Why several instances of Firefox?
I now have just ONE instance of Firefox open, with just this ONE Mozilla Community Support page open, yet my TASK MANAGER has 3 instances of Firefox running, one at 127308K, one at 207380K and one at 12596K. Why is this. I have version 53.0 and update that just installed. My version info also states, Funnelcake June 2015 and also mozilla38 - 1.0
How can I stop this, it slows everything down.
All Replies (8)
hi QuiGonJohn, firefox is being remodelled into a multi-process architecture: https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2016/08/02/whats-next-for-multi-process-firefox/
what kind of slowdown are you noticing in particular?
PC starts freezing up and when I click things nothing happens. If I close Firefox then it starts acting correctly.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
In Safe Mode I only get 2 processes, but then I have Ad Block Plus so maybe in Normal Mode that is the 3rd process.
Was there any problem when you were in Safe Mode?
More than one process is normal for the current Firefox. http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/22/multi-process-firefox/
Multi-process Firefox is codenamed "e10s". https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/multiprocess
Try to disable multi-process tabs in Firefox.
You can disable multi-process tabs in Firefox by setting
the related prefs to false on the about:config page.
browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false
http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/22/multi-process-firefox/
Type about:config<enter> in the address bar. If a warning screen comes up, press the Be Careful button. At the top of the screen is a search bar.
What other factors would disabling multi-process tabs cause? Also, sometimes when I am viewing or have viewed videos in Firefox, I see multiple instances of ffmpeg in my Task Manager. Again, if I completely close Firefox, they go away. I have run full scans with MSE and Malwarebytes, so I am pretty sure it's not a virus or malware issue.
QuiGonJohn said
What other factors would disabling multi-process tabs cause?
I am not sure.
I see multiple instances of ffmpeg in my Task Manager.
That is for an add-on. Not to worry.
Well I hope the techies at Mozilla work out the bugs and get this newer version of FF working smoothly. I like FF more than any other browser, and stay far away from Chrome, (I have seen people get way too many unintended extensions added into their Chrome). But lately FF has been buggy for me.