I just downloaded Skype a couple of days ago, and added the Firefox extension. I haven't used Skype just yet, but I've noticed an issue, which I hope can be resolved at some point.

I transferred my programs, files, and settings from my old computer to the one that I now use, and I downloaded Skype almost immediately after I completed the transfer. I also visit Facebook frequently, and began to notice issues with it, ie. pages loading incredibly slowly, and often not at all, with the occasional addition of the browser freezing up completely, and forcing me to go into the task manager to shut down the Firefox process.

At first, I thought that it was related to the transfer, but eventually ruled that out. Then, after a bit of research, I decided to use Firefox's safe mode. All of my issues went away immediately. After starting it up normally, I began disabling, and ruling out, recently downloaded extensions, with Skype being the last. Unfortunately, it turns out that the Skype extension was the problem, so I'm going to leave it disabled for now.

Is there any particular reason why the extension is causing issues with Facebook?

Hi Shawn,
Thanks for your input! We are working hard on improving the performance in Firefox and we are aware of the problem you are describing. I apologize for the trouble!

I found the Firefox Addon(that I didn't not know was getting installed) directly responsible for hanging my Gmail. In fact it slowed or made unusable my entire Google Apps. Disabling the SKYPE Firefox Addon fixed it.

I've also found similar problems. My webmail (not Gmail) stopped working, my internet banking stopped working, and the browser itself exhibited strange behaviours with tabbing between UI elements. All fixed by removing the Skype add-on.

BTW I too don't recall the opt-out - it should definitely be more prominent.

Peter,

I believe the Skype Extension for Firefox is severely broken and currently causing massive problems. I have submitted issue SCW-1341 on the developer.skype.com JIRA site. I can't imagine any website working correctly with the behavior I am seeing. It even breaks developer.skype.com/jira!

I asked in the issue report and I'll ask here as well: How can I programatically detect the plugin, and prompt my users to disable it? (Otherwise they won't be able to login to my site)

Thanks,
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,
Cold you provide more details about the behaviour you are seeing and give me the URL of your site (in private if you wish)?
We will do our best to resolve this asap.
Currently I don't know how to detect Firefox extensions from websites.

Hi Peter,

I wanted to chime in here because I too am having issues with the Skype extension for Firefox.

The issue I am having is that when the extension is enabled it causes the web page to be loaded over and over - even though you have clicked on a single link (once).

I noticed this issue while developing a web application on my local machine (which wasted half of my day - the bill is in the mail) and I have narrowed it down somewhat for you.

This error only seems to be triggered under conditions where you are accessing a page where the HTTP headers have been set to "no-cache". When I disabled my custom HTTP header "no-cache" code in my 'http.response' then the bug went away.

I can also notice this issue @ www.netbank.commbank.com.au - though less diagnostics are available there as I don't have access to the server (clearly). Since this is an internet banking site - I'm sure that they override the cache control http headers (and use sequence numbers, etc) to stop you using the back/forward/refresh buttons - so this is (presumably) related.

Here are the headers (using Firefox add on Live HTTP Headers) I am using when the bug is triggered (in this case the page is refreshed 12 times)...

Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate
Pragma: no-cache
Expires: -1

Here are the default cache headers for my web server (bug is not triggered)...

Cache-Control: private

My guess here is that your addon is accessing the browser cache and because my web server's response is "no-cache" the browser is then requesting the file again (and again, and again).

My advice to you (at this point) is to do the following:

1. Change the Skype installer to default the toolbar to 'off' not 'on' (i.e. opt in rather than opt out).

2. Release an update to Skype that includes the opt out and removes the offending extension (if you can't immediately fix it) - you should board up your broken windows if you can't fix them immediately.

3. Have a serious think about what your extension does and what it really 'needs' to do...

I will be advising everyone I know to remove the extension from Firefox and not to use it.

Tod.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your input and technical detail!
Can you confirm that you have the latest version of the Firefox extension. We did notice some problems in the first 4.1 build and quickly released an update (which we think closed the window) on the 21st of July.

Just a quick note:

I reinstalled Firefox (3.5.2) and then reinstalled skype (the current version from the download) and I don't get my issue anymore (under Vista).

I'll be back at work on Thursday and I'll do the same on my workstation (Server2003) and let you know if it fixes things there as well.

Tod.

Peter,
From the description that c0ntinuum sent, that is the exact behavior I see on my login page. I downloaded and installed Skype on Friday, July 31, and the version of the plugin I have is 3.3.0.3789.

I opened an issue for this in the developer.skype.com jira system. Like I said in the issue report, this bug affects the developer.skype.com site itself... That should be easier for you to test than my site. Still happens for me on Firefox 3.5.2. I can reproduce the problem at will by loggin in, logging out, clicking the "login again" button, then trying to login from the https://developer.skype.com/jira/secure/Dashboard.jspa page.

c0ntinuum, the behavior I see is a little eratic. I was able to get in to my site once after upgrading to Firefox 3.5.2, then the problem recurred after logging out and trying to log back in. I have a feeling you will find the problem still exists after you do some more testing. It seems somehow the plugin causes Firefox to not only make multiple requests for pages, but to also ignore the cache control headers, and serve pages from cache when it shouldn't.

Hope this information helps..

I thought I had a skype problem today and reinstalled skype. The problem after that was Gmail lagging and had to reinstall an earlier version and still no luck. Tried everything for hours and in the end uninstalled the skype addon in firefox and finally got rid of the still working message in Gmail.

I really like the idea of the FireFox add-on too. Unfortunately it's got a few bugs (I use gmail). But I am looking forward to the fix!

Just as a side note - I'm a web dev. also and am noticing some issues with moving various items around on my page when the toolbar is enabled. I can't give a url yet as it's not live - but disabling the toolbar moved the links back to their correct position.

Keep up the good fight!

Hi All,

I still have this bug at work (on windows server 2003 r2) - but I can't reproduce it at home on Vista Business SP2 (I am going to try harder to do that when I get home tonight)...

I reinstalled Firefox, Skype and the Toolbar at work and this didn't fix anything for me - still having the same bug as described earlier...

Can someone here confirm that the bug exists on Vista? (windows 6 vs windows 5.1 / 5.2 would make a difference I have no idea - however I'm trying to be thorough here).

This totally breaks my internet banking but my GMail seems OK(though I don't use it extensively / heavily so I'll leave comments on GMail to others).

I'll let you know once I discover something more.

Tod.

Happy with Skype itself, I have to confirm previous posts about the faults in the Firefox add-on. I installed Skype Version 4.1.0.141 on 9. August together with the current FF add-on. I'm running Windows XP SP3.

Subsequently I had serious problems with 'Facebook' and other sites. Pages opened slowly, some not at all. Facebook wasn't usable any more.

After exiting FF, the process firefox.exe remained active in the background.

Since I removed the FF add-on everything works fine again.

Best regards
Luke

Hi Luke,
Thanks for reporting this problem. We think we have it solved now and will publish an update asap.If you would like to try the BETA version, please contact me via Skype.
I apologize for the trouble we caused you!

The Skype Extension wreaks havoc with Firefox 3.5.

Check out this page:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/gmai...2300e&hl=en

And Gmail is not the only thing it messed with... I am currently developing a website and it caused me several days of headaches, examining code and fiddling with Firefox to try to find the problem. When I uninstalled the Skype Extension everything went back to normal.

I urge you to do something about this to spare many others from the same problems!!

It's still wreaking havoc. I have been reading the Firefox community forums and people have been lagging, pages broken, Facebook not functioning=ever since FF 3.5.2 came out. One guy disabled a few extensions including SKYPEs and Firefox was back to full operation. I uninstalled it-will leave it that way until this is resolved. My Firefox is back to running as it should. I can and still will use SKYPE just not the extension on Firefox.

need to create a forum to discuss this topic outside of skype walls. maybe skypeunsable.com, skipskype.com, skypeiskrap.com, suckyskype.com, flyaskype.com. then someone setup up a discussion board on a hosted discussion board site like messages.yahoo.com/, ProBoards.com, or big-boards.com . the we can forward the url to the board.

oh also add forums.cnet.com to list of sites to add reviews for skype.

I had the same problem. Firefox process would not end, pages either would not open or were very slow. Facebook was very slow. Mypay.gov would not load. I am running:
Vista SP1
Firefox 3.5.2
Skype 4.1.0.141

Problem went away and performance improved when I uninstalled the Skype extension from Firefox.

Hi all,
I am relieved to announce that today we have released a new version of the Firefox extension, included in the Skype 4.1 hotfix 2.
Please download the latest version of Skype from www.skype.com and make sure you upgrade the Firefox extension as shown in the video linked in my signature below.
Please let me know if the problems persists!

Peter,

I also concur and agree with c0ntinuum (Tod)and Jonathan Leech about the extension being installed in Firefox causes the web pages to be loaded over and over again. I hope the new 166 fix addresses this scenario.

It seems this issue only exists with NET CLR 3.5.30729 (.NET 3.5 SP1)

Being in a web site support role, I have seen many Firefox customers not being able to login, reproducing same urls/errors over and over again which is not pleasant experience when managing errors and each and everyone are Firefox customers with Skype Extension.

1. This issue exists with large corporate websites i.e. boa.com and usaa.com
2. What is it with the extension that causes problems in the code, can you please elaborate so we can get our development teams involved in providing a solution to this issue?
3. How can we guarantee all Skype customers are going to get the updated version/extension if the autoupdate box is not checked?
4. Does the extension really serve more value then problem?
5. Your extension is giving Firefox a bad reputation!

I have spent many days working on this problem and identifying root cause and I thank Jonathan for opening up the Jira ticket.

We can not depend on each and every Skype customer to perform an update or navigate to your website if they do not know an issue exists.

Can we send an email campaign out to all your registered customers indicating there is a problem with older versions and to please update the client ASAP?