Firefox using too much RAM
When starting (or restarting Firefox) everything is fine - even with loads of tabs open. Slowly, even if I'm not using it the RAM usage increases 500M and up.
I'm running 35.0.1, but the problem existed with earlier versions too. Reading various threads looks like I'm not the only one, but none of the threads come up with a solution.
I have however tried all the things suggested, disabled hardware acceleration, running in safe mode, etc. Makes no difference. The problem remains. The only thing that works is closing Firefox and reopening it, say every 30 minutes - that's a pain.
As I say this has been going on for a long time in various version (certainly a year or two) and on various PCs. On 64 bit machines with loads of RAM it's a nuisance, but I have some applications which will only run in a true 32 bit environment, and in on those machines Firefox is to all intents and purposes unusable.
The other thing that works is using explorer, but I've been a Thunderbird user almost since day 1 - back in the days when real mozilla techs gave real technical support - so I really don't want to have to do that.
Would be good, as a starting point if someone could say how much RAM Firefox should use running in safe mode with only one tab open. That would at least put a stake in the ground.
Alle Antworten (5)
Read this. "https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram"
Also this. "http://kb.mozillazine.org/Memory_Leak"
Thanks, but as I said, I have already read all the previous threads and followed all the previous suggestions. These two links were my starting point and as far as I can see everyone else's too and for many of them this didn't solve the problem.
I think the key symptom to consider is that Firefox memory usage slowly and continuously increases, even in safe mode, even not being used - it just needs to be open,
What programs do you have installed on your machine? You said you already "altered" the about:config variables. Which ones did you alter? You can try using an earlier version and/or a portable one. Have you tired refreshing Firefox? Try starting Firefox in private browsing mode.
I cannot replicate this problem you are having, I have currently 10 tabs open and it is barely pushing the 400mb mark. It may be an issue with Windows 7. Have you used Ccleaner to clean out the registry, after an uninstall, before you reinstall it?
Hi samarang, I understand that when you open Firefox that you are noticing an increase in memory usage on a few systems. Please do post back with the results to the troubleshooting steps suggested above in order to find a work around for the performance for the system that you are working on.
It is also possible to change the features within Firefox to not store so much.
However if you take a look at the page about:memory and run a report, we can find what is using the most memory.
There will be real problems but they affect a small proportion of users. remember 1% of users is bout 5 mlion people.
That explains why you both find complAints and why they are dificult to solve. we need help from those seeing the problems including YOU.