FireFox Loading Slow

[peteski]

I'm having FireFox loading real slow, even with the new update. I do have a lot of processes, and I really don't know which ones I can eliminate. That may be my problem. I'm having to use I.E. Can any of you give me some help???

[BATcher]

I'm having FireFox loading real slow, even with the new update. I do have a lot of processes, and I really don't know which ones I can eliminate. That may be my problem. I'm having to use I.E. Can any of you give me some help???

Do you have a lot of Bookmarks or keep large amounts of History information? Hunt for places.sqlite in your Firefox profile - mine is now about 250 MB, and it takes me ages to start up Firefox. It is becoming almost unusable...

[TonyE]

For slowdowns caused by a large places.sqlite file, you can use an add-on to vacuum the database. A couple of options are Vacuum Places Improved and PlacesCleaner, the second one can also delete history entries that have rarely been accessed.

[HeyJude]

You can also edit, move and even delete this file places.sqlite information from Mozilla

Hey Jude

[TonyE]

You can also edit, move and even delete this file places.sqlite information from Mozilla

Note that if you delete the file you will delete all of your bookmarks.

[HeyJude]

Note that if you delete the file you will delete all of your bookmarks.

"If you suspect that the file is corrupted, deleting "places.sqlite" will delete your browsing history, and a new, empty file will be created automatically. In Firefox 3, places.sqlite will be rebuilt using the latest dated JSON file from the bookmarkbackups folder; if no JSON backup exists, bookmarks will be imported from bookmarks.html, if found.

I take that to mean that your browsing history is gone, but your bookmarks will be re-created using the last dated JSON file from the bookmarkbackups folder, or they will be imported from bookmarks.html if found.

If your places.sqlite file is corrupted, deleting it solves the issue.

I am also checking into your PlacesCleaner add-on as well

Hey Jude

[HeyJude]

I installed PlacesClean to see what it was like and it looks like a great little tool for cleaning the data base. I unchecked the option to backup places before cleaning as it seems like as it cleans it can also keeps a backup copy. I also put it on a Manual Clean. Do you use this?

I just checked my profile and it has 41.9 MB

In my XP I found it by copying
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
into my Run box and it brought up the default profile.

Hey Jude

[peteski]

Thanks for the quick responce. However, my problem is that I know just enough about computers mto get myself into trouble. I'll try getting PlacesClean and see what that does for me. Again thanks a bunch.

[HeyJude]

Sometimes the number of add-ons you use also affects the speed of the browser. Does FF always take a long time to load? Have you tried changing your start page? I know over the holidays I was having alot of trouble connecting to one of the other forums I frequent and ended up using Ping Plotter to track down where the problem was. It turned out that the problem wasn't on my 'puter, and alot of others were having that same problem.

It's also a good idea to use CCleaner to keep all the temp files cleaned out. It is free so you don't have to contribute unless you want to. That can speed up your browser considerably as well.

Hey Jude

[BATcher]

For slowdowns caused by a large places.sqlite file, you can use an add-on to vacuum the database. A couple of options are Vacuum Places Improved and PlacesCleaner, the second one can also delete history entries that have rarely been accessed.

I couldn't get Vacuum Places Improved to actually do anything, but running Places Cleaner manually had a quite spectacular effect, reducing the size of places.sqlite from 250 MB down to 12.4 MB

[HeyJude]

I couldn't get Vacuum Places Improved to actually do anything, but running Places Cleaner manually had a quite spectacular effect, reducing the size of places.sqlite from 250 MB down to 12.4 MB

I just used it and searched for places.sqlite in my profile and found 464 KB. My entire profile has 42.4 MB but places.sqlite is only 464 KB. So you reduced yours considerably when mine only dropped a fraction.

Hey Jude

[paranoia]

I installed PlacesClean to see what it was like and it looks like a great little tool for cleaning the data base. I unchecked the option to backup places before cleaning as it seems like as it cleans it can also keeps a backup copy. I also put it on a Manual Clean. Do you use this?

I just checked my profile and it has 41.9 MB

In my XP I found it by copying
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
into my Run box and it brought up the default profile.

Hey Jude

I did this but did not have a places.sqlite file in the folder, so I downloaded the 2 extensions you guys suggested, to give them a try.
My tabs seem to take a long time to load when I start up and also it (browser) will freeze up if I click on something to soon.
any suggestions for me?
PS I do have a lot of extensions and LOTS of bookmarks.

[bobprimak]

I have to side with the "too many extensions" camp. Especially if you have any proactive web shields in your firewall or antivirus, as I have in Avast 5 and Comodo with Defense+. It's the pre-scans (scan on access) which slow down program loads. And it's not restricted to browsers.

I just live with it, and try not to close my Firefox windows until log off time.