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How to stop muliple processes of Firefox running in background slowing my PC & internet down drastically!

icantrememberit0
icantrememberit0
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I installed yesterday, the most recent version of Firefox. I instantly noticed today, a drastic change in speed of PC. So, I easily determined it had to be FF. I opened my task manager and discovered multiple 'ghost copies' of FF running in the background which is causing this tremendous lag! I have been using FF for 8 years and have always faithfully made it my default. I don't want to switch, but can't tolerate this on my new laptop! I read in another post on this support, the same issue and tried their recommendation (create a new variable) That successfully stopped all of the ghost copies from appearing, but yet created even more lag! So I went back in to system settings and deleted that. It took me forever just to sign into this sight! My laptop is basically useless if I continue using FF now.

        • also just noticed I can't upload any images to this post because of the lag!!****
I installed yesterday, the most recent version of Firefox. I instantly noticed today, a drastic change in speed of PC. So, I easily determined it had to be FF. I opened my task manager and discovered multiple 'ghost copies' of FF running in the background which is causing this tremendous lag! I have been using FF for 8 years and have always faithfully made it my default. I don't want to switch, but can't tolerate this on my new laptop! I read in another post on this support, the same issue and tried their recommendation (create a new variable) That successfully stopped all of the ghost copies from appearing, but yet created even more lag! So I went back in to system settings and deleted that. It took me forever just to sign into this sight! My laptop is basically useless if I continue using FF now. **** also just noticed I can't upload any images to this post because of the lag!!****

All Replies (3)

icantrememberit0
icantrememberit0 Question owner
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Update: I used system restore back 2 days to Sept. 3rd. PC is running like a Ferrari again, but the task manager stills shows multiple FF processes running in background. So whatever FF included in yesterdays update, I don't know?? I do know, however, that I won't be updating it again now knowing the trouble that I'll be in for!

cor-el
cor-el
  • Top 10 Contributor
  • Moderator
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It is quite normal to see more Firefox processes running.

  • one process for the main Firefox thread (user interface)
  • one or more content processes, see:
    Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Use recommended performance settings"
  • one process for the compositor thread
  • one process for the WebRender when this feature is enabled

You can find the current multi-process state on the Troubleshooting Information page (about:support).

  • "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" -> "Application Basics":
    Multiprocess Windows
    Remote Processes

See also the Remote Processes section further down for more detail.

icantrememberit0
icantrememberit0 Question owner
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Well you explained the multiple FF running in the background, (Thank you) but you ignored, and didn't explain what WAS IN THE MOST RECENT FF UPDATE that caused the severe lag in my PC?? Who wants to sit and watch that 'spinny thing' for 10 minutes just waiting for a page to load?? You didn't explain why Firefox's newest update slowed down my new laptop drastically, rendering it useless??