This started two days ago. I did not recognize what was happening, but the computer slowed to a point of complete unresponsiveness. I had to hold the power button in for … (read more)
This started two days ago. I did not recognize what was happening, but the computer slowed to a point of complete unresponsiveness. I had to hold the power button in for a hard shutdown. Next day, I was watching a YouTube video, the video stopped playing, and the computer slowed to a snail's pace. Task Manager revealed something was using up ALL system memory. A look at running processes showed that the culprit was Firefox.
Firefox would start normally, then gobble up all system memory over a few minutes, rendering the computer almost inoperable.
Tried garbage collection, CC, and minimize memory usage under about:memory. This would temporarily reduce overhead, but then it would climb back up next time I started Firefox.
The Ant Video Downloader underwent a redesign days ago; this memory issue started exactly two days ago, on Friday evening, the 7th of January, 2022.
I disabled the add-on. At this moment, Firefox memory use is 642,716 KB of an available 12 GB. There seems to be one main process using the largest share of memory (200-300,000 KB) with 12 other firefox.exe processes running concurrently, all using smaller amounts of system memory. Firefox memory use no longer climbs until all system memory is consumed.
Is there any way to rein in memory use by Firefox add-ons short of disabling them? Are other users reporting this issue? How are add-ons vetted prior to use with the browser? There are few of these video downloaders available. Most are merely copies of a single piece of non-functioning software—but listed under different names, supported by what are clearly fake reviews. Is anyone verifying the integrity of these add-ons in addition to their developers?
In this case, the developer is based in Hong Kong.
Thank you to the community for any assistance offered in this case.