# Firefox...the end of an era?



## iamwhatiseem (May 13, 2015)

I am almost ready to give up on Firefox.
So many problems in the past year that is beginning to make it a real pain to use.
1) Constant problems with gmail. Not loading the page, taking two tries to attach files...not loading all emails everytime etc. etc.
2) Constant problems with business websites using ecommerce programs.
3) Not loading a website at all until restarting Firefox.

   What gives? I know they have had some significant turnover of some key employees.


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## Pogo (May 13, 2015)

I use both FF and Gmail and have had no issues at all.  
OTOH I have a very old decrepit laptop as backup, which has lots of issues with Gmail and can only open the simple version.  But I'm sure that laptop's got multiple issues.


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## there4eyeM (May 13, 2015)

Similar problems.


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## TheOldSchool (May 13, 2015)

Have you guys ever tried Opera?  It's very similar to Firefox but it's way better.


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## Pogo (May 13, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Have you guys ever tried Opera?  It's very similar to Firefox but it's way better.



I started with Opera when I got this computer, just to give something different a chance.  Then Chrome, and now back to Firefox (which is most of my history).  I don't remember what Opera's issues were but there were reasons I came back to Firefox.

I was on Firefox when it was still Nutscrape Navigalator.


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## TheOldSchool (May 13, 2015)

Pogo said:


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I used Firefox for years.  I switched to Chrome but I forget why.  I think it might've been that the search bar defaulted to Yahoo and I couldn't figure out how to change it back to google.


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## iamwhatiseem (May 13, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


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BINGO...I hate Yahoo.
It is the worst search engine on the planet...and it isn't that you can't figure it out...FF removed Google as a search bar option.


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## occupied (May 13, 2015)

If your browser is unstable blame Adobe Flash. I wish to God there was an alternative to their shit. Get flashblocker, it helps.


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## Pogo (May 13, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


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Oh I got that recently, it's happened more than once.  In Firefox you go Options > Search > Default Search Engine and change it back.


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## P F Tinmore (May 13, 2015)

occupied said:


> If your browser is unstable blame Adobe Flash. I wish to God there was an alternative to their shit. Get flashblocker, it helps.


Youtube is moving to HTML5. It is not the memory hog that Flash is. I have had flash go past 1 gig of memory and I am not even using it.


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## Moonglow (May 13, 2015)

There is a lot of conflict with Java script being used on these web surfers,in fact many are starting to drop Java script all together..


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## Bleipriester (May 14, 2015)

iamwhatiseem said:


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They just changed the default search engine. But not in Europe. It´s still Google here. However, it is easy to choose another default search engine.


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## AquaAthena (May 14, 2015)

iamwhatiseem said:


> I am almost ready to give up on Firefox.
> So many problems in the past year that is beginning to make it a real pain to use.
> 1) Constant problems with gmail. Not loading the page, taking two tries to attach files...not loading all emails everytime etc. etc.
> 2) Constant problems with business websites using ecommerce programs.
> ...



Mozilla s Firefox 38 patches 13 security flaws ZDNet


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## Darkwind (May 14, 2015)

iamwhatiseem said:


> I am almost ready to give up on Firefox.
> So many problems in the past year that is beginning to make it a real pain to use.
> 1) Constant problems with gmail. Not loading the page, taking two tries to attach files...not loading all emails everytime etc. etc.
> 2) Constant problems with business websites using ecommerce programs.
> ...


You left off their fiasco with flash.  I'm on the cusp of uninstalling firefox permanently.


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## Darkwind (May 14, 2015)

occupied said:


> If your browser is unstable blame Adobe Flash. I wish to God there was an alternative to their shit. Get flashblocker, it helps.


Firefox does not even support Flash anymore.  Flash has not worked on my Firefox in over 10 months.


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## Darkwind (May 14, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Have you guys ever tried Opera?  It's very similar to Firefox but it's way better.


IN fact, Opera is the CSS gold standard for developers.


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## Darkwind (May 14, 2015)

Wow, thought I'd take a look at whats new with Netscape Navigator.

Be afraid.  Be very afraid!


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## Iceweasel (May 14, 2015)

I mostly use FF under Linux Mint 17.1 and have no issues apart from some videos not playing. I use goole when I'm not using duckduckgo, you just add it to the search engine options and can make it the default. FF ungraded to v38 yesterday.

Opera was very unstable last I tried it. I also often have Chromium running too, I use it for cookie sites and have ad and script blockers on FF with cookies disabled.


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## iamwhatiseem (May 14, 2015)

The biggest problem for me is business sites with ecommerce. It takes forever to load pages. Chrome does not have problem.


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## mamooth (May 14, 2015)

Darkwind said:


> Firefox does not even support Flash anymore.  Flash has not worked on my Firefox in over 10 months.



It's been working for everyone else. I know. A lot of porn sites use Flash. Firefox could never allow Flash to not work.

It sounds like some of you have problems with bad profiles. Over a span of years, crud builds up. To fix:

1. Type "about:support" in the URL bar, hit return.

2. Hit the "Refresh Firefox" button.

Bookmarks will be preserved, but all settings go back to default, and all addons will be nuked. Which is for the best, as bad addons are often the cause of the problems. So you do that, you see if things work, then you start putting the addons back in one at a time.


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## Bleipriester (May 15, 2015)

Of course, flash works well with Firefox. On the other hand, flash is dying and is being replaced by HTML5. So it doesn´t matter at all.


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## Darkwind (May 15, 2015)

mamooth said:


> Darkwind said:
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Did all that.  None of it worked.


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## Delta4Embassy (May 15, 2015)

Still using v2.0.0.20 just fine. Not missing Flash or anything else. Use this site just fine and everything else worth using.


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## Iceweasel (May 15, 2015)

I have FF set to clear everything but log in information when I close it. Helps to keep it from getting bloated with God knows what.


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## longknife (May 15, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Have you guys ever tried Opera?  It's very similar to Firefox but it's way better.



I don't know what the hell happened buy my Opera just took a dump. I removed and uploaded it and it still gives me all sorts of weird characters.

I'm going to restart my pc in a bit and try uploading it again.

I'm stuck with Firefox at the moment and it seems slot.


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## Ringel05 (May 16, 2015)

Darkwind said:


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Then you have another problem.  Did you update Flash?  FF auto-blocked Flash due to some serious vulnerabilities, you have to allow flash to work.  Check your Add-ons and Extras, see if Flash is disabled.


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## longknife (May 16, 2015)

Thanks but I've just removed Opera and gone to Firefox 64bit program, using Chrome for this and other discussion forums.


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## Darkwind (May 17, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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I've done all of that.  I've even removed it and installed a previously working version.   Flash works in every browser I have except Firefox.


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## Bleipriester (May 17, 2015)

Darkwind said:


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Try Cyberfox, then.


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## Toro (May 17, 2015)

Timely thread.

FF started being a pain in the ass a few days ago.  I don't know why.  I didn't change anything.  But suddenly, pages weren't loading, or taking forever to load.  I Refreshed it, but some sites are just slow. 

I've even resorted to occasionally surfing on <gasp> Safari.


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## Ringel05 (May 17, 2015)

Toro said:


> Timely thread.
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> FF started being a pain in the ass a few days ago.  I don't know why.  I didn't change anything.  But suddenly, pages weren't loading, or taking forever to load.  I Refreshed it, but some sites are just slow.
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> I've even resorted to occasionally surfing on <gasp> Safari.


For you (and many others) if it just happened it's probably due to FFs most recent update.

Okay, something I forgot, had to do it the last time FF updated on mine.  There was a problem with some graphics cards and FF, update your graphics drivers and if that doesn't work disable _hardware acceleration_ in FF.

Disable Firefox s Hardware Acceleration to Fix Slowness and More 

Same possible issue with Flash Player, disable _hardware acceleration _in Flash Player.

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldso...ow-to-disable-flash-hardware-acceleration.pdf


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## longknife (May 17, 2015)

I have a problem in that I keep getting notices that :script is not responsding. I go to Java and download the latest - and nothing happens.
Partially solved the problem - now using Chrome for this and other discussion forums.


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## Ringel05 (May 17, 2015)

longknife said:


> I have a problem in that I keep getting notices that :script is not responsding. I go to Java and download the latest - and nothing happens.
> Partially solved the problem - now using Chrome for this and other discussion forums.


Warning Unresponsive script - What it means and how to fix it Firefox Help


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## Darkwind (May 17, 2015)

I've done ALL of that.  LOL

What I did find..oh about 2 months ago...was an addon that allows you to play video without flash....then just disable the flash player in firefox...

For those websites that have flash only (no html5 canvass elements), you'll have to use another browser to see the flash.  

Here is that plugin.

Video WithOut Flash Search Add-ons for Firefox

Its called "Video without Flash"


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## AquaAthena (May 17, 2015)

iamwhatiseem said:


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Agree! Just switched back to Google this morning. FF tried to do a number on us by switching us to Yahoo. 

Here's how:

How to remove Yahoo as Firefox s default search engine - CNET

I'm going to do a number on FF by switching to Chrome!


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## Ringel05 (May 17, 2015)

Darkwind said:


> I've done ALL of that.  LOL
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> What I did find..oh about 2 months ago...was an addon that allows you to play video without flash....then just disable the flash player in firefox...
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Then you have a config problem in FF.  probably protected mode:

*Disabling Protected Mode in Flash 11.3*
To disable (or re-enable) Protected Mode in Flash 11.3 and above, use one of these methods:


(Starting in Firefox 38) In the Firefox (Tools) menu, click "Add-ons -> Plugins -> Shockwave Flash Options (button)", *clear the "Enable Adobe Flash protected mode" checkbox* and restart the browser. (To re-enable Flash Protected Mode, re-check the checkbox.) [45]
(Starting in Firefox 35 on Windows 7/Vista, Firefox 36 on Windows 8) *Toggle the "dom.ipc.plugins.flash.disable-protected-mode" preference to "true" in about:config* and restart the browser. (To re-enable Protected Mode, set the preference back to "false"). [46]. [47] [48]v
*Edit the Flash mms.cfg file*
To disable Protected Mode, use a text editor to add the line *ProtectedMode=0* to the Flash "mms.cfg" file, located in one of these locations: [49]
(Windows 32bit) C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash 
(Windows 64bit) C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
For example, on a Windows 7 64-bit system, open the _C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash_ folder, copy the file "mms.cfg" to the desktop, open it in Notepad, add a new line *ProtectedMode=0* and then close Notepad, saving your changes. Next, go back to the _C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash_ folder, rename the original file to "mms.cfgBAK" (to save it as a backup) and then drag and drop in the modified "mms.cfg" file from the desktop. To re-enable Flash Protected Mode, either restore a backup of the original mms.cfg file, if you saved one, or else re-edit the mms.cfg file to remove the *ProtectedMode=0* line you added. Updating Flash Player or installing a newer version does not automatically re-enable Protected Mode.

Flash - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

If you don't have 11.3 the procedure should be pretty much the same.


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## Ringel05 (May 17, 2015)

AquaAthena said:


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Switched me to Yahoo also, I just switched it back to Google.  I'd use Chrome but, as I've said before, Chrome doesn't have a Menu Bar, I like my menu bar so I'll deal with the occasional stupidity some companies do to make money.


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## Ringel05 (May 17, 2015)

Had a browser thread a while back where I covered a bunch of alternative browsers for those who don't like the "big boys".
Here's an updated list;
10 obscure highly specialized browsers that will make you forget about Chrome Firefox and IE PCWorld

I was using Lunascape for a while, give the user a choice of search engines (Trident, Gecko and WebKit).  Might go back to it.


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## Darkwind (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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LOL

I tried all that.


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## Dont Taz Me Bro (May 18, 2015)

occupied said:


> If your browser is unstable blame Adobe Flash. I wish to God there was an alternative to their shit. Get flashblocker, it helps.



Yep, Flash sucks balls.  It causes so many problems in Chrome.


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


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Okay.


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## Darkwind (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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Yep.  Thats  been My reaction too.  I've been on at least 3 dozen websites and help sites after the usual browser tweeks, and none of it works.

Flash on My box works for everything except firefox, so its not the flash.  

As I said, I'm about to give up on it anyway.


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


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The only two things I can think of is some conflict with your video card or your AV.  There may be something else but I just can't think of it now.  
Comodo Icedragon is pretty much a faster more secure version of FF, you can give that a try if you want.  I just downloaded it to test it out.


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## Darkwind (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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Thank you.  This Icedragon is remarkably like Firefox and the flash works well!  LOL

I think I found My replacement.


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


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You will have to change the Yahoo search to whatever else you want unless you want the Yahoo search feature. 
Just click on the arrow to the right of the Yahoo icon in the upper search bar and select what you want from the drop down menu.


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## Darkwind (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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I've already removed Yahoo! from the selection.  I don't care fore Yahoo!

In fact, I only use google, amazon, wikipedia and youtube....


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## theDoctorisIn (May 18, 2015)

I've found myself rotating between FF, Opera and Chrome for the last couple of years, switching whenever one starts to piss me off again.

Chrome has been on a pretty good streak, now that I think about it.


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## Bleipriester (May 18, 2015)

I recommend Cyberfox to you all.


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## Iceweasel (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


> Thank you.  This Icedragon is remarkably like Firefox and the flash works well!  LOL
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> I think I found My replacement.


FF is open source so like Iceweasel it may essentially be Firefox with a few tweaks. The Debian team changed some security issues, Mozilla said they couldn't use the Firefox name then, so...Iceweasel.


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## Iceweasel (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


> Thank you.  This Icedragon is remarkably like Firefox and the flash works well!  LOL
> 
> I think I found My replacement.


FF is open source so like Iceweasel it may essentially be Firefox with a few tweaks. The Debian team changed some security issues, Mozilla said they couldn't use the Firefox name then, so...Iceweasel.


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## Iceweasel (May 18, 2015)

Darkwind said:


> Thank you.  This Icedragon is remarkably like Firefox and the flash works well!  LOL
> 
> I think I found My replacement.


FF is open source so like Iceweasel it may essentially be Firefox with a few tweaks. The Debian team changed some security issues, Mozilla said they couldn't use the Firefox name then, so...Iceweasel.


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## mudwhistle (May 18, 2015)

I don't know what causes this....but my hard drive keeps filling up. Windows tells me I have zero free space left but I haven't been downloading anything. Now I can't do updates because there isn't the space left anymore. I should have over 300GBs free.


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

Iceweasel said:


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Not only that it lets you triple post........


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

mudwhistle said:


> I don't know what causes this....but my hard drive keeps filling up. Windows tells me I have zero free space left but I haven't been downloading anything. Now I can't do updates because there isn't the space left anymore. I should have over 300GBs free.


What's your operating system?  Windows XP, 7, 8.1, Apple, Linux?


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## Iceweasel (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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It works on every other board. Someone needs to plug in a wire somewhere.


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

Iceweasel said:


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It's related to whatever's happening on the site this morning, seeing multiple double + posts from different posters.


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## longknife (May 18, 2015)

I have FF 64 bit developer version as I'm running Win8.1 and it's only barely better. I still can't get Opera to work the way it did before, so am trying to deal with Chrome.


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## Bleipriester (May 18, 2015)

longknife said:


> I have FF 64 bit developer version as I'm running Win8.1 and it's only barely better. I still can't get Opera to work the way it did before, so am trying to deal with Chrome.


Developer versions are not for everyday use, thay can have many bugs. Mozilla announced a final 64 bit version for FF 37 but they did not manage to make it stable enough, as far as I know. So there is no 64 Bit FF 37. If you want to have a stable 64 Bit Firefox, you better try Cyberfox. If you don´t trust it, there is no reason to trust Chrome...
But if you do, you better go to their page where you can choose between 32 and 64 Bit and between AMD and Intel optimized versions: 8pecxstudios

Opera by the way uses Chrome´s Webkit engine, is just another Chrome browser anymore. You can get an orginal good old Opera in 64 Bit, as well: Opera 12.17 FINAL 64-bit free download - Software reviews downloads news free trials freeware and full commercial software - Downloadcrew

Former developers of Opera are making a new browser, as well, Vivaldi, basing on Chrome. You can give it a try:
A New Browser for Our Friends Vivaldi


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## longknife (May 18, 2015)

Don't know a lot, but here's what I got


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## Bleipriester (May 18, 2015)

longknife said:


> Don't know a lot, but here's what I got
> 
> View attachment 41415


An early nightly version, probably pre-beta stadium. Like first developer preview of Windows 10.
Get the final 32 Bit version, if you don´t like experiments. Otherwise, see my advice above.


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## mudwhistle (May 18, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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8.1


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## Ringel05 (May 18, 2015)

mudwhistle said:


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Open _Task Manager_, go to _Processes_ and you'll be able to see which program/process is the culprit then you can end the process.  Hit _control-shift-delete_  at the same time to open _Task Manager._
Once you know which process is causing the problem a permanent fix will be easier to find.


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## mudwhistle (May 19, 2015)

Ringel05 said:


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I don't know what to look for once I get there.

I'm taking it in to have it serviced today. Once it's in a decent state I'll be better able to monitor it in the future.


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## Ringel05 (May 19, 2015)

mudwhistle said:


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Okay but I found what others having your problem have done, it's pretty easy.  Superfetch seems to be the primary culprit.


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