Maintenance – What makes Firefox to grow over 1GB and have problems?
What makes a Firefox profile grow so much soon after re-installation, start having issues like freezing frequently or slowing so much that frequently send notices of timing out or page reset.
Is there a way for trimming it or avoid these problems, please? What files are overcharging the system and can be safely deleted, for instance? Because newer versions seem rather worsen this happenings, not solving them. I had less problems with older version numbers before they got to two figures.
The automatic maintenance service does not seem to work as needed. Or it does, but not for these issues.
All Replies (8)
Hi Staydog, Sorry you are having problems
The maintenance service is just something to help Windows update Firefox
The word profile has a specific meaning in relation to Firefox
Possibly you are asking about the amount of Memory Firefox uses. This is not normally a problem unless you are getting warning messages or can see the amount used growing rapidly without good reason. I did note on a Windows 10 machine that Windows 10 does seem to warn apparently excessively and prematurely about potential memory issues, maybe you are seeing that. See also
- Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix
- Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix
The freezing and slowing down is of course a concern. For that see:
- Firefox hangs or is not responding - How to fix
- Quick fixes if your Firefox slows down
Please note if you use the Firefox Refresh, it will remove any addons you have. (You may wish to make a note of their Home|Support sites before any Refresh is done )
Thank you JOHN99 for the quick reply. Sorry if I have not expressed the problem for you to understand.
I do have Windows 10, but this problem has nothing to do with memory usage, but only with the enormous disk space occupied by Firefox and the very probably related malfunction I mentioned, like slowness, resetting pages, freezing and to long to load the pages to the point of getting a time out.. So the problem Then I asked how to clean and avoid this situation. Maybe you would like to read what I wrote.
Did you check what files/folders take up the extra space?
Is this in the main profile location (AppData\Roaming) or in the location for the disk cache (AppData\Local, see about:cache)?
You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory:
Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
Hello cor-el, and tank you for coming in rescue.
No, I did not check them individually. When I started having the mentioned problems i looked up the disk space occupied bye the profile folder, over 1GB now. It never got so large, I know that because I use Cobian to make internet backups, which include Firefox profile.
The profile on its original place, where you mentioned, is virgin. Since I have more than one hard disk I use a profile on a separate disk, as well as all my personal folders.
Great, I found a cache2\entries folder in the profile with 44,178 files and using over 340MB, which I deleted, but I think there must must still be more rubbish to clear. I just do not know know which folders can de emptied. Those 340MB are still little for the 1GB size of the whole profile. From my past back experience 300MB should be more than enough. There is an updated folder with about 480MB. I believe it is from the last update because all folders (not files) bear the date of 12th this month. Maybe they are "dead" files, but I can gain about 1/2GB for my disk.
If you create a profile other than in the default location (AppData\Roaming) then this folder stores all data including the disk cache and other data that would normally be stored in the AppData\Local location for the caches. It may not be easy to select what to backup in that case. That is the disadvantage of moving the profile.
Thanks cor-el. I understand, and I had very small batch file to delete some files I knew I could without compiled without destroying Firefox. I have had it installed on AppData\Roaming and created a profile only on another disk for at least six years, but now.
However, when I installed Windows 10, 13 days ago, I made a mistake and chose the installation place on another disk. Then it started growung enormously like never before.
I only noticed my mistake after reading your first reply and also *after* my own reply. Now I understand why that profile grows like that. I will try to add more folders to empty to that cleaning batch, and when I am fed up or the occasion comes I will uninstall Firefox and reinstall correctly as i have had for many years now. Thanks to you I found my error.
Thank you very much for your efficient help.
Straydog said
Hello cor-el, and tank you for coming in rescue. No, I did not check them individually. When I started having the mentioned problems i looked up the disk space occupied bye the profile folder, over 1GB now. It never got so large, I know that because I use Cobian to make internet backups, which include Firefox profile. The profile on its original place, where you mentioned, is virgin. Since I have more than one hard disk I use a profile on a separate disk, as well as all my personal folders. Great, I found a cache2\entries folder in the profile with 44,178 files and using over 340MB, which I deleted, but I think there must must still be more rubbish to clear. I just do not know know which folders can de emptied. Those 340MB are still little for the 1GB size of the whole profile. From my past back experience 300MB should be more than enough. There is an updated folder with about 480MB. I believe it is from the last update because all folders (not files) bear the date of 12th this month. Maybe they are "dead" files, but I can gain about 1/2GB for my disk.
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I have a similar issue in my local account with 3.5 GB in same Mozilla profile folder ---> under cache2/entries. It took CCleaner a long time to clean it out last night. This is the first time that this has happened to me.
I have not created a new profile at all. Nor have I moved Mozilla Firefox to another disk as I only have one disk on my computer. So I do not understand how the cache would grow to 3.5 GB! Can you please explain this to me. Thank you so much.
Hi BabyMocha, You would do better starting your own question in a new thread.
It may be worth checking exactly what files are growing. Please also say whether you set Firefox to clear History at closedown. Firefox may have problems / bugs with* that right now
If you do post your own new question please mention that in this thread so that we may all find and follow the new question.
Generally using third party cache cleaners on Firefox is not recommended that itself may give unexpected results and sometimes data loss.
*
I am thinking
- Still open since 2013 Bug 871908 - Clearing "browsing and download" history does excessive disc IO (due to huge wal file)
- and related newer Bug 1206393 - Enabling "Clear history when Firefox closes" with large history triggers shutdownhang crash, causing dataloss
- Fx44 Bug 1250424 - crash in mozalloc_abort | NS_DebugBreak | nsDebugImpl::Abort (with abort message chrome://browser/content/sanitize.js) and Firefox no longer responding on startup