I had same troubles for last 48 hours (Feb 1 and Feb 2), My FireFox would crash 1 second after loading any web page. I removed all Comcast plug-ins, Yahoo toolbar I never used and disabled Java versions 6.0.290 and 6.0.310 platforms...my system (old Windows XP on a HP) is now running FireFox 18.0.1 without issues for 15 minutes and test trying a few web pages.

I also have this problem with version 18.0.1 and it became only a problem in Jan 2013. I am running it in Windows 7 Home Edition and 'pausing' occurs at home (via cable modem) as well at work (university network).

Could it be that version 18.0.1 uses an unusual amount of memory resources over previous versions? If so, how would one check this and what might be a 'work-around'?

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Resetting Firefox solved my problem. Tylerdowner - you are the man.

This is not a solution. It is a gun in the mouth. Give us specific solutions, not "throw everything away" palliatives that involve no thought, investigation or effort of any kind on Mozilla's part. 95% of the utility of FF is not FF itself, but addons. After many years of developing that context, throwing it all away to get back a rudimentary 5% is as unacceptable as it is stupid.

DonGately Your dissatisfaction with the solution could have been stated a bit more tactfully rather than just 'trashing' it.

Sorry, but my frustration at being dead in the water for days and getting generic suggestions that don't address the problem goes far beyond my threshold of tact.

I went back to 17.0.1 with the same set of addons and plugins and I'm fully back to being productive again. This suggests a FF bug, not an addon problem.

relative to my comments on Feb 2, deleting FireFox 18.0.1 and re-installing made no difference; installing and going back to 17.0.x made no difference; disabling and removing the identified Add-Ons were FireFox's own self diagnostics indicating those items were "unstable" or "not compatible with FireFix 18.0.1"....I'm happy with the solution I posted if it helps anyone. As for debugging and finding the root cause in the offending lower level application code (I don't have the correct tools for that type of debugging nor am I paid for it).

My sincere apologies to anyone who took my rant as a personal attack. My target is Mozilla collectively not any one individual or anyone that is just trying to help. But my criticism of their standard response stands.

I thought i was the only one having this issue and was getting beyond frustrated. The temporary solution im currently using is simply starting firefox in safe mode. by clicking the icon and holding "shift" at the same time for a few seconds a box will appear asking to either reset or open window in safe mode. again this is a temp. fix but until the mozilla people figure it out, this is the best way to get back at surfing the web

When 18.0.2 came out I updated to it from 17.0.1 and it works fine. Whatever was wrong with 18.0.1 that was causing these problems for me was fixed in 18.0.2. YMMV

I am trying this "Run Firefox in administrator mode", I can boot into windows 8, load only Firefox 18.0.2 and it freezes, or if you load Yahoo walk away from the computer when you return Firefox 18.0.2 will be frozen, windows 8 will be partly froze. if you try to run anything or look a anything the screen will change like when busy but will never come out of it.

see http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/942347

OK it is now 8 hours with no freezes may have a winner?

I had this problem too,and again with 19 and 20. I got rid of it by uninstalling Xmarks, which had made an update.

Reset Firefox? Oh sure. What a retarded suggestion. Why not just format my hard drive every time there's a problem? I don't want to lose all the extensions and settings. What a load of crap.

This has been happening for a few months. It appears to happen when those stupid background sites load that I can see in the lower left. When a background site takes a long time to load, FF freezes everything.

It's all those stupid background sites nearly every website loads now that is the problem. Webmasters need to cut back on that. It slows everything down. But FF shouldn't freeze just because a background site you don't even want is slow. Load the main site anyway.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

Tried that - no go. It has Nothing to do with addons and only peripherally with FF. I know what the problem is because I've observed FF hangs when a background site takes a long time to load. Although it should do that in a separate process and not hang - but it does. Unfortunately, more and more websites are accessing slow-loading background sites, usually to make ad money or use something like google analytics. I may try an ad blocker, and just keep adding in sites to block that I can see from the bottom left load bar, are spinning forever. But adblockers have their own problems.

Or I may try blocking them from the hosts file if it's always the same few sites. I've noticed it happening but now I'll take better note of what crappy background sites are causing this.

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Creating a profile":

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

Is this going to transfer my addons and bookmarks? That's really all I'm concerned with. I don't care about icing like appearance. I created favicons for all my bookmarks and don't want to lose them. Last time exported bookmarks I lost the favicons. And I have addons I don't want to re-do.

You can use a reset if you want to transfer the bookmarks automatically.
You will have to reinstall the extensions again in the new profile.

Note that issues like this can be caused by problems with the places.sqlite file, so it is best to first test things and then decide what to do.
Creating a new profile makes this easy to use the Profile Manager to return to your previous profile where a reset moves your current profile to an Old Firefox Data folder on the desktop, so you can't switch back to it.

If you reset Firefox then a new profile is created and some of your data (bookmarks, history, cookies, passwords, form data) is automatically imported and your current profile will be moved to the desktop (Old Firefox Data). You will lose extensions and other customizations (toolbars, prefs) that you've made.

It is possible to recover more data from the old profile, but be cautious to avoid carrying over the problem.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

When everyone says "hangs", we are talking about the total operating system, right? I wait 30 seconds, and hear a "bing" (not MS bing) and am back up and going.

I've had this problem for about a year now. I, my wife, and my daughter all use FF. I've put up with it, but am seriously thinking of changing to Chrome.