make sure that firefox has direct access to the internet and traffic isn't going through a proxy server. go to options > tools > advanced > network > connection - settings... in there make sure that "no proxy" is selected & disable extensions like proxytube that might change those settings again.

also have a look at your security software that might block firefox - Configure firewalls so that Firefox can access the Internet

Madperson, thanks for your tips. Selected 'no proxy' and made sure firefox was added as program that can get through my firewall (which it was not). Unfortunately that did not make any difference. Firefox is still extremely slow. Grateful for any other idea you - or anyone else - may have! I very much prefer firefox, but am now usin IE again. :(

according to the system details that you've submitted - your graphics driver is outdated and that could cause problems with the firefox hardware acceleration feature.

you might want to try to download the latest driver from http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload.../radeonmob_win7-64.aspx or from the support site of your notebooks manufacturer.

can't seem to find a graphics driver, what would be another name? I can choose from drivers listed here: http://bit.ly/J6K8UR.

If http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx does not work, then on your link, it is the "Display Driver", which it looks like is http://support1.toshiba-tro.de/tedd-files2/0/display-20091202143542.zip

The support.amd.com link doesn't work, because it says it's incompatible with hardware/software on my computer. I tried downloading the Display Driver both directly from the toshiba site and from your link, but both tell me my drivers are already up-to-date. I reinstalled nevertheless, but it didn't make any difference in firefox speed. The driver updates are dated Feb 2009, so are not very recent...

Any other suggestions?

Btw thanks for your help madperson and tylerdowner, really appreciate you thinking along!

Let's try this: Create a brand new profile, which we will use for testing, and see if Firefox is any faster there. Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles

as for the latest driver, try downloading the latest ATI driver from this 3rd party website - it shouldn't check for your notebook model and install just fine http://www.chip.de/downloads/ATI-Catalyst-Mobility-64-Bit_4213050... (website is in german)

if this doesn't work, you might also try disabling0 hardware acceleration completely in firefox > options > advanced

A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls