Hi,

If you have a broadband connection (and most of us do), you can use pipelining to speed up your page loads. This allows Firefox to load multiple things on a page at once, instead of one at a time (by default, it’s optimized for dialup connections). Here’s how:

   Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Type “network.http” in the filter field, and change the following settings (double-click on them to change them):
  - Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
   -Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
  - Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to a number like 30. This will allow it to make 30 requests at once.
  - Also, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

Followed all the steps but the problem remains. I installed Chrome to compare speeds and Chrome wins hands down every time over 9.01. Unless Firefox fixes this soon I will regretfully have to stop using Firefox after many years of excellent browsing

After updating from Version 3.6 to Version 9.0.1 Firefox went from starting in a matter of seconds to taking well over a minute to start after clicking the icon. I have tried every "fix" I have found - uninstalling/reinstalling - creating new profile - changing the "pipeline" - disabling the add-ons - playing with the pre-fetch etc. and nothing has helped. Once it's open I can open "new" pages or tabs instantly. I have noticed that Firefox will start much faster in Windows (Vista) "Safe Mode". Does anyone have any other ideas as to what might be going on? This is driving me crazy! I have used Firefox for years and never had this problem

Please check if this happens in Safe Mode.

Choosing No proxy in Tools (Alt + T) > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings may also help a bit.

Problematic Extensions

Troubleshooting Extensions and Themes

Troubleshooting Plugins

I solved this problem by uninstalling bywifi (a download program). Now FF 9.01 starts within 10 seconds.

Out of desperation I uninstalled Version 9.0.1 and reinstalled version 3.6 and it works fine, starting up in a matter of seconds once again. To Vivek.Wilfred I did try ver. 9 in Firefox safe mode and it opened much faster - but if I went into add ons and disabled them all manually it made no difference, and if I opened in "Windows Safe Mode" it also opened quickly. I didn't try the "no proxy" and for now will continue with V 3.6 as it opens instantly. I'll be looking for more "fixes" to my V9.0.1 problem

Hi outdoorzydude,

The plain Windows Safe Mode wouldn't be starting the networking support. So there is a slight chance that perhaps No Proxy may help considerably. Please also note that there are three entirely different categories of add-ons in Tools > Add-ons: Extensions, Themes and Plugins. Of these I think plugins would only load on demand, but there could be plugins that may load with Firefox startup.

Thanks Vivek.Wilfred - I reinstalled V9 and checked the no proxy, disabled all add ons in all groups. Still takes over a minute to load, I also tried Windows "Safe Mode" with network enabled and V9 loaded within a few seconds. Out of curiosity I then installed V4 and it also had a load time of over 1 minute so it seems that any version after 3.6 will take over a minute to load. I am so stumped, I rarely have a problem that I can't figure out or find an answer to on the net. So for now I'm going back to V3.6. I also have Internet Explorer which always loads instantly but I prefer FireFox so any other thoughts will be appreciated.

One last thing, before I give up :) Windows Safe Mode has only basic graphics. Likewise Firefox Safe Mode disables graphics acceleration. So perhaps that should also be checked. You can also try a new empty profile.

Also, some security software may go beyond the main process to thoroughly checking every library and child processes loaded/started and perhaps even all the files being loaded into memory by the main exe.

Thanks again Vivek.Wilfred, Vista says my current display driver does not allow changes to hardware acceleration settings and i can't find anything in my catalyst control center either. I did create a new profile in FF last week and it made no difference. As for security etc. I run Norton Internet Security and I have tried looking in there but the only thing I found for Firefox was a listing under "Smart Firewall - Program Control" I tried deleting it so it would make a new entry - no change, also tried setting it to "allow" no change. I'm not sure where else to look in that program. Another thing I did was to open task manager to see what was at the top of the list after I clicked the Firefox icon, SearchProtocolHost, JavaW and SQLServr alternated at 2nd from the top under CPU use but they were not using much CPU, I noted that these were not present when I was in Windows "Safe Mode', and when I start V3.6 I very briefly see ccsvchst but almost immediatley Firefox is 2nd from the top. In normal windows Firefox v9.. takes the full minute plus to be 2nd from the top, system idle is alway the 1st item. So I remain stumped!! I really appreciate all your effort and ideas and hope you or someone will come up with a solution.

There's obviously a very serious problem causing many users to abandon Firefox for other browsers - yet there is no serious attempt to resolve it. Que passa?

Actually outdoorzydude, I meant that you may want to dry disabling Use hardware acceleration when available in Tools (Alt + T) > Options > Advanced > General after starting Firefox normally in Windows normal mode.

Please also see this It was for Windows 7 and is an optional update, so perhaps should be used as a last resort. Something like this may have come up for Vista.

Well Vivek.Wilfred --- I think you found me the magic fix!!! I unchecked "use hardware acceleration" and v9 now start in 5-7 seconds, very acceptable compared to the 60-80 seconds it was taking. Thank you so much!!!!

You are welcome :) and thank you for the helpful information.