4.1.9 "Why Do Web Pages With Flash Sometimes Slow Down My Computer?"

In certain situations, you may notice that Flash has a substantial negative impact on the performance of your machine. Several factors determine whether this is a problem:

• The processor speed of your computer
  • The problem is much more noticeable on older, slower computers than it is on newer, faster ones.
     
• Which browser you use
  • The problem is most noticeable under Netscape Navigator 4.x.
  • Netscape Navigator v6 seems to work reasonably well with Flash.
  • The problem is almost never seen when using Internet Explorer.
  • Macromedia has worked hard to keep the size of the Flash player small. The plug-in that is used with Netscape is different from the Active X control used with Internet Explorer. Apparently, the Netscape plug-in is optimized for Netscape v6, and it only works marginally well with Netscape v4.x.
     
• The number of Flash movies currently playing in the browser
  • Each Flash movie on a page consumes its own portion of the capacity of the processor. The more movies playing, the greater the likelihood of a problem.
  • If small Flash movies are used, you may have several Flash movies on a page and not realize it.
     
• The way in which the Flash movies were programmed.
  • Flash movies that loop continually can prohibit other applications from getting to use the processor. This is the worst scenario, as the computer will seem to completely freeze up.
  • Flash movies that pause periodically (for example, the animation in the header of this page), may induce hesitations in other applications, but they will not cause the computer to freeze.

 
How to Resolve the Problem

If you are having the problem just described, we recommend that you use Netscape v6 or Internet Explorer to solve the problem. This should work with all but the slowest of computers.

If Netscape v6 works for you, we recommend it over Internet Explorer; it appears to be far more secure and less vulnerable to viruses and other malicious code. Click here to go to Netscape's download page.

 
Please Report Any Problems With Our Site

We are interested in knowing of any problems you may have with our site — even with Netscape v4.7. Please send a detailed description of your problem and your environment to info@slicksurface.com.