Very slow on Start up with 117.0

[Deb47]

Firefox 117.0 is very slow on startup sometimes taking several minutes.  It also uses a lot of resources.  I like this browser and really don't want to move to Chrome as my primary browser but, if you don't fix this, I might have to.

I hope someone reads this.

Frustrated user.

Deb 47

[est68]

It's not only the startup that's corrup with this update. On Mac, when Firefox is closed (not minimised), clicking a link in any other app (Outlook, Word etc) starts Firefox but not the link to the webpage. So you need to click it twice now. Very annoying. Previously it opened two tabs instead of the one you want. Please fix these issues, in the meantime I switch to Safari.

[Topaz]

I second this, 117.0 is a crappy release, and unfortunately, there is no way to downgrade to the former version.

[est68]

I still prefer Firefox over Chrome or Safari as it allows to control cookies much better (e.g. selectively keep the ones for two-factor login). If you are on Mac and use Timemachine, you are in luck: you can restore Firefox to an earlier version, for me 115.0.2 (as this was before I went on holidays). You lose your profile and bookmarks, but that's easily restored by synchronising with your Firefox account (if you have one) or from another browser, apart from some settings and managed cookies. When you fire up Firefox first time, do it without any internet connection and then untick the automated update, that lets you keep the older version. At least until those hiccups are resolved...

[lmonteros]

In addition to the resource problem, individual pages load very slowly. Sometimes it's faster to close the page and open it in a new tab.

[devnullNZ]

 A "save as" will also cause a load spike and hang the browser for 3-5 minutes. 

Unfortunately, reverting to a 115 release is proving very problematic

[NicoM]

118 does not fix these issues. If you are using a Firefox account, completely deleting Firefox then installing the 116.0.3 (https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/116.0.3/mac/) and connecting to your FF account is a quick and dirty workaround.

[injured_cowboy]

For me, 118 is worse than 117 was.  It's almost impossible for me to play videos on certain websites.  Just checking to see if you are still using 116 and if that is working well for you?  I'm using a PC, and I see you are using a Mac.

[Deb47]

I am using a PC like you.  I am not using 116 or 118, so, I can't comment on either of those.

[NicoM]

Still on 116 yes, everything is normal. 118 works for a few days, then again super slow, impossible to open yt videos, etc.

[est68]

I haven't updated to 118 yet, it seems not yet available on Mac. Or at least my Firefox version does not see it as an update. I did try the most recent update, however, which seems to be 117.0.1, and for me the link issue has been resolved. So for now I'm back on Firefox. Let's see what happens when the 118 release is available on Mac.

[N4AOF]

I wish you luck with 118 for the Mac if it becomes available.  118.0.1 for Windows is a total disaster.  Much slower than even 117, plus 118 frequently just ignores left-clicks on buttons and links.  Oddly enough the right-click still works (sometimes slowly), so instead of just left-clicking a link you have to right-click the link, copy the link, open a new tab, right-click to Paste and Go, then it usually will open the link (although it may just fail to load the page or only load the page partially).

Is there any beta test process of Firefox any longer.  It is hard to believe anyone used this version and then released it for distribution -- it's not even close to ready for beta testing.

[N4AOF]

118.0.1 is even worse!  Startup is slower both opening the program itself and then slower loading the start pages (those same pages load nearly instantly in Chrome, Edge, and Opera - yes I have all four on this computer)

As of yesterday, Firefox has become completely unusable.  I opened Firefox and came to the forum.  I tried to open this page and one other thread about Firefox being slow.  I waited.  I waited.  I got tired of waiting.  I copied the URL for the other thread from Firefox.  I pasted the URL into Chrome.  I read the other thread.  I replied to the other thread. I checked back and Firefox had still not loaded either that thread or this one.

Then I copied the URL for this thread.  I pasted the URL into Chrome.  I read this thread.  And I am typing this reply....  and, yes, Firefox has still not managed to display this simple page.

[est68]

So, I took the leap of faith and upgraded to 118.0.1 on Mac AND PC, specifically a MacBook Air 2017 (I know, vintage...), a Mac Mini 2022 (M1) and a Dell Latitude 7430 - I don't know if that's important. Anyway, so far I do not have any issues on both Mac and PC with this version. The previous fails are not showing anymore. I also have not encountered any of the issues that are mentioned here; I believe they are genuine, but perhaps the hanging and snailing issues could arise from somewhere else than Firefox? It would not explain N4AOF's observations that other browsers are performing better, though.

Btw, I do not really do anything fancy with my computers. Rest assured, if speed of loading and playing of videos would be an issue for us, I would be the first one to know if our son couldn't watch Minecraft videos on Youtube anymore 😉

[N4AOF]

All I can say is that I still have some sites there I had everything set up for Firefox so I could use a different account on the same site by using another browser.  When I start Firefox, it always takes much longer than any other browser to open the initial start pages, I could live with that, but at least 80% of the time Firefox will work so-so for the first page or two, then simply stop loading the next page.  

In every instance when this occurs, I can copy the URL, paste it into either Chrome or Edge and the page will immediately come up properly and working just fine.  Meanwhile Firefox will still sit there with the little dot moving back and forth on the tab.  Sometimes (maybe 10% of the time) Firefox will eventually load the page, maybe it would eventually load the page if I waited long enough, but apparently "long enough" would be measured with a calendar, not a clock.  Earlier I opened the Discussion forum here, tried to open a thread, got tired of waiting for it, copied and pasted the URL into Chrome, read the thread, replied to the thread, read another thread, replied to the other thread, and Firefox had still not finished loading the first page of the original thread.

The computer in this case is a Dell Precision 7820 tower, with Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4214R CPU @ 2.40GHz processor, and 64.0 GB (63.7 GB usable) installed RAM running the latest build of Windows 10 Pro for Workstations.  Maybe not a Cray Supercomputer, but no slouch by anyone's standards.  The problem isn't my 300+ Mbps internet connection because Chrome, Edge, and Opera each work fine on the same sites.

[est68]

This is weired, indeed. Looks like whether PC or Mac, and which model it is, does not really matter. I just compared Firefox with Safari on Mac, and they seem to be pretty much the same for me.

Well, I'm not a programmer and haven't really got a clue what's going on behind the scene, but I guess in your case I would try to uninstall it, and try to get rid of all associated files that remain. It could well be that some hidden file or setting is the culprit.

[NicoM]

Still not fixed with 118.0.2...

[N4AOF]

Why would it be?  No one from Mozilla's so-called development team knows there is a problem.  They obviously aren't running Firefox themselves and certainly aren't reading any of the threads about problems here in the discussion forums

Last night I noticed that I have one computer in the house that still has Firefox 115.something running on it -- It had never been "updated" because I almost never use that computer for browsing. I was doing something else on it and happened to remember that I wanted to check something online. I opened Firefox and it was working fine then the popup came to tell me there was an update available. Rather than just click the update button I stopped to check what version of Firefox was running on that computer.  It was 115.something.  I decided NOT to update it unless they get around to fixing this nonsense.

[injured_cowboy]

It's frustrating isn't it?  I notified Firefox about the problem.  Whether or not they read all of those bug reports, who knows?  I'm thinking of checking out the browser Brave.

[N4AOF]

Startup still slow in 118.0.1 but I did find that doing the "Refresh" helped somewhat - especially with the other problems some of us had noted in 118.

Trying to use Firefox had become so uneven and unreliable that I was about ready to just remove the program and live with my other browsers.  I thought I would give Firefox one last chance by doing and uninstall and complete reinstall, but when I selected "Uninstall" it offered the "Refresh" option and I decided to give it a shot.  The first time I tried the refresh it went through its initial steps then came up with the "Almost finished" progress bar that just sat there for over 15 minutes before I gave up, stopped it, and tried again.  The second time, the Refresh did run successfully.

Since the Refresh and a computer restart, so far 118 appears to be working about as well as 117 had been (not great, but certainly usable once it loads). 

I'm not sure why a Refresh helped. According to the description, Refresh gets rid of all add-ons and reverts to defaults. I wasn't using any add-ons and I had not changed any settings since well before 117 so "restoring defaults" should not account for the improvement.

Whatever the reason, the refresh definitely seems to have helped with the problems I was experiencing with 118 lagging and sometimes completely ignoring left-clicks.

[NicoM]

Everything looks fine on my mac with 119.0.1! I hope it will stay like this.