Tag Archives: tech

Solved: Slow startup in Firefox 3.5

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For some time I have been plauged by a slow (3-4 minute) startup window for Firefox.

I have tried numerous fixes suggested online; switching of automatic updates for extensions, clearing down cache and history, even a re-install; but nothing worked. As the problem got progressively worse, my workaround became to start Firefox and then, whilst I waited for it to grind into life, to start Google Chrome and use that to check Facebook, Twitter, etc. Not exactly a fix, but at least I didn’t have to sit and wait as my HD rattled away and Firefox limped onto the screen.

However, I have now found a fix and, as I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else, I thought I would share it for any others affected by this particular problem. I had archived this post as a draft, but after hearing others complaining of the same issue I thought I would post by solution.

My particular set up of Firefox is Firefox 3.5, on Vista Business, with XMarks, Firebug, and SEOQuake extensions (the essential tools of one of my trades!). I am also a bit of an RSS addict, and it was herein that lay the rub.

Somewhere in the combination of having an extensive list of Live Bookmarks and having an extension that syncs my bookmarks to the web (XMarks) lies a rich vein of process and network hungry action. Starting up Firefox seemed to necessitate a mass update of the Live Bookmarks and this may, or may not, have kicked off a lot of sync activity in XMarks.

My process of deduction here is by no means scientific, with the exception of having empirically tested this theorem by moving my RSS feeds to Google Reader.

My bookmarks are now Live Bookmark free, XMarks seems to be winking away a lot less in my Firefox status bar, and the browser now starts up just as fast as it ever did. Not Chrome fast, but still, a lot lot faster.

So, if you are having the same issue as me with a similar set-up, feel free to try this fix out.

It’s not the thought that counts, it’s the eight meals.

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After yesterday’s post about the vomit inducing Microsoft advert, I couldn’t help but mention that other piece of (evil) marketing genius from Redmond for Internet Explorer 8 that has hit the press today.

If you download Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft will donate eight meals to the “Feeding America” campaign.

Internet news sites are already awash with commentary regarding Microsoft’s “download IE 8 or a child starves” approach, with a saddening number of responses from some Internet malcontents that Americans don’t need any additional feeding. For once, I’m not going to add grist to the mill of sarcasm. Somewhere, there is either a pretty bad person or a pretty good person behind this and, although the effort may seem a little misguided and will probably be viewed as at least a misfire if not a total backfire …, it is still an easy way to give a little something to charity.

So, here’s the plan

  1. Go to http://www.browserforthebetter.com
  2. Click the big “download” button
  3. Pick an operating system. Doesn’t matter which one.
  4. When the option to download the file comes up, download it.
  5. You should be presented with a page confirming that 8 meals have been donated
  6. Wait for the download to finish and then delete the downloaded file

Microsoft only require you to download Internet Explorer 8 for them to donate the eight meals. They don’t say that you have to install it.

Only complete downloads of Windows® Internet Explorer® 8 through browserforthebetter.com from June 8, 2009 through August 8, 2009 qualify for the charitable donation to Feeding America®. Microsoft® is donating $1.15 per download to Feeding America® up to a maximum of $1,000,000. Meals are used for illustrative purposes only. Meal conversion is effective until June 30th, 2010.

My only concern with my master plan is that the definition of a “complete” download involves installing the product and downloading more files in the process; the download is only 18Mb, which seems remarkably slim for a Microsoft application.

Still, I got to the thank you screen, I think that means my work is done.

So, what are you waiting for? Download (but feel no complusion to install) Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 today!


YouTube – O M G I G P Internet Explorer 8 Puke Vomit Girl

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Just when I think the world isn’t getting any worse, Microsoft pop up and deliver something so truly misguided that it is brilliant.

YouTube – O M G I G P Internet Explorer 8.

Pop quiz … “What Worse?”

1: That multi-billion dollar multi-national mega-corporation Microsoft is resorting to the “Internet Explorer will hide your porn” argument to try and shift IE8

or

2: They are using Dean Cain, who used to be Superman, to do it?

I leave it to your own soul to decide.

Death and Microblogging. Michael Jackson’s Last Audience.

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I have just lived through a bizarre experience, watching news of Michael Jackson’s death propogate across the Internet in real time.

I saw the news first on Twitter, where microbloggers tweeted and retweeted the news that had been broken on the TMZ website. Whilst traditional media, such as BBC News 24, tried to confirm the story, I was able to watch it metamorphose into something else time and again.

As I write this, the news has just broken on the BBC, the first news source that I trust enough to believe it. I have also had four messages that he is not dead, two that he is in a coma, one that it is a publicity stunt, and eight jokes (none funny). Some people praise, others decry. I am sorry to say, a few celebrate in a manner that tries to disguise ghoulish glee for a moral compass.

A friend has just IM-ed me to tell me that the Wikipedia page has already been updated. I have no doubt the eBay auctions are already being set up to auction off tickets to concerts that will now never play.

All of which makes me wonder something …  is this the way that the worth of our lives will be measured in future; not by the deeds we do, but by the tweets and blog posts about us when we are gone?

I have 296 Facebook friends. I worry that this is not enough of a legacy.

“Not in the face(book), not in the face …” or “How to control the privacy of your Facebook profile

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Clearing through my email back-log, I found an interesting link that had been forwarded on by Snark and Fury a while back.

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.

I was pleased to find that my Facebook data was already nailed down pretty tight, but I know those settings are/were not the default and thought it would be worthwhile passing the link on.

So, before that friend from school tracks you down …  Sort out the 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know on your porfile.