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Firefox takes a long time to start, unless I disconnect from the internet first, in which case it starts instantly.

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Whenever I start firefox, it takes an inordinately long time (usually close to a minute, sometimes longer) to start up. i.e. no window, no nothing. In task manager, it shows no activity for cpu, disk, or network activity - it's as if it's waiting for a connection to be made or something. If I disable my internet access first, then start firefox, it starts up instantly, and once the internet re-enabled, it works normally. Whatever it is doing at initial startup is taking a very long time - couldn't it be done in a separate thread, and let normal startup continue?

Whenever I start firefox, it takes an inordinately long time (usually close to a minute, sometimes longer) to start up. i.e. no window, no nothing. In task manager, it shows no activity for cpu, disk, or network activity - it's as if it's waiting for a connection to be made or something. If I disable my internet access first, then start firefox, it starts up instantly, and once the internet re-enabled, it works normally. Whatever it is doing at initial startup is taking a very long time - couldn't it be done in a separate thread, and let normal startup continue?

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Press the <Alt> or <F10> key to bring up the tool bar. Followed by;

Windows; Tools > Options Linux; Edit > Preferences Mac; application name > Preferences

Then General.

There are two settings;

  • When Firefox Starts

When the browser is started, what page do you want to display. Many of us choose Show My Home Page.

  • Home Page

When a new page is opened, what do you want displayed.

  1. Use Current Page. Use what ever page(s) are open at that time.
  2. Use Bookmark
  3. Restore To Default. about:home shows a Mozilla page with tools.

You can use any of these that you wish;

about:home (Firefox default home page), about:newtab (shows the sites most visited), about:blank (a blank page),

or you can enter any web page or about: page you want.

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It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See: