Users complain new Gmail version slow, crashes browsers

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Google Incorporated’s major upgrade to Gmail is getting complaints from some users: the new version is extremely slow, often fails to load pages and even crashes their browsers. The search giant began "upgrading" some of its users about two weeks ago to the new version, which, ironically, is designed to be faster and more stable. Users report delays of a minute or more when attempting to display the inbox upon logging on, to record keystrokes when typing text and to respond to mouse clicks. Often the tasks time out. Others say their browsers repeatedly crash or freeze, particularly in Firefox.

Switching to the "old" Gmail version makes the problems go away but this must be done manually every time, because the new version becomes the default one after the "upgrade". A work-around is to bookmark the URL for the "old" Gmail version. Users noted that Google didn't notify them that they would be moved to “Gmail 2.0” or give them an option to decline the upgrade. The percentage of people that have access to the new version is unclear (Google is moving users over to the new service progressively), nor is the number of users experiencing problems with it. A search for "Gmail slow" in the Gmail Help Discussion forum returns about 35 pages of results related to problems with the new version.

News source: ComputerWorld

#1 mlauzon76 on 17 Nov 2007 - 19:49

I haven't had any of that happen to me, but I am not on the full new version of gmail yet, I just have some things like a bigger compose textbox. So far, that's all I've noticed.

#2 mkol on 17 Nov 2007 - 19:55

No problems here I am on new version.. However it seems bolted...

(1 reply) #3 myrhymeandreason on 17 Nov 2007 - 19:56

I have gotten the Time Out error several times, and Gmail has been getting really slow. I hate checking my email now. I am considering using Outlook or Thunderbird, but I just liked to read email and switch between other websites in one window. I don't see any new positive features in the new version.

#3.1 Slimy on 17 Nov 2007 - 19:57

New contact manager?

#4 bucko on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:08

well sometimes when I logout it still thinks I'm doing an action like mark all messages as read, but it's better now it does seem faster, I've got POP3 all linked up to gmail on my Mac Mini with thunderbird so I get a backup anyway so if web based is to slow I just use thunderbird

#5 +morebaker on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:22

New gmail runs perfectly for me. On all my computers.
My friends computers and everybody else's computer i know.
Wonder what the problem is?

#6 JOEWARE on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:23

Ridiculously sluggish scrolling up and down the page in my Gmail inbox with this new version.

#7 Julius Caro on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:27

I haven't noticed anything... well, the sluggish scrolling now that someone mentioned it. But I'm on linux with compiz and with some pages it happens.

You can change the ui if you want though. older version / new version. I really don't notice the difference besides minor changes

(1 reply) #8 duntkno on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:30

it is slow, even when reverting to old version, starting it up takes a bit.

#8.1 z0phi3l on 17 Nov 2007 - 21:41

Quote - (duntkno said @ #

That's most likely a PC issue, not Gmail.

Gmail runs perfectly fine on Vista an Linux

#9 tsupersonic on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:46

It's much slower compared to the older version. Mind you, I'm on an internet 2 connection, where I'm averaging 60,000 - 70,000 kbps.

#10 daniel_rh on 17 Nov 2007 - 20:56

Even the old version is slow....

#11 Fourjays on 17 Nov 2007 - 21:08

I had a few issues when it was first released. One was that when I went to the spam folder to delete all, I noticed that my entire inbox was appearing in the spam folder, but no spam. Checked back the next day and all was fixed.

#12 meningitis on 17 Nov 2007 - 21:23

i still experience problems

#13 alsheron on 17 Nov 2007 - 22:03

It's fine for me. Very quick. Very very quick. Much quiker than the old version. I'm pretty sure it pre-fetches the messages. Excellent. Probably extensions causing the problems.

#14 +Jedimark on 17 Nov 2007 - 22:16

I frequently have problems loading up Gmail since the new version was released - About 50% of the time I get the error "The URI to be decoded is not a valid encoding" - Refreshing the page usually fixes it.

#15 kieran776 on 17 Nov 2007 - 22:39

I had major problems when they first rolled it out. Firefox crashed anytime I went outside inbox. If I went to a label, sent mail, etc, it would freeze, and I'd have to manually kill it

.

Its improved since then (I've been using v1.0 and just retried 2.0). The freezing has stopped, which is good. And if you hit CTRL+SHIFT+R in Firefox, and let it load completely (I think there is a bug where if you try do something too early it crashes), then it solved the problem is the slowness I was having.

But it still lacks

I see only a small speed increase, and its slower to load up now

The only GUI changes I can see are the contact manager, and the Chat box buddy information (scroll over a contact, it pops up on the right).

#16 Croquant on 17 Nov 2007 - 22:54

Hey, it's a beta.

#17 SniperX on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:02

Can't say it's slower, but if I try to access my spam box, it's crash every time, without fail.

#18 WDGC on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:11

No problems here with 2.0.

#19 SilentMage on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:31

I've never had any problems, both on my home PC and at work. In addition, I've never seen any such slowdowns or crashes on my friend's MacBook Pro either.

Perhaps those that are experiencing problems should post the kind of systems they are using so the rest of us who aren't having issues (alert Google, too, of course) could possibly determine a solution.

~SilentMage

#20 BlueFiberOptics on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:36

I'm not a fan of the integrated Google Talk. Before, I could disable it and Gmail would be much faster. With the new Gmail, I can disable it from logging on, but the chat module still loads. I have experienced freezes and small glitches with the new Gmail both in Firefox on Linux and Windows XP.

#21 Dane2003 on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:36

I agree with everything in this post...the new Gmail is awful and slow. The old version is still reliable and fast for me but I absolutely despise the new version. I really hope they can help us get back the things that made us love Gmail.

#22 RAINMAN on 17 Nov 2007 - 23:51

works way faster for me with the new gmail.

#23 seamer on 18 Nov 2007 - 00:17

I call FUD on the article comment about 'not warning users before they get switched to 2.0'.

When IMAP got released for gmail, everyone bitched they didnt get it yet, and it was done on an automatic roll out just like 2.0 currently is.

#24 Jsanders on 18 Nov 2007 - 00:53

Works perfect and much better than v1 for me in Opera and IE 6+... Firefox not so much. Even without any extensions it appears to lock up for me most of the time under both Linux and Windows causing you to have to manually kill it, but then again Firefox appears to be pretty poor in most things heavily JS based so perhaps it's to be expected.

#25 Ledward on 18 Nov 2007 - 01:29

I don't see anything wrong with the new version. Granted, it's not quite as instant as it used to be, but it seems alright.

#26 +metal_dragen on 18 Nov 2007 - 01:29

Using Firefox under both Vista and XP, Firefox will crash when trying to navigate away from Gmail for me. I've noticed some slowness in the interface, particularly the text having to catch up when composing/replying to emails. I've only had it crash once when switching from Inbox to Spam, and that was just after it rolled out - haven't seen that issue since.

Overall I give v2 a thumbs down - it doesn't appear they tested it at all. I like the new features, but at the price of having to restart my browser every time I'm done checking email, I'll pass for now.

#27 Jugalator on 18 Nov 2007 - 01:46

I have absolutely no problems here on Firefox and Vista at least.

#28 aclca on 18 Nov 2007 - 02:26

it did happen on my computer,it's very slow, ai am using the world& Flock.
it suggestd standard HTML page.

#29 RangerLG on 18 Nov 2007 - 03:11

I haven't noticed anything negative with this new version. On all three of my machines it seems to work fine. I use Firefox on all machines. Never have tried it with IE or Opera.

#30 whitewings05 on 18 Nov 2007 - 03:31

I didn't even notice there was a new gmail version! o.O
Until I saw this post. I suppose it runs so perfectly well that I don't notice anything.

#31 tele-fragd on 18 Nov 2007 - 05:41

No problems here. This new version is actually a lot more responsive and faster!

#32 pureplayaz on 19 Nov 2007 - 07:05

its messing around with my friends pc too works good for me never seen any problems

#33 Juilee on 21 Nov 2007 - 04:39

Hi,
This is Beta version of Gmail we are using currently.
So in case my confidential and important information is not that much secures as my expectation.
It may cause problem @ some time.
May i know why still BETA version is used by GMAIL since long back years or is it still in Testing phase ?
Thanks & Regards,
Juilee Gune.
Email : juilee.gune@gmail.com

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