Hello Jim,

this problem could probably be caused by a Firefox extension.

To make sure that no extension is causing the problems, start Firefox in Safe Mode by following the instructions in the Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode article.

Kind regards, Tobbi Firefox Support Volunteer

Amen. I figured out how to fix the issue, but the fact that it was allowed to BECOME an issue is frankly inexcusable. I nearly gave up on my computer, too, all because Firefox sucks now. Deeply dissapointing.

I agree. It seems with every update firefox becomes a bigger piece of sh*t. Slower and thing just don't seem to work as well.

Its not firefox's fault! Its an extension. U cant use firefox here, oh, u cant use fire fox there. U cant use firefox anywhere. Fire fox has become Internet Explore. Stop blaming everything else and fix firefox. I use google chrome and dont have the crash problems like i did with firefox. Firefox has become a piece of junk. Dont blame the extentions. The blame is all on firefox... I dont have time to look for the latest greatest fix for firefox. The best fix of all is to install google chrome and you will surf the net trouble free. I am a google chrome user now.

firefox is a piece of crap. i've just uninstalled it and i'm going to test chrome and opera instead. did you know that in order to give those firefox losers your feedback about their shitty browser you need first to download the latest version of their shitty browser? in my case: "no, you can't talk to us with your ff 4.0, you need ff 4.0.1 if you wish to contact us". and you know what happens next? next you get a message saying "we're closed". good riddance!

Welcome to FireFox Vista.

  I'm in the medical field. I don't have the time to undo all of the "upgrades" of FF 4.0  Next time you want to test a new version, let regular people test it.  Not someone who spends 24/7 hacking and who jumps on every beta release.

It's not an extension. I have run FF4 in safe mode and it still does it. And I am far from alone. I never thought I'd see the day that I used Chrome.

The problem is not the extensions.

With nothing running it is verrrry slow.

First I want to say that Firefox is a fantastic history-making browser that I have used happily since 2004.

However, I feel that the browser feels heavier and slower, especially since upgrading to 4.0. I experience very frequent hangs and crashes. I find myself killing the Firefox process several times a day, becoming more and more frustrated. It often crashes on youtube, any page with flash, divx video pages, and just hangs often in general. This may not be the fault of the Firefox developers but it doesn't happen in other browsers I have tested.

It is slow to shut down, so if I close the browser then quickly click the quicklaunch shortcut to open it again, I get a message saying that the process is still open and must be stopped before a new window can be opened. I end up killing the process in this case also because I simply cannot wait for it go through its lengthy shutdown routine where you slowly watch the memory usage drop in the task manager before it finally disappears.

All of these issues occur on a fresh installation of XP SP3 with no extensions besides the default java/.NET, and also Adblock.

One of the strengths of Firefox has been the amount of user control and power it allows through extension customization and a lot of under the hood options which are nicely arranged in the interface. When I tried Chrome a few years ago I felt that it was very limited, gave the user almost zero freedom to customize it, and was an incomplete browser.

Since experiencing so many problems with Firefox recently I decided to try Chrome again. I was surprised to find that it now has a library of extensions which have been implemented very admirably. The program is quick and seamless. I have experienced zero crashes, hangs, or other problems since using it over the past few days. It opens and closes rapidly. It still does not offer the same degree of user control as Firefox and has a smaller library of extensions, but it is so well-executed that I find myself very impressed and not really missing Firefox.

I still use Firefox and do not plan to uninstall it as of yet. I feel that as Firefox grew in popularity there was some pressure to make it as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. I think this caused it to begin to become closer to Internet Explorer, more massive and less efficient.

I do not think Firefox is going anywhere anytime soon. But I have noticed the trend that many tech savvy people are switching to Chrome. While this will not cause an immediate drop in Firefox market share, I do not think Firefox wants to mirror Internet Explorer by basing its market share on use by the uninformed and non-savvy crowd who are late-adopters. I think Firefox would prefer to maintain its cutting-edge crowd of users.

For this reason I think the people at Mozilla should define the differences between Firefox and Chrome and plan accordingly, quickly.