Why does a process exist for a tab I've already closed?
I've frequently noted that even after I close tabs in FF, htop reports that a process is still running for that tab. For example, I have no tab open for this process at the moment:
[asinha@ankur-laptop]$ ps aux | egrep firefox | egrep ubuntu asinha 4409 4.8 17.5 1784284 676328 ? Sl 09:29 11:25 /usr/lib64/firefox/firefox https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Byobu?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=bottom.png
I closed the tab myself. Then, I noticed that my system was heating up and running `htop` showed this process at the top of my list with 21% CPU usage at one point. Screenshots:
http://ankursinha.fedorapeople.org/firefox-debug/firefox-already-closed-tab.png http://ankursinha.fedorapeople.org/firefox-debug/firefox-closed-tab-still-around.png
If I kill this process, firefox closes. How do I get rid of this process? Why is it even still around? Ultimately, I close firefox and re-open the application.
All Replies (9)
Did try clear recent history...?
Uhm. No. I don't want to lose my history. Does history require a firefox process to run? I wouldn't think so..
No, but you can select what data you want clear.
I know you can delete specific items from the history. I don't understand why this issue would have anything to do with history. Can you elaborate on the logic behind your suggestion please?
Thanks,
Sometimes some data is stored by Firefox for a future access when you back to a site(for example cookies), maybe your FIrefox is storing a lot of this kind of data ,maybe if you clear a bit of this data the process decrease of size
I know FF caches data. My issue isn't with the amount of memory FF is using. I'm asking if a process should exist at all for a tab that's already been closed.
I think so, i saw my task manager and i have more process than tabs opened, but with low consume of memory and CPU
EDIT: But after i run ccleaner some processes been closed
Okulungisiwe ngu Diego Victor
Are you only closing the tab or are you closing Firefox as well (Firefox > Quit)?
If you use the close X on the title bar then try to close Firefox via them menu.
Did you check for issues caused by plugins?
I'm only closing the tab. I'll check up on plugins. Thanks for the link.