Same thing here... After I open FF my computer is unusable... Using XP and FF 3.6.6... Did some fixing to make plugin-container not to load but FF still getting 100% cpu usage... Will I have to move to Chrome?

F*** THIS S***!!

Solution = change to Chrome... That's what I did, as I can't see Mozilla doing anything about this problem... Downloaded Chrome, installed the plugin I used on FF and all is fast now.. Maybe they want us to change to another browser...

Phew - so it's not just me then? lol. Sorry Mozilla, but you're losing an awful lot of Firefox fanatics here - me included. I stuck 3.6.6 on a fresh Windows install, and it just cripples my (high-spec) PC. I used to love Firefox, but because the latest version is unusable (thanks to that feckin' 'plugin-container'), I've moved over to Chrome which is stable and sooooooooo much faster. I'll maybe come back to FF when you sort all this out...

Haha - just got "not responding" while trying to type this reply. Stoopid container constantly crashes and FF sooo much slower than it used to be a couple updates ago. Read somewhere that exporting the bookmarks and allowing to rebuild the user profile was a major improvement but that was on a linux build- Is there a way to do this on XPsp3?

 I actually found myself using IE8 again since FF has been eating 86-100% cpu lately; will try to disable the container and see if that helps, but I'd like to give that profile rebuild a shot since that has proved useful - just don't know how.

I have had the same issue since 3.6.5. Went back to 3.5.9 and the problem goes away. I also tried ALL of the solutions posted on various forums. Like many others here, it appears the issue has absolutely no ATTENTION to the Firefox developers. I am not a big IE fan, but at least there my system does not freeze up. Looks like I will go to it, or may give Chrome a try.

Seems they are pushing user to leave this as they pushed people off the old Netscape platform.

I have a V2 Firefox that doesn't require the plugin-container.exe although some of the FACEBOOK games won't display if you can live with that. I am adjusting it seems they are trying to FORCE us to switch to GOOGLE Chrome which I refuse to do as they already think they are GOD of the INTERNET speaking for myself. Just reply asking and I will send it to you asking for the Rared File

Everyone of you shoud stop crying and try out 3.6.7 - what the hell do you expect? The CEO responding in person "oh yeah, you'll see a fix tomorrow" ?

1) submit 2) wait

Actually 3.6.7 doesn't appear to have fixed the problem either since I am experiencing much the same thing only in the first hour of updating.

As to what I expect:

I EXPECT that Mozilla continue their excellent tradition (up till now) of being everything that IE8 was not, and to actually issue an update that is a noticeable improvement of some sort from the last that makes an update worthwhile, unlike the last 3 which seem to have decreased the functionality of a browser that I was pleased with to the point of having to revert to one that I previously quit using for exactly the same reason.  I EXPECT that buggy or untested versions will be labeled BETA and not foisted onto the general public before major issues have been resolved.  Given that most people are finding problems related to Flash and that Flash is a fairly widespread used application, I would EXPECT that a release that commonly has issues with FLASH would not be issued until those problems had been dealt with. 

In this case, I apparently EXPECT too much. 

So in case the folks over there at Mozilla have lost focus, I ask that you not bother me with an update for a product that doesn't UPGRADE the experience of using it at the same time. If a run of the mill user can't tell what improvement has come from the update, it probably isn't an improvement.

The Firefox upgrade 3.6.7 did nothing to resolve the problems and conflicts between Flash 10.1 and Firefox 3.6.5. Version 3.6.7 continues to run extremely sluggish when flash is required to display web content including slower video and more unstable video when running YouTube. Mozilla hasn’t even acknowledged that a problem exists and since 3.6.7 provides no solution to the problem I think we can all safely conclude that Firefox conflicts are not going to be resolved and that Firefox, previously the best web browser, is now a dead browser application. My solution has been to switch to Google Chrome but it lacks functionality that I need. So, after not using Internet Explorer since version 6.0, I finally upgraded to version 8.0. Firefox was previously the perfect browser and it’s a shame that they screwed it up and apparently have no desire or intention to fix it. All of us users simply can not spend hours per week managing technology, trying to figure out why software suddenly doesn’t work well. We’re tired of doing that and just do not have the time. So the only solution is to drop faulty products like Firefox and move on to other applications that are much more stable and reliable.

And along comes 3.6.8 ... Still not fixed. Is it possible to roll back to previous version? (and turn off the auto update?) This once was a working browser that is now draining the life of my machine and me. What were they thinking?

You can download older versions of Firefox here: http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php

Firefox 3.6.3 is the latest one that work best for me under windows xp

I just installed the older version on top of the new one, works great.

You can turn off auto update for Firefox like this: Tools=>Options=>Advanced=>Update tab

Untick Firefox under "Automatically check for updates to:"

Oh bless you! Thanks for that - maybe now I can go back to liking this app again. Interesting to look at the release dates though.

Hmmm. It would appear that the length of time elapsed between update/version releases is directly proportional to the effectiveness of or marginal improvements gained by that release over the last. At least in most recent history.

It would have been kinder to users and less damaging to reputation to have the word beta beside many of those and left the majority of us in the dark until they came up with a version that was more thoroughly baked.

Hey wait a minute... dialing back to an older version for fear that the newer ones are not being properly thought out? This is starting to look and feel a lot like the work of M$

SNAP OUT OF IT!!

Yes, I am reluctantly joining the parade of others looking for alternative browsers as Firefox's stability continues to deteriorate into alpha-quality instability. My browser crashes several times daily, nearly always as a result of interaction with Flash content on websites I visit.

When it does not crash, I routinely run into the high CPU utilization problem, although mine typically tops out at 25%, not 60 or more. No matter -- at 25 the browser becomes near useless because of what looks like a freeze to 10-20 second intervals followed by 2-3 seconds of resumed responsiveness. Rinse and repeat.

The plugin-container does not seem to resolve anything involving browser crashes -- even when you receive the message that Flash has crashed, Firefox rapidly becomes unstable and usually crashes within 10 minutes.

Lately, Firefox cannot even stay running when nobody is using it. Heading to bed with the browser open this last week or so has always resulted in a crashed browser message the following morning.

As others have noted, whether or not this is a Flash problem, the only browser that I use that routinely suffers from it is Firefox. I guess Chrome, IE, and others have better programming to workaround those "Flash problems."

Let's be honest here -- this is a Firefox problem, and honestly a fundamental flaw at that. Tinkering around the edges just isn't going to cut it any longer.

I was an IE user for at more than a decade before finally finding myself weaned away to rely on Firefox. I am not one to bounce around from browser to browser, but I'm being forced to start looking for something with a basic level of reliability that Firefox just doesn't have any longer.

It's a shame, really.

Interestingly, none of the problems exists for FF 3.6.8 and Flash 10.1.82.76 under Linux (Opensuse 11.3 / x86_64).

But I do see huge performance problems under Win XP (32 bit) for all FF versions after FF 3.6.3.

By the way: For comparison reasons I installed FF 4 beta. No improvements regarding the bad flash performance ....