13 Mar 10
Originally posted by StarrmanNope, that's not the problem. For instance, I went to ebay and was looking at some stuff, and when you go to the description page, on FF it takes a day and a half to get the dam thing loaded.
That's just not true. FF is perfectly capable at doing everything it should, better at most. Perhaps you're running an old version or perhaps your PC is just slow.
I used IE and went to the exact same item and did the describe page and it loaded within a couple of seconds. I did that several times back and forth just to see if FF was really slower and IE beat FF out in that redirect thing ten to one. Try it yourself, go to some ebay page, display the item which sends you to another window, do it with FF and then with IE and see if you see a difference. I sure did. I have asked forums where there were supposed experts and gotten pages of advice which I followed to the letter, all the settings and such and FF still loads redirects slow as hell.
14 Mar 10
Originally posted by sonhouseDon't know what is going on on our PC, but both Chrome and FireFox do this just as fast as IE, Chrome noticeably quicker than both.
Nope, that's not the problem. For instance, I went to ebay and was looking at some stuff, and when you go to the description page, on FF it takes a day and a half to get the dam thing loaded.
I used IE and went to the exact same item and did the describe page and it loaded within a couple of seconds. I did that several times back and forth just to see if ...[text shortened]... I followed to the letter, all the settings and such and FF still loads redirects slow as hell.
15 Mar 10
Originally posted by sonhouseI've done this and extensive tests with both browsers and it has never been my experience that what you say is true, in the 4 years or so I've been using FF. Either you've got a dodgy install, or you've done something which you're unaware of which is causing this to happen. Given your past history with all things technical, I'd say both could be equally true.
Nope, that's not the problem. For instance, I went to ebay and was looking at some stuff, and when you go to the description page, on FF it takes a day and a half to get the dam thing loaded.
I used IE and went to the exact same item and did the describe page and it loaded within a couple of seconds. I did that several times back and forth just to see if ...[text shortened]... I followed to the letter, all the settings and such and FF still loads redirects slow as hell.
15 Mar 10
1 edit
Originally posted by StarrmanI update every new issue of FF and IE. I tried every tip in the FF forum about speedups to no avail. Try that exact thing I did, go to Ebay, go to some item, click on the image/description and see if there is a dif between IE and FF. I use system mechanic regularly to clean up the registry, use the latest version of diskeeper for automatic defrag, regularly clean out temp files. Non of that stuff makes a dam bit of difference on this computer. I have several others, will give it a try there and see what happens. It would be good to know it is in this comp and not some FF problem. Then at least I could aim my troubleshooting in a more useful direction.
I've done this and extensive tests with both browsers and it has never been my experience that what you say is true, in the 4 years or so I've been using FF. Either you've got a dodgy install, or you've done something which you're unaware of which is causing this to happen. Given your past history with all things technical, I'd say both could be equally true.
I happen to have 2 HP comps hooked up to a data switch so we can switch back and forth between the family machine and one used mainly for graphics.
So went to ebay, chose musical instruments, under that, audio, mixers. Went to the mixers section and there were thousands to choose from. Picking one at random, a Mackie 16 presently at 650 bucks I think, on FF it still hadn't loaded after 23 seconds, I said enough already, went to IE, did the exact same mixer, it loaded in about 2 seconds.
That was the family machine, which has 4 logins, don't know if that makes a dif.
So went to the graphics machine, did the same thing, FF and IE were almost the same speed so it seems there is something squirlly in the family machine. I have tweeked the hell out of it and it still sucks loading stuff on FF. I wish I could see the operations nanosecond by nanosecond but that is wishful thinking. Both machines use the same router and modem, cable modem, 2 meg connection speed, common connections, both hard wired, use laptop wireless.
15 Mar 10
3 edits
Originally posted by sonhouseCompletely uninstall FireFox and do a clean install.
I update every new issue of FF and IE. I tried every tip in the FF forum about speedups to no avail. Try that exact thing I did, go to Ebay, go to some item, click on the image/description and see if there is a dif between IE and FF. I use system mechanic regularly to clean up the registry, use the latest version of diskeeper for automatic defrag, regular cable modem, 2 meg connection speed, common connections, both hard wired, use laptop wireless.
Your "tweaking the hell out of it" probably broke it. Clean install, don't install any extensions and check it out.
Cleaning temp files = Good idea. Do this at least once a week. Also remember to clean out your downloads list in FF.
You don't need to pay for this, though. CCleaner is free and will handle this all well enough.
Defrag you should do only twice a year, if at all. Newer hard drives and the NTFS filesystem doesn't need constant defragging and the hard work the defragger puts the drive through will shorten the drives' lifespan.
Registry cleaning is really not necessary. You can use the abovementioned CCleaner to help you sort out missing links etc., but all these registry cleaners and defraggers etc. do bugger-all for system performance and may actually just corrupt your registry.
You can run CCleaner's registry clean once every 2 months or so, and only if you have installed and uninstalled many programs.
Use CCleaner to check what programs are loading at startup - this type of housekeeping will probably help you the most:
Adobe, Java, MSOffice, your sound-and screencard plus many other programs, system mechanic included, all probably have little helper apps loading to the system tray. Disable these - they don't need to use up memory. Just make sure to update them regularly, Adobe especially.
The best way to get further good performance and security increase is to disable services you don't need. Start->Run->services.msc [Enter] brings up the services console.
Stop and Disable:
Windows Time,
Themes,
Wireless Zero Configuration (if you use wired LAN),
Remote Registry,
Smart Card,
Remote desktop Help Session Manager, plus ClipBook and Telnet (if you don't remotely login to this PC)
Telephony (if you don't make dial-up network connections)
Indexing Service
Windows Image Acquisition (if you don't use a scanner of have a camera that doesn't expose the memory card as a removable drive)
Also InCD if you have Roxio software installed. I don't know anyone who uses this - it used to be big for CD-RW in the days before flash drives.
15 Mar 10
Originally posted by CrowleyThat's an urban myth. Frequent defragging has no noticeable effect on your hard drives' lifespan.
Defrag you should do only twice a year, if at all. Newer hard drives and the NTFS filesystem doesn't need constant defragging and the hard work the defragger puts the drive through will shorten the drives' lifespan.
If anything, not defragging your drive will eventually shorten it's life by causing it work harder than it should.
15 Mar 10
Originally posted by Daemon SinIt all depends on how the drive is used. I'd say weekly or daily defragging is overkill - no pun intended.
That's an urban myth. Frequent defragging has no noticeable effect on your hard drives' lifespan.
If anything, not defragging your drive will eventually shorten it's life by causing it work harder than it should.
If you edit many smaller files like I do, then bi-monthly defrags do make sense.
Most 'normal use' PCs don't need constant defrags. Once in 6 months should be fine.
15 Mar 10
Originally posted by CrowleyI tried that. My system reported that current usage for all was '0 bytes'
The best way to get further good performance and security increase is to disable services you don't need. Start->Run->services.msc [Enter] brings up the services console.
Stop and Disable:
Windows Time,
Themes,
Wireless Zero Configuration (if you use wired LAN),
Remote Registry,
Smart Card,
Remote desktop Help Session Manager, plus ClipBook a ...[text shortened]... t know anyone who uses this - it used to be big for CD-RW in the days before flash drives.
The stop and disable list was also in aplhabetical order, if I needed to do it.
15 Mar 10
Originally posted by sonhousei find PDF display slow, too. i right-click the PDF file and save it then read it with a linux PDF app.
I update every new issue of FF and IE. I tried every tip in the FF forum about speedups to no avail. Try that exact thing I did, go to Ebay, go to some item, click on the image/description and see if there is a dif between IE and FF. I use system mechanic regularly to clean up the registry, use the latest version of diskeeper for automatic defrag, regular ...[text shortened]... cable modem, 2 meg connection speed, common connections, both hard wired, use laptop wireless.
maybe FF is downloading the entire file before showing it, and IE is showing the first page while proceeding with the download.
16 Mar 10
Originally posted by zeeblebotWell on the family machine, IE seems to download the whole thing while FF is farting around, 'loading, loading, loading, etc. But like I say it seems to be on just this one machine, on the other HP, it is a lot faster, more like equal, something squirley going on with the family machine for sure. It's funny, that's the machine I spend most of my repair stuff, registry mechanic, AVG, and the like. The other machine is *gasp* Vista, but it really seems to run better than the family XP machine. Maybe Vista is really better than XP after all? Hard to believe....
i find PDF display slow, too. i right-click the PDF file and save it then read it with a linux PDF app.
maybe FF is downloading the entire file before showing it, and IE is showing the first page while proceeding with the download.
16 Mar 10
Originally posted by sonhouseNo, you just buggered up the FireFox install with your constant amateur tinkering, then proceeded to use up your already limited memory with redundant programs running in the background, making it even more difficult for FireFox to perform.
Maybe Vista is really better than XP after all? Hard to believe....