Question: I have high speed cable internet and a gaming PC I built (Gigabyte Z77Xud3H; Gigabyte GTX 660; i5-3570K; 250gb Velociraptor @ 10000rpm; 2×4 GB ram).

I use Firefox 18.

But when I want to watch any type of video on any website (youtube, vimeo, IMDB, or any website what so ever that has videos), the videos take long to load, or I get the looping circle thing going round without the video loading.

I usually go to settings on the video it self and set local storage to “unlimited”. All my drivers are updated.
I checked with my internet provider and they tested my speed and connection and it is exactly as advertised. I tested it with speedtest.net too.

So I can’t find out why in the world videos take long to load. Any ideas?

Answer: First of all.. YouTube videos are arranged by popularity.. if the video is really popular that receives million of viewers in the past few days, you will be loading those videos much faster than unpopular ones..
If you are watching videos that only a handful of people are interested in, those videos get less priority and takes a significant longer time to load and watch..

Popular videos are distributed on more servers around the planet, while less popular videos are distributed on less servers.. and each of those servers have its own traffic conditions (traffic jams or smooth traffic throughout the day)..

Second, Firefox is known to be a memory-hog browser.. especially, if you are the type to download all those small add ons that do hundred of things online..
Firefox can drain more memory resources than any other browser (IE, Google chrome, Opera or Safari).. this translate to slower performance..

The easiest way to prove this possibility, is to open those websites on any other browser.. example, open YouTube on internet explorer (Google claims that YouTube runs better in Google Chrome).. if similar videos load faster, you got your answer..

I am not saying Firefox is bad (I use Firefox), but it is a fat beast fatter than any other browser.. and you really have to watch whatever it puts in its mouth..

Third, computer problem.. the slow load is still present even in different browser, the problem may be in your computer..
if you are able to connect your internet services to your other devices, like a second computer in the house or a smart phone capable to watch YouTube, vimeo etc.. if you can get faster loading time on those other devices, you may need to check your PC..

If the computer is at fault.. there are a number of reasons why it behaves like that..
1. A computer viruse .. update your antivirus definitions and scan the entire computer..
2., a software that is bleeding you internet speed (not necessarily a virus), like having torrent agent or P2P sharing software running in the background (example, Bitorrent and Kazza) to see which software is using your internet speed without your knowledge, click start and search for “task manager” (unfortunately, I am using Windows 8, so mine is a bit different than what you have) look for network or internet use.. and take notice of those software that is using the internet without your knowledge..
3. Not enough windows resources.. if you use windows Vista, 7 or 8, right click on the ‘my computer’ icon and choose ‘properties’.. look for “windows experience index”.. it should be ok if the score is 5.0 or more.. if it is less than 5.0, you may need to upgrade..
And since you are at ‘my computer’ also check if your main hard disk is full.. if it is, you’ll get slower system performance..

Fourth, someone is bleeding your internet.. if you use WiFi modems and there are many users logging in, it is kinda understandable to have a slow connection.. there is a possibility is that someone else is hacking your WiFi.. the simplest way to fix this, is to change the password, and at the extreme, buy a better modem with better security features..

Fifth, if you still have slow online video experience in all devices connected to the internet at home.. there is no escape than to seek the customer services or change your internet speed package or change the internet services provider all together..

All the best..