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Lately I've noticed that my Firefox Browser was taking a long time when I would search Google, e.g. 3 seconds before I would see any results.

If I search for a three-word phrase, it just hangs trying to connect:

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I removed all add-ons but it still does this.

I thought it might be something with my router, but Chrome, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer all work fine.

Bing works fine in Firefox.

Here's my Firefox version information:

enter image description here

Otherwise I can still use Firefox, e.g. I'm using it to post this question, but I do notice that when I browse with it, images are often "broken" for a split second before they appear, as if it is having a hard time pulling them from a remote server. Other browsers don't do this.

What could be causing Firefox to hang when searching Google?

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Does it do the same thing on a different computer? – Mehrdad Feb 2 '11 at 5:13
On a second computer using WLAN with the same router, Firefox works fine. – Edward Tanguay Feb 2 '11 at 5:19
Huh, interesting. Have you tried clearing your history (cache, cookies, etc.) by any chance? – Mehrdad Feb 2 '11 at 5:23
Ok, I did tools | clear recent history (which knocked me off this site, had to log back in) but no, search google still hangs. – Edward Tanguay Feb 2 '11 at 5:31
You may have added a IP address to your firewall that inadvertantly blocks google services? Which version of Firefox, what OS, what kind of network are you behind, all this information is needed when troubleshooting such a difficult and weird question. – palhmbs Feb 2 '11 at 5:32
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1 Answer

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Try running firefox in safemode. There should be a link from when firefox installed. The target in the shortcut is the same except it just has -safe-mode at the end. I have found that malicious plugins or settings can remain even after disabling everything manually. If firefox suddenly works in firefox -safe-mode then there is a good chance that there is a plugin that is not playing nice and will need to be removed by a program like Spybot Search & Destroy , Ad-Aware, super antispyware, or malwarebytes.

Also make sure that firefox is not set up to use any proxy settings. It should be set to "Use system proxy settings" by default.

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If it is set to "Use system proxy settings", then check IE's proxy settings. Even though Google works in IE, it is possible that malware has set a proxy for IE (and all other apps that check system proxy settings) that behaves oddly when it sees Firefox. Not likely, but a few extra clicks for something worth checking. – TuxRug Feb 2 '11 at 6:32

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