James and I have very different communication styles. In my opinion, I answered his question very directly:

Henry said

I am not ALLOWED to ever find the location of the firefox address or navigation bar. The "people" of firefox use these two names all over this site, and not once will anyone tell me the location, or how they may be accessed.

jscher2000 said

Hi James/Henry, the "Navigation" toolbar is the main toolbar. The "Address bar" or "Location bar" or "URL bar" is the section of that bar which shows the current page address (or a generic message like "Search with Google or enter address").

Then two replies later he revealed that he was mistyping about:memory as two words.

Henry said

When reading the instructions for stopping this monster I'm supposed to type "about memory" somewhere, yet no one can tell me where this goes, and the same for the instructions.

So in my next reply I explained how he could enter about: page addresses:

jscher2000 said

Hi James, where you normally type web addresses, you can access internal pages using the about: syntax. Note that there's a colon, not a dot, and no spaces between the words in these page addresses:

• about:memory
• about:config
• about:about

It is evident from his further replies that using the tools on about:memory didn't solve his problem. The unusual memory use may be due to add-ons, hidden tabs, malware, etc., that persisted or were reintroduced after his Firefox Refresh.

Perhaps the Safe Mode test -- if he tries it -- will help provide more information to eliminate potential causes and reach a solution. Good luck everyone.

I have already run safe mode, no change in data usage, the only add-on is Ad-block, and it was refreshed yesterday. As well as the minimize memory usage tool, I'm left with a browser that from time to time just takes off to over a gig and beyond with 4 tabs open. I don't think this was the intended product.

Henry said

I see that the entire community has vanished after jscher2000 got caught lying. Mozilla firefox, the browser that idles at 800 megs on the homepage of duck duck go. Take a look America, here is the non-existent customer service/help of Mozilla firefox. These folks seem to be stuck on an ego trip, as opposed to helping ANYONE. The GENIUS that answered, couldn't be bothered to even READ my post, the proof? he sent a message that HE DIDN'T KNOW what I was asking for, either he is a pathological liar or he NEVER READ THE ORIGINAL POST. This is what passes for help, at mozilla firefox, SILENCE. I await any answer for this browser idling at 800megs(with memory usage minimized, and a refreshed browser yesterday).

Easier to avoid threads (the online form of social distancing) like this where the OP screams in all caps, is very rude, and in general acts like a jerk.

Ed, why are you intentionally harassing me? I still wait for anything like help with a shiny new browser that idles at 800 megs, after minimize memory usage tool, and fire fox refresh, and I didn't allow any of the old firefox data to be re-added. Scans with both Malware hunter, and avast found nothing. I have covered everything I can think of and the browser still idles with 5 tabs open at something around 760 to 790 megs on the duck duck go home page. I'm still waiting for help with this browser.

Henry said

I have already run safe mode, no change in data usage, the only add-on is Ad-block, and it was refreshed yesterday. As well as the minimize memory usage tool, I'm left with a browser that from time to time just takes off to over a gig and beyond with 4 tabs open. I don't think this was the intended product.

Could you please provide the following details:

• What websites do you have open when memory usage is beyond 1 GB?
• How much RAM do you have on your computer?
• Could you the provide specifications of your device?
• Do you currently have anti-virus and/or anti-malware software installed? If so, please provide its name(s).
• Please confirm your operating system.

Have you tried deleting content-prefs.sqlite?

Delete corrupt content-prefs.sqlite file Firefox stores your data in various files in your profile folder. The file used for saving individual website settings might be corrupt. If you delete that file, your zoom level settings will be reset, but it should decrease CPU usage.

1. Click the menu button , click Help and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
   
   

   Under the Application Basics section next to Profile Folder, click Open Folder. Your profile folder will open.
   
   

2. Click the Firefox menu and select Exit.
3. In your profile folder, delete the file content-prefs.sqlite. It will be recreated next time you open Firefox.

If you suspect malware may be an issue and could be causing high memory usage, you can try the following software:

• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
• Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller (for more info, see this alternate TDSSKiller download page)
• AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
• Hitman Pro
• ESET Online Scanner

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

I don't know about the memory issue (with 137 tabs on 8 windows, my 64-bit v74.0.1 is using 740MB according to Task Manager); but perhaps by "LOCATION" the poster means "Where does a person find the place where you turn on/off the display of the various menus?".

Try to right-click on, say, a blank area to the right of a tab, or on any of the extension icons if visible. At any rate, at some point you will see a context menu that includes "Menu Bar" and "Bookmarks Bar".

In particular, choosing "Menu Bar" from that context menu will toggle on/off the display of the traditional "File | Edit | View | History | Bookmarks | Tools | Help" drop-down menus (especially "View") which might restore the display and control over Firefox features you are seeking.

Andrew, answer to the first question, on the homepage of duck duck go, didn't you see the picture sent? It shows the browser open to the home page, and using about 800 megs just to idle. The second question 5 gigs. The third question,beyond 120 gig solid state drive, I don't know what else you're asking for. The fourth question, Avast and Malware hunter(both used to scan before and after firefox refresh). The fifth question win 7 32 bit. As for deleting corrupt content, according to your post I'm to open profile folder, which I have done, then just hit exit? That doesn't work, I'm just looking at the desktop.................. furthermore, I'm just supposed to KNOW, where the profile folder is located, it's not on the drop down, and the help section doesn't allow me an answer to "profile page location".

You can check the Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) and about:memory pages for the memory usage.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/task-manager-tabs-or-extensions-are-slowing-firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-or-cpu-resources

Websites open? Um this browser will take off to over a gig of RAM, sitting on duck duck go's home page. 5 gigs of RAM. I don't know what you're asking for specifications of device, win 7 32 bit, the 120 gig solid state hard drive has 28.7 gigs in use. Avast, and Malware hunter. Win 7 32 bit.

Here are some screenshots of memory usage.

I am unable to see DuckDuckGo in the image you posted in the forum. All I see is a blank tab with the Windows Task Manager.

The anti-virus software you have installed can elevate Firefox's memory usage as it works in the background monitoring activity occurring in Firefox. It can also add to Firefox's workload.

When you reinstalled Firefox, where did you download it from? Please make sure you are installing the 32-bit version of Firefox. You can get it from here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release. Make sure you select Windows 32-bit before selecting Download Now

Are you able to get to the Troubleshooting Information page? After you land on the Troubleshooting Information page, look for Profile Folder, and click on Open Folder next to it. I'm attaching a screenshot.

Once you click on Open Folder, a window outside of Firefox should open. It should be a list of files and folders. Do NOT close that window. After the folder containing the files open, close Firefox. You would then locate a file called content-prefs.sqlite and delete it. Afterward, reopen Firefox.

Please also view the resources posted by cor-el.

The Windows Task Manager only shows that there are various Firefox processes are running and not what these processes are about. The about:performance and about:memory pages should give more detail.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/task-manager-tabs-or-extensions-are-slowing-firefox

Note that Adblock Plus also has been reported to have a considerable memory footprint.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
• do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

Andrew, the black field is firefox, using a black field from duck duck go. I did not reinstall firefox, I refreshed firefox. The "old firefox data" is still in the unopened folder(from the refresh). I was able to open the file, though after the exit I was looking at the desktop. The trouble here is, I get instructions that ASSUME I know all about this browser, and know all the names of all the parts, unfortunately the data isn't available via the help section of firefox or the names are constantly changing. Thank you so much for telling me afterwords not to close the file, I was eventually able to delete the contents of the file, and in this screen shot you can see it has had no effect. I see that cor-el has sent several answers, let me attempt to follow her instructions. If you still need more data Andrew, continue to pose questions.

cor-el I have found and used the task manager, here is a screen shot. Hardware acceleration sounds like a place to look, I'll try it. I am aware that add-ons slow a browser, I only use adblock, there are no other add-ons. My post from yesterday(10:47am) states that I put it in safe mode and saw no change in data usage. Is there another ad blocker that is preferable to AdBlock plus? I will be researching hardware acceleration, and will return in an hour.

If you use Adblock Plus then you can consider uBlock Origin as a replacement to see if that works better (lower memory footprint).

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/