How to custom select minimum amount of addons and plugins to load with Firefox browser?
Hello, I am using latest Firefox 24.0 along with Window xp service pack 3, with approx 1 1/2 Gb memory along with Firemin Plugin to keep Firefox Memory up. I will hopefully be upgrading my PC by early next year.
However even when using Firemin along with Firefox, many times regular Firefox is bloated, and still uses too much memory, so, many times I have to open Firefox in Safe Mode, just to be lighter.
Is there any way to open Full Version of Firefox, in a Custom select mode, where I can have set just the minimum Addons and plugins actually needed at the time, without having to go thru and disable the ones do not need? I wish I could use Firefox in safe mode all the time, because is so much lighter, but sometimes I just need the full feature version. Please advise, and thanks for your help!
All Replies (8)
You can use multiple profiles and the -no-remote command line instance
to load different (clean vs addon bloated) profiles.
SEE
AND
Hello,
The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information.
Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.
To Reset Firefox do the following:
- Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
- Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
- Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
- Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.
Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.
Firefox has introduced some changes to plugins so you can have them not load on a page until you activate them. This will save memory on pages that use a lot of plugins.
But I'm not sure whether the problem is what the pages are doing, or what the add-ons (particularly extensions) are doing regardless of the page. Do you perceive particular add-ons as particularly heavy users of memory?
As for having pre-specified add-on configurations, you can create separate profiles and import your bookmarks into each of them, but how would you know which one to use when? Hmmm...
See also:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multiple_profiles_-_Firefox
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Shortcut_to_a_specific_profile
You can use the -no-remote command line switch to open another Firefox instance with its own profile and run multiple Firefox instances simultaneously.
Lots of good stuff guys, all the info is appreciated. Firefox reset option, would be a very last resort if that, would hate lose all my preferences etc.
Regarding the custom Profile creation, this sounds like the most viable, so i could create a super light profile to log under anytime, containing just the bare minimum addons, plugins and system preferences that I need just for the time being?? thanks!!!
Ok, was able to successfully set up new profile, that is lighter in memory use etc, and as mentioned when starting up Firefox, it asks me which profile would like to use, which is a great option!
My only thing is in the New Lighter FF profile, I no longer have any of my custom bookmarks, and the few Addons that I need to use regularly. Is there any way to easily transfer my bookmarks from old profile? Or also transfer the custom minimum desired addons/plugins that I need in new profile? Or must I redownload or import these manually from scratch again?
Many Thanks!!!
Hi coolvibe, you can restore a bookmark backup from a different profile. When you get to the step in the instructions where you see "Choose File..." you will need to find the profile that has your latest personal data. To quickly drill down to the Firefox Profiles folder, you can paste the following into the file name space in the dialog and press Enter:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
Then you can click into your original profile, then bookmarkbackups folder, and look for your latest backup to restore.
Article: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer
Restoring bookmarks from your original Profile works, but once you start saving new bookmarks in either Profile your bookmarks collection won't be identical any longer. You might want to consider using Sync.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-up-firefox-sync
I use Firefox Sync myself to keep bookmarks in multiple Profiles on the same PC synchronized.
As far as using the Profile Manager dialog to launch a Profile, that works fine, but you can't use it if you want to run two or more Profiles at the same time. I would suggest using desktop shortcuts to launch each of your Profiles, instead. That will give you the option to use the -no-remote command for launching your 2nd Profile (the non 'default' Profile) when the default Profile is already running.
Read the support articles that cor-el linked for more information.