You can disable Aero when you run FireFox by setting it's Windows compatibility options and check-marking "Disable Desktop Composition". But this will turn of Aero system-wide when you run FF.
There are others finding this problem as well, and it seems to be related to the new hardware acceleration in FF4, as witnessed at mozillazine.org's forums.
Testing suggestions from here:
To test if a problem you’re seeing is due to hardware acceleration, you can disable it. There are two ways to accomplish this:
•Run Firefox in safe mode. (All hardware acceleration is always disabled in safe mode.)
•Uncheck “Use hardware acceleration when available” in the Advanced section of the Preferences/Options dialog.
Jordan, what model of graphics card are you using, and what version(s) of the drivers have you been on while the problem has been happening?
The design of this site is such that I can't leave any information unless I provide it in the answer box as I don't have 50 reputation yet, but I'm having a similar problem with a VERY powerful system.
I don't remember the disabling happening for the first year or so I had the PC, which equates to two things in my mind, I hadn't added the 2nd graphics card then, and ATi's drivers were...less mature (not that that's a good thing). I haven't changed anything else about my system in that time, other than updates to common software products.
Specs that matter:
- 2x HD 5870 in Crossfire (2GB dedicated video memory)
- i7 920 @ 3.6 GHz on H20
- 12GB DDR3 @ 1443 MHz
- Antec CP-850 PSU
- Windows 7 Professional
I've checked CPU-Z, Hardware Monitor, CoreTemp my voltages and temperatures are near spot on...even my Corsair 750 Professional Gold isn't as close to perfect at load. I want this to be completely software related so badly, but considering I can't reproduce it on a notebook with considerably less power in EVERY way, I'm starting to think it's possibly related to a hardware configuration.
On the software side of things, I'm used to Aero disabling for games/programs that call the service to stop, then re-enable it after. I'm having problems with Aero disabling itself while using something as simple as Mozilla Firefox or VLC video player, which have had no issues in the past.
Drivers, CCC software, all up to date, I've tried with both Windows and ATi software set for both full eye candy and full performance, and I'm getting the same errors. It's odd that I can run a game like Metro 2033 at 5760x1080 with no artifacts, glitches, with Aero still on in the background, then I open one Firefox window or VLC window, and that dreaded yellow exclamation point comes up and I lose Aero immediately.
One thing I found very helpful in my quest to fix this annoyance is this little tidbit. Open your registry, find the following location (you create the Restart Aero and Command folder).
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Restart Aero\Command
Create a new string in the Command folder, and leave it named (Default), then under Data, type the following:
CMD /C NET STOP UXSMS & NET START UXSMS
That adds the option to Restart Aero to the right click context menu when you're on the desktop. So now instead of opening up a CMD window to re-enable it, you can just right click and click. I created an executable file that just runs the same command as well, but I find this to work even better.
Hopefully this satisfies the answer portion in some way!
Best Answer
In our testing we've seen that turning on Aero consumes only about 1-4% more of battery life. In terms of making your battery last longer, turning off Aero will not go very far while at the same time costing you some of the cool features that make Windows Vista fun to use, such as Flip 3D, taskbar previews, window transparency and so on.
Taken from here