I use CCleaner and that gets rid of all the temp files including those in the browsers' cache. So it's definitely not that.

I read somewhere that with Firefox 10, the application will no longer refuse to load an extension just because it's set a slughtly lower max-compatible-with (or whatever the mark/tag/setting is called). And with the current rate of a version number change seemingly being enough of a change to update the number to the next major version (recursively!), that shouldn't be too far away.

Yeah, now those are really bloody annoying. Not what I was referring to, but increasingly common and a significant part of why I finally went off Firefox. Forcing out constant revisions just doesn't work. It's better to let it happen at a more natural pace, or you wind up with shit like this where the real problems get ignored.

Maybe you have some problematic extensions? Java for example, was causing IE8 to take a few more seconds to start, and introduced a few seconds delay when creating a new tab.

Maybe something similar is happening to your Firefox installation. (on a personal note, I don't use extensions, so I can't say it got slower here)

Well, a LOT of extensions might have been a bit hyperbolic, but it'll bog down just running Ad Blocker, with the standard Flash plugin + Java and one extension that runs on Greasemonkey. (That may be a lot, I dunno. I stopped using Foxy Proxy, and eliminated an extension or two due to those problems.)

The only extensions I use are adblock and noscript. Both of which should, in theory at least, make pages load faster as there's less to load initially. Not that that's the reason I use them, mind.

Out of ideas. Maybe a full uninstall -> reinstall, dunno what else might fix the slowness (other than the devs themselves! :)).

Well, if Dragon buggers up somehow then yes, I'll try a reinstall. But right now I only need the one browser and this one does me fine.

They are coding very fast... :D

Being a god can do that, yeah.

It's too hipster to bother being part of the group though.

What does the portable version do (on a desktop) that the standard version does not?

It's a clean install without touching the standard setup. Perfect for testing and finding problems.

Edit: I also use a portable firefox for all my gaming stuff. Btw, thank you for the Comodo Dragon hint. Didn' liked to use chromium itself, but this verison looks very interesting. Will use it as my third browser beside opera and firefox.

Oh okay. I'll give that one a try if (or more likely when) I'm in the market for a new browser again.