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Firefox devouring 2 gis of RAM, context menu getting slow

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  • 12 have this problem
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  • Last reply by StaxOnRax

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Ive tried everything in firefox so far but its just no working for me

i disabled addons manually to see whats gobbling up so much ram but nothing, i upgraded, downgraded all the plugins and nothing either (the new flash plugin was giving me issues so now im on an older one btw, was still having issues with recent flash version so thats not it) i added addons that supposedly reduce ram usage but nothing

i enabled and disabled hardware acceleration but nothing either

i cleared the cache and everything that firefox can clear except the browsing history but nada

i used speedfox to try and possibly fix this annoyance but nothing at all

i updated, downgraded, and basically did everything possible with my computer's drivers but nothing either

is firefox just meant to be like this and to behave like an app that never releases its RAM afters its used? in task manager its showing me anywhere between 1.2GB or RAM being used or over 2GB's!! this isnt normal especially since i have only 4 light tabs open, all this and to add to it the context menu loading when i right click is slow as molasses

please, please, can someone just help me here? i added a log thingy that could possibly help, idk whats even going on here anymore from this, one day firefox was great and using no more than 1 gb in total with over 100 tabs open but now with just 4 after firefox has been open for a long time its devouring a quarter of my total RAM, for a browser thats a bit insane, especially since in the days i used to use Opera itd use no more than 800MB at worst

Ive tried everything in firefox so far but its just no working for me i disabled addons manually to see whats gobbling up so much ram but nothing, i upgraded, downgraded all the plugins and nothing either (the new flash plugin was giving me issues so now im on an older one btw, was still having issues with recent flash version so thats not it) i added addons that supposedly reduce ram usage but nothing i enabled and disabled hardware acceleration but nothing either i cleared the cache and everything that firefox can clear except the browsing history but nada i used speedfox to try and possibly fix this annoyance but nothing at all i updated, downgraded, and basically did everything possible with my computer's drivers but nothing either is firefox just meant to be like this and to behave like an app that never releases its RAM afters its used? in task manager its showing me anywhere between 1.2GB or RAM being used or over 2GB's!! this isnt normal especially since i have only 4 light tabs open, all this and to add to it the context menu loading when i right click is slow as molasses please, please, can someone just help me here? i added a log thingy that could possibly help, idk whats even going on here anymore from this, one day firefox was great and using no more than 1 gb in total with over 100 tabs open but now with just 4 after firefox has been open for a long time its devouring a quarter of my total RAM, for a browser thats a bit insane, especially since in the days i used to use Opera itd use no more than 800MB at worst

Chosen solution

Did you try a new Profile with fewer extensions?

I wouldn't expect a Profile to "go sour" in 4 months, but with that many extensions installed (activated or deactivated) and how many more that were tried, found unsuitable, and then uninstalled, who can figure out what went wrong and why?
Extensions don't uninstall cleanly, most or all the preferences created are left behind after the extension is uninstalled. That can or will "clog up" the prefs.js file and may affect other extensions. With the problems that I personally have had in the past, I backup the Profile before installing an extension that I haven't used before or want to try out. If that "new" extension doesn't meet my needs or causes problems with existing extensions, I don't waste my time uninstalling that "new" extension, and then find that maybe I "got more fixin to do"; I just delete that Profile I just broke and slide the backup of that Profile in place!


As far as the overall number of extensions, I use multiple Profiles which all have my "basic 28 extensions" and then install the appropriate extensions for what I use each of those Profile for on the internet.
1. Banking - security type extensions AND I set automatic clearing of Firefox data upon closing the browser (35 extensions total) = launched by a keyboard command created using WinKey, so that no one else using my PC will even know that Profile is on this PC
2. "default" Profile - used for links calling for the default browser - just the basic 28 extensions
3. General surfing - total of 55 extensions 4. Support - used on support forum and discussion websites - total of 49 extensions
5. Web Development - used for viewing websites from the perspective of trying to figure out why a website "doesn't work correctly in Firefox, but does in Chrome / IE / Safari - total of 45 extensions


See my next posting for more "tips", I'll probably max out this "answer" as far as allowed characters.

Ed


Edit, I have marked this as the thread solution. The actual solution by the OP is in a follow on thread /questions/979200. Apparently just disabling two of the very many addons resolved the issue. ~J99

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Hi John99, i guess this thread has gotten too long as is... ive made the new thread as told here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/979200 ive made it as detailed as possible too and addressed several of the things you've asked in it too as not to continue filling this one.

Heres me hoping theres a fix soon if theres paid mozilla members on it :(

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