Firefox using too much processor power

MikeH

MikeH

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I hope this is in the correct forum.
My wife's favourite "can't do without" is our trusty Acer Aspire 2026WLMi laptop. Since upgraging from Win XP to Win 7, we find that Firefox is running quite slow compared to when XP was installed. Under Task Manager>Processes Firefox seems to be using between 80 to 100% CPU and around 300,000 to 400,000K of RAM. I've done the pipelining adjustment fix, and disabled all the plug-ins/extensions except Flash, as she uses the laptop mainly for Daily Mail Online and Facebook. The laptop specs are: Intel Pentium M 755 2.0GHz, 400MHz, 2MB L2 cache, and 2GB of RAM. Surely this is adequate to run Firefox under Win 7?
Can anyone recommend any other tweaks I can undertake to speed Firefox up a little.
I installed Safari for a while but that turned out to be using the same amount of resources as Firefox.
Thanks.
 
If she is using it for Facebook and the Daily Mail on line and surfing the web personally would go for Linux Mint Cinnamon 32bit. I had been using Windows 10 until December 2015 and got with the dater mining with Microsoft and found the transition very easy. I would dial boot to start with just so she could go back to Windows 7 if she wanted though. I am a elderly old man who was brought up on Windows XP through to Windows 10 so if I can do it any one can do it. The advantage the download is free but you can buy a disc from the Linux shop for about £6 or £7 and there is plenty of help from us and the Linux Mint on line. Linux Mint Cinnamon comes with all the software any one could wish for, good luck with ever she wants to do.
:thumb:
 
While Linux is an option, quite drastic if you ask me, there are several other options.

http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Firefox-from-Consuming-CPU-Cycles

You could 'try' another browser, like Chrome that doesn't use Flash in the conventional way and will not support Flash by the end of 2016 (in my book, Flash is a Virus) ... the 'spec' of the laptop is also a factor, it's a wee bit long in the tooth.

On reflection, Linux may be a good 'fix' for you. :)
 
Right, first to Muckshifter: Will check out the wiki info and see what happens. I've recently read that lately Chrome is becoming slower than Firefox, which if so, it won't be a good idea. Hopefully, Flash will not be needed to watch videos on Facebook and Daily Mail Online soon - I have heard that it's being phased out. Regarding the spec, isn't a 2.0GHz CPU still rated as OK for the more modern OS's? Is it the amount of RAM that can be installed in the laptop the weakness here?
To Bootneck 02: We had Ubuntu installed before Win 7, but the Linux problem of not supprting Flash was the problem my wife encountered when trying to open certain embedded videos on these sites. Was certainly quick though.... As mentioned above, hopefully Flash will be phased out and maybe we can go back to Linux again. I had to get Ubuntu installed by others as I'm not good at the old command line thing.
I'm an XP fan, and after upgrading my PC to 32-bit Win 7 recently, I don't like it. I got an AMD Athlon II x4 645 CPU 3.1GHz with 4GB of RAM and I'm finding that some of my much needed software doesn't run properly, like Photoshop CS4 is quite slow and when moving objects with the cursor, the object's movements are about 2 seconds behind. My mouse is jittery for about 4 seconds every time I try to use it. There's other things I don't like too. Am seriously thinking of re-installing Win XP.......Regarding Win 10, have you seen this.......http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/21/12246266/france-microsoft-privacy-windows-10-cnil
Thanks both for your advice.
Mike
 
MikeH said:
Is it the amount of RAM that can be installed in the laptop the weakness here?
Click to expand...

yep, however, it is fine for general use, it's just that some browsers, Firefox/Chrome are no exception, tend to eat up your ram like there is no tomorrow and while 2MB will run the OS, opening up even one web site, especially one that uses a lot of graphics, will inevitably cause a bottleneck. What then tends to happen is the OS will try to use a 'swap file' on the hard drive to act as additional ram. You probably got a slow HD also.

Yes, Flash is being phased out. Not soon enough IMHO.

Not a lot you can do, maybe try MS's new Edge Browser, it hasn't been bloated out, yet.

As for Win 10, we use Spybot Anti-Beacon, it turns off MS's phone home antics. :)
 
Thanks for replies. Linked to this, I have another problem concerning Pale Moon browser that I've started on a new thread.
 
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