Did this start recently after a Firefox or system update?

Some people find that over time, the accumulation of history (browsing history and download history) and cached files can slow Firefox's startup. To see how Firefox starts up without any history, you can try creating a new profile. Of course, it won't have any bookmarks either, but it's just for demonstration and you can easily switch back or (less easily) recustomize the new profile.

Close Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager (Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles) from the Start menu search box using:

firefox.exe -p

Any time you want to switch profiles, close Firefox and return to this dialog.

Does Firefox start more quickly? If not, could you take a look at your plugins and disable any that are not essential and test again?

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins category

Please let us know your test results.

By the way, security updates have been released for Java and Flash. You can use the plugin check page to access the installers:

http://www.mozilla.org/plugincheck/

Hi Jscher,

I've tried that. I've made a completely new profile and launched with it and also installed Firefox Preloader and the issue remains. I cleared the cache and I believe it is limited to 1GB anyway. History goes only a month back.

You tested in safe mode, but to eliminate all variables, in the new profile, could you also try disabling hardware acceleration?

You usually 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.).

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Options > Advanced

On the "General" mini-tab, uncheck the box for "Use hardware acceleration when available"

If you restart Firefox, is the performance improved?

If you disable internet access and/or set Firefox to Work Offline, does that make any difference? I'm curious whether network latency (for updates, or whatever) might be a factor here.

Also, some malware may hook into Firefox at launch. Usually it makes every effort to be unobstrusive so you don't become suspicious, but it still is worth checking. Some free scanners that are highly regarded are:

Malwarebytes Anti-malware : http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

SUPERAntiSpyware : http://www.superantispyware.com/

Hi again.

I've disabled hardware acceleration and there is no change to the loadup times. Disconnecting internet also resulted in no change and there has been no malware etc detected by Avira Antivirus.

I timed the exact time taken to launch FF: 2:12

I don't know what Firefox is doing for two minutes with no internet access, no extensions, no cache, no history. Makes no sense.

There are tools to monitor access to the file system and registry, but I haven't used them for a very long time, too long to describe how to use them efficiently.

Hopefully another volunteer will have some further suggestions. All I've got left is: don't close Firefox any more often than you need to. ;-)

Can anyone else take a look? Issue is still there for me :C

can you test if the same slowdown happens when you run a portable version of firefox? http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Try to boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that works.