Firefox

[MadGinga]

Hi Guys, I'm having problems with Firefox, and to make matters worse it NEVER happens in IE
Basically what happens is that Firefox will freeze and try to use all my CPU processing, which isnt fun, and the only choice I have is to terminate the process using task manager, which is very annoying if I have multiple tabs open.
I've tried re-installing and this hasnt helped, and it doesnt happen every time I go to a site, sometimes it;ll load fine, others it'll kill Firefox, and others it'll just take days to load.

I've tried both IE and Opera immediately afterward to see if its just problems with the pages but they then load fine.

I have noticed that it sometimes occurs when i'm trying to view a page with an imbedded video but not always

Any help would be apprecaited as I really dont like IE, and Opera is a bit clunky for my liking.

 

[thatbloke]

OK, I have occasionally had problems such as this. First things first, are you using any extensions? if so, remove the lot and then try the same page again. If it works, re-install the extensions one by one (tedious i know) until the offending incident happens again. then you know whats causing it...

 

[MadGinga]

OK, I have occasionally had problems such as this. First things first, are you using any extensions?

Extensions? wtf are extensions?

If you hadn't guessed, I'm a Firefox n00b

 

[Pestcontrol]

For me, extensions are what makes firefox best. It's in the tools menu.

As for your FF problem, i once had this when trying to display video where the plugin would lock it up, maybe your plugin for flash is borked. Try to find a pattern on when it locks up.

 

[MadGinga]

*goes off to hunt for this fable "extensions" menu*

On the subject of extensions, which are and which aren't worth getting? And how would I "fix" my flash plug-in to see if that is the route cause of my problems?

Cheers for all your help so far guys, its much appreciated.

 

[Pestcontrol]

They're located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins, the one for flash is called NPSWF32.dll, just shut down firefox and move the file elsewhere to see if that helps. It's a long shot but the best i can think of now.

Extensions, my favourites are tabbrowser preferences, adblock plus, filterset g updater (keeps adblocker up to date), session manager and if you do FTP work, fireftp is very good. Screen grab! i don't use very often but it's very useful when i do.
There are hundreds of extensions available so just browse around and install some at leasure, you can always remove them later if you don't use them.

 

[thatbloke]

It does sound like some kind of extension or media player (Windows media player or Flash or similar) is causing Firefox to crash... I have had issues with windows media player and firefox before.

And extensions are funky little addons that you can install to enhance the functionality available to you in Firefox. I personally don't use many... but there are some damn useful ones out there...

 

[Nanor]

Hi Guys, I'm having problems with Firefox, and to make matters worse it NEVER happens in IE
Basically what happens is that Firefox will freeze and try to use all my CPU processing, which isnt fun, and the only choice I have is to terminate the process using task manager, which is very annoying if I have multiple tabs open.
I've tried re-installing and this hasnt helped, and it doesnt happen every time I go to a site, sometimes it;ll load fine, others it'll kill Firefox, and others it'll just take days to load.

I've tried both IE and Opera immediately afterward to see if its just problems with the pages but they then load fine.

I have noticed that it sometimes occurs when i'm trying to view a page with an imbedded video but not always

Any help would be apprecaited as I really dont like IE, and Opera is a bit clunky for my liking.

That is exactly what happens to me! It happened in a video Pia posted up.. let's blame him for our woes!

And for the record Pest, that thing you said doesn't fix it for me.

 

[Pestcontrol]

No, because that file is the flash plugin, not the media player one.

If you open the properties of those files in the plugins dir and go to the version tab, you can see what each one does, you can then selectively remove and figure out which one's causing trouble.

I used to have the same problem until i reinstalled windows. I don't have wmp, realplayer or quicktime installed but i do have stripped down versions called Real alternative and Quicktime alternative.

 

[MadGinga]

Right, its all sorted
It was the Windows Media Player plugin and the Active-X controls that were b0rking Firefox for me
Just incase anyone else is having the same problem, heres what you do....
For the Windows Media plugin, you need to make sure the following files
npdrmv2.dll
npdsplay.dll
npwmsdrm.dll
are in your Firefox Plugins folder i.e. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins

Then to make sure you have the Active-X control plugin go here and use the link for the relevant version, scroll down till you get to the heading "ActiveX Plugin (Firefox 1.0-1.0.8, 1.5-1.5.0.4)"

Hope this helps others. Well this shenanigans has helped me learn a lot more about Firefox

Cheers fore everyones help. I'm sure I'll have another problem soon

 

[Nanor]

Beh, no luck for me..

 

[MadGinga]

Nanor, have you tried following every step on the linked page? If that doesnt work you could try here which lists the a few plugins and then links you to pages that can help and/or downloads of the relevant programs