Slow to open links

Mark,
Thanks for your answer,

I now have more problems!

I opened the Add On in Firefox to discover that my Google Toolbar is not compatible with this new Firefox. Neither is my Java Console,.6.0.26; my Search predictor 1.0.1.0; and my SpeedBit accelerator 2.2.4, which I use for watching any videos that tend to hang. (Since discovering this, I have tried watching a video from YouTube and it is bad, hanging up every 10 seconds for about 15 seconds!)

It seems that my best course of action is to uninstall this new Firefox and reinstall the previous one.

I shall await your reply before attempting this.

Thanks

Colinito

Hi Colinito.

Let's get straight down to it.

1] SpeedBit accelerator. Why is that needed? On a reasonable Internet Provider internet connection no accelerator is needed at all. If watching videos online hang then there would be other reasons for that, from slow internet speed to some problems with the browser like bad add-ons.

If your internet speed is slow, no accelerator is going to fix that.

Bad add-ons can be tested by an elimination test. Disable an add-on, test, move on to the next add-on. In particular, try updating Adobe's Flash Player to see if that helps with the YouTube videos.

2] Google toolbar. I don't like toolbars. If I want to search I just go to Google.com

3] Java Console. Yep, my Firefox 7.01 told me that the Java console wasn't compatible. No problem it is disabled and I have seen no effect.

4] What is a Search Predictor? Why do you need that?

5] Have you removed the AVG toolbar?

Do you have these problems with other browsers?

Mark

Hello Mark,




Sorry for the delay in this reply.


I stopped the SpyBot and Adaware background programmes. (Tea
Timer and Resident Shield)




I uninstalled
Adaware. I then checked the Internet availability speed, and found that I was
now able to obtain the required link with no appreciable delay. I re-installed
Adaware and repeated the procedure - I found it to be the same, no appreciable
delay.


I then opened AVG and disabled
the Anti virus, Link scanner, Email protection, Anti root kit and Identity protection
facilities, making the AVG programme non-functioning. I checked the internet
availability and found no change from before - the links were obtainable with
no significant delay. I re-started them all and repeated the check, once again
there was no change and all internet links were readily obtainable. I therefore
did not uninstall my AVG programme.

My service provider - Yacom - promised me 10.Mb, In my connection
test - which I usually do on a Saturday, but have done one especially just
before writing this - I had the following result:-
Ping: 57 ms
D/L: 8.82 mbps

U/L: 0.42 mbps

1.) I
have always had a problem with viewing videos like youtube as they tend to 'hang'
or 'buffer.' On trying it, I found that the accelerator stopped that, so
considered that it was a valid download and have kept it for over 2 years.
I checked two before writing this and they now 'hang' or 'Buffer' making watching them rather annoying.

2.)
Since I first bought my computer, in 2005, I have always had a Google toolbar.
Like religion, if you are 'brought up' only knowing one religion, you do not
get to check up on the others! I never thought about not having a toolbar!

3.) I have not had any problem so
far with my Java Console being not compatible, having said that, I am not really sure what a Java console does. I know that I must have Java enabled to run text etc, but the console???

4.) Search Predictor gave other search suggestions
when searching for a 'subject.' Not really necessary, sometimes helpful.

5.) I
removed the AVG toolbar plus many others, almost as soon as they were installed
in a mandatory way. (Babylon/Yahoo/AVG, etc.)


I only use Firefox so I can not say if the other problem is
evident with other browsers.

I have searched for Adobe Flash Player, but I do not see it
in the Add On or Plug In list. Putting the name into the 'search' - when clicking
on globe bottom left of task bar - does not show it. However it appears in the
control panel/Programme and Features as follows, Adobe Flash Player 10 Activex -
12.9.2011: Adobe Flash Player 10 Plug in - 23.9.2011.


I
have done a test disabling the add-ons one by one, this does not appear to
affect anything. However, after the first check that I did following your first
reply, the toolbar disappeared! And all the other add ons that had 'not compatible
with firefox 7' became opaque in the add on list and have ceased to function.
Why this should only have taken effect AFTER opening the add on list, I can not
answer!

That just about covers your various questions.



Thank you for your on-going interest.



Regards,



Colinito

The only thing I would have done differently, (if you didn't do it my way), would be to uninstall one, reboot the computer to update the registry and any system files and settings, then test. Then move on to the other. But that would only have been with Spybot and AdAware of course and not AVG, which you didn't anyway.

So a recap if I may.

1] Disabling Spybot's TeaTimer appears to have made a difference.

2] Uninstalling Lavasoft appears to make a difference even though reinstalling it did not make anything worse again. I would still be inclined not to use that any more. Your anti-virus does a lot of what AdAware does any way and for more comprehensive anti-malware we now recommend both the free versions of Malwarebytes Anti-malware and SUPERAntiSpyware in place of Spybot and AdAware. It's a shame because Spybot and AdAware were great utilities in their time, but we often see posts here where the cause conflict. The free versions of MBAM and SAS are stand-alone scanners, meaning we don't allow them to load at startup, (SAS may try to do that), and just perform manual scans once a week or so.

3] AVG. A difficult one. I wasn't accusing AVG's anti-virus email scanner, Anti Rootkit or ID protection from causing any problems. However, you do mention Link Scanner and this was a known web page browse killer. But Link Scanner was changed by AVG to something else a few years ago, so I'm a little confused about your use of that name now. Is this an up to date version of AVG?

4] Internet speed looks good.

5] Speedbit Accelerator. I'm still reluctant to recommend that and am still convinced your video streaming problems remain elsewhere.

In my Win 7 (Control Panel > Program & Features), I have 3 entries for Adobe;

a) Adobe Download Manager
b) Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX, (that ActiveX shows this is an Internet Explorer plugin)
c) Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin, (Firefox and other browsers plugin)

Try a couple of tests;

First - Go here; http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ to test your browser's Flash Plugin. You should see the animation, but if not initially, let the page load then refresh it. Now, right click the animation image and select "Settings". In the small window that displays make sure the first tab at the bottom, (image on the far left), is selected. Then remove the tick for "Enable hardware acceleration".

Turn off or disable the Speedbit accelerator, close down the browser then re-start it, and test your Flash player at YouTube of any other video site. Is there any improvement in streaming?

Second - If not, update Adobe's Flash, but first uninstall it using Adobe's own Flash Uninstaller. Links below;

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html - Uninstall Adobe Flash. (They call it ActiveX but for Firefox it is the same). Make sure you download the correct file, 64 bit if your Windows OS is 64 bit.

Install the Flash player again, from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ . BEWARE. Make sure you remove any tick on that page to install any 3rd party software, (I've just seen an option to install McAfee software which I do not want). You should not have to disable AVG, after the download, to install it, but that may be required.

Test online videos again.

6] Disabling add-ons. Yes I saw the same with incompatible add-ons becoming opaque.

I hope this helps improve things even more.

Mark

Hello Mike,

Thanks for your reply.

I have uninstalled Adaware.

I have downloaded Malwarebites ant malware, done a scan and Nothing was detected.

I have downloaded the 'latest' Adobe Flash Player - 11.0 and Installed it. (I did not have to use the bit choice, FYI, I have 32 bit.

(I meant to mention that I have Belarc Advisor installed, which assists me when I am looking for details!)

I uninstalled the Accelerator and will try some videos using the new flash player. If it still hangs/buffers, I might try re-installing the accelerator to see if it makes a difference - if not, it will go again!

Apart from two odd items, everything seems OK now.
The 'odd' things are the sudden vanishing of the Google toolbar. The second is that last evening, when a site opened, I had to wait for about 15 to 20 seconds to be able to scroll up or down in that site. This included Yahoo, as well. Today, it seems OK. I checked the speed at the same time to see if my provider had reduced my speed but all was more or less ok. The Ping was 56, the Download was 8.10 and the Upload was 32. I have just done another before writing this sentence and it reads - Ping 58, D/L 8.82 and U/L .39

I think that, all things considered, I can continue now in the hope that no little green gremlins will pop out of the monitor and the fuses won't blow!

Thank you so much for your help and advice. (I shall copy and past our conversations for future reference.)

I will not mark the thread as solved in case you have any comments to make!

Kind regards,

Colin.

As an addendum to the above, I tried some youtube videos, and there was a play of 28 econds, then a hang/buffer of 18 seconds then it played through to the end. I re-installed the accelerator and it was about the same, the hang period was reduced to 11 seconds and it then played through to the end. I shall leave it installed, It does seem marginally better with it installed, even though it is only 7 seconds!

Regards,

Colin

Your note about "The 'odd' things are the sudden vanishing of the Google toolbar. The second is that last evening, when a site opened, I had to wait for about 15 to 20 seconds to be able to scroll up or down in that site. This included Yahoo, as well."

I won't mention the Google toolbar as I don't know much about that, but using my Firefox and one particular site, (but two different pages), I notice a similar effect.

I use the BBC's web site all the time, either to listen to BBC Radio online, or on occasion to watch TV using BBC's iPlayer. But with either the radio page or the iPlayer page my Firefox often freezes for 10 to 15 seconds or so. In fact in the title bar across the top of the browser window I will often see a "Not Responding" message. But after that short time Firefox responds again.

This is Firefox 7.01. I have few add-ons but the ones I have are WOT, AdblockPlus and NoScript, as well as Flash Player, essential for both the radio and iPlayer. I don't have any security scanner toolbars or add-ons installed.

I should mention that the pages (or Firefox), only freezes on my first visit of the session to the BBC, whichever page is first. After that initial freeze, no more problems for the session until the next time I boot up the system and visit the BBC.

I haven't fathomed this out yet, but it only seems to be those two web site pages.

Here's another test for you. You mention YouTube videos keep halting. I'm guessing they are buffering but with your internet speed that shouldn't be a problem. Can you find any other video site that you can test?

And a couple of other questions;

1] When did this all work properly, and what has changed since it last worked?

2] Anything else running on your system at the times of these problems, eg any file sharing using torrents or similar?

Ohh, and how much RAM does this system have, and what video card is it using. What is the make and model of this system?

Mark

Hello Mark,



Answer to ?
1. Since installing Firefox 7. on 30.9.2011. AVG 2012 was installed on 10.10.2011, but the
problem was there by then.




Answer to ?
2. Nothing now, but previously the backing programmes of AVG and Adaware were
running, until you advised removing Adaware and stopping the AVG one.


Answer to ? 3.

Make and
model not applicable, various parts in a separate tower.
Board:
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5KPL-AM SE X.0x
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0506 05/27/2009

2.60
gigahertz Intel Pentium Dual-Core
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded

2040 Megabytes
Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM A1' has 2048 MB

Not sure
about the Video Card, is this it?
Intel(R)
G33/G31 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter]


Your notes on Firefox are noted, OK, but they did not happen to me before, and it happens on each new page and it still (this evening) takes me a long time to reach the chosen page once I have clicked on it.

I shall have a look for the different video locations to try one that is not Youtube tomorrow, it's 2330 now so I shall post this and close down!

Regards

Colin