Firefox

[leone]

Nah, I have Vista.

And it sure does!

 

[goodasgold]

I also found this:

Running Firefox on Windows in Compatibility mode has been known to cause high CPU usage. To stop Windows from running Firefox in Compatibility mode:

1. Find the firefox.exe file. Typically, this file is located here:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
2. Right-click the Firefox icon, and select Properties to open the Mozilla Firefox Properties window.
3. Select the Compatibility tab, and make sure Run this program in compatibility mode for: is deselected.

and this:

Newer versions of Windows utilize a mechanism to accelerate the boot process. On Windows XP and Vista systems, the operating system must load many individual pieces of files during the boot-up process for the operating system and applications. Windows maintains a record of the pieces that are loaded during the boot process in a folder. Subsequent rebooting can use this trace to identify files that would be more efficient to load entirely at one time, instead of loading individual pieces across multiple reads of the hard disk. This prefetch mechanism can accelerate the overall performance of the computer.

However, the method of deciding which files to load may not be efficient for Firefox and can require significant CPU resources. You may experience faster performance by removing prefetch files on Windows XP or Windows Vista systems.

The prefetch files are stored here:
C:\Windows\Prefetch\

Delete any filename beginning with: FIREFOX

I got those from here:

FF CPU usage

 

[leone]

The Compatibility was already deselected.

I found that Prefetch file and it's created date is close to 2 years ago. If I had it this long, why didn't it start causing problems earlier?

 

[goodasgold]

Creation date and modified date should be different. It was probably 'modified' recently. At least is should have been. Mine was modified when I updated to the latest FF.

Sometimes uninstalling software and re-installing helps with glitches that are occurring. I've had to do this before with other software. Not with FF though. Could be the same with Firefox. May the force be with you on this problem.

 

[farbeyond]

A new update came out for Firefox this morning which may help you with your problem.

 

[a_iver]

Yeah I was using it for a while. Mine was slow because of all those stored Urls in the address bar.. I think that's what it was. There's ahack to fix it, but I forget how to get there.

 

[leone]

Creation date and modified date should be different. It was probably 'modified' recently. At least is should have been. Mine was modified when I updated to the latest FF.

Yeah, I know but would it start causing problems even if I've have it so long in my files?

I joined the dark side and started using IE again. h34r:

 

[goodasgold]

Yeah, I know but would it start causing problems even if I've have it so long in my files?

According to the Firefox knowledge base article it could. At least for some FF users it has. For some long time users of FF it started to cause glitches after it was modified. Why did it do this? I'm not sure. I haven't come across anyone as of yet who knows why exactly.

The prefetch automatically recreates itself once you restart firefox with a new create date and modified date.

But this prefetch file problem has only happened to a small percentage of FF users. Chances are it won't fix your FF CPU problem. But it won't harm your computer or FF to try.

 

[leone]

I feel like I'm gonna jinx it by saying this but it seems to have stopped, for now at least. What's interesting is that I didn't do anything (no re-DLing FF, upgrading or prefetch deleting).

 

[goodasgold]

It must have known you were using IE and became jealous.

 

[leone]

:lol: I started thinking that too.