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Will installing the 64-bit version of Firefox slow down your PC?

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by morlaine

morlaine
morlaine
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I got a new laptop, Toshiba 64-bit, 8gb memory, 1tb hard drive, running Windows 10. The Firefox version is 43.0.4.

I think I installed Firefox 64-bit, at least I intended to. I can't find anywhere that tells me if it's 64 or 32 bit. I looked under Help but that was a misnomer in this case.  :-)

The access using Firefox seems extremely slow compared to the 32 bit version on my old Windows 7 laptop. It is also a Toshiba, 64 bit, 8gb memory, and 500gb hard drive.

I don't know if the problem is the Firefox 64-bit or the Windows 10. Whichever, it is makes snail mail look fast. By being slow I mean I can click on URLs to open maybe 10 webpages and it frequently takes 10 to 15 minutes, yep, minutes, to open them and sometimes I have to refresh them because they haven't opened in that length of time. I have both laptops sitting side by side accessing the same wireless router, and the speed difference is extremely noticeable. Looking for suggestions.

I got a new laptop, Toshiba 64-bit, 8gb memory, 1tb hard drive, running Windows 10. The Firefox version is 43.0.4. I think I installed Firefox 64-bit, at least I intended to. I can't find anywhere that tells me if it's 64 or 32 bit. I looked under Help but that was a misnomer in this case. :-) The access using Firefox seems extremely slow compared to the 32 bit version on my old Windows 7 laptop. It is also a Toshiba, 64 bit, 8gb memory, and 500gb hard drive. I don't know if the problem is the Firefox 64-bit or the Windows 10. Whichever, it is makes snail mail look fast. By being slow I mean I can click on URLs to open maybe 10 webpages and it frequently takes 10 to 15 minutes, yep, minutes, to open them and sometimes I have to refresh them because they haven't opened in that length of time. I have both laptops sitting side by side accessing the same wireless router, and the speed difference is extremely noticeable. Looking for suggestions.

All Replies (3)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
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The browser that you used to post this question reports that you are using the 32-bit version of Firefox.

James
James
  • Top 25 Contributor
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The useragent of browser you used to post this thread: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:43.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/43.0

The WOW64 means it is a 32-bit application running on 64-bit Windows.

See www.mozilla.org/firefox/all for the Win64 Firefox.


Note if you do use Win64 Firefox, only the 64-bit Flash Player and Silverlight plugins are white listed to run. If you want to use other Plugins in Firefox on Windows, you need 32-bit Firefox and 32-bit Plugins.

morlaine
morlaine Question owner
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Well, that answers that question. Some time ago I installed the 64-bit version but when I was having so much fun (NOT) with Windows 10, I think I must have uninstalled it and went back to the 32-bit version since I'd used it before and knew it worked well.

And I'm assuming that the 32-bit version works the same (just as fast) in Windows 10 as it does in Windows 7. Am I assuming correctly?

It looks like Windows 10 is the culprit when it comes to the slowness problem. And that's what I expected. But I had to ask about Firefox to rule it out.

Thanks for all your help. I'll go back to fighting the Windows 10 demons.  :-)