[K12OSN] Firefox and load average

[David Hopkins]

Just recently (last few days) when students launch FF (1.5), the load
average on the server will spike to 20 or so, sometimes much higher,
(on a dual 2.4GHz hyperthreaded Xeon system), then over a few minutes
come back to 2 (more or less). The problem is that during the spike,
everything comes to a complete crawl.  Since this behavior has only
started recently, I am at a loss for why. I have not updated any
packages nor added any.  It is almost like some 'tipping point' was
reached wrt files, perhaps related to a thread discussion earlier
concerning open files?  Has anyone else on the list seen behavior like
this? And if so, have a recommendation on how to resolve it?

Thanks,
Dave Hopkins
Newark Charter School