I have found that disabling the Java Redeployment Toolkit in Plug-ins helps this issue. I can't say whether it is a definative cure, but I had it disabled in Firefox 6.0.0 due to similar "Firefox is not responding" issues. The recent 6.0.1 update has re-enabled Java Deployment Toolkit - so I went to Add-Ons / Plugins and disabled it again. So far, it looks to have done the trick.

Some more information about removing this here > http://www.ghacks.net/2010/04/25/how-to-remove-the-java-deployment-toolkit-from-firefox/

I have had the same problem for the past week or so. I have restarted Firefox 6.0.1 with all add-ons disabled, and am still getting "not responding" errors for up to 30 seconds - as rickmidi described above.

I tried disabling Java Deployment Toolkit and things were fine most of today. Just now, I clicked the back button on a web site and it did it again. Any ideas??

Hi rickmidi, I still have the not responding issue on very odd occasions, which I can put up with for now. I do check that Java Deployment Toolkit has not been re-enabled by an update once a day - it does only take 20 seconds after all. As suggested in the link I posted, I did do a search of my C: drive for "npdeployJava1.dll" and renamed the six files I found. This actually made things worse, because web pages such as Youtube refused to load properly. However, by pure trial and error, I found that renaming the "npdeployJava1.dll" to something like "npdeployJava1.dll.STOP" from the three folders called "New Plugin" allowed Youtube etc. to run, but did not freeze Firefox regularly. On my Windows 7 x64 system they are as follows:-

• "c:\program files (x86)\Java\ire6\bin\new_plugin"
• "c:\program files\Java\ire6\bin\new_plugin"
• "c:\program files (x86)\Java\ire6.0.22\bin\new_plugin"

until firefox 5, firefox was good and better than many others but now it is becoming problematic like ie.there are many alternatives, if we would see more problems day by day at least warn us thus we can switch another browser.java applications problematic, java console update can not be found. java internet game pages freeze, entering gmail slow. i do not think i should do anything to fix the browser that i use as written above.i should not go to any site and download anything to remove something or i should not delete something from my hdd to fix the problems. updated application should do this.

It looks like the new Java 6.0.270.7 update may have fixed the issues with Firefox 6 freezing. I updated today and so far so good. Incidentally, my wifes' laptop (XP) has the older version of the Java Redeployment Toolkit automatically disabled in plugins and labelled "disabled as it is known to cause problems" or something like that.

I tried to update but there seems to have been issues for me to do so.

So instead I uninstalled Java to test.

So far (about an hour) the hanging and (not responding) is now gone.

I will watch and reinstall Java at a later date if this continues to be working properly.

Thank you everyone!

Hi DDDS, I got my Java download from this page - http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

I also had an update to Firefox today (now at 6.0.2)

I haven't had any 'Not Responding' errors at all since I updated Java to version 6 Update 27 (6.0.270.7)

It's not Java, because I don't even have it installed and I've been crashing constantly as described since 6.0. In fact, as I type this in safe mode with everything disabled, I just got another random freeze. I've reinstalled, done safe mode, tried a new profile, it still freezes no matter what. They've screwed the pooch with 6.0, there's something inherently wrong with it.

Agreed. It's not java. I have run firefox with all add-ons disabled and I still get "not responding" errors - I removed java completely from my laptop (HP dv7-1270us) and I still get "not responding" errors. Am running 6.0.2 now.

Am actively considering Google Chrome now.

It isn't Java. I uninstalled it, restarted FF, and still got some hangs.

Not as many, and not as often, but still happening. I've removed / disabled as much as I could and there is still some type of issue.

I would gladly revert back to FF version 5. Things got a loss worse since 6. I think a base piece of the browser got hosed during 6.

Same problem.. I even installed the FF 9 x64 and the problem is there too!!

I think something is wrong on FF code..

(system: 7-ultimate x64 )

I am a luddite when it comes to all things computerese.

I had no problems with Firefox then these most recent updates occurred and I am constantly getting the "not responding" hang-up. I have done many of the things suggested here on this forum - so far nothing works at all.

I agree that it looks to me as if Firefox has dropped the ball here. Is there any way that Firefox (?) will correct this glitch or do we just keep hoping that one of these ad-hock solutions will actually work sometime in the future.

I think I had this same problem on past versions as well... they went from 3 to 6 so fast, I doubt they had time to pick all the nits, so now I use Chrome for my personal browsing, and now only use FF to run GM scripts while I'm sleeping.

I hope we're not witnessing the slow death of this once-great browser.

BTW, I have completely uninstalled Java, disabled nearly everything else in plugins and extensions, don't have any option in my start menu for safe mode, yet just endured another 1-minute hang while typing this.

It all 'seemed' to start about the time the plugin-container.exe came about, though I do still have the problem even when that process isn't working.

For the past 2-3 weeks (probably since 6.0 came out), Firefox stalls for close to a minute every 10 to 15 minutes. This is totally unacceptable and makes FF worthless. I have been using FF since version 1, but if Mozilla doesn't respond to this post, I'm outta here....moving to Chrome (ugh!)

Problem may be solved....after trying everything (safe mode, remove extensions, etc) to no avail, I deleted my cache. Problem hasn't happened in the last 4 or 5 hours (was happening 4 or 5 times an hour before that!)

Keeping my fingers crossed...

I am on 6.0.2. I've gone through all the steps that others have. I've downgraded to 3.x, then up to 5 hoping it would help. It broke other things, alas. I then upgraded to 6.0.2 hoping that after all the uninstalling and reinstalling it would work. No such luck. 6.0.2 still freezes regularly. Mozilla dropped the ball and released 6 way too soon without proper testing. It is not usable. Mozilla please fix this mess. After all the years of using Firefox (since the first release) I find myself forced to move to Chrome just to be able to access the web without the constant annoyance of freezes. Lets hope it's temporary only.

Shutting down the Java Deployment Toolkit seemed to have worked in my office.. I Own a web development company with over 40 employ's and over 80 machines and seems to have solved the problem on 75% of my units.. the other 25% i give to software conflict and low powered out dated units..

Have had this problem for two or three weeks. Disabling/removing various add-ons (and java development toolkit) had no effect, see all the notes above.

Tried wawaka's solution right after it was suggested. Under "clear recent history ..." I deleted browsing & download history, cookies, cache, and active logins.

"Not responding" errors have stopped! However, now I can't log into some sites - specifically theawl.com and chicagotribune.com.

I will continue with FF and hope the login problems resolve in the next few weeks. I have been using Chrome off and on, it's slow!

Alas, with both disabling the Java Deployment Toolkit and with clearing history relief was only temporary. Freezes returned after a while. The fix needs to come from Mozilla, not from users clearing the history and disabling and re-enabling their plugins twice a day.

I had TWO freezes already on this page alone. Everything else works just fine.