Memory constraints, Firefox performance and Firewalls

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One of the biggest performance bottlenecks on a PC is not the speed of CPU engines, but the amount of memory the machine has. Firefox performance, like all applications, can be adversely effected by amount of cpu and/or storage being used. This article is about looking at addressing memory constraint issues to greatly improve your Firefox performance and your general PC performance as well.


How to determine if you have a memory issue

Microsoft's "Windows Task Manager" and the "Perfomance Tab" Window

Click to learn how to pull up the Performance tab on your Windows Task Manager. Once you are at the Microsoft Website, click on "Get details on how much memory is being used" under the instructions. This will explain the performance tab information and more.

Check Your Machines Physical Memory Use.

  1. Open the Windows Task Manager on your machine and select the "Performance tab" to see your machines physical memory use.
  2. At the bottom of the window, there will be a percentage of the Physical Memory being used.
Note: If the Physical Memory percentage is over 80%. You may want to look into what is causing it and why.

Do you have a lot of applications open?

Having many applications running simulataneously may cause your computer to run slowly and other applications to as well. By closing down some of the unnessary applications, this may resolve the issue.

Memory Is High After Rebooting Computer and Opening Firefox

If you are still seeing memory issues after following all the steps in this article, please see the following.

  • Are you able to more memory to the computer? Memory is cheap and will provide a huge performance boost. For the best performance, your computer should have at least 3GB of memory installed and running.
  • If you cannot add more memory, firewall products like Norton 360 may cause high memory usuage. Turning off unecessary features will reduce the memory use.
  • If you have tried all necessary options, you may need a new computer. Memory usage builds up over time and it may just be time to get a new computer.
Note: You should keep in mind that a computer with more than 3GB of RAM is recommended.

To see how much memory your machine you can install on your machine go to the manufacturer's support web site and look for the machine specifications.

For more information on adding memory see this Microsoft Article.