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Discussion: General Forums / Hardware & Software Discussion - Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it - Ever since I upgraded Firefox to 3.5 the initial startup takes around 10-20 seconds on
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    dawolf's Avatar

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    Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Ever since I upgraded Firefox to 3.5 the initial startup takes around 10-20 seconds on my home and office PC, so i googled around and found that you can speed up the startup of your favorite browser by clearing your IE cache (!) and your %temp% directory.

    Step by step instructions can be found here:
    https://support.mozilla.com/tiki-vie...1674&forumId=1

    It has been proven there is definitely something wrong with the startup of Firefox 3.5 as it is too slow. Bugs have been filed and a fix is in the works.

    Currently, the workaround that helps a lot of people is to clear your Internet Explorer temporary internet files & Temp folder files. It may or not help you but its worth a shot.
    So if you suffer from long Firefox startup times after upgrading to 3.5 you might try this as a temporary fix.
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    Bamboo's Avatar

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Just one more reason to use CCleaner at least once a week:
    http://www.ccleaner.com/

    We have talked about the program a lot here at TG, but just reminding for all the new guys. It is one of the best free programs out there to keep your computer running fast as possible.



    Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at.

    -Carlos A. Urbizo-


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    ScratchMonkey's Avatar

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Here's the bug for this slowness:

    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=501605

    At least one problem is a change in the way FF gets randomness. It scans a bunch of temporary files from several sources at startup and reads selected files (about 20) from the list of files it builds. Reading 20 files isn't a big deal, but scanning very large and deep directory trees can.

    People who use the IETab addon will be dumping lots of temporary files into the Internet Temporary Files store. (And if you care about privacy, it will also silently leave lots of history there that Firefox doesn't know about and hence can't clean up for you.)

    On Red Hat Linux and derivatives (RHEL, Fedora, CentOS), there's a nice utility called tmpwatch in the default setup that scans your /tmp directory each night (via the system crontab) and deletes all files that have not been accessed in the last 7 days. (Note that's access, not modification. So you don't have to leave the file unwritten to see it deleted. Opening an ancient file for reading will update the access time and prevent it from going away.) Anyone know of a similar utility for Windows?
    Dude, seriously, WHAT handkerchief?

    snooggums' density principal: "The more dense a population, the more dense a population."

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    wow i found 4 gb's of trash... thanks!

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Nice that a bunch of you already figured out this bug and a workaround. Will disable and remove IETab when I get back to my desktop on Wednesday (currently in China). Ironically, there doesn't seem to be a 3.5 for Linux...at least on my Ubuntu netbook, I was never prompted to update to a 3.5 version (still using 3.1/3.01).
    Acreo Aeneas
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    Former 9th IHS Member. Long live the mobile infantry!
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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Does Ubuntu do program-managed auto-updates? I'd expect your distro to repackage this and some kind of package manager would notice the available update as part of all the other system updates. That's how it works with Red Hat distros. If I used a CentOS desktop, the yum daemon would see the update. (I use it for a server, so I manually check for updates with "yum check-updates" at regular intervals. And Firefox wouldn't be something I'd have installed on a server, since I do everything from the command line.)
    Dude, seriously, WHAT handkerchief?

    snooggums' density principal: "The more dense a population, the more dense a population."

    Iliana: "You're a great friend but if we're ever chased by zombies I'm tripping you."

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Quote Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas View Post
    Nice that a bunch of you already figured out this bug and a workaround. Will disable and remove IETab when I get back to my desktop on Wednesday (currently in China). Ironically, there doesn't seem to be a 3.5 for Linux...at least on my Ubuntu netbook, I was never prompted to update to a 3.5 version (still using 3.1/3.01).
    From a friend in IRC (in the eldergaming channel):

    the ubuntu version is in the universe repo with the name 'shiretoko'
    doh, the actual package name is 'Package: abrowser-3.5'
    http://pastebin.com/mcc7c47e
    Dude, seriously, WHAT handkerchief?

    snooggums' density principal: "The more dense a population, the more dense a population."

    Iliana: "You're a great friend but if we're ever chased by zombies I'm tripping you."

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    Acreo Aeneas's Avatar

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    Re: Firefox 3.5 slow startup times ... and how i fixed it

    Why in the world couldn't they just leave it named with the scheme "Package: firefox-3.5" / "firefox-3.5"? No wonder I couldn't find it through the Synaptic Package Manager. Gonna get it once I get my Linux netbook fixed (stupid CPU fan died a few days ago).

    Thanks a lot Scratch.
    Acreo Aeneas
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    Former 9th IHS Member. Long live the mobile infantry!
    Novice Audiophile, Technology Enthusiast

    "Arrrrgh! This waiting for BF3's beta is driving me up a wall!" - Acreo Aeneas

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