Firefox slows down as I try to type a username while it tries to create a drop down menu.
I have about 1000 saved usernames and passwords for the same website. Every time I try to type or I just click in the field for the username, Firefox tries to create a drop down menu with every saved username and password. It really slows down everything. Even just typing in the username and password has become slow. I have tried deleting some of the older logins (not being used anymore) but I found out that I can only delete them one by one. The same thing on chrome works incredibly fast (as it did on Firefox until a while ago). I did not exactly notice when it started becoming so slow. Chrome has the same number of logins stored (for anyone wandering), so it is not about the number but it is how it is handled by each browser.
All Replies (4)
Hello,
The Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information.
Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information.
To Refresh Firefox:
- Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
- Click the menu button
, click help 
and select Troubleshooting Information. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
- If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
- Click the menu button
- At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
- Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
- Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.
Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!
Okulungisiwe ngu user1321319
Hi nickkiousis, I can almost guarantee that the feature was not tested with that many items.
There is a bug on file referring to "dozens" of logins causing the drop-down to be slow. It has some recent activity: telemetry will be gearing up to gather performance data, which could lead to the conclusion that it's not a big issue for most users, so that might not be helpful to you. (#1564074)
The only workaround that comes to mind is entering some or all of the username in a different field (or JavaScript popup) and then transferring it to the real username field before focusing it so Firefox doesn't need to be filtering on one character matches, two character matches, etc., but has more to work with. No idea whether that makes any practical sense.
By the way, to work with the old pop-up style Saved Logins dialog for purposes of cleaning up your list, you can use this hack, at least for now:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste signon.m and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the signon.management.overrideURI preference and Firefox should display an editable field where you can delete the default address. To save the change, press Enter or click the blue check mark button. To reset to the original value, use the button toward the right end of the row with the left-pointing arrow.
child_duckling said
Hello, The Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information. Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information. To Refresh Firefox:Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!
- Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
- Click the menu button
- If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
- At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
- Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
- Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.
I have already tried the refresh button. It did not work.
jscher2000 said
By the way, to work with the old pop-up style Saved Logins dialog for purposes of cleaning up your list, you can use this hack, at least for now: (1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk. (2) In the search box above the list, type or paste signon.m and pause while the list is filtered (3) Double-click the signon.management.overrideURI preference and Firefox should display an editable field where you can delete the default address. To save the change, press Enter or click the blue check mark button. To reset to the original value, use the button toward the right end of the row with the left-pointing arrow.
It kind of helped to clear up some of them. Unfortunately it shows most of them as last used 2/3/2019, although some of them have not been used for 2 or 3 years. Perhaps it shows the day that firefox updated to the new login interface? I already copy and paste them directly in the field to avoid the loading, but it still is very slow.
Thank you very much for your answers anyway! I will perhaps delete all of them and start resaving them as I use them,