Flash sucks. Gotta get the Flash Block plug in.

I've had good results so far within Ubuntu, and haven't noticed the memory problems you observe. My only complaint is about the location bar autocomplete, which is great except that it seems determined to suggest first your more (ahem) embarrassing bookmarks.

Here's a solution that worked for me: remove Flash and use the new Flash 10 beta

As documented here:
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9978341-2.html?tag=nl.e501

Flash really is a problem--it's sad to see so much content going that way--particularly when Flash or motion isn't necessary. But the above trick helped me.

I run both flashblock and adblock+ (because my computer is somewhat old and excess flash can bring it to its knees, especially when it is in ads and you have several open tabs all full of flash ads).

On advantage of flashblock is that you can never get rickrolled. Youtube does not automaticall start playing when you open a link there. This also means you can open several Youtube links in a row and they won't all play at the same time.

My Firefox 3.0 browser has been crashing occasionally, which is a nuisance. On the other hand, I'd rather have the browser crash than slow down to a crawl, which it was doing before (probably due to the memory leakage problem you noted).

Also, some of my old plug-ins disappeared when I upgraded, and I miss those.

I second the Flash 10 beta trick.

Flash is not really a problem, although it is possible for people to create Flash content that hoses things down. If you block Flash you won't be able to play anything on Youtube or google video -- pretty much a must have for any political blog surfer these days.

A bigger culprit is tall the tricky Javascript content that is intended to bring up popups and the like. talkingpointsmemo.com for a while had Javascript that was horrific and would lock up the browser for 40 seconds until it came up with a dialog box letting you kill the Javascript.

Firefox 3 at some point eats 100% of my CPU. Left unchecked it cause my machine to overheat and shut down (i.e it turns itself off).

That machine has XP pro. I have no problem running on Vista machine or Mac OSX.

It could be flash, but I am suspicious of McAfee's on demand virus scanning module(?) mcods.exe which always seems to be very active when this happens.

My laptop, most of the time, takes up to 60 seconds to come out of sleep mode...but only if Firefox is running. This has been true since I got it two years ago. (It's a Levnovo running XP.)

I use the Flash-block add-on from the Mozilla site Kevin as I couldnt stand those Flash ads one couldnt block thru the pop-up menu.

You can find the Flash Block Here; http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

seems like just yesterday that we were at FF .9 or whatever. Great to see that it's really stuck.

The tabs open slightly faster in 3.0 and the link dropdown is nicer by default. whatever. it's still way better than IE 7.

To block Javascripts try this one; http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

Oops pasted flash block again the noscript is HERE:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722

I've been having problems like you mentioned, but thought they might have been related to the RoboForm plugin. I had done an upgrade from Firefox 2.x to 3.0, and some discussions I've found indicated that might have been the problem. Since doing a complete uninstall (backing up my bookmarks first) and then a fresh install, I've had fewer problems. I'll probably look at installing FlashBlock as well, though.

The dreaded Firefox memory leak. They keep trying to say it's figments of our imaginations, but keep offering fixes for it:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Memory_Leak

And a hack:

http://internetducttape.com/2006/12/02/how-to-fix-the-firefox-memory-leak-firefox-hack/

Well, there are many more configuration things one can use. Type about:config in the address field and hit enter. I find that the prefetch slows things down so I disabled it. You can also play with the number of network connections used to speed up [or slow down if you arent careful! =p ] Firefox.

When I first got Firefox 3 beta, I was having similar issues - at certain times the browser would just freeze up completely for 10 or 15 seconds and the CPU would max out. I did some googling on the Ubuntu forums and someone recommended unchecking a couple boxes in the security settings about checking for suspected attack sites.

I did that, and there was joy in the world again.

IE still runs better.

FF is still guaranteed to freeze or crash every half hour. I still use it primarily anyway because I'm used to it's layout now and the tabs aren't as well laid out in IE..

Flashblock works very well for me. Does it still work with FF3?

When I follow a link in the middle of a blog, read it, and then click the back-arrow, I should be returned to the place on the blog where I left it. Firefox 3 has been taking me back to the top of the page, necessitating a scroll-down.

IE still runs better. -Dood

Thats not been my experience as I have spent hours repairing peoples computers because of IE's security holes which allow the browser to be hijacked thru BHO's and the active x component. The IE browser and the whole operating becomes very sluggish. I wont even get into the .dat file found in the history and cookie folders. IE is also entertwined significantly with explorer and therefore the OS. Anyone that doesnt think so can open Explorer [double click my computer and they type google.com and hit enter] and enter an internet address. Its not even necessary to open the IE browser thru the desktop icon.

Henderstock you can place the arrow [cursor] over the link you want to view, then right click and select open link in new tab. This way you wont have to scroll to where you left off. =)

Many of these issues still persist for me as well, but I have a new one too - video problems. Sometimes youtube stuff won't run unless I close the browser and restart it, and some stuff, like CNN's video site just lock it up.

Some pages just aren't programmed to view in Firefox correctly. Get the "View in IE" add on and it will open up a stubborn window in explorer and it will probably run the right way.

Flash. Oy vey iz mir mit dem Flash mishigas already!

Flash absolutely sucks. I hate all the flash ads that come up on all the news web pages, especially the ones with sound. Christ, how annoying.

One thing that does freeze up Firefox for me is opening a PDF link. It doesn't do it all the time, but more often than not. My work around is to use IE just to pull up PDF links. But I won't surf with IE, its too prone to malicious web page hacks.

I haven't had any problems with FF3 in several weeks of use. I do consider flash block an essential add-on at this point -- for anyone who doesn't know flash block, it replaces flash content with an icon you can click to allow the video/add/whatever to run. The key is that you control when and what runs.

Flash sucks, but that's not what I've found locked up Firefox 2 or 3. I believe that instead of having one thread for the GUI and rendering for each tab, that there is only one thread for the gui and rendering that all tabs share. So if one tab gets screwed waiting for some piece of data it needs to render properly, all tabs wait.

That's what I've been told at any rate and I was told that that was hard to fix and wasn't going to be fixed in 3.

If it's true, what a spectacularly stupid design.

I've used both FF and Opera for XP and Ubuntu and prefer Opera for both OS's. Only problem is there is no flash plugin for Opera on Ubuntu.

I've been using FF3 for months from the early beta stages. Must be the sites you visit. Hasn't frozen up on me at all. Make sure you grab the latest Flash plugin and version of Acrobat from Adobe. Disable any plugins, then re-enable one by one, see if that helps at all. If you're still having trouble, try creating a new profile and see if that fixes it. I've kept FF3 open with dozens of tabs for weeks - no problems. But YMMV

A new "feature" which drives me to distraction in FF3 is the address window. Under FF2, typing "wash" pulled up washingtonmonthly.com at the top of the list. And it was the main page. Now typing the same yields McClatchy.com's Washington Bureau and a bunch of other stuff that happens to have "Washington" in its description. I have no idea how to get it to sort only on the URL and not the description.

Kevin, folks: you guys and gals should know that Microsoft deliberately arranges for some competitor's programs to flub up, seriously. That may have something to do with FF problems.

BTW poor John McCain wouldn't know how to run Firefox anyway. When asked "PC or Mac", He said, "I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get." (All the others asked picked one or the other.) Ahem, Kevin, it's about time you posted something about this. It's about *him* and his competency in the modern world, not an indirect mean-sounding old saw about his wife stealing narcotic pills back in the 90s.

Daryl, I agree completely. I used to type "wash" to get to the last thread I visited here. Now I type:

"wash" and I get "naked nannies washing!" -- I have no idea how that happens.

I type: "prospect" hoping to get to tapped and I get "prospective students hop on the bang bus!" -- again, no idea how that comes up on my screen, especially at work. Very embarrassing.

I type: "dailykos" and I get "Daily Shemale Porn!" really bizarre since I am not even sure what a shemale is.

So yeah, the address bar is a big old nuisance.

I had the same problem until I increased the cache size to 200 meg. I have no idea why Firefox needs so much more than Netscape or IE but my problems went away when I did that.

Shemale? hop on the bang bus? FF is truly part of the liberal Obamasharia conspiracy. Any day now we'll get locked up just because.

Ubuntu hardy heron comes with Firefox 3 standard. It seems to solve a lot of the problems associated with Firefox 2 but sometimes Flash videos won't let go when you link away. When that happens you have to shut down Firefox completely. The problem isn't as bad as it was with Firefox 2. I suspect a good Q&A team could solve the problem in a couple of days. I guess Sun doesn't have any resources to throw at its Flash player.

From the comments on this thread it seems a fair number of political junkies have sworn off Microsoft and Apple.

I have a question. How many of you are using Linux?

By the way the idea that a fighter pilot wouldn't take the time to learn how his computer works is simply scary. I have a 90 year old partner, a former pilot, who still cruises the web and handles email all the day. All the pilot types like to be in control and they really love learning how new toys work. Just what kind of pilot was John McCain anyway.

Ron: Just what kind of pilot was John McCain anyway.

A while back, someone here aid that he downed enough US aircraft to be an ace in the North Vietnamese AF.

Now excuse me. I must go look for the naked nannies. I'm a big cleanliness buff.

someone here said

Dood, you're effing deluded. IE 7 on a PC is a tortoise.

Neil B.: I think Kev's on a Mac, so trot your conspiracy theory horse back in the barn.

By the way the idea that a fighter pilot wouldn't take the time to learn how his computer works is simply scary.

He probably finds the task of crashing a browser to be rather pedestrian compared to all of the planes he finished off.

Maxthon starts up twice as fast, all the cool features are built-in not plugins that break every upgrade, and it's much slicker than Ffox, as well as more compatible. Give it a whirl.

[McCain]...finds the task of crashing a browser to be rather pedestrian compared to all of the planes...

Winner of the thread.

Maxthon sits on IE. The whole idea of using Firefox is to get away from the IE engine.

"FF is still guaranteed to freeze or crash every half hour."

...not really, from my experience. I'm finding FF3 to be more stable than FF2, which would occasionally hang when I opened up lots of tabs. Your computer has some issues.

Flash blocker has worked wonders for me as others have mentioned. I love FF 3; I scrupulously avoid the MS products which are even more buggy.

By the way the idea that a fighter pilot wouldn't take the time to learn how his computer works is simply scary

Pilots dont have time or the need to understand the OS and the programming behind it. They want it to work and if it doesnt work, its useless. A pilot is trained to use backup instruments, not to fiddle around, they cant pull out and swap gages nor even access the E&E bay, nor do they carry voltmeters ans the complicated equipment to troubleshoot problems in flight. Whats scary is that people want them to ignore flying the plane and concentrating on a problem they cant fix in flight. Why the crash of a plane in the everglades was because the pilots were focused on a light and ignored the altimeter which was working correctly.

I've been running Firefox 3 since RC 1 with no problems at all; of course I've been using the Macintosh version, which has become much more Maclike with recent releases. The Adblock, Flashblock and NoScript extensions are must haves to tame unruly pages. PDF Download will allow you more latitude in handling Pdf files. I would also suggest that you add all the memory your machine will take and get minimum 6 mps DSL. Most of the complaints about Firefox seem to come from users with older machines not designed to handle the proliferation of memory grabbing animations and video online.

Xofis, to go past Emperor Joshua Norton :), Maxthon is also... ahem... China-based, according to Wiki.

So, how do I:
A. Get reassurance it won't turn into a piece of crap in six months?
B. Get protection against it, in case it turns out to actually be Chinese government spyware? (And, I'm only being halfway facetious with that second question.)

I think I'll pass.

Jet

I have known a lot of pilots and every one of them thinks he is a technical god. Of course many of them are pretty good with toys. The academy pilots all started out studying engineering. Of course, most of them graduated with business degrees, but they started out to be engineers.

You are right about the flight crew who went down in the everglades, but you will admit that cockpit was filled with pilots. Three as I recall.

Most of the pilots I know spend their weekends tinkering with their toys.

Most of the pilots I know spend their weekends tinkering with their toys.
Posted by: Ron Byers

Yes, I was married once. =)

Like someone suggested: download the latest flash or get the 10beta.

Another thing that I'm finding helps with Flash is, to right click in a flash window, to get to the Flash "settings" and increase the disk memory to 10MB...unfortunately it seems to revert even when clicking "don't ask again". At least this works fine when watching longer clips and avoiding the dreaded stopping in the middle of the video.

I dont doubt that you know pilots Ron, or that they tinker. What I do know and have actually done is replace and test the instruments. These tools are not available on the flight deck. My job, for one, was to replace and rig, test, the flight control systems on large jet aircraft. I know the systems. Its physically impossible for a pilot to 'fix' a problem from the cockpit no matter how many toys he might play with on his time off. Its true that a pilot can shut off systems or valves, but that does not 'fix' the system it gives the pilot an option.

Using all available options to ones advantage and keeping calm is the mark of a great pilot. Trying to fix problems in flight, arguing over its operation/programming is not. Redundancy redundancy redundancy.

Jet,

You'll find there is literally nothing on this planet that Ron Byers is not an expert on. The guy is such a god, it's always amusing to watch him and Swan and Socratic Godfly duke it out over who is the biggest douchebag.

Does Ron know pilots? Yes, pilot lights. Does he know women? Yes, and he's got the stacks and stacks of magazines in his closet to prove it.

Instead of flashblock, I use NoScript, a Firefox add-on.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722

I like it better as it blocks all scripts. The only hassle is getting your high-use sites approved, but it's nice to have all those videos blocked, and all you have to do is click on one if you want to see it.

I also use AdBlock Plus. It's great.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

I LOVE not having ads on pages. I don't even notice their absence anymore, until I sit down at someone else's computer.

Ugh.

Kevin was the original inspiration for my move to Firefox, back in the version 1.* days. I was looking forward to FF3. Sorely disappointed. Installed, hung up. Fiddled with Java, NoScript, Flashblock. Removed other extensions, etc. Messed around with profile manager. Uninstalled by totally removing everying from earlier versions. Reinstalled. Long story short - went to Microsoft, downloaded XP service pack 3, downloaded Internet Explorer 7, then uninstalled FF3 again and reinstalled. Am using IE7 at the moment. Fine kettle of fish.

Hubris

I am just a fat old man who pays attention. I am not an expert on anything.

I do know a lot of pilots including my brother, my nieces husband, my uncle, my cousin, my flight instructors, a lot of guys I used to hang out with when I wasn't an old man, my partner and myself. Tinkers all.

While a lot of people here are experts on something, I seriously doubt they post on their subject very often. When they do it shines through. The rest of us are just people talking over the water cooler. That is the beauty of Washington Monthly.

Oh, as to the stack of magazines in the closet, two comments. First, I am married, and have a 19 year old daughter, so I freely admit I don't know a thing about women. Second, in the world of the internet do they still publish the kind of magazines men stack in their closet? I will concede that you are the expert there.

Finally, who would you rather have as your pilot. A person who religiously and carefully preflights her aircraft and has enough technical understand to spot something out of the ordinary or some bold guy who merely jumps in to an unexamined hunk of metal, starts the engine and talks off. Flying an airplane ain't like driving a car. You can't pull over to the side of the road if you run out of gas or blow a tire.

There's a firefox add-on called Ad Block Plus that blocks all of those Flash ads. Pages load faster and look cleaner and Firefox freezes far less often. It can be disabled with a single click and the page reloaded if you want to see the ads.

Shemale? hop on the bang bus? FF is truly part of the liberal Obamasharia conspiracy. Any day now we'll get locked up just because.
-sal

Obamasharia? Sounds like a song by The Knack!

I still have the most recent, and very last, version of Netscape (9.1), and see so reason to change for now. Netscape was the browser I started with when I first went on line in 1998, and it's like an old shoe. Other browsers just don't "feel" right.

I suppose I'll have to switch to Firefox when the rest of the internet moves on and renders my browser unusable, but for now, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I had the same problem with Flash in Netscape 8 (Wordpress blogs in particular would render my computer helpless), but Version 9 has given me no problems.

I'm so glad to know what has been causing this issue. Firefox hangs up so badly that even Force Quit fails - then Finder locks up. It's truly more than a mere nuisance.

CFS --off to implement the suggested fixes. Thanks.

Can Firefox 3.0 be downloaded and run at the same time as Firefox 2.x? I'd like to try them side by side, before overwriting the 2.x version.

I've just upgraded to a new XP Pro Dell computer, with a quad core processor, 500 gb HD, and 4 gb Ram -- it's blazing fast, and a big improvement over the old and slow as molasses XP machine. It's only crashed once, and it was something that happened when Firefox had trouble loading a page.

I think the Flash driver asked to be upgraded last week, which I permitted. I hate flash ads (hate them!) and have never gotten into YouTube and other videos, although I'd like to try -- the old computer couldn't handle them, and I haven't been that motivated yet with the new one.

At any rate, a very interesting thread for random tech stuff . . .

Just want to weigh on on the little Ron vs. Jet spat, since IMO you're both pretty reasonable fellows, most of the time.

Suppose the original remark had been: ...a fighter pilot wouldn't take the time to learn how to operate his computer...

instead: of ...a fighter pilot wouldn't take the time to learn how his computer works...

A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one that would make this fight unnecessary.

I worked for pilots in the Air Force. Most of them had only a vague idea how their TACAN or VOR worked. But since they generally found their way back to the base, they presumably knew how to operate it.

Very helpful thread, thanks to all. I'm running W2K Professional (yeah wooden wheels) and have been reluctant to give it up for XP, now Vista. It does the job, and has worked well with FF over the past few years. Like lot's of folks I occasionally resort to IE, but mostly avoid it. Flashblock, No-Scrpt and Adblock Plus all seem to be doing well for this luddite.

thersites, I apologize for not noting your distinction. Well stated. There is peace on this side of the valley.

Wow. I had no idea how many Flash ads and other features were loading until I saw all the blanks spaces with an 'F' that Flashblocker stopped from loading.

No frelling wonder I kept hanging up. Woo-hoo.

It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way. -Rollo May, psychologist (1909-1994)

It's much faster when it's not crashing, but it sure is crashing more often. The ability to restore old tabs helps, though.

I upgrade to FF3 last week and so far it's been great. It was worth the wait.

Regarding running it alongside FF2: according to Mozilla's site, installing FF3 will overwrite an existing installation of FF. Not sure if that's 100% true, or if they're just trying to seriously discourage people from running both on the same machine.

A google search found several sites that discuss options for keeping Firefox 2.x while testing 3.0 --

http://blog.codefront.net/2007/08/20/how-to-have-firefox-3-and-firefox-2-running-at-the-same-time/

http://www.ghacks.net/2007/12/09/test-firefox-3-without-interfering-with-firefox-2/

Kevin, does any of this explain why your site is still failing to recognize cookies -- something I've been complaining about for almost two years, to zero response. If the goal was to get me to contribute one-tenth of what I would otherwise write, that has been successful.

Ron @ 12:35.
And making the distinction no way invalidates Ron B's original point.

Now hand over the magazines, Byers. You promised to share!

John B: "I still have the most recent, and very last, version of Netscape (9.1), and see so reason to change for now."
Is there a club of vintage software users, competing on "mine is older than yours?" If you are still running an antique machine (say to run your business in Lagos market), then it makes sense to stick to the frugal WordStar and Supercalc it came with.

Wordstar? hah! I'll take Scripsit -- the cassette version -- any day.

Re: The OS debate

Medieval 2 Total War does not play on linux systems (not the latest update). I am not going to use a browser that prevents me from conquering Europe and imposing my own order.

Get Flashblock. It allows you to view Flash content by clicking, so you can still see YouTube videos, but it keeps Flash from launching automatically. You'll never have to see the hideous dancing men on "Lower My Bills" ever again.

I had intended to update last week, and did so as reminded by this thread. Based on how quickly the updating took place, it must have used the previously installed 2.x.x files.

No problems so far (used the flashblocker option), and it does appear to be much faster in loading pages (possibly related to blocking the flash loads).

If you're using Adblock Plus, uncheck the option to "Show tabs on Flash and Java." I've seen this option causes exactly the kind of lockups you're describing.

Thanks for the timely response, Kev.

Firefox 3 runs great ... ON A MAC.

Firefox 3 runs great ... ON A MAC.

hi, i've got pics of my new emo haircut
on http://xrl.us/ouog6