Why is Firefox so slow and why does it crash so often?
When I click on a site such as Facebook the machine icon rolls around and around and then eventually times out. If I try to have more than one window open Firefox will crash. Sometimes it just quits without warning and won't restore my session. Sometimes it won't quit, even when using "force quit", and slows down everything on my computer. I hope you are not slowing things down on purpose to force people to buy new expensive computers.
All Replies (3)
Unfortunately you are running into a bunch of problems: 1) the version of Mac that you have installed is ancient, and hasn't been updated in years. 2) Because your Mac Operating system is so old, modern versions of Firefox will not run on it 3) Because the web never stops updating, the websites that you visit are too modern for such an old version of Firefox to handle 4) On top of that, it isn't safe to use such an old computer on the web, as it leaves you open to all sorts of security issues.
You may be able to update to a newer version of Mac, which if you can you should, and then update Firefox. If you can't, you should purchase a new computer ASAP
Do you have any unsubmitted crash reports?
The crash report is several pages of data. We need the report numbers to see the whole report.
- Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A Submitted Crash Reports list will appear, similar to the one shown below.
- Copy the 5 most recent Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste those IDs into the "Post a Reply" box.
Note: If a recent Report ID does not start with bp- click on it to submit the report.
(Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the IDs. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like.)
More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.
You can also try Firefox in safe mode.
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
Do either of these help you, in any way to solve the problem?
You can check to see if you can update for Free to a newer version of mac at https://www.apple.com/macos/how-to-upgrade/