What are the "good" default Firefox plugins/extensions & what can I disable?

[Danny D.]

What are the "good" default Firefox plugins/extensions & what can I
disable?

What is all this default stuff and do I need any of it?
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif

In a vain attempt to stop Firefox 47.0.1 from consuming 100% of my CPU
resources on WinXP SP3, every very few days I am forced to wipe out my
Mozilla hierarchy in:
C:\Documents & Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla

Wiping out the Mozilla Application Data directory immediately works to stop
Firefox from consuming all the CPU resources, but only for a while.

After a few days, Firefox misbehaves again (and again and again) no matter
*what* settings I set up (and I've tried everything known to man by now).

I've tried so many memory settings and about:memory configurations that
it's mind boggling (to me, anyway). And thoroughly confusing.

So, to *simplify* things, I'm trying to *standardize* the setup for
Firefox, from the moment it starts up after wiping out the Mozilla
Application Data directory.

My first question, is what is this stuff and do I need any of it?
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif

NOTE: Here is the *beginning* of my standardized setup file:
Fix Firefox Bleeding 100% of the CPU

1. Kill Firefox 47.0.1 on WinXP SP3
2. Move the Mozilla Application Data directory:
C:\Documents & Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla
3. Start Firefox 47.0.1
4. Do not import anything
5. Kill the three spyware tabs
6. Add a new tab & press the gear icon to set it to a blank page
7. Check Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & disable anything there
8. Check Tools > Add-ons > Plugins & disable anything there
(What is all that stuff for anyway?)
- OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc
- Shockwave Flash (OK, I know what this is for)
- Adobe Acrobat
- Microsoft DRM (DRM Store Netscape Plugin)
- Microsoft DRM (DRM Netscape Network Object)
- Windows Media Player Plug-in DLL
- Windows Presentation Foundation

So that brings me to my first question in order to make better decisions as
to what to do with these strange *default* Firefox plugins/extensions:

What is all this stuff and do I need any of it?
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif

[Mark Blain]

"Danny D." <dannyd...@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:mailman.1256.146992710...@lists.mozilla.org:

> 5. Kill the three spyware tabs

I suggest you focus on removing the spyware. Disabled plugins are not
doing anything. Have you checked your browser extensions and
researched any unfamilar ones?

[Danny D.]

On Sat, 30 Jul 2016 20:36:26 -0500, Mark Blain wrote:

> I suggest you focus on removing the spyware. Disabled plugins are not
> doing anything. Have you checked your browser extensions and
> researched any unfamilar ones?

The entire question is about the default browser extensions & plugins.
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif

Firefox 47 Default Extensions:
- Microsoft .NET Framework assistant [disabled - why does it exist?]
Firefox 47 Default Plugins:
- OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc [disabled]
- Shockwave Flash [Set to always ask to activate]
- Adobe Acrobat [disabled - it's never needed ever!]
- Microsoft DRM (DRM Store Netscape Plugin) [disabled - why exist?]
- Microsoft DRM (DRM Netscape Network Object)[disabled - why exist?]
- Windows Media Player Plug-in DLL [disabled - why does this exist?]
- Windows Presentation Foundation [disabled - why does this even exist?]

[Keith Nuttle]

On 7/30/2016 11:12 PM, Danny D. wrote:
> OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems

https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-07-30 21:04, Danny D. wrote:
> In a vain attempt to stop Firefox 47.0.1 from consuming 100% of my CPU
> resources on WinXP SP3,

This may help:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix

But don't count on it. You say nothing about your hardware, which (from
reading lots of plaintive pleas for help here) is often a factor. The
fact that you are still on XP suggest elderly electronics. FWIW, I would
not try to run any current software on anything older than Pentium 4.

HTH

--
Best,
Wolf K.
kirkwood40.blogspot.ca

[WaltS48]

Those are plugins, not extensions. :-)

Using Google you could probably find out what they are, what they do and
why they are there.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and those along with the
OpenH264 allow you to play DRM encoded Flash videos. The Microsoft and
Windows plugins are probably part of your operating system and provided
by those applications.

Do you use Adobe Acrobat as a standalone application? If not, you can
uninstall the application and that will remove the plugin.


--
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Britsburgh <http://bacpgh.com/our-programs/events/britsburgh/>
Ubuntu 16.04LTS

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:21:16 -0400, Wolf K. wrote:

> This may help:
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix

Remember, that Firefox has been on this very same computer for many years,
and only in the past few months has Firefox been consuming all the
resources, so, it's not the hardware per se.

But thanks for that web page, which has an entire thread by me on, and
which I tried *everything* in that thread, all detailed in gory
line-by-line action in the thread found at:
http://tinyurl.com/mozilla-support-firefox

Specifically this July 13th thread:
Firefox driving me nuts taking up 100% of the CPU
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/mozilla.support.firefox/consuming$20CPU%7C

The *only* thing that works, temporarily, is to blow away the Mozilla
directory, but that means that I have to write up a howto that explains
exactly how to rebuild Firefox from scratch to reproduce the problem.

Hence the questions about the whacko stuff that Firefox apparently installs
by default that nobody knows what they are nor what they actually do, nor
whether there is any web page that actually *needs* them, namely:

The plugins/extensions that make little sense to me yet are:
A. Microsoft .NET Framework assistant (where'd that garbage come from?)
B. Microsoft DRM stuff (why does Firefox install this garbage?)
C. Windows Presentation Foundation (why does Firefox install this garbage?)

For the three pieces of garbage above, I have to figure out why they're
even there. Did Firefox install that garbage? Did I? Who the heck needs
them? What page actually uses them? How can I tell?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:34:28 -0400, WaltS48 wrote:

> Those are plugins, not extensions. :-)

You'll have to pardon me for two comments:
a. I mentioned both plugins and extensions
b. To "me", the only difference between plugins and extensions are
1. Plugins impact panopticlick fingerprint results (extensions don't)
2. Plugins are on a different page of Firefox than extensions

Other than those two distinctions, I don't see *any* difference between a
plugin and an extension that matter to a layperson. Do you?

> Using Google you could probably find out what they are, what they do and
> why they are there.

The real problem has been googled to death, which is that Firefox consumes
the CPU so this is just the first step in documenting how to solve that
problem.

> DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and those along with the
> OpenH264 allow you to play DRM encoded Flash videos. The Microsoft and
> Windows plugins are probably part of your operating system and provided
> by those applications.

Interesting. So what you're saying is that Firefox did not install those
DRM and presentation manager extensions.

> Do you use Adobe Acrobat as a standalone application? If not, you can
> uninstall the application and that will remove the plugin.

I have Adobe Acrobat Exchange, which is the payware version and I also have
the Reader and Foxit and a whole bunch of other Acrobat apps. Never do I
want a PDF to show up "in" a web page. That's just useless compared to
having a PDF show up in an App that is designed to manage PDFs.

So, the *easy* plugins/extensions to turn off are:
a. Adobe Acrobat (it's never required and not even useful)
b. Adobe Flash (that's still required so it is on ask to activate)
c. Cisco H264 (I don't even know what it does other than it's a video codec
that is never used by anything I know of and I have no way of knowing what
web pages actually use it since my Firefox works fine without it)
d. Windows Media Player (I don't even *have* Windows Media Player in that I
use Media Player Classic instead, so WMP has never been run on my system)

The plugins/extensions that make little sense to me yet are:

A. Microsoft .NET Framework assistant (where'd that come from?)
B. Microsoft DRM stuff (why does Firefox install this crap?)
C. Windows Presentation Foundation (why does Firefox install this crap?)

I guess there is a single question I need to understand the answer to
before I can lay *blame* on Firefox, which is *WHO* installed that crap
above?

Did "I" somehow accidentally install that crap?
Or did Firefox install that crap?

If "I" did it - then it's my fault.
If you can just tell me how to get rid of all that crap I'd be perfectly
happy to have ZERO things in my plugins/extensions pages in Firefox.

If Firefox installed that crap, then WHY would Firerfox install DRM junk
and Presentation junk that nobody ever uses?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 07:31:18 -0400, Keith Nuttle wrote:

>> OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems
> https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/

The more contentious ones were the Microsoft ones:
NET Framework
Microsoft DRM
Windows Presentation Foundation
etc.

And, the least contentious were:
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Flash
Cisco OpenH264

But, even so, it was interesting to read in that quoted article that "Cisco
has agreed to distribute OpenH264, a free H.264 codec plugin that Firefox
downloads directly from Cisco".

So, how does Firefox *download* this codec?
Does it download the Cisco codec upon first use of Firefox?

Also, the penultimate sentence was a wing dinger, in that it said that
Firefox doesn't actually *use* the codec. Huh?

"Firefox currently uses OpenH264 only for WebRTC and not for the <video>
tag".

So what does that mean, to a layman who never went to a "WebRTC" site
(whatever that is) and who just reads the news and watches youtube on the
web.

How can "I" tell if I'm *ever* using the codec?
How does "my" Firefox get the codec if it doesn't ship with Firefox?

[WaltS48]

On 07/31/2016 10:51 AM, Danny D. wrote:
> Microsoft .NET Framework assistant

It's a Sunday and I have time to waste looking these things up for you.
Yahoo search in Firefox even finds the answers. Maybe.

<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707>

[WaltS48]

On 07/30/2016 11:12 PM, Danny D. wrote:

> Microsoft DRM (DRM Store Netscape Plugin)

See <http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=2272429#p2272429>

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 07:31:18 -0400, Keith Nuttle wrote:

>> OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems
> https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/

[WaltS48]

On 07/30/2016 11:12 PM, Danny D. wrote:

> Windows Presentation Foundation

When the .NET Framework 3.5 is installed, the client computer is
configured with a Windows Presentation Foundation plug-in for Firefox:

<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa663364.aspx>

if you have install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 or above do not disable
it.

<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/900873>

[WaltS48]

On 07/31/2016 11:07 AM, Danny D. wrote:
> "Firefox currently uses OpenH264 only for WebRTC and not for the <video>
> tag".
>
> So what does that mean, to a layman who never went to a "WebRTC" site
> (whatever that is) and who just reads the news and watches youtube on the
> web.
>

> How can "I" tell if I'm*ever* using the codec?

> How does "my" Firefox get the codec if it doesn't ship with Firefox?

WebRTC is used by Firefox Hello.

<https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/>

If you never use Hello, you don't use it.

It ships with Firefox.

<https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/>

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-07-31 10:51, Danny D. wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:21:16 -0400, Wolf K. wrote:
>
>> >This may help:
>> >https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix
> Remember, that Firefox has been on this very same computer for many years,
> and only in the past few months has Firefox been consuming all the

> resources, so, it's not the hardware per se. [...]

"...only in the past few months..." is a strong indicator that it's the
hardware. It can't cope with the current FF. Yes, but 47.0.1 hasn't been
on that hardware "for many years".

NB that current FF does not run on pre-XP, not even W2000. If your
hardware was originally loaded with W2000, 9.x or earlier, and you
updated to XP, the odds are high that it's the hardware. (I went from
3.x to W2K on one long gone machine, the first one I built. I wouldn't
expect that machine to cope well with any current software).

> The plugins/extensions that make little sense to me yet are:
> A. Microsoft .NET Framework assistant (where'd that garbage come from?)
> B. Microsoft DRM stuff (why does Firefox install this garbage?)
> C. Windows Presentation Foundation (why does Firefox install this garbage?)

It comes from Windows.

> For the three pieces of garbage above, I have to figure out why they're
> even there. Did Firefox install that garbage? Did I? Who the heck needs
> them? What page actually uses them? How can I tell?

You need the the DRM stuff to play any DRM-protected content. (DRM =
Digital Rights Management). All legit sources of copyright material need
it,and even a lot of pirate sources. .NET and Presentation Foundation
are needed to display content on some websites built with MS software.

I didn't check the thread, so I don't know whether you did a clean
install. If you didn't do so, try it. Save your FF {Profiles +
profiles.ini}, use Revo or similar to completely remove FF, install
47.0.1, copy the old {Profiles + profiles.ini} over the new one.

Good luck,

[Mayayana]

| For the three pieces of garbage above, I have to figure out why they're
| even there. Did Firefox install that garbage? Did I? Who the heck needs
| them? What page actually uses them? How can I tell?

Have you considered backing up? I have FF 36 and
Pale Moon 24. I've never seen any problems with
CPU load. I don't know what might be so important
about keeping up with the "breakneck" update schedule.

You might also look into disabling auto-updates in
both Firefox and Windows. If you haven't done that
then you've invited them to install whatever they think
you need without asking. (The only plugin I have
in FF is the H264. It forever says, "Will be installed
shortly!" :)

Are you sure you need the version of .Net that you
have? Somewhere along the line you've allowed MS
to install their.Net and DRM stuff. you might not like
their pushiness but you allowed it. And the Adobe
plugins are highly insecure. That's worse. If you don't
need Flash or Acrobat Reader you shouldn't have them.

You also didn't say anything about how you're
using FF. It seems like some people complain about
CPU load only to later say something ridiculous like,
"I can't believe this! I only had 124 tabs open!"
In other words, the first thing to look at is basic
housekeeping, closing tabs/windows that aren't being
used. (Personally I prefer windows to tabs for that
reason. It's too easy to lose track of tabs.)

Also, disable prefetch and disable script whenever
possible. And set accessibility.blockautorefresh to
true if it doesn't cause problems. If you have multiple
pages open you could have several that are auto-
reloading periodically, perhaps even loading videos.
These days, if you don't curtail webpages they'll
push a lot of volume at you.

[Ed Mullen]

On 7/30/2016 at 9:04 PM, Danny D.'s prodigious digits fired off:

If you want to determine if the add-ons are at fault get:

<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/about-addons-memory-2016/?src=search>


--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net/
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. - Niels Bohr

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-07-31 10:51, Danny D. wrote:

[...]

> Other than those two distinctions, I don't see *any* difference between a
> plugin and an extension that matter to a layperson. Do you?

Plugins run only when called by the website. Extensions run as soon as
FF starts. That's a difference that should matter even to a layperson.

[..]

> But, even so, it was interesting to read in that quoted article that "Cisco
> has agreed to distribute OpenH264, a free H.264 codec plugin that Firefox
> downloads directly from Cisco".
>

> So, how does Firefox*download* this codec?

> Does it download the Cisco codec upon first use of Firefox?

AFAIK, it's during install.

> Also, the penultimate sentence was a wing dinger, in that it said that

> Firefox doesn't actually*use* the codec. Huh?

>
> "Firefox currently uses OpenH264 only for WebRTC and not for the <video>
> tag".
>
> So what does that mean, to a layman who never went to a "WebRTC" site
> (whatever that is) and who just reads the news and watches youtube on the
> web.

https://webrtc.org/

Needed for your computer's browser to communicate with one on another
device, eg, for video chat, or some other direct connection between you
and someone else over the internet. At present both end of a video-chat
call mus use the same software (eg, Skype).

> How can "I" tell if I'm*ever* using the codec?

When FF is able to use the H.264 codec, you will be able to stream HD
and 4K video. Except that your hardware won't support it. But it will
try. Result: a wonderful mess on your screen.

> How does "my" Firefox get the codec if it doesn't ship with Firefox

What part of "downloads directly" do you not understand?

Considering that all you want to do on the web is read the news and
watch Youtube, Linux Mint may be a better deal for you. It will utilise
your ancient hardware even better than XP. Firefox is bundled with it.

Have a good day,

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:00:09 -0400, WaltS48 wrote:

> <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707>

I was just documenting that process, as I'm working on removing all the
unnecessary garbage that either Windows or Firefox installed and that
Firefox won't let me easily remove.

Why doesn't Firefox just put a *remove this crap* button next to each of
these plugins and extensions?

Anyway, Firefox just reports this error:
"Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.0 could not be verified for use in
Firefox and has been (automatically) disabled."

Which is pretty useless since Firefox doesn't provide a "remove this crap"
button.

Firefox *did* provide this URL for more information:
http://www.windowsclient.net

That URL did go to this web site:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx

And that web site pointed me to the web site you listed:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707
Titled: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox

It's horrendously complex, compared to Firefox just putting in a
*Remove this crap* button, but I'm working on this horrendous removal
process as we speak and will report back.

Why can't Firefox just remove its call to extensions and plugins?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> Have you considered backing up? I have FF 36 and
> Pale Moon 24. I've never seen any problems with
> CPU load. I don't know what might be so important
> about keeping up with the "breakneck" update schedule.

Thanks for chiming in (I usually see you on the Windows ng).

You know what though?
You're a genius!

I mean it.
I've had this problem for a while, and nobody suggested to backtrack in
Firefox (and I didn't think of it either), but, it makes sense!

I don't know *what* changed *when* to make Firefox consume all the CPU
resources, but I've done a clean install of a few Firefox versions trying
to solve this problem, so, it must have started around the previous
version(s) to FF47.

I agree with you that I don't need anything special in Firefox.

Heck, Netscape 1.0 is (almost) probably good enough for me since all I do
is read web pages, and look up stuff on wikipedia, and watch youtube videos
(although youtube is out of the question recently, probably due to the same
problem with Firefox consuming all the resources).

Do you recommend FF36 as the last decent version of Firefox to install?
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all

I already have a full installer for Firefox 43 downloaded previously.
Which of the two (43 or 36) would you recommend?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:25:19 -0400, WaltS48 wrote:

>> "Firefox currently uses OpenH264 only for WebRTC and not for the <video>
>> tag".
>>
>> So what does that mean, to a layman who never went to a "WebRTC" site
>> (whatever that is) and who just reads the news and watches youtube on the
>> web.
>>
>> How can "I" tell if I'm*ever* using the codec?
>> How does "my" Firefox get the codec if it doesn't ship with Firefox?
>
> WebRTC is used by Firefox Hello.
> <https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/>
> If you never use Hello, you don't use it.
> It ships with Firefox.
> <https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/>

Wow. Thanks for explaining that WebRTC is only used by Firefox Hello and
that H264 is only used by WebRTC in Firefox.

That means I don't need it. I don't want it. And I just want to remove it.
I'm sick of garbage like this infesting my computer in the first place.

I love Firefox, but I can't stand the fact that it's consuming all my CPU
resources, and now I'm just trying to get rid of garbage, such as these
plugins and extensions I never asked for and never wanted and yet I can't
just delete them.

Looking up what Firefox Hello is, I see it's simply yet another VOIP
application that I don't need nor do I want.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-hello-video-and-voice-conversations-online

I long ago deleted Skype and Hangouts and I have had Ooma replace my
landline ages ago, so, the *last* thing I would ever need is to do video
chats in my browser, when the browser can't even keep up with web pages
right now without consuming all the CPU resources.

So, it seems that the H264 codec is a total waste.
1. It seems to be installed *magically* (somehow) by Firefox.
2. It seems to be undeleteable (which is maddeningly frustrating!)
3. It seems to be *only* used with WebRTC
4. And WebRTC seems to be used for a Firefox Hello VOIP abomination.

Can't I just *delete* the onerous H264 entry in Firefox and finally be done
with it forever?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> You might also look into disabling auto-updates in
> both Firefox and Windows. If you haven't done that
> then you've invited them to install whatever they think
> you need without asking. (The only plugin I have
> in FF is the H264. It forever says, "Will be installed
> shortly!" :)

As for disabling "stuff", it's miserable for me to set up Firefox because
there are literally scores (and scores and scores) of things that have to
be disabled just to eke out a puny ounce of privacy back from Mozilla.

That's why I was trying to document the setup steps after blowing away the
Mozilla hierarchy in Windows.

The pervasiveness of spyware in Firefox is immensely complex, being spread
out all over the place. I used to use the user.js from the gHacks site -
but I deleted it thinking "it" was the problem (it wasn't).
http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/03/comprehensive-firefox-user-js/

So, right now, I don't use any user.js file, but Firefox *still* consumes
all the CPU resources.

Sure, I've disabled everything that is easy to disable. No updates of
anything. Everything manual. But it's far better to just get *rid* of the
plugins and extensions that Firefox "thinks" it needs.

I just wish Mozilla would put a button there to *remove* all this stuff.
I guess that would be too easy.
Sigh.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> Are you sure you need the version of .Net that you
> have? Somewhere along the line you've allowed MS
> to install their.Net and DRM stuff. you might not like
> their pushiness but you allowed it. And the Adobe
> plugins are highly insecure. That's worse. If you don't
> need Flash or Acrobat Reader you shouldn't have them.

Just for the record, I deplore the need for .NET Framework.
I really do.

I hate it because I need to install a specific subversion for a specific
tool, and if another tool needs a newer version, I have to *duplicate* the
entire install of bloatware because the design of .NET Framework doesn't
allow a newer version to use older versions and vice versa.

It's a ridiculous abomination, .NET Framework.
Having said that, looking at my notes in my installation directory, I see
that I've needed to install .NET Framework 3.5 for SiSoft Sandra 2009 and
that I had to install .NET Framework 4.0 for SharePod and Paint.NET, and
that Volcano Duplicate Cleaner is only happy with version 3.5SP1 and that
according to CCleaner, installing 3.5SP1 actually seems to install a horde
of versions such as 3.5 SP1 + 3.0 SP2 + 2.0 SP2.

So, I admit, I don't know *what* .NET Framework that I really need, nor
even which versions are on my Windows XP SP3 system. Sigh.

To me, the whole .NET Framework bloatware is a royal mess.
But figuring out what .NET Framework is needed isn't a Mozilla issue.

What I know, so far, on removing .NET Framework from Firefox is that
Firefox complains that

"Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.0 could not be verified for use in
Firefox and has been (automatically) disabled."

I wish Firefox would just supply a "remove" button; but at least Firefox
suggests we visit http://www.windowsclient.net

Visiting that web page actually goes to:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx

Which itself, points to:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707
Titled: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox

It seems to be a horribly complex set of steps, at least upon first
inspection, to just get rid of this Firefox extension, but I'm going to go
through the steps in order to resolve the problem of Firefox complaining
about .NET Framework upon every installation.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> You also didn't say anything about how you're
> using FF. It seems like some people complain about
> CPU load only to later say something ridiculous like,
> "I can't believe this! I only had 124 tabs open!"
> In other words, the first thing to look at is basic
> housekeeping, closing tabs/windows that aren't being
> used. (Personally I prefer windows to tabs for that
> reason. It's too easy to lose track of tabs.)

It's the strangest thing, but Firefox starts consuming 100% of the CPU
under very benign circumstances. Just open news.google.com and click on two
or three news articles, and then BAM! Firefox consumes all the resources.

If I let it sit for an hour or two, then Firefox will go back to normal
consuming of resources; but in general, I have to kill Firefox, and start
again.

Then I can click on the *same* links, and maybe Firefox will consume all
the CPU and maybe it won't.

If I actually *knew* what the problem was, I wouldn't be so frustrated, but
this thread isn't about Firefox consuming all the resources.

It's more fully documented in the thread on the topic, and I tried
*everything* already for weeks and weeks and weeks.

I can't even *remember* all the things I did, but it's all in that thread.
And it all failed.

So, now, I'm resorting to the *only* thing that works reliably, which is
blowing away the entire Mozilla directory and starting over.

But I'm just trying to document what 'starting over' means, which is why
I'm at the very beginning trying to get rid of all the extensions and
plugins that Firefox seems to want that "I" don't want.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> Also, disable prefetch and disable script whenever
> possible. And set accessibility.blockautorefresh to
> true if it doesn't cause problems. If you have multiple
> pages open you could have several that are auto-
> reloading periodically, perhaps even loading videos.
> These days, if you don't curtail webpages they'll
> push a lot of volume at you.

All this stuff has been done.
None worked.
All *seemed* to work temporarily, but in reality, it's just an intermittent
thing that Firefox, in the last 6 months or so, consumes all the CPU
resources for no known good reason.

I've tried *everything* I could think of, all of which is documented.

Specifically this July 13th thread:
Firefox driving me nuts taking up 100% of the CPU
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/mozilla.support.firefox/consuming$20CPU%7C

But this thread is *not* about the CPU resource problem.

This thread is just about setting up Firefox after blowing away the Mozilla
hierarchy.

This thread is just about how to get rid of all the extensions and plugins
in a *fresh* install of Firefox, none of which I want, but all of which
Firefox "thinks" it wants - but Firefox doesn't provide a "remove" button
for.

[Mayayana]

| You know what though?
| You're a genius!
|

Mightn't that depend on whether the idea works? :)

| Do you recommend FF36 as the last decent version of Firefox to install?
| https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all
|
| I already have a full installer for Firefox 43 downloaded previously.
| Which of the two (43 or 36) would you recommend?

I don't know. I don't really keep track of the
updates. At some point I had reason to install
a later version and got to 36, but I don't remember
exactly when or why. It would be interesting to
hear the results if you experiment with different
versions. It could turn out that "version xx is the
first pig".

I've found that the Mozilla
people have been breaking things for years. It
now requires several extensions to get back the
basic functionality. So I'm just assuming that later
is worse, in general. Thus I avoid updating. I don't
know of anything in later versions that I need.
Nothing in the current release notes looks
interesting:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/47.0/releasenotes/

If a website complains then I generally just
change the userAgent to some "tastefully new"
version. :) Pale Moon doesn't go beyond v. 24
for XP, yet I still use that most of the time.
I've got Secret Agent installed, telling websites
that I'm on Win7 with FF 44.

I'd be curious to know if anyone is aware of
*really* notable changes in the past several
years. There may be slight improvements to
things like CSS support. (I certainly *don't*
want embedded HTML5 video to play youtube
or anything else. That's just another built-in
executable, asking for trouble. If I can't download
a video I don't want it.)

I should note, however, that I rarely enable
script and when I do I use NoScript. I also
block ads with a HOSTS file and don't have Flash
installed. So my security risks are very low. If
I were enabling script, hanging around at Facebook,
and generally letting sites have their way with me,
then I might reconsider not having the latest
security patches. It's unfortunate that Mozilla
doesn't offer security-only updates.

.....Oddly, ads seem to be one of the biggest risks lately:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/malvertising-campaign-infected-thousands-of-users-per-day-for-more-than-a-year-506730.shtml

[Mayayana]

| I just wish Mozilla would put a button there to *remove* all this stuff.

It does seem odd that so many can be
disabled but not removed.

| Which itself, points to:
| https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707
| Titled: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox

That seems to be outdated. I have
no such Registry path.

| Just open news.google.com and click on two
| or three news articles, and then BAM! Firefox
| consumes all the resources.

It's not easy for the Googlites to figure out what
you want the news to be today. :)

If it were me I'd try an older version and maybe
delete all the app data folders, after backing up
bookmarks, prefs.js and the chrome folder. As
someone else already pointed out, while all the
unwanted plugins may be irritating, they're
probably not the problem if they're disabled.

You might also try running Filemon or Procmon
to see what's happening. For instance, if you
allow cache or so-called "supercookies" data
storage, that could slow things down and may
not be necessary. I really don't know. But if you
see a long period of file access it might tell you
something.

[WaltS48]

On 07/31/2016 12:42 PM, Danny D. wrote:
> This thread is just about how to get rid of all the extensions and plugins

> in a*fresh* install of Firefox, none of which I want, but all of which

> Firefox "thinks" it wants - but Firefox doesn't provide a "remove" button
> for.

Remove the applications providing the Windows, and Adobe plugins.
Firefox didn't install them, the user did with Windows or when they
installed the Adobe apps. Firefox can only provide "Ask to Activate",
"Always Activate" and "Never Activate" options.

Your stuck with the OpenH264 because it comes with Firefox.

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-07-31 12:39, Danny D. wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 11:43:43 -0400, Mayayana wrote:
>
>> > You also didn't say anything about how you're
>> >using FF. It seems like some people complain about
>> >CPU load only to later say something ridiculous like,
>> >"I can't believe this! I only had 124 tabs open!"
>> >In other words, the first thing to look at is basic
>> >housekeeping, closing tabs/windows that aren't being
>> >used. (Personally I prefer windows to tabs for that
>> >reason. It's too easy to lose track of tabs.)
> It's the strangest thing, but Firefox starts consuming 100% of the CPU
> under very benign circumstances. Just open news.google.com and click on two
> or three news articles, and then BAM! Firefox consumes all the resources.

[...]

Ah, that's interesting. Looks like there's a pile of stuff running in
the background. Try disabling Javascript. I use NoScript for this, but
there are other extensions that will do it.

I went to that website, opened task manager to see what happened, and
whenever I opened a news story, CPU usage jumped from about 15-18% for
FF to about 30-35%, and within seconds dropped back down. So it looks
like google-news is hogging the CPU.

However, I have Javascript disabled, and a quad-core AMD running at 3.7
GHz. My inference that your hardware is a major factor in your problem
strengthened by this experiment. My high-powered CPU takes a mild, brief
hit, your takes a heavy lengthy hit.

If you want to stick with your machine on XP-SP3, I'd add my vote to
other posters' advice to install an earlier version of FF. Just make
sure you have all your shields up.

Good luck,

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 13:00:00 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

>| Which itself, points to:
>| https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707
>| Titled: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox
>
> That seems to be outdated. I have
> no such Registry path.

I finally found the registry subkey which tells Firefox to show the dot net
extension as a ridiculous disabled extension in Firefox:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions\{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}

Here is a picture of the registry key before I deleted it in regedit:
http://i.cubeupload.com/3AVAI0.gif

Once I deleted that registry subkey, Firefox stopped telling me about the
Net Framework Extension, and that's a good thing!

In addition, I found the directory on Windows where all the versions of
..NET are installed:
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\

Here is a snapshot of that NET Framework mess:
http://i.cubeupload.com/FaPbik.gif

For whatever reasons, I have versions:
- v1.0.3705
- v1.1.4322
- v2.0.50727
- v3.0
- v3.5
- v4.0.30319

Below that, is the "dotnetextensions" folder in
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation
Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension\
http://i.cubeupload.com/2mqFne.gif

Which I have now deleted en masse.

I think *this* gets rid of the Firefox extension for Net Framework!

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 12:36:47 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> I think *this* gets rid of the Firefox extension for Net Framework!

Now that the Firefox *extensions* are clean:
http://i.cubeupload.com/BON6Qh.gif

That leaves removing all the bad plugins!
http://i.cubeupload.com/Phwfa0.gif

[Chris Ilias]

On 2016-07-31 11:43 AM, Mayayana wrote:
> | For the three pieces of garbage above, I have to figure out why they're
> | even there. Did Firefox install that garbage? Did I? Who the heck needs
> | them? What page actually uses them? How can I tell?
>
> Have you considered backing up? I have FF 36 and
> Pale Moon 24. I've never seen any problems with
> CPU load. I don't know what might be so important
> about keeping up with the "breakneck" update schedule.

I haven't seen any problems either, and I'm on the latest version. There
wasn't any increase CPU issues after Firefox 36 either, so I doubt
that's the solution. The reason I'm pointing that out is because it's
very dangerous advise. With each new version there are security and
stability fixes, as well as improvements in performance.

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[Chris Ilias]

On 2016-07-31 12:25 PM, Danny D. wrote:

> I just wish Mozilla would put a button there to *remove* all this stuff.
> I guess that would be too easy.

Near the beginning of next year, support for plugins will be removed.
For more information, visit
<https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-plugins-in-firefox/>.

[Dave Symes]

In article
<mailman.1279.146999168...@lists.mozilla.org>,

Chris Ilias <nm...@ilias.ca> wrote:
> On 2016-07-31 12:25 PM, Danny D. wrote:

> > I just wish Mozilla would put a button there to *remove* all this
> > stuff. I guess that would be too easy.

> Near the beginning of next year, support for plugins will be removed.
> For more information, visit
> <https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-plugins-in-firefox/>.

Will that mean No Plugins at all?

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[EE]

If you started with a fresh profile, why would there be any extensions
at all?
When I was using Windows, I found Adobe Acrobat to be too slow. Foxit
was much faster. If you are not using purchased media, you would not
need the DRM stuff. You might want to keep the Windows Media plugin.
What is Windows Presentation Foundation?

[EE]

Danny D. wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:34:28 -0400, WaltS48 wrote:
>
>> Those are plugins, not extensions. :-)
>
> You'll have to pardon me for two comments:
> a. I mentioned both plugins and extensions
> b. To "me", the only difference between plugins and extensions are
> 1. Plugins impact panopticlick fingerprint results (extensions don't)
> 2. Plugins are on a different page of Firefox than extensions

>
> Other than those two distinctions, I don't see *any* difference between a
> plugin and an extension that matter to a layperson. Do you?
>
>

Extensions make themselves part of the application. They are used only
by the application where they are installed. They are always there
unless you disable them. Plugins are used only when needed. They are
basically applications without interfaces, which the client application
calling them has to supply. A plugin can be called by any application
set up to use them, not just by one browser. Flash, for example, can be
used by any decent browser. Data which is used by an extension is
stored in the profile of the application using it. Data used by a
plugin is stored in an area set up by the system for the use of the
plugin and can be accessed by that plugin no matter what application
uses it.

In browser safe mode, the extensions are disabled, but plugins are
unaffected.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 12:18:23 -0700, EE wrote:

>> What is all this stuff and do I need any of it?
>> http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
>>
> If you started with a fresh profile, why would there be any extensions
> at all?

That's exactly my thinking.
Apparently, it's the wrong way to look at it.

Even with a fresh Mozilla profile, there was 1 Net Framework extension (now
removed by editing the Windows registry) and a bunch of plugins (Adobe,
DRM, DRM again, Presentation Foundation stuff, WMP stuff, Flash stuff,
etc.).

> When I was using Windows, I found Adobe Acrobat to be too slow. Foxit
> was much faster.

The only Adobe I need is the Adobe Acrobat Writer, which, I think, is what
installed that plugin. So I think I'm stuck with the plugin, unless I can
figure out a way, inside of Adobe Acrobat, to disable the Firefox plugin.

I tried removing these settings in Adobe Acrobat Writer, but that didn't do
anything to make Firefox stop loading the Adobe Acrobat plugin.
http://i.cubeupload.com/Gf89sG.gif

I wish someone understood how Firefox determines what plugins to load.
All we need to do is tell Firefox *not* to load that plugin!

> If you are not using purchased media, you would not
> need the DRM stuff.

I agree with you.
If I can figure out *how* to get rid of that DRM stuff, I would.

> You might want to keep the Windows Media plugin.

Actually, I *never* used Windows Media Player on this machine, which is
many years old. I use Media Player Classic on all my Windows machines, as
it's far lighter, faster, and with the KLite codec packs, it plays
anything.

> What is Windows Presentation Foundation?

I have absolutely no idea. I didn't install it. At least not overtly.
I'm wondering if it came with NET Framework, which itself was just
installed because some program needed it.

The problem really is that nobody understands how Firefox determines what
plugins to load (least of all, me).

All we need to do is tell Firefox *not* to load that plugin!
But how does Firefox even know to load all these plugins?

Where is the file or setting that tells Firefox what plugins to load?
Can we change that file or delete that setting to tell Firefox NOT to load
those plugins?

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 13:16:19 -0400, Wolf K. wrote:

> I went to that website, opened task manager to see what happened, and
> whenever I opened a news story, CPU usage jumped from about 15-18% for
> FF to about 30-35%, and within seconds dropped back down. So it looks
> like google-news is hogging the CPU.

That's interesting.
Maybe my hardware just can't handle Google news?
But it *used* to handle it?

Anyway, I have had success in removing the Windows Media Player Plugin!
http://i.cubeupload.com/DgQDJR.gif

Woo hooo!
http://i.cubeupload.com/cmEDSD.gif

I found this Windows Media Player plugin removal process.
Don't ask me *how* this worked though.
But it worked.

Windows Media Player is no longer a plugin call.
(I always use Media Player Classic anyway.)

0. The unwanted WMP plugin was there in Firefox 47.0.1
http://i.cubeupload.com/DgQDJR.gif
1. I went to Firefox about:config
2. In about:config I searched for plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer
3. I noticed it was set to a "string" value of "7.0"
http://i.cubeupload.com/9mfHRo.gif
4. I changed that string value to "99" (don't ask me why that value)
http://i.cubeupload.com/VVFDR0.gif
5. I closed and restarted Firefox 47.0.1
6. Horay! The WMP plugin was gone!
http://i.cubeupload.com/cmEDSD.gif

Now all I have to do is figure out how to remove the Adobe Acrobat Plugin,
and how to remove the two Microsoft DRM plugins, and the one Windows
Presentation Foundation plugin.

If anyone knows *why* this worked to get rid of the Windows Media Player
plugin, let me know (because it's black magic to me).

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 15:52:45 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> Now all I have to do is figure out how to remove the Adobe Acrobat Plugin,
> and how to remove the two Microsoft DRM plugins, and the one Windows
> Presentation Foundation plugin.

Woohoo.
I removed the Windows presentation manager plugin!
http://i.cubeupload.com/y3JuFD.gif

Don't ask me *how* this works - I just followed directions.

http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/18/how-to-uninstall-windows-presentation-foundation-plugin-in-firefox/
How To Uninstall Windows Presentation Foundation Plugin In Firefox

The mess apparently came with Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 SP1.
The dll NPWPF.dll is the the Windows Presentation Foundation plugin.

1. Close the Firefox web browser
2. Locate the file NPWPF.dll in
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\
3. Rename the dll NPWPF.dll in the Windows Presentation Foundation folder
4. Open Firefox
5. The Windows Presentation Foundation plugin should not show up in the
list of installed plugins anymore.

This worked!

For good measure, I added the second step:
6. Locate the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins
7. Locate the sub-key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@microsoft.com/WPF,version=3.5
8. Delete the key in the Registry
9. Kill and restart explorer.exe in process explorer or process hacker

For even better measure, I deleted a *bunch* of those Mozilla keys such
as Google Update (whatever that is) and the Foxit plugin!

The only plugin I left was flash:
http://i.cubeupload.com/KDmpw4.gif

If someone can explain why/how this works, and why it's a totally different
process for *each* plugin, I'd be curious.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 15:52:45 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> If anyone knows *why* this worked to get rid of the Windows Media Player
> plugin, let me know (because it's black magic to me).

Woo hoo!
Adobe Acrobat Plugin is gone for now!

It's unfortunate that I have to do this *every* time I blow away the
Firefox Mozilla directory, but at least I can now remove the Adobe Acrobat
Plugin from Firefox using the same method that worked for the Windows Media
Player plugin.

1. To get rid of the Adobe Acrobat Plugin, I went to FF about:config
http://i.cubeupload.com/pLZwi3.gif
2. I searched for plugin.scan.Acrobat which was set to a value of 5.0
http://i.cubeupload.com/Xs8mdn.gif
3. I changed the value to 99
http://i.cubeupload.com/PVKRIA.gif
4. I killed and restarted Firefox 47.0.1 and the plugin was gone!
http://i.cubeupload.com/UXghUo.gif

The good news is that this works.
The bad news is that I have to do it *every* time I blow away the Firefox
directory, and whenever I install a new clean fresh complete FF install.

But, at least I'm getting Firefox to be clean of these plugins which I
didn't (overtly) install, as I don't want *any* plugins that I don't need.

[Danny D.]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 16:12:42 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> If someone can explain why/how this works, and why it's a totally different
> process for *each* plugin, I'd be curious.

Trying to get rid of the useless H264 plugin is problematic.
It apparently started with Firefox 33:
http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/firefox-openh264-gecko-media-plugins-current-state-development/

The only key that seemed related in about:config was:
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.enabled;false

Searching for how to remove it, I found this:
http://botcrawl.com/openh264-virus-removal/

But that seems to be a crazy page.

Apparently the open h264 plugin is put by Firefox code in the
gmp-gmpopenh264 folder.

C:\Documents and Settings\name\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxxx.default\gmp-gmpopenh264\1.5.3\
gmpopenh264.dll

gmpopenh264.info
Name: gmpopenh264
Description: GMP Plugin for OpenH264.
Version: 1.5.2
APIs: encode-video[h264], decode-video[h264]

So I deleted those two useless files and restarted Firefox.
But it didn't work to get rid of the H264 plugin page.

[Caver1]

Type about:plugins in the location bar. It will tell you
where each plugin is.
You can the go to that plugin and delete it.


--
Caver1

[Wolf K.]

Not that it will solve Danny's problems with 100% CPU usage. He let drop
a crucial clue: it happens when he logs onto google.news, and eventually
drops back to lower levels.

Have a good day,

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-07-31 12:39, Danny D. wrote:

> It's the strangest thing, but Firefox starts consuming 100% of the CPU
> under very benign circumstances. Just open news.google.com and click on two
> or three news articles, and then BAM! Firefox consumes all the resources.
>
> If I let it sit for an hour or two, then Firefox will go back to normal
> consuming of resources; but in general, I have to kill Firefox, and start
> again.
>

> Then I can click on the*same* links, and maybe Firefox will consume all

> the CPU and maybe it won't.
>

> If I actually*knew* what the problem was, I wouldn't be so frustrated, but

> this thread isn't about Firefox consuming all the resources.

What is it about then?

[Danny D.]

On Sat, 30 Jul 2016 20:04:32 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> What are the "good" default Firefox plugins/extensions & what can I
> disable?

Thanks for all your help!

The goal was to repeatably *simplify* the Firefox 47.0.1 setup after
periodically blowing away the Mozilla profile hierarchy in order to begin
debugging why FF hogs 100% of the CPU resources of a Dell Inspiron B130
running Windows XPSP1 (Pentium M 1.70GHz, 1GB RAM).

No other program seems to hog the CPU resources.
Firefox seems to be the only program that does that.
The hogging is intermittent and not understood why yet.
I tried *everything*, some of which works for a short period of time.
It didn't used to do this (six months ago anyway).
So it's a *new* problem which I'm trying to debug.

The problem was how to eliminate the extensions and plugins.

The answer is compiled below, to give back to the team, and to document the
steps for the next person with the same problems of trying to simplify the
Firefox 47.0.1 setup for debugging purposes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kill Firefox 47.0.1 on Windows
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delete the Mozilla Application Data directory:

C:\Documents & Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start Firefox 47.0.1
Do not import anything

Kill the three spyware tabs

Add a new tab & press the gear icon to set it to a blank page

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tools > Add-ons > Extensions (disable anything there that you can)
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tools > Add-ons > Plugins (disable anything there that you can)
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This .NET Framework Assistant 3.5SP1 extension won't easily remove:
- Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant (disabled)

To remove that .NET Framework Assistant extension in Firefox
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707

That successfully removes the .NET Framework Assistant extension!
http://i.cubeupload.com/BON6Qh.gif

Now I just need to work in deleting these Windows plugins from Firefox:
http://i.cubeupload.com/Phwfa0.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These plugins you won't easily remove:
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
- OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc (disabled)
- Shockwave Flash (Ask to Activate)
- Adobe Acrobat (disabled)
- Microsoft DRM DRM Store Netscape Plugin (disabled)
- Microsoft DRM DRM Netscape Network Object (disabled)
- Windows Media Player Plug-in DLL (disabled)
- Windows Presentation Foundation (disabled)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707
Titled: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox

This registry key has to be removed to remove the .NET Framework Assistant:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions\{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}

http://i.cubeupload.com/3AVAI0.gif

In addition, I found the directory on Windows where all the versions of
..NET are installed:
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\

Here is a snapshot of that NET Framework mess:
http://i.cubeupload.com/FaPbik.gif

For whatever reasons, I have versions:
- v1.0.3705
- v1.1.4322
- v2.0.50727
- v3.0
- v3.5
- v4.0.30319

Below that, is the "dotnetextensions" folder in
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation
Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension\
http://i.cubeupload.com/2mqFne.gif

Which I have now deleted en masse.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- To remove "Windows Media Player Plug-in DLL (disabled)"

0. The unwanted WMP plugin was there in Firefox 47.0.1
http://i.cubeupload.com/DgQDJR.gif
1. I went to Firefox about:config
2. In about:config I searched for plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer
3. I noticed it was set to a "string" value of "7.0"
http://i.cubeupload.com/9mfHRo.gif
4. I changed that string value to "99" (don't ask me why that value)
http://i.cubeupload.com/VVFDR0.gif
5. I closed and restarted Firefox 47.0.1
6. Horay! The WMP plugin was gone!
http://i.cubeupload.com/cmEDSD.gif

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adobe Acrobat Plugin is gone for now!

I tried removing these settings in Adobe Acrobat Writer, but that didn't do
anything to make Firefox stop loading the Adobe Acrobat plugin.
http://i.cubeupload.com/Gf89sG.gif

It's unfortunate that I have to do this *every* time I blow away the
Firefox Mozilla directory, but at least I can now remove the Adobe Acrobat
Plugin from Firefox using the same method that worked for the Windows Media
Player plugin.

1. To get rid of the Adobe Acrobat Plugin, I went to FF about:config
http://i.cubeupload.com/pLZwi3.gif
2. I searched for plugin.scan.Acrobat which was set to a value of 5.0
http://i.cubeupload.com/Xs8mdn.gif
3. I changed the value to 99
http://i.cubeupload.com/PVKRIA.gif
4. I killed and restarted Firefox 47.0.1 and the plugin was gone!
http://i.cubeupload.com/UXghUo.gif

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I removed the Windows presentation manager plugin!
http://i.cubeupload.com/y3JuFD.gif

Don't ask me *how* this works - I just followed directions.

http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/18/how-to-uninstall-windows-presentation-foundation-plugin-in-firefox/
How To Uninstall Windows Presentation Foundation Plugin In Firefox

The mess apparently came with Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 SP1.
The dll NPWPF.dll is the the Windows Presentation Foundation plugin.

1. Close the Firefox web browser
2. Locate the file NPWPF.dll in
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\
3. Rename the dll NPWPF.dll in the Windows Presentation Foundation folder
4. Open Firefox
5. The Windows Presentation Foundation plugin should not show up in the
list of installed plugins anymore.

This worked!

For good measure, I added the second step:
6. Locate the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins
7. Locate the sub-key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@microsoft.com/WPF,version=3.5
8. Delete the key in the Registry
9. Kill and restart explorer.exe in process explorer or process hacker

For even better measure, I deleted a *bunch* of those Mozilla keys such
as Google Update (whatever that is) and the Foxit plugin!

I only belatedly realized that this process to remove the Windows
Presentation Manager *also* removed the two Microsoft DRM plugins!

Woo hoo!
Three birds with one stone.

The only plugin I left was flash:
http://i.cubeupload.com/KDmpw4.gif

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to get rid of that added-by-firefox H264 plugin is problematic.

http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/firefox-openh264-gecko-media-plugins-current-state-development/

The only key that seemed related in about:config was:
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.enabled;false

Apparently the open h264 plugin is put by Firefox code in the
gmp-gmpopenh264 folder.

C:\Documents and Settings\name\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxxx.default\gmp-gmpopenh264\1.5.3\
gmpopenh264.dll

gmpopenh264.info
Name: gmpopenh264
Description: GMP Plugin for OpenH264.
Version: 1.5.2
APIs: encode-video[h264], decode-video[h264]

So I deleted those two useless files and restarted Firefox.
But it didn't work to get rid of the H264 plugin page.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 12:47:16 -0400, Wolf K. wrote:

>> If I actually*knew* what the problem was, I wouldn't be so frustrated, but
>> this thread isn't about Firefox consuming all the resources.
>
> What is it about then?

I'm surprised Chris Ilias let this one through, as it shows up as its own
thread, so, I'll need to ask you, as the OP, what your thread is about.

I will say that it's terribly complex and quite confusing for a layperson
to *debug* why only Firefox is known to be the one who consumes all the CPU
resources, and, only some times, given (essentially) the same input of a
few tabs off of Google News.

What's interesting is that killing Firefox most of the time solves the
problem, at least temporarily, as does wiping out the Mozilla profile.

The problem is there is a lack of usable diagnostic tools.

For example, process hacker, on Windows, will pinpoint Firefox as the
culprit, but it won't go much deeper than that.

On the other hand, about:memory in Firefox probably says a lot, but, it's
almost impossible for a layperson to glean useful information from
comparing two outputs.

To be sure, many people have this question, as shown below, but, what's
downright scary is that the number of supposed *causes* boggles the mind.

Firefox uses too many CPU resources - How to fix
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix

What to do when Firefox hogs all the CPU resources
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/04/08/what-you-do-when-firefox-uses-too-much-memory/

FF uses 100+ CPU on my otherwise totally fast up-to-date MacBook
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1074722

How to Stop Firefox from Consuming CPU Cycles
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Firefox-from-Consuming-CPU-Cycles

High CPU usage from Firefox
http://superuser.com/questions/983730/high-cpu-usage-from-firefox-and-poor-overall-performance
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/441gha/high_cpu_usage_how_to_reduce/

How to Stop Mozilla Firefox From Consuming CPU Cycles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfST6eHAVug

How To Reduce High Firefox CPU And Memory Usage
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-reduce-high-firefox-cpu-and-memory-usage/

Is it just me or is Firefox a CPU hog?
http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/is-it-just-me-or-is-firefox-a-cpu-hog-394658/

Firefox on Windows using High amount of CPU
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2881289

[Chris Ilias]

On 2016-08-01 6:39 PM, Danny D. wrote:
>
> I'm surprised Chris Ilias let this one through,

That's not how this forum works. Most messages don't go through me.
Newsgroup messages are approved by default, unless it matches one of the
filters I've set up.

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 19:03:21 -0400, Chris Ilias wrote:

> That's not how this forum works. Most messages don't go through me.
> Newsgroup messages are approved by default, unless it matches one of the
> filters I've set up.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for explaining.

To the OP...
Here's my newly created log file of what I've done so far to try to prevent
Firefox from consuming the CPU resources.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kill Firefox 47.0.1 on Windows
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delete the Mozilla Application Data directory:
C:\Documents & Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start Firefox 47.0.1
Do not import anything
Kill the three spyware tabs
Add a new tab & press the gear icon to set it to a blank page
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tools > Add-ons > Extensions (disable anything there that you can)
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tools > Add-ons > Plugins (disable anything there that you can)
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extension extend the FF code.
Plugins are separate modules from the FF code:

Plugins run only when called by the website.
Extensions run as soon as FF starts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This .NET Framework Assistant 3.5SP1 extension won't easily remove:
- Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant (disabled)

To remove that .NET Framework Assistant extension in Firefox
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/963707

That successfully removes the .NET Framework Assistant extension!
http://i.cubeupload.com/BON6Qh.gif

Now I just need to work in deleting these Windows plugins from Firefox:
http://i.cubeupload.com/Phwfa0.gif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These plugins you won't easily remove:
http://i.cubeupload.com/LT4irX.gif
- OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc (disabled)
- Shockwave Flash (Ask to Activate)
- Adobe Acrobat (disabled)
- Microsoft DRM DRM Store Netscape Plugin (disabled)
- Microsoft DRM DRM Netscape Network Object (disabled)
- Windows Media Player Plug-in DLL (disabled)
- Windows Presentation Foundation (disabled)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Type about:plugins in the location bar.
It will tell you where each plugin is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type about:memory in the location bar.
It will tell you what is using memory (although cryptically).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To prevent re-loading of pages when you revisit them:
Change from:
accessibility.blockautorefresh;false
Change to:
accessibility.blockautorefresh;true
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps look here to see if any settings are useful:
http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/03/comprehensive-firefox-user-js/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MVP Hosts file:
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set up Windows XP to update from Microsoft:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WindowsEmbedded\ProductVersion]
"FeaturePackVersion"="SP3"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\WEPOS]
"Installed"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\WES]
"Installed"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:0000000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
about:memory -> Minimize Memory Usage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
about:cache?device=memory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
browser.sessionhistory.max_entries 50 -> 5
browser. sessionhistory. max_total_viewers -1 -> 0
NEW BOOLEAN: config.trim_on_minimize -> boolean true
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're low on memory, set these to true:
browser.cache.disk.enable;true
browser.cache.memory.enable;true
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
browser.cache.disk.capacity 358400 -> 3584
NEW INTEGER: browser.cache.memory.capacity -> 4096
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will swap out memory when the program is minimized.
NEW BOOLEAN: config.trim_on_minimize -> true
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This suggested setting doesn't seem to really make much sense to me:
http://lifehacker.com/287107/tweak-firefoxs-rendering-settings

NEW INTEGER: nglayout.initialpaint.delay unset(default 250) -> 0
This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on
information it receives.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-08-01 19:38, Danny D. wrote:
> On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 19:03:21 -0400, Chris Ilias wrote:
>
>> >That's not how this forum works. Most messages don't go through me.
>> >Newsgroup messages are approved by default, unless it matches one of the
>> >filters I've set up.
> Hi Chris,
> Thanks for explaining.
>
> To the OP...
> Here's my newly created log file of what I've done so far to try to prevent
> Firefox from consuming the CPU resources.

[...]

Interesting list. Most of what you've done is pointless. Really. I mean,
it's not working, is it?

Have a good day,

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2016 21:32:49 -0400, Wolf K. wrote:

> Interesting list. Most of what you've done is pointless. Really. I mean,
> it's not working, is it?

The funny thing is that all the stuff I did was recommended by someone,
either here, or in the web pages they referenced me to.

Anyway, for the past 3 days, it hasn't happened.
So I've had the *same* profile for 3 days running.
That's the good news.

Time will tell.

[Mayayana]

| Anyway, for the past 3 days, it hasn't happened.
| So I've had the *same* profile for 3 days running.
| That's the good news.
|

I wonder what would happen if you removed the
HOSTS file. It might be worth testing. I have a friend
who was complaining about Firefox being very slow
recently. I suggested a HOSTS file, which he tried
and said it helped noticeably. I haven't had a chance
to see that computer yet, so I don't know what's going
on. But ill-behaved ads, possibly from slow servers, and
possibly loading videos, seems like one of the most
credible possible causes I can think of to explain slow
FF.

In any case, some things, like HOSTS, are easy to test.

[Danny D.]

On Tue, 2 Aug 2016 15:08:16 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> I wonder what would happen if you removed the
> HOSTS file. It might be worth testing. I have a friend
> who was complaining about Firefox being very slow
> recently. I suggested a HOSTS file, which he tried
> and said it helped noticeably. I haven't had a chance
> to see that computer yet, so I don't know what's going
> on. But ill-behaved ads, possibly from slow servers, and
> possibly loading videos, seems like one of the most
> credible possible causes I can think of to explain slow
> FF.
>
> In any case, some things, like HOSTS, are easy to test.

I just logged in to report a test, so I will try removing the hosts file
next.

Since FF48.0 recently released, I figured I'd see if it fixed anything,
but, that was just wishful thinking.

Nonetheless, here's what I just did by way of test.
If you can glean any useful information out of this, let me know.

1. I blew away the FF content-prefs.sqlite file
CPU 1.56% http://i.cubeupload.com/tiKXvz.gif
2. I started FF 48.0 on WinXP SP3 to a blank tab
CPU 1.56% http://i.cubeupload.com/NBFX8n.gif
3. I go to the google news web page
CPU 100% http://i.cubeupload.com/tsTbIX.gif
4. I wait a while on that one Google news web page
CPU drops to 3.13% http://i.cubeupload.com/0e8xZl.gif
5. I open up a second tab from Google news
CPU jumps to 100% http://i.cubeupload.com/5DacsH.gif
6. I wait a while to let that settle down in the background
CPU remains high at 71.88% http://i.cubeupload.com/mbfRpa.gif
7. I wait some more and it remains at about that rate
CPU is at 73.44% http://i.cubeupload.com/c7oA7y.gif
8. I click on a third web page to load in background & CPU jumps to 100%
CPU 100% http://i.cubeupload.com/mwuU8z.gif
9. I let that settle in the background, and CPU drops to 4.69%
CPU 4.69% http://i.cubeupload.com/Etius4.gif
10. I bring that second page to the foreground
CPU goes to 53.13% http://i.cubeupload.com/EDV90j.gif
11. I open one more tab from Google news
CPU jumps to 100% http://i.cubeupload.com/PlkAjf.gif
12. I let that settle and CPU drops to 9.38%
CPU 9.38% http://i.cubeupload.com/EUAXQU.gif

Note that this is Firefox when it's working normally.
When it's working abnormally, the CPU stays at 100% for a very long time,
necessitating killing it and deleting the sqlite file, and starting over
again at the beginning.

[Danny D.]

On Wed, 03 Aug 2016 03:06:49 -0500, Danny D. wrote:

> Note that this is Firefox when it's working normally.
> When it's working abnormally, the CPU stays at 100% for a very long time,
> necessitating killing it and deleting the sqlite file, and starting over
> again at the beginning.

After months and months of Firefox eating up all the CPU resources, I
finally ran a successful experiment that seems to solve the problem!

For the past week, I've been using Firefox 20, and the 100% CPU problem has
*not* occurred with Firefox 20! Woo hoo!

I have a side-by-side portable Firefox 48, where the problem *does* occur.

1. So, I can open up a certain set of pages in Firefox 48, and the CPU goes
to 100%.
2. I can kill that, and then open up the *same* pages in Firefox 20, and
the CPU stays ridiculously low (less than 10% and sometimes far less than
even that!).

So that's pretty good "evidence" (although it's not proof) that it is a bug
in firefox alone which is constantly chewing up the all the CPU resources.

However, it's so extremely painful to debug this firefox problem that it's
driving me nuts, but, over time, I'll use successively newer firefoxes
until I get to the last decent version of Firefox.

Hopefully the last decently written version of Firefox is closer to the
versions in the thirties, because the versions in the twenties complain
that they're outdated.