Mozilla Firefox is still one of the most popular web browsers today. However, the more you use it, the slower it seems to get. So what can you do when Firefox is running slow when other browsers are still fast? In this article, we are going to talk about How to fix Firefox Slow Problem in PC – Tutorial. Lets’ begin!
We have already talked about some of the simple ways to speed up Firefox, and that’s where you should start from. There are easy extensions for apps such as disabling Pocket and other integrations and finding the most memory-draining apps as well.
When these changes will make your Firefox faster than ever before, then you still need to make sure it’s as fast as other browsers. So what can you guys do about that?
Note: Before you guys do any of these tweaks, you should download or also update to the latest version of Firefox by going to About Firefox.
Contents
- 1 Fix Firefox Slow Problem
- 1.1 Firefox Takes Longer to Start Than all Other Browsers
- 1.2 Firefox Uses Too Much CPU or RAM | firefox slow
- 1.3 Firefox Is Slow Even along With Top-Notch Hardware | firefox slow
- 1.4 Change Settings or Download Speed Tweaks | firefox slow
- 1.5 Update your graphics driver | firefox slow
- 1.6 All Else Fails, Then Refresh Firefox | firefox slow
- 1.7 Conclusion
Fix Firefox Slow Problem
Firefox Takes Longer to Start Than all Other Browsers
When you have had Firefox installed for some time, then it can take a long time to start up. Meanwhile, browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Safari seem to open immediately. Let’s see what you can do to make Firefox boot faster.
- Head to about: preferences and in General, then uncheck the box for Always check if Firefox is your default browser.
- Go to about: preferences and in general, head to When Firefox Starts and choose Show a blank page.
Firefox Uses Too Much CPU or RAM | firefox slow
After using Firefox for some time, it then starts using a lot of CPU process or also RAM. If you want to find out the cause of the slowdown, first try to restart Firefox in Safe Mode. This will then make Firefox run without any add-ons or plugins. In order to do this, head to Options (the three-line icon at the extreme right of the URL bar) > Question Mark > Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
Firefox will restart and show you two options: Start in Safe Mode or Refresh Firefox. Select Start in Safe Mode.
If Firefox runs faster in Safe Mode, then you know the problem lies in one of the add-ons or plugins as well. Disable all add-ons, and then restart Firefox. Then turn on one add-on at a time, and see which one causes the problem.
In case Safe Mode does not make any difference, then Firefox’s tabs are probably here to blame. Install the Auto Tab Discard extension, that will automatically unload the resources that an inactive tab use. Instead of leaving tabs open to remember them, you can also make better use of bookmarks.
Firefox Is Slow Even along With Top-Notch Hardware | firefox slow
Firefox can most of the time run slow even on machines with excellent hardware. That is mostly because the browser is conservative in how to improve your performance. However, you can open up the hood and give that a boost.
Head to about:preferences > General > Performance. Then uncheck the box for Use recommended performance settings.
- Check the box for Use hardware acceleration when it is available. With this tweak, Firefox will use the graphics card rather than the processor for major visuals. So if you are watching YouTube or playing a web browser game, then you will get much smoother performance.
- Change Content Process Limit to four or much more. Firefox recommends it to increase it to more than four if you have at least 8GB RAM.
Content Process Limit is a function of Firefox’s new Electrolysis or also multi-process architecture. With this, each and every tab runs as a separate instance of Firefox. Hence thus getting access to more hardware resources. It also turns on sandboxing for security.
In case the Content Process Limit is greyed out, then you need to enable multi-process Firefox:
- Head to about: config
- Search for browser.tabs.remote.autostart
- Double-tap it to change the Preference value to true
- Then restart Firefox
Change Settings or Download Speed Tweaks | firefox slow
If you dive into about: config settings for Firefox, then you will be able to change many aspects to speed up Firefox.
If you are not comfortable with messing around with settings, an extension will make sure that you do not break anything. Speed Tweaks changes some settings, but not all. When you install the addon, then the best options to enable are pre-resolving DNS entries, discarding inactive tabs, and also blocking ads.
Update your graphics driver | firefox slow
This problem may occur if you are using the wrong graphics driver or also if it’s out of date. So you should update your graphics driver to see if it fixes your problem or not. If you do not have the time, patience, or skills to update the driver manually, then you can do it automatically with Driver Easy.
Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and then find the correct drivers for it. You do not need to know exactly what system your computer is running, then you do not need to be troubled by the wrong driver that you would be downloading. And you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when you are installing. Driver Easy also handles it all.
You can also update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Easy. However, with the Pro version it takes just 2 steps (and you get full support and 30-day money-back guarantee):
- Download and then install Driver Easy.
- Run Driver Easy and then click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and also detect any problem drivers.
- Tap Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of ALL the drivers that are missing or also out of date on your system (this needs the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you tap Update All). You can also click Update to do it for free if you like, however, it’s partly manual.
- Restart your computer for the changes if you want to take effect.
- Open Firefox to see if the slow issues have been resolved or not. If yes, then congrats buddy!
All Else Fails, Then Refresh Firefox | firefox slow
If all else fails, then it’s time to go back to a clean installation of Firefox. However, you do not have to start from scratch all over again.
Just like operating systems, the browser now has a one-tap option to return to the default Firefox state before you made any changes. Specifically, it will delete all add-ons and customizations, and then restore browser settings to defaults.
- Head to about:support
- In giving Firefox a tune-up, then tap Refresh Firefox…
- In the dialog box that shows up, tap Refresh Firefox once again
Firefox will then shut and restart in a few seconds. Smartly, when all the performance and settings revert to default. Firefox saves your personal information, that also includes bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, auto-fill information, and all of your dictionary as well. So it’s just like a new Firefox with all your data already loaded.
Conclusion
Alright, That was all Folks! I hope you guys like this firefox slow article and also find it helpful to you. Give us your feedback on it. Also if you guys have further queries and issues related to this article. Then let us know in the comments section below. We will get back to you shortly.
Have a Great Day!
