NoScript makes Firefox unresponsive

[Hadministratora]

Hi All,

I recently decided to start using NoScript. I installed it on my computer as well as on my wife's laptop.
My wife has no issues, however, for me Firefox since to hang randomly and I have to kill the process to recover from the situation.
Since this started happening, Firefox was updated at least 3-4 times. I also created a brand new profile for my self, but it keeps hanging almost on a daily basis.
I uninstalled NoScript and had no issues for around a month. Yesterday, I decided to install it again and I already had at least a couple of hangs.
A little info about the environment: both me and my wife are running Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit in a domain environment; the main difference is that I am using a virtual machine and I am accessing it over RDP; Firefox and NoScript are latest versions as of this writing; there are no other extensions installed.

Any ideas? I will appreciate anything you may have to share.

Cheers,
Hadministratora

[dhouwn]

What kind of "hanging"? Total freeze with our without content still displaying? Or just 100% CPU or too high memory consumption leading to too much swapping (hard disk access)?

[Hadministratora]

There is no CPU or memory hogging. The browser just freezes and has to be restarted. Window contents is visible.

[Tom T.]

the main difference is that I am using a virtual machine and I am accessing it over RDP;

Remote Desktop Protocol is like most other MS stuff: There are far better competitors. Try it with a higher-quality VPN or Remote Admin tool.

[Hadministratora]

Tom T., while generally speaking you are right, I seriously doubt it has anything to do with it.
First of all, RDP is natively supported on MS platforms, so I don't really want the hassle of dealing with third party replacements.
Next, I didn't post an issue with my virtual computer or desktop experience - I simply don't have any.
Firefox used to work perfectly fine and it will work perfectly fine if I uninstall NoScript. I am just looking for way to be able to use this wonderful add-on.

[Giorgio Maone]

both me and my wife are running Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit in a domain environment

Have you got the same Flash Player and Silverlight plugin versions (as reported in about:plugins)?

[Hadministratora]

Good question, Giorgio - haven't check this before.
But now that I checked - yes, it is exact same version to the last number.

Shockwave Flash
Version: 11.1.102.55

Silverlight Plug-In
Version: 5.0.61118.0

[Giorgio Maone]

If I was you I'd try with a clean profile and just NoScript installed (to excude configuration-specific causes), and possibly disable graphic acceleration ( layers.acceleration.disabled in about:config).

[Alan Baxter]

Shockwave Flash
Version: 11.1.102.55

That version of flash has a vulnerability (CVE-2012-0767) which is being exploited in the wild. I suggest you update both systems ASAP.
Adobe - Security Bulletins: APSB12-03 - Security update available for Adobe Flash Player
Exotic XSS bug in Adobe Flash controlled users' Web accounts
http://hackademix.net/2012/02/16/sandbo ... years-ago/

[Hadministratora]

Giorgio, the clean profile was my first idea to get around this and I am already running like this for 2-3 months.
layers.acceleration.disabled is already true. Not sure how it happened as it says "user set".

Alan, thank you very much for the vulnerability note! I will update it right away.

[Giorgio Maone]

layers.acceleration.disabled is already true. Not sure how it happened as it says "user set".

On both the machines? If not, please switch it back to false.

[dhouwn]

what about gfx.direct2d.disabled?

[Hadministratora]

Isn't that interesting?!
Both gfx.direct2d.disabled and layers.acceleration.disabled were "true" (user set) on my PC and both were "false" (default) on my wife's laptop.
I switched them both to false and restarted the browser - we'll see how it goes.

Thank you all for the suggestions!

[Hadministratora]

Bad news - it is still happening.
And as you can see just a few hours later. It is the second time for today btw.

[therube]

And if you disable both Flash & Silverlight?
And if you disable one at a time?

Most links I found point to things driver related; video or audio?

http://superuser.com/questions/229248/diagnose-remote-desktop-freezes-in-windows-7-when-no-bsod

http://www.bitconsultants.net/2009/fix-windows-7-flash-crashing-remote-desktop-issue/

http://help.wugnet.com/windows/Remote-Desktop-Freeze-Fix-ftopict570173.html