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Firefox path not shown in task manager + excessive memory leaking = malicious?

  • 6 பதிலளிப்புகள்
  • 2 இந்த பிரச்னைகள் உள்ளது
  • 28 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

A paranoid thought, but I'm looking for some feedback.

I'm aware Firefox is a memory hog and there's some kind of memory leak situation, but it can easily get up to 2.5 G of the "private working set" memory.

I recently noticed Firefox doesn't have a value for its "Image Path Name" in the windows task manager. Coupled with the high memory use, does this look at all suspicious?

The picture attached is a few minutes after Firefox was loaded. I have a session with about 60-70 tabs restored (the tabs themselves do not have the web pages loaded, its just visible in my tab bar with the name oft he site so when I click it, it will load the actual page).

The picture shows the memory at around 500mb - Sure, I have a lot of tabs, but is there really that much memory consumed by those tabs when they are functionally just bookmarks? This was a minute or two after Firefox was restarted.

The part that makes me feel paranoid is the path not showing up in task manager. Makes me think of some kind of trojan-horse type virus running off the process Firefox is identified on (if that makes sense?).

Somehow, with 18gb memory, Firefox can bog my system down after my computer's been running for a day. Am I expecting too much thinking it should stay "quick as a whip" for at least a few days?

Is any of this unusual or something I should look into closer?

A paranoid thought, but I'm looking for some feedback. I'm aware Firefox is a memory hog and there's some kind of memory leak situation, but it can easily get up to 2.5 G of the "private working set" memory. I recently noticed Firefox doesn't have a value for its "Image Path Name" in the windows task manager. Coupled with the high memory use, does this look at all suspicious? The picture attached is a few minutes after Firefox was loaded. I have a session with about 60-70 tabs restored (the tabs themselves do not have the web pages loaded, its just visible in my tab bar with the name oft he site so when I click it, it will load the actual page). The picture shows the memory at around 500mb - Sure, I have a lot of tabs, but is there really that much memory consumed by those tabs when they are functionally just bookmarks? This was a minute or two after Firefox was restarted. The part that makes me feel paranoid is the path not showing up in task manager. Makes me think of some kind of trojan-horse type virus running off the process Firefox is identified on (if that makes sense?). Somehow, with 18gb memory, Firefox can bog my system down after my computer's been running for a day. Am I expecting too much thinking it should stay "quick as a whip" for at least a few days? Is any of this unusual or something I should look into closer?
Attached screenshots

tguillea மூலமாக திருத்தப்பட்டது

All Replies (6)

Separate Issue: Update your Flash Player Note: Windows users should download the active_x for Internet Explorer. and the plugin for Plugin-based browsers (like Firefox).

Note: Windows 8 and Windows 10 have built-in flash players and Adobe will cause a conflict. Install the plugin only. Not the active_x.

Flash Player Version: 23.0.0.207 Flash Player (Linux) Version 11.2. 202.643

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ Direct link scans current system and browser Note: Other software is offered in the download.

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ Step 1: Select Operating System Step 2: Select A Version (Firefox, Win IE . . . .) Note: Other software is offered in the download.


See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

Starting in safe mode will reduce the memory used but windows task manager still does not show the path the executable for the process that is firefox.exe.

I mean, I know where the file is located in my program files directory, but the fact that task manager doesn't tell me the file name makes me weary the original executable either isn't being run or altered in a malicious way.

I realize I'm being a little paranoid here, I'm just curious if my paranoia is at all justifiable.

tguillea மூலமாக திருத்தப்பட்டது

That's strange to say the least. I have never displayed that Image Path column in Win7 before, but just tried it. Four different Firefox program files locations, one of them being Portable Firefox which has no Registry keys, and every one appeared in Image Path Name with the correct path.

As far as Firefox being a "memory hog", using 2.5 GB when you have 18 GB isn't that much - not quite 15%. The more you have, the more Firefox will use; but the more you have the smaller percentage of the total Firefox will use.

Exactly - I know at an absolute minimum I saw the actual image path in task manager about a month ago when I was messing around with Tor. The process is also named firefox.exe so when Firefox and Tor are both running, the only way to distinguish which is which is by looking at the image path.

"System idle process" is the only other process without an "image path name"... but that's understandable.

I was going to refresh or do a clean install but before I did (and because I'm the curious type) I wanted to see if there's an explanation.