SUMO community discussions

Firefox 4 top issues so far

  • 36 Replies
  • Last reply by scoobidiver
  1. John99
    John99 3665 posts
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    @W2PIO,

    My opinion of Firfox 4 is that it is good, but again its launch was spoilt by failing to advise potential users

    1. that many add-ons may not be compatible
    2. and failing to prominently provide pre-emptive advice about some of these common query subjects
      - provide the advice before the upgrade option, not midway through upgrading !

    I suppose the point of this thread is to collect together info useful in trying to assist users who have upgraded to Firefox 4. I myself started a recent thread one of my opinions being that the Beta versions of Firefox were being promoted too strongly without either warning users of possible shortcomings of Beta testing or advising the user that it may be worth creating a separate profile in order to be able to run a stable version and a Beta version in tandem.

    The advice I received was twofold, summarised as

    1. users are expected to use the one version and stick with it, even if it is a Beta
    2. this is not really the correct forum in which to resolve such a subject, I suspect you may receive similar advice:
    www.mozilla.com pages are run by marketing, not support, so you can either file a bug report, or bring it up on the Marketing mailing list.
    {original containing links)
    @W2PIO, My opinion of Firfox 4 is that it is good, but again its launch was spoilt by '''failing to advise potential users''' # that many add-ons may not be compatible #and failing to prominently provide pre-emptive advice about some of these common query subjects <br /> - provide the advice before the upgrade option, not midway through upgrading ! ---- I suppose the point of this thread is to collect together info useful in trying to assist users who have upgraded to Firefox 4. I myself started a recent [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forums/contributors/705210?last=11618 thread] one of my opinions being that the Beta versions of Firefox were being promoted too strongly without either warning users of possible shortcomings of Beta testing or advising the user that it may be worth creating a separate profile in order to be able to run a stable version and a Beta version in tandem. The advice I received was twofold, summarised as # users are expected to use the one version and stick with it, even if it is a Beta # this is not really the correct forum in which to resolve such a subject, I suspect you may receive similar advice: <blockquote>www.mozilla.com pages are run by marketing, not support, so you can either file a bug report, or bring it up on the Marketing mailing list. ----- [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forums/contributors/705210?last=11618&page=2#post-11614 {original containing links)] </blockquote>
  2. flybuddy
    flybuddy 1 post
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    I downloaded 4 yesterday and immediately noticed a huge slow down in most downloads (comcast user). Seems to constantly be running in background. It does start up faster and simple searches, etc do appear faster but overall it was way slow. Any vids would start and stop due to slow downloads. Went back to 3.6 and issues went away.

    I downloaded 4 yesterday and immediately noticed a huge slow down in most downloads (comcast user). Seems to constantly be running in background. It does start up faster and simple searches, etc do appear faster but overall it was way slow. Any vids would start and stop due to slow downloads. Went back to 3.6 and issues went away.
  3. scoobidiver
    scoobidiver 1275 posts
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    @flybuddy: this behaviour is specific to your setup. Please ask a question in the support forum to find a fix.

    @flybuddy: this behaviour is specific to your setup. Please [/kb/ask ask a question] in the support forum to find a fix.
  4. Danmo43
    Danmo43 1 post
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    So far all links I have found for Firefox 3.x.x point to 4.0. I hate the UI of this version. Period. I hate the UI of IE9 as well and will not install it. I have not installed Firefox 4.0 on my other machines and will not.

    At least give us the option to have a Classic UI so we can have what we are used to using. There is no reason at all to FORCE us to learn something new that, frankly, is seriously lacking in usability. Just because IE9 did it, doesn't mean you have to do it.

    So far all links I have found for Firefox 3.x.x point to 4.0. I hate the UI of this version. Period. I hate the UI of IE9 as well and will not install it. I have not installed Firefox 4.0 on my other machines and will not. At least give us the option to have a Classic UI so we can have what we are used to using. There is no reason at all to FORCE us to learn something new that, frankly, is seriously lacking in usability. Just because IE9 did it, doesn't mean you have to do it.
  5. ian54
    ian54 1 post
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    I have just updated Firefox to 4.0.1 and have to say that after years of using Firefox I'm going to be switching browsers. Half of my plugins don't work any more, the layout has completely changed including the options on right click making the whole experience really confusing. Sorry chaps but you've blown it for me!

    I have just updated Firefox to 4.0.1 and have to say that after years of using Firefox I'm going to be switching browsers. Half of my plugins don't work any more, the layout has completely changed including the options on right click making the whole experience really confusing. Sorry chaps but you've blown it for me!
  6. Chris Ilias
    Chris Ilias 2447 posts
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    Hi Danmo43 and ian54
    I think you may have mistaken this forum as a place to contact Firefox developers. It is not. This forum is for discussion about contributing to support.mozilla.com, not Firefox itself.

    If you have a problem with Firefox that you need help with, the best place to ask is in the support forum at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/new

    If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, go to the Help menu in Firefox 4 and select Submit Feedback

    Hi Danmo43 and ian54<br/> I think you may have mistaken this forum as a place to contact Firefox developers. It is not. This forum is for discussion about contributing to support.mozilla.com, not Firefox itself. If you have a problem with Firefox that you need help with, the best place to ask is in the support forum at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/new If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, go to the '''Help''' menu in Firefox 4 and select '''Submit Feedback'''
  7. Chris Ilias
    Chris Ilias 2447 posts
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    Due to the name of this discussion, it seems to be a magnet for users wanting to report their issues. The last on-topic post was a month ago, so perhaps it would be best to lock this thread.

    Due to the name of this discussion, it seems to be a magnet for users wanting to report their issues. The last on-topic post was a month ago, so perhaps it would be best to lock this thread.
  8. John99
    John99 3665 posts
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    • Developers seem to agree with that memory problems are being missed
      Leak reports triage, May 24, 2011
    • With way over 5000 sumo votes how did memory issues and plugin container problems get missed ?
    • Will they appear in Firefox 5 I wonder, and if not in the original top 4 or 7 where were they ?
    • Would it be worth considering modifying either of the KB articles to take into account confirmed bugs.

    Some of the threads are, with current vote numbers 

    *  1241 Firefow 4 seems to have a memory leak.
*    142 Firefox 4 is unusable due to excessive Memory usage - when is the fix?

    Plugin Container I did not look back at the detailed metrics but I note currently it is the top visited KB article, and that includes a high vote count thread. Dating back to firefox 3.6 A troublesome subject generally maybe but are genuine reports of new problems lost in such noise ?

    * Developers seem to agree with that memory problems are being missed <br/> [http://blog.mozilla.com/nnethercote/2011/05/24/leak-reports-triage-may-24-2011-2/ Leak reports triage, May 24, 2011] * With way over 5000 sumo votes how did memory issues and plugin container problems get missed ? * Will they appear in Firefox 5 I wonder, and if not in the original top 4 or 7 where were they ? * Would it be worth considering modifying either of the KB articles to take into account confirmed bugs. Some of the threads are, with current vote numbers * 1241 [/questions/799397 Firefow 4 seems to have a memory leak.] * 142 [/questions/811150 Firefox 4 is unusable due to excessive Memory usage - when is the fix?] * (there is also an older one with [/questions/669659 >1000 votes] ) '''Plugin Container''' I did not look back at the detailed metrics but I note currently it is the top visited KB article, and that includes a high vote count thread. Dating back to firefox 3.6 A troublesome subject generally maybe but are genuine reports of new problems lost in such noise ? * 4555 [/questions/713600 Plugin-container.exe makes browsing slow: how 2 solve?] * [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=633427 bug 633427] launching multiple plugincontainer instances even whilst pluggins are disabled, a bug confirmed, assigned, and affecting still firefox 5
  9. Michael Verdi
    Michael Verdi 1755 posts
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    John, The memory leak thing has been an issue forever. It's actually much better in Firefox 4. Also, I've come across MANY people who just don't understand how much memory it takes to run a window full of tabs. For 5 tabs any browser is going to use 300MB - 500MB and lots of people think this is a sign of a memory leak. Another thing that doesn't help is that Chrome splits it memory use into separate process and most people just see the main chrome process using 75MB or something. They don't realize that when you add them all up, they very often add up to way more than what Firefox is using. Examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/verdi/5558013175 and http://www.flickr.com/photos/verdi/5558132603 . The Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix article gets relatively few views - about 3000 in the month of April.

    I've been talking with UX and Dev about the plugin crash reports article. When a flash video crashes you are given two choices - "Submit crash report" and "?" - neither of which fix your problem. I think the high amount of views on this article (which have gone down considerably (>50%) since the release of Fx 4 ) is at least partially due to this. This is why I changed the article to say right up front that you want to reload the page. Hopefully we can get this message into the primary UI.

    These issues are not new to Firefox 4 - they've had articles since Firefox 3.6 - we didn't miss them. Each issue has improved with Firefox 4. Each article has relevant information for each problem.

    John, The memory leak thing has been an issue forever. It's actually much better in Firefox 4. Also, I've come across MANY people who just don't understand how much memory it takes to run a window full of tabs. For 5 tabs any browser is going to use 300MB - 500MB and lots of people think this is a sign of a memory leak. Another thing that doesn't help is that Chrome splits it memory use into separate process and most people just see the main chrome process using 75MB or something. They don't realize that when you add them all up, they very often add up to way more than what Firefox is using. Examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/verdi/5558013175 and http://www.flickr.com/photos/verdi/5558132603 . The [[High memory usage]] article gets relatively few views - about 3000 in the month of April. I've been talking with UX and Dev about the plugin crash reports article. When a flash video crashes you are given two choices - "Submit crash report" and "?" - neither of which fix your problem. I think the high amount of views on this article (which have gone down considerably (>50%) since the release of Fx 4 ) is at least partially due to this. This is why I changed the article to say right up front that you want to reload the page. Hopefully we can get this message into the primary UI. These issues are not new to Firefox 4 - they've had articles since Firefox 3.6 - we didn't miss them. Each issue has improved with Firefox 4. Each article has relevant information for each problem.
  10. John99
    John99 3665 posts
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    Ok, thanks for the reply but maybe the High Memory article could be improved. One reason for its low number of views may be that it has a reputation of being not much use. Separate subject I will see if anyone is interested in updating it.

    Verdi said

    The memory leak thing has been an issue forever. It's actually much better in Firefox 4. Also, I've come across MANY people who just don't understand how much memory it takes to run a window full of tabs. For 5 tabs any browser is going to use 300MB - 500MB and lots of people think this is a sign of a memory leak. ... These issues are not new to Firefox 4 - they've had articles since Firefox 3.6 - we didn't miss them.

    The above information as a guideline may be a useful addition to the article to educate users. It may be viewed a lot more often if it is thought to be helpful.

    Ok, thanks for the reply but maybe the High Memory article could be improved. One reason for its low number of views may be that it has a reputation of being not much use. Separate subject I will see if anyone is interested in updating it. ''Verdi [[#post-36313|said]]'' <blockquote> The memory leak thing has been an issue forever. It's actually much better in Firefox 4. Also, I've come across MANY people who just don't understand how much memory it takes to run a window full of tabs. For 5 tabs any browser is going to use 300MB - 500MB and lots of people think this is a sign of a memory leak. ... These issues are not new to Firefox 4 - they've had articles since Firefox 3.6 - we didn't miss them. </blockquote> The above information as a guideline may be a useful addition to the article to educate users. It may be viewed a lot more often if it is thought to be helpful.
  11. Kensie
    Kensie 666 posts
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    I'm having memory problems in Fx4 related to javascript, but I didn't notice them until after release because the problem seems to be caused by the tabs I leave open when I'm reading twitter (eg I never end up on stumbleupon except from a twitter link). Because I use an add-on (echofon) to read twitter I was always using it in release versions. The problems I've been having are fixed in nightlies, but not on Aurora last I checked. I know it's related to javascript because disabling it "solves" the problem. I'm not sure if there's any about:config options that would help or if it's a matter of waiting for the next versions.

    I'm having memory problems in Fx4 related to javascript, but I didn't notice them until after release because the problem seems to be caused by the tabs I leave open when I'm reading twitter (eg I never end up on stumbleupon except from a twitter link). Because I use an add-on (echofon) to read twitter I was always using it in release versions. The problems I've been having are fixed in nightlies, but not on Aurora last I checked. I know it's related to javascript because disabling it "solves" the problem. I'm not sure if there's any about:config options that would help or if it's a matter of waiting for the next versions.
  12. Michael Verdi
    Michael Verdi 1755 posts
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    Lucy said

    I'm having memory problems in Fx4 related to javascript

    Like John said, this is good info for an update to the high memory use article. I always tell people you have to think of Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, etc. as whole programs (like Firefox) and not just a website.

    ''Lucy [[#post-36397|said]]'' <blockquote> I'm having memory problems in Fx4 related to javascript </blockquote> Like John said, this is good info for an update to the high memory use article. I always tell people you have to think of Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, etc. as whole programs (like Firefox) and not just a website.
  13. John99
    John99 3665 posts
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    Lucy,

    My opinion, which may be wrong, is that I suspect there are two main possibilities

    1. the specific problem you are seeing has been solved,
      whether or not there is a bugzilla bug, about it, some time between Fx5 & Fx6, and if so you may see the fix in Fx5 at some time
    2. there are differences between the two separate installations, or your use of them,
      if that is that case you could see your memory problem reappear even in Fx6
    1. in the first case you just need to be patient,
      or maybe use the nightly for what would be the problematic,
      but an Aurora Beta or Release installation for all other work
    2. in the second scenario it would be worth you investigating,
    • have you done that already ? to any extent
    • and considering filing a Bug
      unfortunately the effort may be wasted if it turns out to be a duplicated bug, or even something already fixed

    Hmm would it not be better if a user could look at high memory usage get authoritative advice/suggestions and make an informed decision as what to do, that is why I think it could be improved and started the high memory usage KB thread

    Lucy, My opinion, which may be wrong, is that I suspect there are two main possibilities # the specific problem you are seeing has been solved, <br/>whether or not there is a bugzilla bug, about it, some time between Fx5 & Fx6, and if so you may see the fix in Fx5 at some time # there are differences between the two separate installations, or your use of them, <br/> if that is that case you could see your memory problem reappear even in Fx6 #in the first case you just need to be patient, <br/> or maybe use the nightly for what would be the problematic, <br/>but an Aurora Beta or Release installation for all other work # in the second scenario it would be worth you investigating, * have you done that already ? to any extent * and considering filing a Bug <br/> unfortunately the effort may be wasted if it turns out to be a duplicated bug, or even something already fixed Hmm would it not be better if a user could look at [[high memory usage]] get authoritative advice/suggestions and make an informed decision as what to do, that is why I think it could be improved and started the [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forums/knowledge-base-articles/706489 high memory usage KB thread]
  14. Kensie
    Kensie 666 posts
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    @John,

    I tested using the same profile, it's fixed in nightlies, but not Aurora so it seems the fix will come with Fx6.

    @Verdi,

    I'm not sure what info would be helpful to add to the article as I don't have any specific bug to point to, nor a workaround, and we don't want end users using nightlies.

    @John, I tested using the same profile, it's fixed in nightlies, but not Aurora so it seems the fix will come with Fx6. @Verdi, I'm not sure what info would be helpful to add to the article as I don't have any specific bug to point to, nor a workaround, and we don't want end users using nightlies.
  15. John99
    John99 3665 posts
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    Lucy said

    I'm not sure what info would be helpful to add to the article as I don't have any specific bug to point to, nor a workaround, and we don't want end users using nightlies.

    I am thinking something like troubleshooting advice being modified according to user group. Articles about say High Memory use or crashes could be written with graded troubleshooting advice, for an aurora user trying a nightly may be an option.

    Some KB articles (including the Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix KB being discussed) have been based on Mozillazine articles, why not link sections directly to such articles or MDN blogs or docs, it would be inline with the policy of reducing the number of KB articles. Sections linked out do not produce an overhead in localization updates.

    An example of the sort of thing you could write 


    * Consider another version of Firefox developers are continually improving Firefox as explained above, but sometimes there are unexpected side effects of any change, that affect a minority of users 

**{for fx >=R } if your memory problem is apparently only in the latest version, you could temporarily revert to Firefox n-1  as explained in installing a previous version of firefox
** {for fx=R } as a user of Firefox n you could consider trying Firefox n+1Beta, the many improvements in that may help your memory problem you can switch between versions with the Firefox Button

    **{for fx>>R} as an advanced user, you may be interested in using the more advanced features like about:memory in helping to track down your problem ... [could link to a blog for instance, or a locked? contributors thread with a list of current blogs or threads]
    ''Lucy [[#post-36591|said]]'' <blockquote> I'm not sure what info would be helpful to add to the article as I don't have any specific bug to point to, nor a workaround, and we don't want end users using nightlies. </blockquote> I am thinking something like troubleshooting advice being modified according to user group. Articles about say High Memory use or crashes could be written with graded troubleshooting advice, for an aurora user trying a nightly may be an option. Some KB articles (including the [[High memory usage]] KB being discussed) have been based on Mozillazine articles, why not link sections directly to such articles or MDN blogs or docs, it would be inline with the policy of reducing the number of KB articles. Sections linked out do not produce an overhead in localization updates. An example of the sort of thing you could write * '''''Consider another version of Firefox''''' developers are continually improving Firefox as explained above, but sometimes there are unexpected side effects of any change, that affect a minority of users **''{for fx >=R }'' if your memory problem is apparently only in the latest version, you could temporarily revert to Firefox n-1 as explained in [[installing a previous version of firefox]] ** ''{for fx=R }'' as a user of Firefox n you could consider trying Firefox n+1Beta, the many improvements in that may help your memory problem you can switch between versions with the [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/how-do-i-switch-update-channels#os=win&browser=fx4 Firefox Button] **''{for fx>>R}'' as an advanced user, you may be interested in using the more advanced features like [http://kb.mozillazine.org/About_protocol_links about]:[http://blog.mozilla.com/nnethercote/2011/05/23/a-better-aboutmemory-stage-1-75/ memory] in helping to track down your problem ... [could link to a blog for instance, or a locked? contributors [/forums/knowledge-base-articles/706489 thread] with a list of current blogs or threads]
  16. Tempest
    Tempest 1 post
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    Ever since i got 4.0.1 some of my images on different websites are distorted or it more looked like corrupted images...i need to clear my Firefox history everytime to fix it

    Ever since i got 4.0.1 some of my images on different websites are distorted or it more looked like corrupted images...i need to clear my Firefox history everytime to fix it
  17. scoobidiver
    scoobidiver 1275 posts
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    @Tempest. This thread is to discuss how to update KB articles for top issues in Firefox 4.0. For your specific problem, use: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/new

    @Tempest. This thread is to discuss how to update KB articles for top issues in Firefox 4.0. For your specific problem, use: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/new
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