Serious problem with Firefox

[TranceFusion]

... Or maybe even with the PC...
I've been having since around 3 weeks a serious problem with Firefox and i'm looking for solutions so i decided to give it a try here. Who's using this browser and did you have problems with it? Any kind?

Here's my story about it:
Till October i was using Avant Browser and i had back then 512MB RAM (Pentium 4, 2.4GHz, Win XP Pro SP2, PC bought in 2003). Everything was fine with Avant but after some time it started to become very hungry and it took a lot of memory (most of the time it was between 60 and 100% of CPU usage and above 40MB of memory usage). So i decided to switch to Firefox and it was also good at the beginning. Avant was deleted and in November i added 1GB RAM and i have since then 1.5GB of memory. I hoped that it would solve the problem but i was wrong cuz in January Firefox became even hungrier than Avant (50-100% of CPU usage and 100-120MB of memory usage). On the forum of the french computer magazine Micro Hebdo i was given the link (on their download software website) to a free software that reduces the memory usage of Firefox. It did indeed decrease from 100MB to 1-15MB but the CPU usage is still high! (50-90%) to make things worse, Winamp also started using a lot of memory (40-65% CPU usage and 30-70MB memory usage) and it doesn't even matter if there is one mp3 or 500 mp3s in the playlist. Also, for some reason it happens (rarily) that Skype takes a lot even when i'm not using it. Before it used to take memory when i was in a video-conference. Half a year ago i didn't have any problem with Winamp.

I guess that the problem with the memory isn't that big. Firefox also opens website in a really really really weird way! And that worries me even more cuz i deleted both the program and its folder in Program Files then cleaned the PC with CCleaner to get rid of all the trash, then reinstalled Firefox and the problem is still here. I thought that the program got corrupted or something. First it happened when many tabs were open (at least 6-8) but now it happens when i open only one tab let me show you how the websites open:

Example 1 - TV Program first time
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-4.jpg

Example 2 - TV Program after refresh
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-6.jpg

Example 3 - The way the TV Program should look like (opened with IE)
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... led-12.jpg

[align=center]------------------
------------------[/align]

Example 4 - Some article aboud 3D DVD (red icon TRWA on the right is from the TV Program page)
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-5.jpg

Example 5 - How this article should look like (opened with IE)
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... led-13.jpg

[align=center]------------------
------------------[/align]

Example 6 - Another page looking very wrong (those images don't even belong to that page)
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-2.jpg

[align=center]------------------
------------------[/align]

Example 7 - One more wrong look of a page
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-3.jpg

Example 8 - The same page should look like this
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... led-14.jpg

[align=center]------------------
------------------[/align]

Example 9 - The home page
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-8.jpg

Example 10 - The home page after refreshing it
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... tled-7.jpg

Example 11 - How the home page should look like
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... led-15.jpg

[align=center]------------------
------------------[/align]

Example 12 - Finally instead of opening the page, Firefox shows me this
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/ ... led-11.jpg

The websites that were opening really bad were Facebook, WP.pl, Trancehits.com and now Photobucket.com also opens in a similar way.

Those websites open very well with Avant and IE.

A few important things to mention:
The newest versions of Firefox, Winamp (and Skype to a much lesser degree) are used and downloaded from their official websites. Also, the same programs are used on the laptop (Toshiba Satellite M70-122, year 2005, Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz, 1.5GB RAM - also added 1GB in November, Win XP Home SP3) and there have never been any problems of this kind with the memory, Firefox (and Avant before) and Winamp.
One last thing, last year the average temperature of the Processor Zone was 43 degrees. Today it is 78 (from 73 it is the red temperature zone). The System Zone 1 and 2 are also on the thin line between yellow and red temperature zone. I had to shut down the PC more than 1 hour ago to let it cool down. And i started writing this topic before 6pm (!) but while i was making print screens, using photoshop, 3 IE and the Firefox, the PC started working so fuckin slowly that i got a huge headache when i shut it down at 7h15pm

All this leads me to this one question: WHAT. THE. HELL. IS GOING ON?! do i have to format or is there another solution??? *HELP HELP HELP*
THX!

I'll be using the laptop from now on until the problem with the PC is solved.

[Genesis]

[TranceFusion]

[Nicktalopia]

[samer]

[TranceFusion]

[System.S]

Formating is not a solution, its actually running away from the solution. When you format you lose applications and settings + you will most likely be bumping into the same problems again because you did not actually solve them when you formated, you just deleted everything and the problems will occur again and you will format again. Best thing is to do is to understand and find out whats causing all the mess and fix it, that way you prevent it from happening again.

The memory problem is not from Firefox itself, but it could be from malware and spyware applications that are attached to it, these are 100's of little applications that run in the background, they eat your memory and constantly mess up your registry files (a messed up registry directory eats up a lot of memory and causes delays).

What you need to do is:
Install a trial version of SPYware Doctor from PC Tools, run a deep scan and you will be surprised of all the crap it is gonna detect, with a trial you wont be able to remove them, you need to purchase it, its cheap and totaly worth it, it will protect you a lot on the long run. Dont install a cracked version as these wont let you update the software.

Also install from PC Tools the Scan Registry application, it will scan your registry and remove all the crap and modify everything to a normal state. You can run a full scan on a trial but not fix the problems so you also need to buy it, which is also worth it.

Both of these light applications when installed will be constantly running in the background and monitoring. Both applications can be downloaded from

Now in terms of Web Browsers, i strongly recommend you to use Chrome. Its very light and much faster and smarter then Firefox. On Firefox, when a tab thats open has a site that suddenly crash, all of the Firefox prog will force quit and crash, while on Chrome, only the tab itself with close and the other will remain open = no jamming or crashing.

And of course the ultimate solution to all this "crashing and short memory and spyware and malware" crap, is to buy a Mac

[TranceFusion]

[Genesis]

[e-sam]

^Another attempt to run from solution is to blame Microsoft & publicly declare that Mac is fault free

Anyways, before you format or use any 3rd party mumbo jumbo voodoo application that claims a solution to any problem including headaches try to install SP3 first. Also clear your Internet Temporary Files & cookies from your Firefox Tools - Privacy. The applications mentioned above might solve the problem temporary but you don't want that do you? Windows accumulates .dlls over time especially if you are the type who tries everything on his daily operation PC. Remember this is your ACTIVE PC and not Laboratory. Not all programs work well with your PC. Not all programs/applications remove properly with UNINSTALL. You will have remaining shared .dlls and registry keys that will affect the performance of your system. You can add a 3rd party uninstall application which claims to completely uninstall applications to the list of mumbo jumbo applications

Anyways, if SP3 & the clear history/cookies didn't work I advise you to format & reinstall everything! Yes this is the best & only effective solution despite all the so-called "we solve anything" applications. Install Virtual PC if you download & install new applications. Setup another Windows and test your applications there and if you liked them then install on your active PC. Take a DVD image of your final installation with all your necessary software installed so when needed you can restore everything back the way it was with a simple reboot. ArcServe Backup, Norton Ghost & Acronis TrueImage Home do miracles in the disk imaging.

P.S: Mac fans remind me of the Tiesto bashers who take every opportunity to bash Tiesto in every occasion. This is the case with Microsoft. Ironically it isn't vice versa though

[System.S]

Its never gonna be vice versa e-sam, Microsoft fans has nothing to say or stand for against Mac + Attempt is history, now its Fact

SP3?! it has reached 3 now? hehehe

[e-sam]

Yes XP SP3, Vista SP1 and the new Windows 7

By the way from my humble experience in the IT field as a Senior the problem is not Microsoft. The problem is with the user who uses the machine. Another problem is in the hardware machine itself. What many don't see is that Microsoft runs on ANYTHING built as a PC. Mac is bought as is from the shelf. You cannot ASSEMBLE a Mac. Well maybe recently you can install on Intel but still. You can add features but you cannot buy your motherboard from Abu Afif & your VGA from BHV and screw them together to make your Mac. On the contrary to Microsoft which runs on any IBM compatible PC where you can purchase an Award BIOS MSI board with AMD processor and Kingston RAMS from ebay. Your VGA might be Intel chip, NVIDIA or GeForce and your hard disk might be a Western Digital 7200 rpm SATA. So it is EXPECTED to have incompatibility and/or performance issues when you have a mixed ingredient PC (bil Arabi mibanda2). Unlike Mac which has very limited hardware choice and thus tested accordingly. So you cant really compare!

Now going back to the user who is the problem most of time. Well after many years of support I can easily conclude that most users don't know sh*t about their PC. They know how to start it, run MSN, run IE to log on Facebook and that's about it. Many computer literate users download anything with Freeware in it. Many install at least half a dozen of toolbars! FFS isn't 1 enough? SmileyCenter, Emoticon bullsh*t, Aquarium screen savers, etc... Many install more than 1 anti virus for advanced protection. I once worked on a personal laptop that took 3 minutes to boot & 30 seconds to open a window from the desktop. It appeared that the owner installed all types of protection from anti virus, anti spyware and firewall applications to name few. I asked why? His reply was "To protect myself from a virus". His Core 2 Duo 2 Ghz was a PII 300 Mhz in performance and he is happy about it.

I have never had a problem with my PC with the exception of disk space. World of Warcraft alone is over 11 GB Anyways, I do hope my message reaches and if any MS dude/dudette encounters a problem am more than happy to help (to a certain extent of course).

[System.S]

^Hey I agree on the user / hardware part.

Basically Trancefusion, E-sam is saying you're the reason for your problems

[Genesis]

[Nicktalopia]