Very slow site - possible problem - possible solution!

[Dave2002]

Over the years I have found this site is often very slow. This has now started to happen on a rather new laptop - a Macbook Pro around 3 months old.

It has been slightly irritating in the last few days. Usually I use the Firefox browser, but out of curiosity, since it hung up fairly solid this morning, I tried Chrome, which was immediately much more responsive. Obviously (!! ) I use this site a lot, so my suspicion is that there's a cache problem which is slowing the interaction with Firefox down. I don't have many problems on this machine with other sites, so I'm thinking of flushing the Firefox cache. It could be that Chrome is faster, or more suitable for use with this site, but somehow I doubt that. I think it should work with Firefox if set up properly.

Have others noticed this as an issue, and if so, what remedies have been found? If my supposition is correct, does it affect other browsers too?

[johnb]

I always use Firefox and have always found the forum to be very responsive indeed.

Clearing the Firefox cache is one obvious thing to try. In the version of Firefox I am using the option is located:

Options/Options/Advanced/Network
Cached Web Content - Clear Now

[Beef Oven]

Been abroad three weeks or so using different wifi from different self-catering apartments in eastern Europe/ western Turkey and I've have no problems whatsoever. Using a common or garden iPad 4.

[VodkaDilc]

I always use Firefox and have always found the forum to be very responsive indeed.

This describes my experience too. I also use a MacBook Pro, though about three years old.

[BBMmk2]

No problems here.

[Dave2002]

I always use Firefox and have always found the forum to be very responsive indeed.

Clearing the Firefox cache is one obvious thing to try. In the version of Firefox I am using the option is located:

Options/Options/Advanced/Network
Cached Web Content - Clear Now

Options?

Maybe it's Options on a PC - I'm not going back to my PCs to check, but on my Macbook Pro it's Preferences, and as you suggested under Advanced/Network. The cache was full, so I zapped it - maybe slightly better now, though still not perfect.

[johnb]

If clearing the cache doesn't resolve the problem I would uninstall Firefox and reinstall it.

You can export the bookmarks/history before uninstalling and then import them later. You can do the same thing with stored passwords if you use the Password Exporter extension.

[remdataram]

I switched from Chrome to Firefox because I didn't want my every move tracked (as everything 'Google' does).

There's no noticeable change in speed between the Browsers, or even IE10. It maybe a case of 'flushing the cache' as others have suggested. Additionally, check what you have in your start up group, perhaps there is another program running that slows your system.

An excellent (free) piece of software to install is CCleaner that you can tweak to load at startup, clean whatever you select and then exit from memory.

[Dave2002]

An excellent (free) piece of software to install is CCleaner that you can tweak to load at startup, clean whatever you select and then exit from memory.

Thanks. I use CCleaner just about every time I log in to a PC. Consequently I hardly ever do that, and stay with Mac OS X. I agree that CCleaner is useful, but not having to use it is even better.

You have a point about Google, though I think you may have to do more than simply use Firefox, as many users use Google, or some other similar search engine. Stopping the tracking is hard, and now we know that the NSA is looking hard at you, I think we might have to resort to other methods. Probably most of us had either better give up worrying about it, or not use the Internet at all.

[Frances_iom]

You have a point about Google, ..

look at the page source - guess what is at the bottom - javascript to Google analytics - on the assumption that if the service is free (ie analysing page usage for site owner) then the viewer is the product ie an inbuilt google tracker!

[VodkaDilc]

I wasn't sure where to put this question, but here seems to be appropriate. Has there been some problem on the site this afternoon? I could not get it to 'format' properly and any response at all was very slow. It seems back to normal now - but I have quit and re-opened Firefox, so perhaps I should just have done that sooner. Everything else on the Vodka computer seemed normal.

[Petrushka]

I wasn't sure where to put this question, but here seems to be appropriate. Has there been some problem on the site this afternoon? I could not get it to 'format' properly and any response at all was very slow. It seems back to normal now - but I have quit and re-opened Firefox, so perhaps I should just have done that sooner. Everything else on the Vodka computer seemed normal.

Yes this site was very slow indeed just before lunch today. All seems ok now.

[Dave2002]

look at the page source - guess what is at the bottom - javascript to Google analytics - on the assumption that if the service is free (ie analysing page usage for site owner) then the viewer is the product ie an inbuilt google tracker!

Just spotted that - so it perhaps makes little difference whether one uses Google's browser or not. Yuk! It's a feature of this web site.

[remdataram]

I always use Firefox and have always found the forum to be very responsive indeed.

Clearing the Firefox cache is one obvious thing to try. In the version of Firefox I am using the option is located:

Options/Options/Advanced/Network
Cached Web Content - Clear Now

I'd suggest adding 'Do not Track Me' and 'Lightbeam' extensions to Firefox browser. They both provide excellent information and a goodly measure of control while we are surfing. Both are free

[Frances_iom]

I browse with images and javascript turned off (and google blocked via my hosts file) - however page loads are still slow quite often - it loads 2 or 3 replies then stops and thinks about the next 2 or 3 (prob thinks longer than many of the posters did) before continuing - I suspect some call being inserted to an ad tracker or maybe those bandwidth wasting atavar images(tho without images these don't appear to annoy me - I'm sure the posters can find some other way to show off their 'look at me I'm diffeerent' mindset)