Moved to mac a month ago and terrible firefox experience
OK been a PC user for 22 years and have moved to a mac 5-7weeks ago, as using it to check apple apps that a few companies are making for me. I have a up to date 2012 imac (apps, ios) and as 22 years knowledge of PC repair, virus checking and other tech knowledge, it has lead me to post on here as i having problems.
The imac is running at present 56.02 64 bit Firefox. has a few addons, ad blocker, nimbus capture and translate this.
I have 8gb ram and for some reason Firefox with only about 4 tabs only is trying to use 2gb and more. It then trys to use 90-110% of the cpu a lot. This means the imac slows down and get the beach ball a lot. I also get a white screen and can only see the 3 buttons to close etc in the top left corner, yet you tube or a like is still working as hear the sound. This problem has only been about in the last 2 weeks or so and was ok for the first week.
If i use apple browser, there is no slowness or high ram/cpu use. As im on the apple site, i was asked to do a "etrecheck" and posted my findings to them. I even rebooted the mac in safe mode and did a full hardware test ( 2 hours ) to find no faults.
the report today, NOTE to Firefox HIGH CPU
Hardware Information: ⓘ
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac13,1
1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-3335S) CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Handoff/Airdrop2: supported
Wireless: en1: Unknown
iCloud Quota: 3.07 GB available
Video Information: ⓘ
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M - VRAM: 512 MB
iMac 1920 x 1080
USB20Bus
hub_device
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB30Bus
JMicron JMS56x Series
0AS disk1: (750.16 GB)
EFI (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB
750GB (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/750GB : 749.81 GB (747.27 GB free)
8AS disk2: (500.11 GB)
500GB (disk2s1 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/500GB : 500.11 GB (430.84 GB free)
Generic External
Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
System Software: ⓘ
macOS High Sierra 10.13 (17A405) - Time since boot: about one hour
Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Extensions [loaded] com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs (14.3.318 - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]
/System/Library/Extensions [loaded] com.bitgapp.eqMac2Driver (1.0 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup] [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.1.1 (26439)) [Lookup]
/System/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.1.1 (26439)) [Lookup] [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.1.1 (26439)) [Lookup] [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.1.1 (26439)) [Lookup]
System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks [loaded] 175 Apple tasks [running] 106 Apple tasks
System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 35 Apple tasks [loaded] 186 Apple tasks [running] 109 Apple tasks
Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-11-01) [Lookup] [failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-10-11) [Lookup] [failed] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-11-01) [Lookup] [running] com.brother.LOGINserver.plist (? a1772de2 41ad4933 - installed 2017-10-26) [Lookup]
Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-10-11) [Lookup] [loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-10-11) [Lookup] [running] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-11-01) [Lookup] [running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup] [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 564efddb - installed 2017-10-20) [Lookup] [loaded] com.bitdefender.AuthHelperTool.plist (? 58c03e34 b04d48d6 - installed 2017-09-09) [Lookup] [loaded] com.bitdefender.upgrade.plist (? e64689aa 34a01f19 - installed 2017-09-09) [Lookup] [running] com.froyosoft.soundboosterxpc.plist (Journey Ventures LLC - installed 2016-10-11) [Lookup] [loaded] com.hikvision.iVMS-4200.plist (? 3f4e5ed4 856ba5b3 - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup] [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-10-17) [Lookup] [loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-10-11) [Lookup] [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-06-10) [Lookup] [running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotify.daemon.plist (? 66744841 f09f827c - installed 2016-11-29) [Lookup] [loaded] com.paragon-software.installer.plist (Paragon Software GmbH - installed 2017-09-09) [Lookup] [loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.launch.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-09-21) [loaded] com.skype.skypeinstaller.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-10-27) [Lookup] [loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-08-24) [Lookup] [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-09-15) [Lookup] [not loaded] net.privatetunnel.ovpnagent.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2016-06-15) [Lookup]
User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-09-12) [Lookup] [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-10-22) [Lookup] [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-09-25) [Lookup] [loaded] com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-11-01) [Lookup] [failed] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? a9ee4c0 0 - installed 2017-10-27) [Lookup] - ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/steamclean: Executable not found!
User Login Items: ⓘ
Backup and sync from Google Application
(/Applications/Backup and Sync.app)
AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application - Hidden
(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-11-01) [Lookup] FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.183 (installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup] QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-09-21) AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-10-17) [Lookup] AdobePDFViewer: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-10-17) [Lookup] Flash Player: 27.0.0.183 (installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup] WebVideoPlugin: 3.0.6.12 (installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup] USSCWebVideoPlugin: 3.0.5.26 (installed 2017-09-12) [Lookup] JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2017-10-02) Check version
3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (installed 2017-10-20) [Lookup] FUSE (installed 2017-07-18) [Lookup] Paragon NTFS for Mac® (installed 2017-10-17) [Lookup]
Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
20% firefox <<
2% launchd
1% kernel_task
1% Adobe Desktop Service
1% mds
Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
1.35 GB firefox 758 MB kernel_task 239 MB mds_stores 190 MB Microsoft Outlook 159 MB Microsoft Excel
Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ
Input Output Process name 1 MB 6 KB firefox 134 KB 61 KB mDNSResponder 47 KB 79 KB Skype 12 KB 5 KB netbiosd 7 KB 9 KB apsd
Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ
14.28 firefox
1.96 WindowServer
1.04 Backup and Sync
0.62 mds
0.54 Core Sync
Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.94 GB Available RAM 20 MB Free RAM 6.06 GB Used RAM 1.92 GB Cached files 256 KB Swap Used
Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ
Sound Booster Lite: (installed 2017-10-03) Swiftify for Xcode: 2.1.3 (installed 2017-10-08) Code School for Xcode Free -Learn How to Make Apps: 1.1.3 (installed 2017-10-08) App School for Xcode and iOS 10 Development Free: 1.0 (installed 2017-10-08) Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-10-10) Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2017-10-11) Microsoft Excel for Mac: (instal
All Replies (3)
Date/Time: 2017-11-01 09:45:49.880525 +0000 OS Version: Mac OS X 10.13 (Build 17A405) Architecture: x86_64 Report Version: 19
Command: firefox Path: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox Version: 56.0.2 (5617.10.24) Parent: launchd [1] PID: 466
Event: cpu usage CPU: 90s cpu time over 152 seconds (59% cpu average), exceeding limit of 50% cpu over 180 seconds Action taken: none Duration: 151.82s Steps: 146
Hardware model: iMac13,1 Active cpus: 4
i just find a way to refresh firefox and so far no ball or slow.... so who knows
Not much if any of the info you sent is of any use to me. Maybe Flash. You have given more info by not ticking send to Mozilla. Much better to tick send info to Mozilla before sending a Support Request.
You never checked equivalent of Task Manager to see what instances where running ? Gotta ask 22yrs and only have 8gig of ram , why ? I have 25yrs and I have 32gig.
I need Extensions, and specially info if your on the Studies. Plus some is good to check out.
Mozilla experiment, called 'Shield Studies'. Without even knowing it, you may have volunteered for this Mozilla experiment. Would you go to : Options => Privacy & Security => under 'Data Collection and Use' : Did you uncheck : 'Allow Firefox to install and run studies ' or is it checked ?
To check if you are enrolled in these studies : Type in the address bar about:studies
Any extensions that you see listed there, you can either disable or remove, just like this Safe Browsing version 4 (at the end of the experiment they will be disabled anyway). See for further information : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield
multi-process You can try to modify multi-process settings to see if this has effect. You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.
set dom.ipc.processCount to 1 if it is currently set to a higher value (4)
disable multi-process windows in Firefox
You can disable multi-process windows in Firefox by setting these prefs to false on the about:config page.
browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false
http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config Also can reverse everything this tells you to enable it. http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/22/multi-process-firefox/
Note : Firefox 57 Quantum release date Nov 14th https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/quantum/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be disabled and or removed.
Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.
Modified by Shadow110