From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

We should add a section about hang while checking for updates (example)

That doesn't seem to be an actual hang. Hangs are where an application stops responding to all user input. That just sounds like a case of Firefox not doing the expected behaviour.--Np 03:45, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Hang loading websites when using an automatic proxy configuration file

The following feedback on this article was posted in the MozillaZine Site Discussion forum so I'm copying it here. Check forum thread for additional comments. Alice

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=551798 Firefox hangs

"theSoundOfViolence" Posted: 24 May 2007

i post this here because I can't edit the wiki and don't really want to, but I want to share my experience with one bug : On this [1] page of the wiki, it is said that the automatic proxy configuration can be a cause of hangs and freeze. It si true for me, on WinXPSP2 and Firefox 2. But in the wiki you say there is not solution to this problem. Well, I got one, that may not work for everyone since you have to get some informations from your network admin : You need to fill in the manual proxy configuration instead of the automatic one. in this case, you need to get from your admin the proxy url (ip or dns) and the port. Just fill in the http area, leave the others blank and don't check the box. For me, it worked juste fine.

Extensions

The "SwitchProxy Tool", "Lenovo Thinkpad password manager" (ThinkVantage) and "User Agent Switcher" entries are all Firefox problematic extensions. There's already a section in this article covering Extensions. I think that the individual extension entries are not necessary and should be removed. See also Talk:Problematic_extensions#ThinkVantage_Password_Manager. Alice 20:14, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

The individual extension entries have been removed since they are covered in the Extensions section and the linked Problematic extensions article. Alice 20:17, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Hang loading certain websites

Please see http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=3292771 where I mention how you don't always get a "warning: unresponsive script" message box, and somebody else reports they're able to work around that using the RefreshBlocker add-on. In my case I was not able to close the tab or Firefox - it was a hard hang that required my using the system monitor application to kill the two processes. I don't know what type of hang the other user originally encountered with that web site.

I think its rather disingenuous to state its always due to badly coded JavaScript causing infinite loops when Opera has zero problems with the same web site (no sign that its due to it timing out gracefully, it seems totally oblivious to whatever causes the problem for Firefox and loads the page quickly). Tanstaafl 11:41, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree it would be disingenuous to state that the problem is always due to something wrong with the site. Does the article say that somewhere? If so, that should be fixed. BTW, I had no problem with the link listed in the MozillaZine article using Firefox 3 beta 4. Perhaps the problem the OP had was one of the other problems listed in this article, or perhaps it is a bug in Firefox 2 that has been fixed in Firefox 3. -- schapel 12:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it says it here:

Hang loading sites with JavaScript

Firefox may become very slow to respond because of badly coded JavaScript causing infinite loops on certain websites

I eventually worked around the problem by identifying a URL to block using AdBlock Plus. If you look in the thread you'll notice somebody with a similar configuration that didn't have that problem, and another person who had the same problem with that site but for different reasons (and fixed it differently). One problem with the articles advice is it pretty much assumes a soft hang - that you can actually look at the error console etc. I've also installed the OperaView add-on in case the fix breaks later on, and I can't find a replacement URL to ad block. Tanstaafl 13:00, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Hyper-Threading

Yesterday's edit by Keysralph to the Hyper-Threading section added, Think Twice, before disabling Hyper-Threading on your computer, in the BIAS settings, as this requires a fresh re-install of your XP/Vista operating system. Also, if you change your mind, and want Hyper-Threading turned back on, this will require, yet another fresh re-install of your XP/Vista system. See for information, perfomance gains, and losses, for Hyper-Threading [2] Can anyone verify that? I edited the Hyper-Threading section to correct the BIAS typo and to add references but I couldn't find anything to confirm that you need to reinstall Windows when disabling HTT in the BIOS. The pcworld.about.com article only said, "For optimum single-application performance, you must do more than disable hyperthreading in your new system's BIOS: You must remove the Windows XP multiprocessor files. One way to do this is to turn the PC off and then reinstall Windows XP from scratch." Alice 14:40, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I removed the information about needing to reinstall Windows if HyperThreading is disabled (or later re-enabled) in the computer BIOS settings. See bug 277547 comment 5 and this forum post by craigevil which both report it as a workaround, with no mention of needing to reinstall Windows. In any case, the article does not recommend disabling HyperThreading in the BIOS. Alice 15:35, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

rss feeds / live bookmarks role?

One dude here claims removing all feeds fixed hanging problem

^7 February 2009 FatJohn

I have a bug report bookmarked, Bug 329534 - Live bookmarks load way too aggressively (lock up/hang/freeze browser)... marked "fixed" (Fx 3.1). I'll add it. Alice 04:20, 8 February 2009 (UTC)