Thanks everyone for your valuable inputs and suggestions, will work through these when I get home in a couple of days.

 

Reply | Quote

I did an about:config and brought up – network.connectivity-service.enabled. It was set to True so I changed it to False.  There has not been any change in FF start up speed.  It’s still slow (around 10 seconds, which is slow on my Win 7 computer).

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

One way to make the window small which may fix this is set privacy.resistFingerprinting to true.

Reply | Quote

FWIW: I had a Vista machine purchased new in mid 2009. It ran fine until early 2015 when I observed a slow but noticeable slowdown in everything, browsers and all software, boot times, etc. By early 2016 it was essentially non functional. Throughout the course of it’s life I added no supplementary software; it was basically a stock computer. I replaced it with a new Win 7 machine in April 2016. I’ve noticed the same behavior deterioration. It’s not at the point of not functioning, but it is what I would now call a slug. I’m currently using the computer as my daily driver by dual booting with Linux Mint 19.2. It runs very well with Mint. I have another W7 machine from about 20110 (not real sure of the date, actually) that has also become non-functional. I gave up on it and am just running – you guessed it – Mint 19.2.

My point is not that Mint is great (although it is, IMHO) but that as time goes on older hardware just can’t keep up with newer an likely more bloated Windows software, not just the Windows OS but all the software designed to run on Windows, including things like Firefox.

Of course, YMMV, and you may have better hardware than I have in my machines (my daily driver is 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD (not SSD) core-i3 5th generation), but I wouldn’t be surprised if sooner or later your hardware is going to be overwhelmed by software.

Reply | Quote

? says:

maybe because it has become a windows like piggy:

PID   USER    PR  NI     VIRT      RES      SHR      S    %CPU  %MEM       TIME+    COMMAND

1307  ubuntu    20   0      3823532 510328 194244  S        2.3       13.8          4:24.49         firefox

656   ubuntu    20   0       597124   65996   41468   S        0.7         1.8          3:50.44         Xorg

Reply | Quote

My desktop computer that I have used since 2012 has Win 7 Home Premium SP1, 64 bit, an Intel Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge) 3.3 Ghz CPU, 4 GB RAM, 2 TB 7200 rpm Seagate HDD.  The computer originally had a Seagate 1.5 TB 5500 rpm HDD that is still in the computer but not connected or used much. I have kept it updated mainly as a backup should I need it.  I cloned it in 2015 onto the newer 2 TB that I’m using now.

All programs snap to attention in a fraction of a second.  I have not experienced any computer related slowdown at all except for Firefox.  I blame Mozilla for the slowdown, not my main computer.  I haven’t yet put Firefox 99 on my Linux Mint laptop. but the Firefox 89.0.2 on it is slow too.  So if Mozilla doesn’t fix their mess soon I’ll be testing out other browsers.  It’s a shame because I’ve liked Firefox until recently.

I plan on getting at least a 500 GB SSD to install Linux Mint Cinnamon 20 on.  I will eventually be using only the Linux to go on the Internet.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

I have no doubt that FF is to blame. With the exception of a hard drive upgrade your computer seems to consist of original 2012 hardware. There’s nothing wrong with that but any software that gets updates is potentially going to get bloated, making it harder for your hardware to do it’s job at an acceptable speed.

I’m not a browser hopper so most of my experience is with FF, Chrome, and Opera (which is based on Chrome). On all my computers (macs, and PCs running W7, W8.1, and Mint 19.2 and 20.3) FF loads initially markedly faster than Chrome and Opera, but then surfs more slowly than Chrome or Opera. If you find another browser that you like, let us know!

As an aside, I’ve now upgraded to Mint 20.3 on 4 computers, ranging from 2009 to 2016, and one that has only 1 GB RAM (but also an upgrade from an HDD to an SSD). They all handle Mint very well.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Reply | Quote

Basically what I’m experiencing, have used FF since it was first released so many years ago.

But reminding everyone it’s only slow on its initial startup after turning the laptop on, after that it’s fine, up in 3 secs

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Yes, and when I say FF surfs more slowly than Chrome and Opera, it’s just a couple hair’s width slower.

Reply | Quote

After the first load, the stuff it needs to start (data, libraries, etc.) are cached and will load from memory instead of the disk. If you begin to run some demanding programs that request more memory, the cached data will be discarded, and then you might see Firefox start slowly again.

I would be interested in seeing how long it takes with a fresh profile (newly created) set as the default.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

JohnW

Reply | Quote

I noticed recently that Firefox was getting a bit sluggish, and my desktop is only a couple of years old, running Windows 10 21H2 Pro on an Intel Core i5 9th gen with 16 GB of memory.

I realize that the Mozilla devs are hard at work trying to keep up with the chromium world, and keep Firefox safe, secure, modern, and a relevant alternative to the chromium gorilla.

So I went looking for any “features” that I could shut off in settings that may lighten the load. Firefox seems more responsive now, but I don’t recall exactly what I turned off that may have made a difference. But a couple things to play with in settings might be:

General > Network > disable DNS over HTTPS

Browser Privacy > HTTPS-Only Mode > Don’t Enable HTTPS-Only Mode

 

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

Is that sluggish at start or always slow  throughout?

Did those tweaks make a noticeable improvement?

Reply | Quote

I don’t recall if Firefox was especially slow to startup, but it was getting slower to load new tabs/sites.

I started suspecting that DNS lookups or something were taking longer than usual. They load faster since I made the tweaks.

I have been using Google DNS for years on my router as the default DNS for my network, but noticed that the Firefox default provider for “DNS over HTTPS” was “Cloudflare”.

That setting is in General, under Network Settings, and not privacy and security related.

And while I was at it I switched off “HTTPS Only”, since my browser always alerts me anyway if a site in not secure. Don’t really need the browser doing extra work *bloat* here, but it may offer protection for those with less experience.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

JohnW wrote:

General > Network > disable DNS over HTTPS

Browser Privacy > HTTPS-Only Mode > Don’t Enable HTTPS-Only Mode

So you have lowered FF security to gain 0.01% response ?

Reply | Quote

Alex5723 wrote:

JohnW wrote:

General > Network > disable DNS over HTTPS

Browser Privacy > HTTPS-Only Mode > Don’t Enable HTTPS-Only Mode

So you have lowered FF security to gain 0.01% response ?

No.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

JohnW wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

JohnW wrote:

General > Network > disable DNS over HTTPS

Browser Privacy > HTTPS-Only Mode > Don’t Enable HTTPS-Only Mode

So you have lowered FF security to gain 0.01% response ?

No.

Yes.

Reply | Quote

Not necessarily.

If you only enter sensitive info via HTTPS, there is no specific security issue with browsing with HTTP alone. We all did it for years… it used to be the norm. HTTPS all the time is more of a privacy feature than a security feature, and the same is true of DNS over HTTPS. They are to prevent snooping more than anything else.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

JohnW

Reply | Quote

Jumping through hoops almost every month because of hurried, careless, sloppy programming of updates should not have to part of anyone’s job description!  Okay, I’m good now.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

3 users thanked author for this post.

Matador, DrBonzo, JohnW

Reply | Quote

I just checked Google again and there are now more reports of slow Firefox startups coming in to sites like Reddit and others, including Askwoody.  Yes this thread is on Google.  It’s amazing how many loyal FF people are really fed up with FF!  I thought they would have fixed it by now.

After reading other people’s problems I consider myself lucky that my FF starts up on Win 7 in about 10 seconds.  People are reporting startup times of 40 to 50 seconds.  Those on Linux are having the same problems.  If anyone at Mozilla is reading this, you had better get your act together!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

Not sure what’s happening out there. So I decided to give it a go here…

But I’m happy to report that on my PC, Firefox starts up in 3 secs on first run after a Windows reboot, then loads in 2 secs on subsequent startups.

Chrome & Edge take about 2 secs to start up.

Running the latest Firefox 99.0.1 (64-bit) in Windows 10 Pro 21H2 (64-bit).

Desktop PC: Intel Core i5 (9th gen, base 3.70GHz, turbo to 4.60GHz), 16 GB DDR4 memory, Samsung SSD EVO 500GB, Windows Defender

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

2 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Charlie

Reply | Quote

I’m running FF 99.0.1 too and although my slowness isn’t really bad, it’s not as good as it was when I had version 88.  I run FF in a minimalistic way and can’t remember ever having this slow startup problem before on Win 7 or Linux.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

Just for kicks, I booted up the “other side” of my daily driver into W7. First start of FF 99.0.1 took about 12 seconds which is a bit slower than in Mint 20.3 on the same machine.

First start of Opera in W7 took 65 seconds!! A lot slower than the Mint 20.3 side at about 15. After the first start, both browsers surf at about the same speed although Opera feels quicker to me on both W7 and Mint. They both feel faster on Mint than W7; I’ve noticed a gradual slowing of both on W7 in the last several months.

Hardware was new in April 2016, 4GB RAM, 500 GB spinner, 5th gen core i-3.

Reply | Quote

I really envy you

Reply | Quote

When Firefox 100 is released (May 3) it has a fix for a slow startup with maximized screen bug that affects some people https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1763703#c13  But other people probably have other issues.  My suggestions are – if practical, use Microsoft Defender instead of any other antivirus.  Do not use any extensions meant to provide antivirus features other than an adblocker.  If there are still problems, I feel that the new profile process is rather complicated.  If done right, it lets you test without losing your current data.  If you can’t figure out the new profiles, Firefox refresh does destroy or hide some data, but it preserves quite a lot.  If you are logged in to Firefox account, it even re-installs the extensions you had before – I think.  https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/ua29aa/google_failed_me_i_want_to_reset_firefox_but_i/

The very first use of a new profile could be slow due to initial set up features.  Measure the second time.

Reply | Quote

Portable FF 91.8.0esr opens in 3 sec on Windows 10 Pro 21H2.

Reply | Quote

Not on this suckers machine, (3 secs x13) first start.

The desktop version opened to a blank page in approx 35 secs today, probably the quickest it’s opened in a bit.

 

Reply | Quote

I’m using FF 99.0.1 on my Macs (Kaby Lake 17 and M1 MacMini) running MacOS Monterey latest.
2-3 second startup here.

Reply | Quote

I am wondering what the difference between HDD vs. SSD use may have on Firefox launch time?

Possible thoughts here: if recent browser releases use new or different *possibly bloated* methods for utilizing disk storage, then more random reads/writes during startup could slow the process down for spinning drives. The change may not be as perceptible on SSD.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Reply | Quote

Someone cleared storage data (not cache), YouTube was using 2gb on disk, and this speeded startup.

Reply | Quote

Storage data that’s not cache?  I’ve not heard of that, and does it not clear itself?  If not, how does one go about clearing it out?  I run CCleaner right before I shut the Win 7 down (if I’ve been online).  It’s not surprising that Youtube uses 2 GB, but I would think it should be virtual memory.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

Manage local site storage settings
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/storage

https://thewebdev.info/2020/04/03/use-localstorage-to-store-data-on-the-browser/

https://javascript.info/localstorage

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Reply | Quote

ctrl-shift-delete, then data, “offline website data”  Uncheck any boxes for data you do not want to clear.

But if you use ccleaner it may be clear already.  Instead I suggest try going to about:config, and set privacy.resistFingerprinting to true.

To measure Firefox startup speed accurately, wait until the system is booted fully and not running other windows or antivirus boot tasks.  The hard drive should stop making noise.

Some antivirus software can behave badly with Firefox.  For better expert firefox advice I would post on https://forums.mozillazine.org/ and mention what antivirus software you use and the last Firefox version the browser loaded in 5 seconds or less, if ever.  To encourage mozilla to fix it, bugzilla bugs need to be filed and better yet the startup profiler to be used to send technical data.

2 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Charlie

Reply | Quote

Ascaris wrote:

After the first load, the stuff it needs to start (data, libraries, etc.) are cached and will load from memory instead of the disk. If you begin to run some demanding programs that request more memory, the cached data will be discarded, and then you might see Firefox start slowly again.

I would be interested in seeing how long it takes with a fresh profile (newly created) set as the default.

I would think that any time spent on reloading data from the HDD would be more perceptible than reloading it from an SSD.

In this instance an SSD should perform a bit more like RAM cache does, since SSDs use (usually non-volatile NAND) flash memory, rather than spinning magnetic storage that involves additional seek time.

And I would expect that a fresh profile would perform better, as it has not yet built up a lot of user data for the browser to access at each session.

Here’s a couple of desktop PC benchmark stats that I ran with CrystalDiskMark for my Samsung 870 QVO 2TB internal SATA SSD drive vs. my Western Digital 2TB 3.5″ internal SATA HDD 7200 RPM:

SSD – random read: 333 MB/s random write: 249 MB/s

HDD – random read: 2 MB/s random write: 2 MB/s

I use SSD for my primary boot drive and frequent data storage, and use the spinning drive for data archives that I only occasionally need to access. The sequential read/write of the SSD is not nearly as big of a difference, as the SSD is only about 3x faster in that regard.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

JohnW wrote:

I would think that any time spent on reloading data from the HDD would be more perceptible than reloading it from an SSD.

Certainly. Several people had commented, though, that Firefox loads slowly the first time after a system boot, and quickly thereafter. I would guess they are using HDDs. After using NVMe SSDs, I don’t even want to think about HDDs anymore!

If the cause of the slow startup is something other than waiting for the disk IO, I would think it would be slow in all cases, not just on the first start after a system boot.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

JohnW

Reply | Quote

My Firefox 99.0.1 has the same slowness every time I start it whether it’s the first time or any time after.  Since it’s only about 12 seconds it’s not extreme, but not nearly as quick as it used to be.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

Did you try out a new FF profile yet, at least as a temporary test?

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

No, at least I don’t think so, what kind of profile are you referring to?

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

Reply | Quote

Use the built-in FF profile manager that I recommended to Matador here: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/firefox-slow-at-start/#post-2439687

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

Reply | Quote

Ascaris wrote:

If the cause of the slow startup is something other than waiting for the disk IO, I would think it would be slow in all cases, not just on the first start after a system boot.

I suspect in that case it may have something to do with the Mozilla devs attempts at “improving” FF features. I went through and turned off all the optional features on my copy that I didn’t think I needed.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

I had the same problem with Firefox taking 30 seconds to open after a reboot.  Subsequent launches were instant.  I’m not sure exactly when it started, but seems like a few months ago.  I narrowed it down to Bitdefender and reported the bug.  It took Bitdefender a while and they finally admitted a bug in their software.  Still waiting on a fix.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Matador

Reply | Quote

I said this in another topic about Firefox and think it would be good to say it here too –

My Firefox slow starting problem stopped when I updated it to version 100.  It has been okay since then.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

SueW

Reply | Quote

Didn’t make any noticeable difference to me.

I think the anon poster might be on to something regarding Bitdefender though as I have the security suite installed also. I do recall disabling the main modules in Bitdefender when investigating the slowdown but it didn’t improve anything. Hopefully they fix the bug as reported by anon and see what happens then.

 

Reply | Quote