Fix Mozilla Firefox Slow Loading and Crashing Problems by Clearing Startup Cache

Many times you may face startup problems while using Mozilla Firefox web browser such as taking lots of time in opening or launching, very slow after opening, randomly crashing on startup, etc. Sometimes when you launch Firefox, it doesn’t display on screen but if you check Task Manager, it’s running in background.

These problems may occur due to corrupt or huge startup cache stored by Firefox web browser. Actually Firefox creates startup cache files to improve its loading time. Whenever you try to launch Firefox, it uses the startup cache feature to open faster. Sometimes the startup cache files are corrupted or big in size which may cause startup delays and other opening problems in Firefox.

If the startup cache files are corrupted, you may face crashing problems as well. Firefox may crash randomly at startup. Sometimes it’ll open and sometimes not.

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To fix these kind of problems, we’ll need to clear the startup cache files. In previous versions of Firefox, it was tricky to clean those startup cache files. We had to navigate to the folder containing startup cache files and manually delete those files as mentioned in following tutorial:

[Fix] Mozilla Firefox Keeps Crashing Constantly on Startup

Now the newer versions of Mozilla Firefox (version 79.0 and later) come with a built-in function to easily and quickly clear or delete startup cache files.

If you are also facing startup problems in Mozilla Firefox and want to fix these issues, following steps will help you in clearing startup cache:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox, click on hamburger menu (main menu) button present at the top-right corner of the window.

2. Now click on “Help -> Troubleshooting Information” option.

Alternatively, you can direct open the troubleshooting information page using about:support command in address bar.

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3. Now look for “Clear startup cache” button present under “Try clearing the startup cache” section.

Clear_Startup_Cache_Mozilla_Firefox_Browser.png

PS: If you can’t find the “Clear startup cache” button, it means you are using an older version of Firefox. You’ll need to follow the classic way to manually delete startup cache files as described in above mentioned tutorial.

4. Click on “Clear startup cache” button and Firefox will show a message “Restart Firefox to clear startup cache. This will not change your settings or remove extensions you’ve added to Firefox”.

Click on Restart button and Firefox will clear its startup cache files and will rebuild fresh cache files from scratch.

That’s it. Now you should not face any startup issues in Firefox and it should open faster now.

Also Check:

[Fix] Google Chrome Crashes With “Aw, Snap!” Error on Startup or Opening Websites

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I have used the “startup cache” clear more than once to no avail. I have even created a new profile and used the “Refresh” button also to no avail.

    The home page on Firefox 95.0 X64 loads immediately. However after that when a new site i.e. online bank and others are attempted it takes up to a minute for the page to load if it doesn’t time out before loading.’

    I am using Windows 11 PRO X64

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