4 ms·

Yeah, I gave Firefox a second chance with the quantum updates but, I ran into all the same performance issues I’ve associated with Firefox since version 3

floatingatoll 8y ago
If you used addons in all tests, and/or have ever opened about:config, consider creating a fresh profile without any addons and leaving the settings at the defaults. If you still see problems after a week, that would confirm it’s Firefox rather than whatever third-party modifications you and/or your addons are making to the browser. For example, one of the popular cargo-cult ‘fixes’ for the addons issue instructs Firefox via about:config changes to make 86,400 extra network requests per day, because the instructions are extremely badly written by people who don’t know/care about that impact on your battery life. Expert user footguns are responsible for far more performance issues than expert users realize, both in Firefox and in all other software they operate. It’s so reliably a problem that I’ve been using “are you an expert” as the most important triage question for the past two decades of IT support.
- Fnoord 8y ago
  I recommend to at least enable uBlock Origin as it will save you a lot of resources whilst browsing the web. There's a whole bunch of other privacy and resource related addons I also like, but it goes a bit too far to mention those.
  - floatingatoll 8y ago
    uBlock Origin, AdBlock Plus, and other random flavor-of-the-year ad blockers are IIRC the #1 contributor to Firefox slowness, resource usage, and crashes for some years now. They are key examples of “expert user footguns” and I shudder to think how many users are incapable of repairing their browser when damaged by one or more of these addons. Yes, they can reduce bytes over the wire, but they do often come at the cost of reliability and efficiency that disabling them is often sufficient to diagnose browser problems with no other steps taken. “This site doesn’t show any ads, how could it possibly be uBlock?” is the most depressing question an expert has ever asked me about Firefox. Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8802424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8802424
    - Fnoord 8y ago
      Please provide a source that uBlock Origin is the #1 contributor to Firefox slowness, resource usage, and crashes.
      - floatingatoll 8y ago
        I have only my memories, which is what IIRC means: “if I remember correctly”. A few seconds of searching offers no better answer, so you’ll simply have to downvote me and move on. (For those who want to investigate further, I believe it was about a year ago and would have been on planet.mozilla.org at the time. No, I didn’t post it to HN because I don’t usually consider anti-adblock positions to be safe to discuss here.)
        Fnoord 8y ago
        After I made my previous post you added a source about _ABP_ being a memory hog. Show me a source that uBlock Origin is a memory hog compared to vanilla and ABP. This article [1] shows how ABP is, indeed, a resource hog, compared to uBlock Origin. It also shows that pages load quicker with uBlock Origin than vanilla. Its an article from 2 years ago though. This article [2] talks about how in december 2018 uBlock Origin uses WASM for better performance. It includes a link to benchmark the software. This article [3] from begin 2019 compares the performance of different adblockers (the article is by the authors of Ghostery though therefore I link to the Reddit discussion). [1] https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-ad-blocking-extensions-tested-for-best-performance/view-all/ https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-ad-blocking-extensions-tested... [2] https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/03/ublock-origin-performance-improvements-thanks-to-wasm-firefox-only-for-now/ https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/03/ublock-origin-performance-... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/ar7a3m/adblockers_performance_study/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/ar7a3m/adbloc...
- fiddlerwoaroof 8y ago
  I saw this in Vanilla Firefox: no addons/no tweaks
Causality1 8y ago
I found Quantum gave noticeable performance improvements. Not enough to justify crippling the extensions I use constantly and insultingly taking away the ability to make the UI look the way I want it to look, but improvements nonetheless.

floatingatoll 8y ago

If you used addons in all tests, and/or have ever opened about:config, consider creating a fresh profile without any addons and leaving the settings at the defaults. If you still see problems after a week, that would confirm it’s Firefox rather than whatever third-party modifications you and/or your addons are making to the browser. For example, one of the popular cargo-cult ‘fixes’ for the addons issue instructs Firefox via about:config changes to make 86,400 extra network requests per day, because the instructions are extremely badly written by people who don’t know/care about that impact on your battery life. Expert user footguns are responsible for far more performance issues than expert users realize, both in Firefox and in all other software they operate. It’s so reliably a problem that I’ve been using “are you an expert” as the most important triage question for the past two decades of IT support.

Fnoord 8y ago
I recommend to at least enable uBlock Origin as it will save you a lot of resources whilst browsing the web. There's a whole bunch of other privacy and resource related addons I also like, but it goes a bit too far to mention those.
- floatingatoll 8y ago
  uBlock Origin, AdBlock Plus, and other random flavor-of-the-year ad blockers are IIRC the #1 contributor to Firefox slowness, resource usage, and crashes for some years now. They are key examples of “expert user footguns” and I shudder to think how many users are incapable of repairing their browser when damaged by one or more of these addons. Yes, they can reduce bytes over the wire, but they do often come at the cost of reliability and efficiency that disabling them is often sufficient to diagnose browser problems with no other steps taken. “This site doesn’t show any ads, how could it possibly be uBlock?” is the most depressing question an expert has ever asked me about Firefox. Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8802424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8802424
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    Please provide a source that uBlock Origin is the #1 contributor to Firefox slowness, resource usage, and crashes.
    - floatingatoll 8y ago
      I have only my memories, which is what IIRC means: “if I remember correctly”. A few seconds of searching offers no better answer, so you’ll simply have to downvote me and move on. (For those who want to investigate further, I believe it was about a year ago and would have been on planet.mozilla.org at the time. No, I didn’t post it to HN because I don’t usually consider anti-adblock positions to be safe to discuss here.)
      - Fnoord 8y ago
        After I made my previous post you added a source about _ABP_ being a memory hog. Show me a source that uBlock Origin is a memory hog compared to vanilla and ABP. This article [1] shows how ABP is, indeed, a resource hog, compared to uBlock Origin. It also shows that pages load quicker with uBlock Origin than vanilla. Its an article from 2 years ago though. This article [2] talks about how in december 2018 uBlock Origin uses WASM for better performance. It includes a link to benchmark the software. This article [3] from begin 2019 compares the performance of different adblockers (the article is by the authors of Ghostery though therefore I link to the Reddit discussion). [1] https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-ad-blocking-extensions-tested-for-best-performance/view-all/ https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-ad-blocking-extensions-tested... [2] https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/03/ublock-origin-performance-improvements-thanks-to-wasm-firefox-only-for-now/ https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/03/ublock-origin-performance-... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/ar7a3m/adblockers_performance_study/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/ar7a3m/adbloc...
fiddlerwoaroof 8y ago
I saw this in Vanilla Firefox: no addons/no tweaks

Causality1 8y ago

I found Quantum gave noticeable performance improvements. Not enough to justify crippling the extensions I use constantly and insultingly taking away the ability to make the UI look the way I want it to look, but improvements nonetheless.