hello, could you go to the firefox menu ≡ > help ? > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

Thanks for the quick response. Here's the info from the troubleshooting screen.

Application Basics

Name: Firefox Version: 38.0.1 Build ID: 20150513174244 Update Channel: release User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/38.0 Multiprocess Windows: 0/1 (default: false)

Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days

All Crash Reports

Extensions

Name: Norton Toolbar Version: 2014.7.12.14 Enabled: true ID: {2D3F3651-74B9-4795-BDEC-6DA2F431CB62}

Name: Skype Click to Call Version: 7.3.16540.9015 Enabled: false ID: {82AF8DCA-6DE9-405D-BD5E-43525BDAD38A}

Graphics

Adapter Description: NVIDIA NVS 4200M Adapter Description (GPU #2): Intel(R) HD Graphics Family Adapter Drivers: nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um Adapter Drivers (GPU #2): igdumd64 igd10umd64 igd10umd64 igdumdx32 igd10umd32 igd10umd32 Adapter RAM: 512 Adapter RAM (GPU #2): Unknown Device ID: 0x1056 Device ID (GPU #2): 0x0126 Direct2D Enabled: true DirectWrite Enabled: true (6.2.9200.17292) Driver Date: 6-5-2011 Driver Date (GPU #2): 6-10-2011 Driver Version: 8.17.12.6883 Driver Version (GPU #2): 8.15.10.2418 GPU #2 Active: false GPU Accelerated Windows: 1/1 Direct3D 11 (OMTC) Subsys ID: 14931028 Subsys ID (GPU #2): 04931028 Vendor ID: 0x10de Vendor ID (GPU #2): 0x8086 WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA NVS 4200M Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) windowLayerManagerRemote: true AzureCanvasBackend: direct2d 1.1 AzureContentBackend: direct2d 1.1 AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

Important Modified Preferences

accessibility.blockautorefresh: true browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 2 browser.download.importedFromSqlite: true browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20150513174244 browser.startup.homepage: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox|https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=mc&pli=1#main_7|https://mail.aol.com/ browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20150513174244 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 38.0.1 dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 38.0.1 font.name.serif.x-western: Arial gfx.direct2d.disabled: true gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0 layers.acceleration.disabled: true media.gmp-eme-adobe.lastUpdate: 1432344912 media.gmp-eme-adobe.version: 9 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1432344913 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.4 media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20150513174244 media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1432435834 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true network.predictor.cleaned-up: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1432439226 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_bgimages: false print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_colorspace: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_command: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_duplex: 1515870810 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_evenpages: true print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_footercenter: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_footerleft: &PT print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_footerright: &D print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_headercenter: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_headerleft: &T print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_headerright: &U print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_in_color: true print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_margin_bottom: 0.5 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_oddpages: true print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_orientation: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_data: 1 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_name: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_size_unit: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_paper_width: 8.50 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_plex_name: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_resolution: 1515870810 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_resolution_name: print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_reversed: false print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_scaling: 0.80 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_shrink_to_fit: true print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_to_file: false print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Canon_MF8500C_Series_UFRII_LT.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1432348309

Important Locked Preferences

JavaScript

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility

Activated: false Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions

NSPR Expected minimum version: 4.10.8 Version in use: 4.10.8

NSS Expected minimum version: 3.18.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.18.1 Basic ECC

NSSSMIME Expected minimum version: 3.18.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.18.1 Basic ECC

NSSSSL Expected minimum version: 3.18.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.18.1 Basic ECC

NSSUTIL Expected minimum version: 3.18.1 Version in use: 3.18.1

Experimental Features

thanks for the follow-up. you said that it's the same issue with hardware acceleration off, but updating your graphics drivers might be worth a shot anyway: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24696/Intel-HD-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-7-8-8-1-64-bit http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84395/en-us

in the case of the slowdown when you inspect the firefox.exe process - do you see any particular high use in resources there (RAM or CPU)?

Memory usage seems to be higher when performance is slow. Processor usage is not. I have 8MB of RAM. When firefox is running slow, 4MB TOTAL are in use. I restart firefox and then only 3MB TOTAL are being used. No other program changes. Also, when running slow, firefox uses over 1 MB of memory (private work set). When not running slow, it uses 750KB bytes ... more or less.

I'll try updating video drivers, but why would a restart of firefox fix a video driver problem? Other programs don't seem to be run slow when firefox runs slow. Seems like a long shot.

Forgot to mention ...

This "slow problem" started a few months ago when I updated firefox. I can't remember what version. That's when I started experimenting with disabling add-ons and such. Prior to that update, I never had this "slow typing" problem. Since then, I've updated at least two more times (I think). I've been using firefox for many years. I like it and don't want to switch.

I assume that you mean GB instead of MB in your above reply. Firefox as a 32 bit application can only use about 4 GB as a maximum, so if you get near that amount then it is likely that the computer slows down.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

• http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/

Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All of them.

Thanks to all of you who looked at my problem and made suggestions for solving it.

I decided to go ahead and give Chrome a try.

Since there wasn't any solid agreement on the solution to my problem (different approaches were suggested) and I had already tried a number of other approaches based on firefox help, I decided that I had invested enough time into solving the problem and I would move on.

I still use firefox on my other computer with Windows Vista because I'm NOT experiencing the creeping slowness problem and the need to constantly restart firefox to regain normal performance on that computer. It uses the same version of firefox.

Thanks to all ...

- Simon

Slow response in general and specifically when typing is often due to having a lot of HISTORY. the Firefox awesome bar uses autocomplete based on all the stored history. If you have months and months of visited URLs it will struggle to parse all of it while you type.

To clear History now: Press Control + Shift + Delete (or Command + shift + delete on mac) In the popup choose the range to clear: Everything Select only: - Browsing and Download History - Offline website data

To clear history each time you close the browser: Preferences > Privacy > History:Use Custom Settings > Clear history when Firefox closes > Settings - then fill in as above.

You may not like the idea of clearing out history but it does make a huge difference to the speed of using Firefox, to a ridiculous degree - I really think they should change the default behaviour.