No tech I.
Get a Mac.
I'm not sure what you mean here.
> FF fades every 20 keystrokes or so and I have to click to
> resume typing.
I’m a tech, and I don’t understand what this means.
Firefox is my primary browser, but I also have Google Chrome.
I have never used Explorer.
There is no problem having Chrome as a secondary browser...Try it.
Make sure that you have the latest Firefox updates, or just reload it.
Which version of FF?
==
You might try re-installing it.
And, have you rebooted recently? If not, try rebooting.
Firefox has been suffering from feature creep for years, causing it to become as slow and bloated as IE.
I recommend trying Chrome. It performers much faster and is more stable.
Of course there is that whole Google thing. Do you trust a product made by Google? If you can get over that issue, it’s worth a try.
I ditched FF and IE Explorer a long time ago and run nothing but Chrome on all my machines, laptops and towers, all different makes and OS from XP to a new W8. Never had a problem except with one of the machines that was just plain old and under/at the min requirements. Chrome is what I recommend to everyone...don’t work with macs, but I hear it is equally good. If you are running AOL it can cause problems with your second browaer for sure...and it doesn’t seem to like RealPlayer. A lot of older systems run AOL; maybe even don’t kow it’s still there, but you can scrap AOL unless you like HuffPo for some reason and keep your old screen name now, signing on thru chrome.
Reading through this, it sounds as if your system is losing the focus in the active window or tab that Firefox is in. What else is running? How many windows do you have open? Can you re-find the active window with the Alt/Tab key?
What do you mean when you say that it “fades”?
Get a MAC...
Try another browser (Chrome maybe). It sounds more like your computer is having problems - typing in a box in the browser is akin to typing in a Word Document on your computer.