"Performing TLS handshake"

[prophet01]

A couple of days ago I started getting this message in the bottom lefthand coner of the screen when attempting to access web pages on one of my laptops.

Some sites are timing out, others really slow to load

Started FF in safe mode but no different.

 

Any pointers please?

 

 

 

[ukrules]

Are you using a recent browser version on the laptop where this happens?

 

I take it there's no problems on the other laptops?

[anchadian]

You may have noticed Firefox getting stuck on a particular step: “Performing a TLS handshake.” The TLS handshake is the process your browser performs to create an HTTPS connection. This should only take a fraction of a second – but in some cases in can drag on for seconds.

[prophet01]

@ukrules

No changes to the browser by me (unless it was done automatically) or any other part of the laptop set-up. No new add-ons no nothing.

I can confirm that, of my three machines, it's only happening on this one.

[prophet01]

@anchadian

Yes, that's what I found during my browsing investigations earlier today.

[ukrules]

12 minutes ago, prophet01 said:

@ukrules

No changes to the browser by me (unless it was done automatically) or any other part of the laptop set-up. No new add-ons no nothing.

I can confirm that, of my three machines, it's only happening on this one.

 

I suggest checking that the browser is up to date, a lack of changes /updates over years could be a part of the problem here.

 

If that still doesn't work then I would suggest installing Chrome to see if that works any better. If Chrome works better then that suggests the browser itself is a part of the problem.

 

 

[ctxa]

Do you happen to have an antivirus? 

 

I would guess that your antivirus is (largely unnecessarily) scanning the site's SSL certificates, which obviously slows it down. If you do have an antivirus, try disabling it completely first then try to load the website again. 

 

If you have Windows 10, I wouldn't install an antivirus either. Enable Windows Defender, make sure to install always latest Windows updates, and set up your firewall, NAT, and DMZ properly, and you will be just fine, as good as an AV. (Keeping in mind that Windows is a pretty insecure OS, but "that's a whole different kettle of fish". So you gotta make up for that with a properly configured NAT and DMZ, neither of which an AV can set up for you. Remember WannaCry, when all Windows computers even those with AV got owned?)

[prophet01]

@ukrules

Browser up to date.

Don't really wish to ditch FF so I'll continue investigating why this is happening, apparently out of the blue and on only 1 of my 3 machines.

Cheers anyway

[prophet01]

@ctxa

Yes, I have Avast installed and running.

Disdabled it but but there was no change.

 

Not sufficiently computer security literate to be able to commment on the remainder of your post as had to look up the computer security related acronyms NAT and DMZ.

[ctxa]

1 hour ago, prophet01 said:

@ctxa

Yes, I have Avast installed and running.

Disdabled it but but there was no change.

 

Not sufficiently computer security literate to be able to commment on the remainder of your post as had to look up the computer security related acronyms NAT and DMZ.

 

Then gonna have to try something a little more technical.

 

1. Please, open Firefox and type the following in the address bar: about:support

 

2. Then click the button which says Open Folder

 

3. A Windows File Explorer Window will pop up, then you will look for a file called cert8.db and you are gonna RENAME it (to cert8.bak). Then you are gonna restart the browser and try again. 

 

PS: When I say RENAME, DONT DELETE it. Nothing should happen even if you deleted it, but it's better to keep it renamed just in case it messes something up you can always revert it.

 

Hope this helps,

 

 

[lungbing]

The TLS problem was one of the reasons I ditched Firefox and went to Opera instead.

[prophet01]

@ctxa

cert8.db doesn't appear to exist wher it should be.

I navigated to AppData>Roaming>Mozilla>Firefox>Profiles and neither of the two folders shown below contain cert8.db

 

The below is the top half of the content of the first folder

 

 

The other odd thing is that when I'm using NordVPN the problem disappears.

 

 

[prophet01]

Just bumping to see if anyone has any other ideas on this matter.

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, prophet01 said:

Just bumping to see if anyone has any other ideas on this matter.

Try another browser like Chrome, until you do that assume that the problem will remain forever.

[prophet01]

@ukrules

Yeah - was checking out other browsers, Opera, as suggested by @lungbing (you Reds, first match Trent End '69/'70 Man. U.) and others. Work laptop uses chrome. Reluctant to change.

Fortunately today, as quickly as it started, it appears to have stopped. <deleted>.