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Whey is Firefox Quantum running 7 instances?

  • 2 replies
  • 25 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Bud

Bookimp
Bookimp
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I updated to Firefox Quantum today and it's running 7 instances of itself and using an amazing amount of processing.

I updated to Firefox Quantum today and it's running 7 instances of itself and using an amazing amount of processing.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

You are noticing e10s or multiprocess. You may see 3 or more processes running in the Task Manager

  1. one process for the main Firefox window (user interface)
  2. one or more processes for content threads set via "Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance" (dom.ipc.processCount), default in 57 is 4.
  3. one process for the compositor thread (Windows)
  4. one process for Quantum CSS (Stylo)

This is the correct number of Firefox processes.

Read this answer in context 👍 10

All Replies (2)

M B
M B
  • Moderator
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Chosen Solution

You are noticing e10s or multiprocess. You may see 3 or more processes running in the Task Manager

  1. one process for the main Firefox window (user interface)
  2. one or more processes for content threads set via "Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance" (dom.ipc.processCount), default in 57 is 4.
  3. one process for the compositor thread (Windows)
  4. one process for Quantum CSS (Stylo)

This is the correct number of Firefox processes.

Modified by M B

Bud
Bud
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I have noticed a marked increase in data usage and I often find multiple instances of Firefox running on pages I have not loaded, not on tabs within my Firefox page. Sometimes it can be 7 to 10 items when I start Task Manager. (See image)

Occasionally these instances will be apparent when I mouse over (in Windows 7) the lower Toolbar icon of Firefox and it shows loaded icons indicating pages that I did not activate on websites I can not locate running. Almost like Phantom Pages.

Modified by Bud