Why does about:performance report that "Ask a Question | Mozilla Support seems to have slown down Firefox very often."?
As the title says, when trying to work out why Firefox 61.0.x freezes (happened twice whilst writing this sentence), 'about:performance' reports that your own support site is a cause. Here's a paste of the information:
Full name: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1194555 (as window 8589934866).
Impact on framerate: 0 high-impacts, 45 medium-impact.
CPU usage: 0% (total 339737ms).
System usage: 0% (total 77073ms).
Blocking process calls: 0% (total 0ms).
Measure start: 222 seconds ago.
Processes: 11648 (child)
As you can see, this tab has only been opened for 222s (at time of pasting). I have no experienced a 'freeze' of the browser seven times.
The best way to describe this is Firefox completely freezing for ~two seconds or so including cursor, keyboard use, etc.
And now it's had a 'microfreeze' 11 times. I moved from Chrome after just under 10 years to come back to Firefox. This is the one issue that I can't (update, 12 times it's frozen now) put up with. I completely understand that Firefox is FOSS and support is done by volunteers, but I would like to help resolve this issue as I've seen it reported by (update, 13 times it's frozen) a number of people.
Last sentence: Whilst writing this, I shouldn't see my browser freeze 13 times (update 14 times - pressing the space bar caused another freeze). This is on your own website and doesn't occur elsewhere.
Sorry for the broken sentences. This freezing issue causes me to lose my train of thought. Here's a final paste from (update 15 times now...) about:performance
Full name: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1194555 (as window 8589934866).
Impact on framerate: 0 high-impacts, 111 medium-impact.
CPU usage: 0% (total 667862ms).
System usage: 0% (total 92698ms).
Blocking process calls: 0% (total 0ms).
Measure start: 555 seconds ago.
Processes: 11648 (child)
Modified by PiersJ
All Replies (11)
After leaving this tab idling for a little longer...
Full name: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1194555 (as window 8589934866).
Impact on framerate: 0 high-impacts, 158 medium-impact.
CPU usage: 0% (total 1511785ms).
System usage: 0% (total 153689ms).
Blocking process calls: 0% (total 0ms).
Measure start: 791 seconds ago.
Processes: 11648 (child)
To be Checked and turned off unless needed for accessibility : Please : go to the Firefox 3 Bar Menu --> Options --> Privacy & Security panel and under Permissions check (put a tick in the box) the setting to Prevent Accessibility Services from accessing your browser.
Multi-Processor Support : Go to the 3 Bar Menu then Options --> General --> Performance and untick everything. change the recommended size lower then see how it runs. Note: 1 = No Multiprocessor = slow again. Try 2 Restart Firefox after making these changes please. Note : Hardware Acceleration is for Video Card, Monitor to see if remain off or to turn back on.
Only Disable as last resort.
Multi-processor Can completely disable it this way in about:config : dom.ipc.processCount set to 1 browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false
Only move to esr if low ram and old system.
Firefox Extended Release Version : Firefox ESR does not come with the latest features but it has the latest security and stability fixes.
If do please :
HI, could you Monitor in Windows Task Manager what is going on with your Ram and Cpu % of what is being used please. Yes it is normal to have 4 or more processes running as they are program, extensions, sandbox, ++
Reason being if your running at about 1.5-2gig things are great unless you have a low ram system. Can determine if there is a need to lower the processor count or to disable it.
Could you please list your Extensions for Firefox that you have installed.
Pkshadow said
To be Checked and turned off unless needed for accessibility : Please : go to the Firefox 3 Bar Menu --> Options --> Privacy & Security panel and under Permissions check (put a tick in the box) the setting to Prevent Accessibility Services from accessing your browser. Multi-Processor Support : Go to the 3 Bar Menu then Options --> General --> Performance and untick everything. change the recommended size lower then see how it runs. Note: 1 = No Multiprocessor = slow again. Try 2 Restart Firefox after making these changes please. Note : Hardware Acceleration is for Video Card, Monitor to see if remain off or to turn back on. Only Disable as last resort. Multi-processor Can completely disable it this way in about:config : dom.ipc.processCount set to 1 browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false Only move to esr if low ram and old system. Firefox Extended Release Version : Firefox ESR does not come with the latest features but it has the latest security and stability fixes. If do please :
- Already disabled
- Tried with everything unticked, everything ticked, option '7', option '1', default.
- Will try this.
- This workstation has 32GB of RAM (4x8 DDR4 2400).
Pkshadow said
HI, could you Monitor in Windows Task Manager what is going on with your Ram and Cpu % of what is being used please. Yes it is normal to have 4 or more processes running as they are program, extensions, sandbox, ++
- Firefox CPU at around ~4%, overall at ~11%
- Total RAM in use = 5.9GB (32GB in total)
Pkshadow said
Reason being if your running at about 1.5-2gig things are great unless you have a low ram system. Can determine if there is a need to lower the processor count or to disable it. Could you please list your Extensions for Firefox that you have installed.
32GB of RAM. CPU is 6700K@4.5. Chrome used more resources, on average.
Hi, no that is good. Should turn things back on then. It has to be something else unless it feels sluggish with that turned on.
I have 32gig also and running at Default only with not even a gig used.
Umm Video Card Drivers up to date ?
Did you try a Clean Reinstall ?
Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.
To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu
and click the close button 
).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.
WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
Please report back to say if this helped you!
Thank you.
Pkshadow said
Hi, no that is good. Should turn things back on then. It has to be something else unless it feels sluggish with that turned on.
I have 32gig also and running at Default only with not even a gig used.
Umm Video Card Drivers up to date ?
Did you try a Clean Reinstall ?
Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.
To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.
WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
Please report back to say if this helped you!
Thank you.
Cheers for the quick reply.
This was a fresh install as I had been using Chrome without any Firefox installation for nearly a decade (since Chrome's first release). I have reinstalled Firefox as well as performed a reset using the troubeshooter option. This has not resolved the issue.
Ok, The clean install is with a Full Version Installer instead of the Stub. It does make a difference. No need to Blockquote everything. Can get to multiple pages in no time.
Pkshadow said
Ok, The clean install is with a Full Version Installer instead of the Stub. It does make a difference. No need to Blockquote everything. Can get to multiple pages in no time.
A clean full install appears to have made no difference. I think it did it correctly.
I'm not sure whether you are experiencing this problem only on this Mozilla Support site, or whether this is a general issue affecting certain kinds of pages, for example, pages with forms. ??
jscher2000 said
I'm not sure whether you are experiencing this problem only on this Mozilla Support site, or whether this is a general issue affecting certain kinds of pages, for example, pages with forms. ??
That's a good question. I'll try and find out for you. It appears to happen somewhat randomly. There is one site I visit where there are few forms and that shows a "high-impact".