26 Amazing Fixes To Firefox Slow To Load

If you don’t use Chrome, Safari, or Edge, you probably use Firefox. But occasionally, Firefox slow to load.

Firefox is among the most widely used online browsers, primarily due to the flexibility and personalization it offers users. Additionally, it offers a high level of protection and hundreds of plugins for virtually any need.

Mozilla’s developers frequently publish updates to improve and speed up Firefox. People choose Firefox because it uses less memory, provides better security, and supports various add-ons. 

But over time, especially after switching to a new version, you might notice that Firefox is slow to load.

Try one of the following techniques to speed up Firefox if running too slowly for your tastes and resume stylish web browsing. 

Let’s examine how to speed up Firefox to get your browser back in working order.

Why Is Your Firefox Slow To Load? 

Due to an outdated cache or cookies on your system that may require a long time to obtain data, Mozilla Firefox may take a very long time to launch. 

Your selections for your home page and tabs might also affect starting time. Firefox may lag or hang when it first launches due to multiple Session restore files, damaged plugins, and issues with internet security programs.

Although there are numerous potential causes, the following appear to be the most frequent ones. 

• Older Version

The first step you will take if Firefox is performing poorly for you is to see whether there are any updates available. Maintaining the most recent version of your browser will allow you to eliminate several probable causes for the delay.

• Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration has the potential to increase speed. However, if you have driver issues or a particular GPU configuration, it can result in latency. Deactivating the hardware acceleration function will make Firefox run faster.

• Browser Theme

Firefox allows you to apply a customized theme, although doing so could occasionally cause Firefox to be slow to load. It would be best if you switched back to the Default layout to see whether there has been a difference.

• Third-Party Antivirus

Some research suggests that employing an external antivirus program like Avast may cause Firefox to slow load. Check out our top antivirus software that works with Windows 10 and 11 instead.

However, remember that there may be other factors in your case, such as an excessive amount of cache and cookies or broken add-ons. Nevertheless, we will try to handle each situation and offer practical solutions.

26 Solutions To Try If Your Firefox Is Slow To Load 

Firefox has some faults, similar to any other software program, but most of these difficulties are simple to fix. Your browser may be slower for various reasons based on the problem. Try the suggestions listed below to enhance page loading and accelerate Firefox.

1. Refresh Firefox
2. Disable Antivirus And Firewall Applications
3. Minimize RAM Usage
4. Start With Safe Mode
5. Change Startup Preferences
6. Disable Auto Update For Firefox
7. Increase Content Process Limit
8. Disable Network Proxy
9. Disable Auto-Scrolling And Smooth Scrolling Options
10. Clear Browsing History And Remember History
11. Prevent Accessibility Services
12. Increase Cached Web Content Size
13. Enable Browser Cache
14. Enable Pipelining [Before Release 54]
15. Disable Animation
16. Adjust Connections Per Server
17. Increase Content Notify Interval
18. Reduce Content Switch Threshold
19. Use Performance-Enhancing Add-Ons
20. Manage Flash
21. Use the Lighter Ad Blocking Tool
22. Use the Latest Firefox Quantum
23. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration 
24. Turn Off Data Collection 
25. Manage Your Tabs 
26. Delete And Reinstall Firefox

All these solutions have been discussed below.  

1. Refresh Firefox

If your Firefox is slow to load, you should start with a brand-new copy of Firefox. However, you don’t have to start from scratch.

Like modern operating systems, Firefox provides a one-click choice to reset all of your changes to their original state or factory defaults. It will eliminate all add-ons and modifications and reset all browser settings to their default values.

To reset Firefox, follow these steps:

• Select Help > Troubleshooting Information from the menu in the top right of the screen.

• Click Refresh Firefox in the box marked “Give Firefox a tune-up” in the top right corner.
• If you want to accept, select Refresh Firefox once more from the dialogue box that appears.

After a brief delay, Firefox will shut down and then restart. Firefox keeps your data, but all speed settings and parameters are reset to default values. This encompasses your dictionary, history, credentials, cookies, and auto-fill data. 

In essence, it’s a fresh Firefox that already has your data loaded.

2. Disable Antivirus And Firewall Applications

For privacy protection, Firefox was designed. Your computer’s firewall or antivirus software settings can be affected by this. 

Therefore, it’s a good idea to toggle off any enhanced security options on your computer and see if that solves your Firefox slow-to-load problem. If not, you can reactivate them.

3. Minimize RAM Usage

Firefox rarely releases RAM that it has already consumed. Your system will perform worse as Firefox uses increasing amounts of RAM. To request Firefox to utilize less RAM, adhere to these phases. 

• In the search box, type “about:memory,” and press Enter.
• Select Minimize memory consumption under the “Free memory” section.

A notification with the finishing date and time will appear when the procedure is completed. By limiting Firefox’s RAM usage, this technique prevents it from monopolizing system resources.

4. Start With Safe Mode

After using Firefox for a while, it may begin to consume a significant amount of CPU and/or RAM on your machine. 

Try launching Firefox in Safe Mode first to identify the source of the lag. By doing this, Firefox will operate without any plugins or add-ons. Select Help > Restart With Add-ons Disabled from the menu to start Firefox in Safe Mode.

After restarting, Firefox will give you the choice of starting in safe mode or refreshing it. Choose Safe Mode to start in.

If you can’t accomplish this because Firefox is running so slowly, start Firefox while holding the Shift key.

If Firefox performs better in Safe Mode, one of your add-ons or plugins is probably the cause of the issue.

You may use the task manager that comes with Firefox to determine which one it is. Launch it by selecting Help > Task Manager on the same three-line menu.

This shows all active programs in Firefox and the amount of memory they are using, similar to the Windows Task Manager. Keep an eye on this tab to see which add-ons are using the maximum memory as you operate.

5. Change Startup Preferences

To change the startup preferences, follow these steps. 

• Choose “Options” from the “Firefox” menu option at the upper side of the Firefox window.
• Tap the “General” tab.

• Choose the “Restore to Default” toggle to reset Firefox to the default blank screen or home page if it is configured to open a specific website as its home page. 

• To shut down the window, click “OK.”

Additionally, you can have a list of sites that load immediately when a browser launches or the Session Restore feature is enabled. Both will lengthen the startup process for Firefox. You can disable these options by selecting the “Tabs” button in the Options window. To make a checkbox appear, select “Don’t load tabs until selected” and click “OK.”

6. Disable Auto Update For Firefox

Firefox always upgrades to the most recent version by default. This could be problematic because it could impact both the speed and the functions. 

So, turn off the automatic update option and switch on “Check for updates but allow you to decide whether to install them.” 

This option can be found under “about:preferences” in the “General > Firefox Updates” section.

7. Increase Content Process Limit

Depending on your machine’s hardware and operating system, Firefox decides on the performance settings. This might not always be the best option and unintentionally alter the user experience. 

Browse to the “Performance” section by going to “about:preferences#general.”

When the “Use suggested performance settings” option is disabled, Firefox’s multiprocess feature’s default value of 4 becomes visible. By using the drop-down menu, raise the content process limit to 7.

Lower the number to 8 or 5 if Firefox begins to crash while you are surfing to strike a reasonable balance between performance and safety.

8. Disable Network Proxy

To disable the network proxy, follow these steps.  

• Select the “Settings” option for the “Network Proxy” feature in the “General” section at the bottom of the “about:preferences” page. 
• Select “No proxy.”

• Click “OK.”

Once the proxy parameters are off, make sure the pages load quickly.

9. Disable Auto-Scrolling And Smooth Scrolling Options

If your Firefox is still slow to load, it is recommended to disable the auto-scrolling and smooth-scrolling options. 

Uncheck “Use autoscrolling” and “Use smooth scrolling” in the “Preferences > General > Browsing” tab and see if this speeds up Firefox.

10. Clear Browsing History And Remember History

Cleaning your browser histories, such as the cache, cookies, downloads, and internet activity, may be all it takes to fix Firefox startup issues. 

Preference files that are outdated or corrupt can interfere with some other files or the Firefox browser and slow down the software.

• By selecting “Firefox” at the head of the Firefox screen and keeping your cursor over the “History” drop-down arrow, you can delete all recent history.
• “Clear Recent History” should be chosen.
• Select “Everything” from the drop-down menu under “Time range to clear.”
• To choose each box, click the “Details” drop-down arrow and then click the checkmark icon.
• Select “Clear Now” from the menu.

This should solve the Firefox slow-to-load problem.

11. Prevent Accessibility Services

Through accessibility services, Firefox can communicate with outside services that assist persons with disabilities. This could make Firefox unstable and degrade its functionality. 

• Navigate to the “Permissions” section to “about:preferences#privacy.” 
• Remove the checkbox next to “Prevent accessibility services from accessing browsers.”

12. Increase Cached Web Content Size

You can boost Firefox’s browser cache size to boost efficiency if you have sufficient RAM (4GB or more). 

• Type “about:config” in the address bar and press Enter.
• Anywhere within the tab pane, perform a right-click and select “New > Integer” from the context menu.
• Click OK after entering “browser.cache.memory.capacity”
• Click OK after setting its value to 65536.
• Relaunch Firefox.

Your Firefox will start again, and you can check if the issue has been resolved.

13. Enable Browser Cache

The browser cache should be turned on by default in Firefox. The goal of the browser cache feature is to increase page loading efficiency. 

If your Firefox browser doesn’t already have browser caching enabled, do the following to check and then enable it. 

• In the address box of Firefox, type “about:config” and press Enter.
• A summary of all extended browser settings will appear. To filter the results, type “browser.cache.disk.enable” into the search box.
• True ought to be the default value. If the value has been changed to “false,” right-click and choose “Toggle” to make the change.
• Tab “about:config” closed, and launch Firefox once again.

The activating cache will accelerate the loading of the same page by storing the content of previously visited websites.

14. Enable Pipelining [Before Release 54]

Mozilla Firefox is often quite gracious. It will issue a request and wait for the server to respond before moving on. Pipelining can be enabled to make Firefox more aggressive. 

Without stopping to wait for a reply, it will submit several requests. You may frequently notice a substantially quicker loaded webpage after enabling pipelining.

• In the address box, type about:config and press Enter.
• Navigate to “network.http.pipelining” and double click. Set True as the value for it.
• Locate “network.http.proxy.pipelining” and double-click it. Set True as the value for it.
• Find “network.http.pipelining.max requests” and double-click it. Set the value of it to 8.
• Relaunch Firefox.

Version 54 of Firefox no longer includes pipelining as it switches to HTTP/2.

15. Disable Animation

Firefox employs brief animations when opening or closing tabs or loading websites. These animations may slow down a system if it is an older model. 

They will slow Firefox down a bit more, so disable them.

• In the search box, enter about:config.
• A security alert will show up. Choose Continue after accepting the risk.
• There will be a complete list of options available. To set an animation to False, enter the animation into the search feature and double-click it.

The strain on your system is decreased when animation is disabled.

16. Adjust Connections Per Server

Using HTTP keep-alive contacts, Firefox restricts the number of connections made to a web server from one to six. 

The parameter “network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server” can be set to 10 in configuration.

Keep in mind that doing this will result in more connections to the server. Never use more than ten, even though the number can range from 1 to 255. Otherwise, the website owner can restrict your IP address because of the high volume of concurrent requests.

17. Increase Content Notify Interval

Complex and huge web pages take some time to open, even with a strong system and quick internet access. Every 0.12 seconds, Firefox shows everything it has received from the web by default. 

Nevertheless, repeated redraws can result in a prolonged total page loading time; therefore, it is preferable to raise the content notification interval’s value. 

• Type “about:config” in the address bar and press Enter.
• Anywhere within the tab window, perform a right-click and select “New > Integer” from the context menu.
• Click OK after entering “content.notify.interval”.
• Select its value by typing 500000 (with five zeros) and clicking OK.
• Regain the context menu access by right-clicking anywhere on the tab window and selecting “New> Boolean.”
• Set the value of “content.notify.ontimer” to True by typing it in. Select OK.

Restart Firefox and see if the websites load more quickly.

18. Reduce Content Switch Threshold

When Firefox detects that you haven’t used the keyboard or manipulated the mouse for 0.75 seconds, it enters the lower frequencies interrupt mode. 

Websites can load more quickly as a result, but the UI is a little less reactive. By lowering the content switch threshold, you may improve performance. 

• Type “about:config” in the search box and press Enter.
• Anywhere within the tab window, perform a right-click and select “New > Integer” from the context menu.
• Click OK after entering “content.switch.threshold.”
• Click OK after setting its value to 250000.
• Relaunch Firefox.
• In roughly 0.25 seconds, Firefox will switch to low-frequency interrupt mode. The speed at which websites load will increase.

For this choice to work correctly, ensure that content.notify.ontimer and content.interrupt.parsing are set to true.

19. Use Performance-Enhancing Add-Ons

While add-ons are frequently blamed for performance issues, some may make Firefox faster. Below are a few extras you might want to think about:

• OneTab: It allows you to get a single page or all open tabs by converting all open tabs into a list. This will assist in reducing the amount of RAM used by Firefox.
• Image Block X: It prevents images from appearing on websites, making browsing faster. Although if you have quick Internet access, loading pages without images will use less memory, resulting in a smoother user experience.
• Speed Tweaks: It effectively makes performance-enhancing changes in the config, so you don’t have to.

20. Manage Flash

Web browser flash animations can be highly intrusive. They appear all over the place and impede your browsing progress. Installing any Flash-blocking extensions makes it simple to get rid of them. 

Website pages should load significantly more quickly when all-flash applets have been blocked. It is a good idea to avoid viewing Flash-based websites because Adobe also discontinued supporting Flash Player.

21. Use the Lighter Ad Blocking Tool

The purpose of ad blockers is to hide or delete content that has been identified as advertising while browsing. Such ad blockers can be standalone applications for browsers or software platforms, among other variations.

Popular ad blockers like Adblock can slow down Firefox if your PC isn’t up to par. Since it better controls CPU and RAM, the add-on “uBlock Origin” is a lightweight substitute for Adblock, offering better performance. 

If there’s any doubt, uBlock also blocks advertisements successfully.

22. Use the Latest Firefox Quantum

Compared to Firefox a year ago, Quantum is about two times as quick. In comparison to Google Chrome, it also performs better. Firefox Quantum uses about 30% less RAM than Google Chrome, although frequently faster. 

The most recent version of Firefox Quantum features many performance enhancements. Update to the most recent version and see if that fixes your issues.

23. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration 

Although it can boost efficiency, hardware acceleration can also create lag if you experience driver problems or have a specific GPU configuration. 

Firefox can run faster if hardware acceleration is disabled.

• Launch Settings.

• Scroll to the bottom of the Performance section of the General tab and select the box to make Use suggested performance settings inactive.
• Disable Use hardware acceleration when applicable by checking the box.
• To close the tab, click the X.

This will turn off hardware acceleration and possibly make your browser faster.

24. Turn Off Data Collection 

To make the browser better, Firefox gathers information and telemetry. You can try turning it off to improve performance.

• Launch Settings.

• Choose the Privacy and security tab.

• To access Firefox Data Collection, scroll down.

• To turn it off, choose Allow Firefox to send technical and behavioral data to Mozilla. 

You can repeat this procedure for any other tabs on this page.

25. Manage Your Tabs

If you frequently have a lot of tabs open, you might want to try the Auto Tab Discard extension. 

It will hibernate inactive tabs to save memory. Additionally, you could allow the pages you would like to keep open constantly.

Look for Auto Tab Discard under Add-ons > Extensions to download it, then add it to Firefox.

To alter the settings as you see fit, enter Options. Just remember to scroll to the Save Options section.

26. Delete And Reinstall Firefox 

Sometimes, you may not be able to solve your issue, no matter what troubleshooting trick you use. In such cases, the final option, if none of the above alternatives work for you, is to uninstall Firefox and completely reinstall it from scratch.

Conclusion

Now you are aware of what to do when Firefox becomes sluggish. You may quickly get a new browser by modifying a few settings, changing what you have installed, and even reloading Firefox if necessary.

There is a reason why Firefox is a popular browser. It provides detailed access to various features that let you tailor the browser to your needs, but if it starts to lag, try these troubleshooting tricks to make it work faster.