I use a laptop with good LAN web connection, 4 GB RAM, Avast 5 backup up by the Firefox Add-Ons Addblock-Plus and NoScript, with the Free Threatfire running in the background. I occasionally activate SuperAntispyware which so far has only detected relatively harmless single Cookies (like double-Click or such).
Considering all these privacy measures are free I consider myself pretty well covered, but suspect that Avast alone would probably do the job.
These past few days my Firefox (latest edition) has been slowing to snail’s pace – almost freezing, with the hard disk churning in protest. I cannot figure out why and so suddenly – I have plenty of disk space (75%+), use CCleaner once a week when more than 150 MB needs cleaning, I have also used Ccleaner’s register cleaner which cleans out traces of old programs – although I am not sure if tampering with the registry is a good idea, especially since Ccleaner finds so few issues there – but I cannot see any harm in clearing out traces of deinstalled progs.
My hunch is that the Firefox slows everytime I log into a discussion forum powered by Disqus on the Daily Telegraph.
If you have few extension installed, I would suggest a clean installation of Firefox.
Delete your files, settings, cache… start again.
I did this and Firefox became much more responsive.
meanwhile I have deactivated NoScript and all seems to be back to normal. I would guess that NoScript should really be saved for sites likely to be hacked or phished such as online banking.
thanks Asyn - not German but never mind. It is odd because evrything incl NS worked just fine until I srtated using that blog forum then it just started freezing up - is there even a conection?
I just returned, started my PC and logged in again at that problematic site. Firefox did the decent thing and crashed, and restarted after sending out its usual crash report (which one assumes will be monitored somewhere). It seems to working as new!
NS is still deactivated.
Glad to hear Firefox is working better for you now. Would you post the Report ID of the most recent crash report? Get it as follows:
Enter about:crashes in the url bar to get the Submitted Crash Reports page. Post the Report ID of your most recent crash here. Don’t post the whole report itself, just the ID, which consists of about twenty letters, digits, and dashes. Thanks.
My CPU gets pegged whenever I go to that page too. I’m not surprised your laptop fans go nuts. I’ve determined that it’s caused by the BUSINESS BULLET Flash player. If you add the following filter to Adblock Plus, the problem goes away.
Everything is up and stable - NS too. I think that your suggestion to add that FlashPlayer filter to ABP may have helped stabilise it.
I note that the Flash panel now reads “we noticed that your FP is not up to date - click here to update” etc. As I mentioned, I did so and the “churning” started.
2 points:
Why would FlashPlayer introduce an update that had this effect?
I am curious to learn how you pinpointed the problem so quickly?
I ask, because it is frustrated incidents like these that have caused me to take drastic measures like messing with the Registry (I think I wrecked my old laptop “doctoring” around with it - trying dodgy anti-spyware and registry fixes.)
However here is that crash report ID - it may tell you more:
bp-4f9f634d-19a8-4437-8859-8d3e12100619 19.06.2010 14:37 - on the report itself it reads as:
ID: 3ea0cc6b-fbf9-4632-8026-b6d932100615
It tells me nothing of course, but it may tell you something useful. It mentioned “ns” a few times and “Plug-ins” - which ? FP?
Anyway Firefox started to work normaly immediately after it restarted and before I took your ABP filter advice. So possibly Firefox kicked out whatever was jamming it anyway?
Sorry about the html mix-up in last post addressed to ALAN BAXTER. Here it is again:
Alan,
Everything is up and stable - NS too. I think that your suggestion to add that FlashPlayer filter to ABP may have helped stabilise it.
I note that the Flash panel now reads “we noticed that your FP is not up to date - click here to update” etc. As I mentioned, I did so and the “churning” started.
2 points:
Why would FlashPlayer introduce an update that had this effect?
I am curious to learn how you pinpointed the problem so quickly?
I ask, because it is frustrateinf incidents like these that have caused me (and probably many other born button-pushers!!) to take drastic measures like messing with the Registry (I think I wrecked my old laptop “doctoring” around with it - trying dodgy anti-spyware and registry fixes.)
However here is that crash report ID - it may tell you more:
bp-4f9f634d-19a8-4437-8859-8d3e12100619 19.06.2010 14:37 - on the report itself it reads as:
ID: 3ea0cc6b-fbf9-4632-8026-b6d932100615
It tells me nothing of course, but it may tell you something useful. It mentioned “ns” a few times and “Plug-ins” - which ? FP?
Anyway Firefox started to work normaly immediately after it restarted and before I took your ABP filter advice. So possibly Firefox kicked out whatever was jamming it anyway?
The crash occurred in TFWAH.dll, a ThreatFire module that is part of ThreatFire’s “Active Defense Technology”. From the WinPatrol Plus database:
ThreatFire Service – TFWAH.EXE
Tfwah.dll, tfgui.dll, and tfservice.exe install with ThreatFire from PC Tools. ThreatFire (formerly CyberHawk) and ThreatFire Pro promise to use “Active Defense Technology” to protect you from viruses, Trojans, and other types of malware including those that are not yet known to regular antivirus programs. This is intended as real-time protection so you’ll need to leave this tfservice.exe running if you want the protection this program promises. You’ll find more information at http://www.threatfire.com/.
Safe
There may be a bug in the ThreatFire module. See if there’s a more recent version of ThreatFire available. It may not have that problem. If you get any more Firefox crashes which occur in that module, then I suggest turning off that ThreatFire service.
Coincidence?
Problematic interaction between Flash and ThreatFire?
Bug in new Flash version?
Something unique to the problematic BUSINESS BULLET’s Flash player or content? (This would be my first guess, especially if the problem stays fixed with that custom Adblock Plus filter. The previous scenarios are possible too but harder to confirm.)
In my experience, CPU problems caused by visiting a web page are usually caused by Flash content.
I typically use NoScript with NoScript Options > Embeddings > Apply these restrictions to whitelisted sites too checked.
According to NoScript, BUSINESS BULLET is the only Flash object on the web page.
Allowing the Flash object to run by clicking on its NoScript placeholder caused my CPU to jump to 100% and stay there. (I have a slow computer, so it may not jump that high for other people.)
I agree. Nothing like buying software which promises to “boost your speed” by cleaning the registry! Aack!
Hard to tell. I think “ns” stands for Netscape, an ancestor of Firefox. By the way, since it doesn’t matter, the second id is for a crash which occurred four days earlier on 2010-06-15. It crashed in the ThreatFire module too.
I hope so. I wouldn’t be concerned about that issue anymore unless it recurs. (But keep that BUSINESS BULLET blocked with Adblock Plus.)
TFWAH.EXE - Threatfire - I have never been aware of it, it uses very little CPU and updates itself in the background. i have just run its “Smart Update” - no new versions available, but just the usual update. It has reacted to the same threats as Vista’s Windows Defender, usually more quickly. I consider it a useful back-stop to Avast, but do you think I should do without it?
TF reacted to this Flash update whereas NS, Adblock and Avast did not. Maybe I should ditch TF.
I also have Adblock, NS, WD, Avast 5 and activate SuperAnitiSpyware Free occasionally for a quick scan, which has only ever caught a couple of harmless cookies. The SAS free version is totally passive and does not run intil you activate it for updates and scans.
Do you think this as well as Threatfire is overkill?
Whenever I install free security software, I always google for what I consiedred to be reliable evaluations -CNET etc.
Threatfire was a recommended addition to Avira Free (which I used before installing Avast 5.8 updating to 5.) My principle is that no AV etc. is 100% and some are clearly “better” than others (Avast, Avira which also are easier on resouces than clunkers like Norton - although the press seemed to think that Avast now has the edge on Avira - it is certainly more transparent/user friendly /tells you more about your computer), therefore I thought it best to cover as many angles as possible without overkill.
Meanwhile I will keep that BUSINESS BULLET blocked with AP.
