Speeding Up Gmail Delivery - NYTimes.com Q. My Gmail on Firefox has gotten really slow lately and sometimes I can't see attachments. I don't think it's my network connection and I still have plenty of space left in my mailbox, so what might be causing the pokiness? A. Some antivirus and security programs may interfere with Gmail and cause it to load slowly. If you have always had the security software and Gmail just recently slowed, something else may be the reason. If the security software is new, try turning it off temporarily to see if it was causing the problem and if so, visit the company's website for support information about Gmail. Browser extensions and add-ons can also hinder Gmail, so try disabling any recent additions first to see if the mail speeds up. Select Add-ons from the Tools menu in Firefox to make adjustments. Clearing the browser cache (a repository of images and other files from sites) often fixes slow Gmail behavior. Mozilla has instructions for clearing the Firefox cache at http://mzl.la/MyNb9w. Force-Quitting Apps in iOS 7 Q. How do you quit iPad apps in iOS 7? You used to be able to double-click the Home button and zap them from that little panel at the bottom of the screen, but now double-clicking the Home button just brings up a screen where you can switch to different open apps. A. Apple changed a few things around in its new iOS 7 software, but you still begin the process of forcing an app to close by double-clicking the iPad's home button. When you land on the multitasking display that shows your open apps in small windows, flick the screen until the app you want to quit is visible. Next, place your finger on the app's mini-window and drag it up toward the top of the screen with your fingertip. Once you discard the app's open window, it closes. Press the iPad's Home button again to return to your Home screen, where you can try starting the app again or move on to something else. TIP OF THE WEEK Need to safely shut down the computer in a hurry without fumbling around in menus? In recent versions of both Windows and Mac OS X, you can summon the Shut Down box with keystrokes. When in the app-and-tile half of Windows 8 and 8.1, press the Control, Alt and Delete keys to jump to a screen with several options. These include commands to lock the screen, switch users, sign out of the computer or go to the Task Manager - and there is also a virtual power button in the lower-right corner with a shutdown command. If you happen to be in the desktop mode, press the Alt and F4 keys to get a box with the shutdown option; you can also choose sleep, restart and a few other actions from the drop-down menu in the box. Pressing the Windows and the X key also reveals a menu with the shutdown command in the lower-left corner of the screen. In Mac OS X, press the power button on the keyboard or Mac itself to get the dialogue box asking if you would like to shut down the computer; you can also choose to restart it or put it to sleep. On Macs that have an Eject key on the keyboard, pressing the Control and Eject keys also calls up the shutdown box. Pressing the Control, Command and Eject keys closes all your open programs and restarts the Mac, while pressing the Control, Option, Command and Eject keys together closes all open programs and shuts down the Mac.