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How can I get the vertical scroll bar in firefox for mac to operate more smoothly?

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  • Last reply by tjphoto

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This scroll bar issue has been a real pain for awhile, though it seemed to be better for a period of time and now has grown much worse again. I'm using Firefox 22.0. I try to grasp the blue scroll bar (right side placement) to move it up or down for pages that require scrolling to view, and it is very hard to hold and move the bar, plus it often bogs down as the colored wheel shows up as if the software is trying to process the action. It's very frustrating. I'm set to "smooth scrolling" in the Firefox settings, but that doesn't help. Is there a way to fix this and make the scroll bar move quickly and smoothly in Firefox for Mac?

This scroll bar issue has been a real pain for awhile, though it seemed to be better for a period of time and now has grown much worse again. I'm using Firefox 22.0. I try to grasp the blue scroll bar (right side placement) to move it up or down for pages that require scrolling to view, and it is very hard to hold and move the bar, plus it often bogs down as the colored wheel shows up as if the software is trying to process the action. It's very frustrating. I'm set to "smooth scrolling" in the Firefox settings, but that doesn't help. Is there a way to fix this and make the scroll bar move quickly and smoothly in Firefox for Mac?

All Replies (2)

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Hello,

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.

You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Then perform these steps:

  • Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
  • In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
  • In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  • Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.

Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

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Hi WFF: Thanks for that suggestion. I went through the steps you suggested, and it seems to have improved the scroll bar function a great deal. By the way, Firefox for Mac doesn't have an Options button as you described; it's Preferences in my version. Everything else was as you described.

I hope the smooth operation continues. I wonder if disabling that hardware acceleration could potentially affect anything else I do using the browser, whether it might have some impact on other functions. But for now, it's great to have things working so much better. Thanks again.