This is how I solved this very very very very annoying issue. Closed firefox, then restarted it by holding down the "alt" or "option" key. I then re-set firefox back to its default settings and then restarted it.

Problem solved!!

I hope this helps you out!!

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At least for me, the problem was the session saver. Increasing the session save interval as described here eliminated the pauses:

http://www.techmynd.com/firefox-freezes-for-a-moment-after-every-10-sec-fix/

Thank you, tklaus!

This issue has been driving me nuts for months, ever since I upgraded from 3.* (I don't update very often). Thinking it was just a bug in the latest version, I updated all the way to the current 'latest version', with absolutely no change in this behaviour (if anything it got worse). Tried disabling all addons, it was a *bit* better but still noticeable and irritating, and besides, what use is FF without addons?

Adjusting the session save interval to once an hour (3600000) seems to have reduced or eliminated *most* of the hang-ups, making FF much more usable again! Thank you for giving me my browser back!

(FYI, FF 5.0 running on XP - told you I don't update very often! :)

I had a similar problem with 6.0.2. Every step I would make would cause a lag (type a status, open a new tab, move to a new tab, scroll, etc.)

Go to Tools -> Add-ons -> PlugIns -> check to see if your plugins are up to date -> update anything that needs to be

Also make sure your software is up to date (Apple Menu -> Software Update)

Mine seemed to be Java and Flash that were out of date and causing me to lag. After doing both of the above and restarting the computer, I'm running smoothly (so far)