I doubt that the problem is my Mac or OS or old version of Firefox, because I have the problem on Windows, too.

If ad blockers are going to exist, I want them to block ads. I guess I need to learn how to customize the filters. I'm especially annoyed by autorun video clips that play at full volume. If advertisers want to turn themselves into enemies, that is a good way to do it.

I've verified that I have among the slowest DSL speeds compared to the overwhelmingly majority of people. How they can afford it I don't know. The reason I started using ad blockers is because I need to get every ounce of speed that I can in order to make my system usuable. Not to make it fast, to make it usuable on the internet. So I'm probably different from a lot of people out there using ad blockers.

In order to use a more recent version of Firefox, I would have to buy a new computer. I won't buy another Mac unless I can find a cheap old one that's just a notch above mine, with the same or bigger screen, running 10.7 or so. I loathe what's become of Apple and the Mac.

I have no plans to buy a computer unless an incredible deal catches my eye. My iMac is not upgradeable. Working inside this computer is so difficult and risky that I'm likely to break it. It's maxed out at 3GB of RAM. I never got 10.6.8 to work. According to EveryMac, the maximum OS I can run is 10.7.5, but I don't know what the considerations are. This CPU can compete with modern computers provided the modern OS doesn't slow it down.

Using Windows showed me what life is like outside the ghetto. But I miss the Mac's interface, the file system structure, the security, the speed of the Finder, Tex-Edit Plus, and Pages. Two years ago I bought my folks a Dell. Since then I have maxed the RAM at 16GB, added an SSD, and streamlined services to the minimum, and still, still there are slowdowns while waiting for a program to do its thing, waiting for the constant, interminable system updates to download and install, and the constant restarts. I rarely have to restart my Mac.

Someday perhaps I will have my ideal computer where I will never have to wait for anything and every operation will be fast. If I had the money, I would get it now. I would like to know what such a machine would look like. Everything fast. Almost no waiting. For me, there's no such thing as a computer that's too fast.

But I wonder if a computer will always be at the mercy of the OS. Both the Mac OS and Windows OS seem to have gotten slower with age. Is the OS the computer's worst bottleneck? My current iMac running 10.6 is faster in the Finder than File Explorer in Windows 8.1 on my parents' Dell. I do almost no waiting on my Mac. The problem, as always, is the internet and a shortage of software. So it's a real dilemma. Maybe I could spend a little money, but not a lot. If I have to, I will abandon my iMac and use my 10 year old Dell laptop full time.