Firefox Again!!!!!

[KingBubba]

Firefox did an update a short while back. For days, the browser and the computer in general had been dragging ass. I just went to task manager and found that Firefox had 7 processes running and when I added up the total memory being used by Firefox alone, it was over 2 gb. This is effing ridiculous. Firefox is nice and all, but 2 gb is way overkill.

There is a way to limit the process numbers by going to about:config, which I have been doing, but everytime there is an update they change the setting back; so every update requires a visit to config. This is pissing me off. My Thinkpad has a ceiling of 8gb of memory which is filled up to the limit.

After setting it back to 1 process, I have been watching and Firefox has not exceeded .5 gb. This whole thing has me befuddled. Any comments or feelings out there?

 

[grey]

Firefox on windows just plain sucks when it comes to memory management. Ubuntu Linux and Firefox has been a top notch, dedicated browsing setup here for over a year.

Try this:
Install a free version of vmware workstation or oracle virtualbox.
Install ubuntu as a virtual machine.
Install firefox and load up all the tabs of your daily workload.

Alternately, If you don't use any special software that requires windows, you can be done with all this windows b.s. Back up your information, format your drive, and do a clean install of Ubuntu.

This is a snapshot of vmware workstation memory usage while hosting a Ubuntu virtual machine. Firefox is running in Ubuntu with 100 tabs open for several days.

 

[roger2]

I noticed the same thing about new Firefox on my W7 machine. Used to have only 2 processes, now there are many more (haven't counted them).

Before, FF would get slow and buggy at least once a day and I would have to kill off the 2 processes in Task Manager so that I could restore my tabs when I started it back up. I keep a lot of tabs open, maybe 40 or more. New Firefox seems to be able to handle the large number of tabs better. I have not checked into total memory usage, but do not doubt that it is horrendously hoggish (no offense intended to notable AK members).

 

[usedto]

Yep, it's been weird all day for me - worse than usual, which is pretty bad.

 

[Chris Brown]

The ability to use more processes is a new development and came with Firefox Quantum, which began with version 57. There are pros and cons that come with using more processes. The best thing is that it allows Firefox to make use of more cores of your processor. It's frustrating when you have a processor with 4 or more cores but firefox is only using 1 or 2 because that is all the processes it has. I'm personally running a 6-core processor with 12 threads; the more processes Firefox has, the better. The biggest downside of using many processes is that some of the memory usage has to be duplicated for every single process, so the more processes that are being used, the less efficient the memory usage becomes. As new computers come with processors that have more and more cores, and more and more ram, this shift made increasingly more sense. There is no downside to using more ram unless you run out. All in all 2GB of ram is almost nothing in 2018.

Firefox maintains multiple versions, one of which is called Firefox ESR. ESR stands for "extended support release". Basically, they take an older version of firefox (52) and continue to maintain it with the latest security fixes, and that version is used in cases when the latest version doesn't make sense. For example, the latest version of Firefox no longer supports Windows XP, but Firefox ESR still does. Firefox ESR is also a great version for those who prefer the way Firefox was setup prior to Firefox Quantum.

Firefox ESR

 

[1tumbleweed]

After Quantum came out, my computer slowed to a crawl. In desperation, I tried Opera, which I'm pretty happy with. Strange thing is that TM shows Opera is running a dozen processes (!) and yet all is well. Buh-bye, Firefox.

 

[Chris Brown]

After Quantum came out, my computer slowed to a crawl.

Just curious, how old is your computer? Do you know what processor you have and how much ram?

 

[Hyfi]

Slightly related but maybe not. I have an issue with Firefox and Yahoo Mail that I cannot resolve. I have tried all the suggestions found googling with no luck.

It does not matter how many or few tabs are open, but if you leave the Yahoo Mail page open, within about 20 minutes the Hard Drive is thrashing. Nothing even shows up in Task Manager and at the point of thrashing, you cannot get Perfmon running because the computer is just locked up.

Once I am able to close FF, after 5 minutes the thrashing stops and all is good again until you open and leave Yahoo open. I have my wife, who uses the Yahoo, trained to just look at the inbox, write quick emails, and close the tab until she checks again. That is the only workaround I have been able to come up with.

Any ideas or remedies?

 

[roger2]

@Hyfi I use Firefox with Yahoo Classic version (bare bones) on a W7 machine and have had no such issues. Have never used the standard Yahoo with all of the most recent bells and whistles.

 

[Hyfi]

@Hyfi I use Firefox with Yahoo Classic version (bare bones) on a W7 machine and have had no such issues. Have never used the standard Yahoo with all of the most recent bells and whistles.

Nothing is installed, it is just the Yahoo Mail webpage

 

[KingBubba]

I'm using Win 7 with a Core Duo P8600 2,40. I am at 8gb of memory. At this point in life, I am not ready for Linux. I have others suggest it but, for me, it is a bit too much to handle. I don't even want to go to Win 10. Admittedly I am a dinosaur.

 

[1tumbleweed]

Just curious, how old is your computer? Do you know what processor you have and how much ram?

8 years old, Win7, 3GB, AMD Athlon II. Yes, another dinosaur.

 

[roger2]

Nothing is installed, it is just the Yahoo Mail webpage

I have nothing installed from Yahoo. There two versions of Yahoo, perhaps for reasons similar to those described in post #5 as regards FireFox's two versions. Not certain the reason, but the other version of Yahoo is much simpler which, I would assume, would make it less likely to cause issues.

The simpler version is called Classic. You have to dig around in settings to find it. It has all the features that I need and then some. The switch is easy and you don't lose any messages or folders. You might consider trying it just to see whether it affects the issue you are having.

If classic yahoo doesn't resolve your issue, or you don't like it, switching back to current version of Yahoo is super easy. Again, with nothing lost.

 

[grey]

Core Duo P8600 2,40

That would likely rule out vmware workstation player for you. It can be daunting to set this up as well. The machine with the lowest resources I'm running it on is an i3, 8gb laptop.

Firefox ESR is also a great version for those who prefer the way Firefox was setup prior to Firefox Quantum.

Firefox ESR

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Stillhouse]

I started using Brave Browser on my tablet and liked it so much I installed it on my desktop as well. Had been using Opera for ages. Quantum didn't impress me much.

 

[Hyfi]

I have nothing installed from Yahoo. There two versions of Yahoo, perhaps for reasons similar to those described in post #5 as regards FireFox's two versions. Not certain the reason, but the other version of Yahoo is much simpler which, I would assume, would make it less likely to cause issues.

The simpler version is called Classic. You have to dig around in settings to find it. It has all the features that I need and then some. The switch is easy and you don't lose any messages or folders. You might consider trying it just to see whether it affects the issue you are having.

If classic yahoo doesn't resolve your issue, or you don't like it, switching back to current version of Yahoo is super easy. Again, with nothing lost.

Thanks for that suggestion. I just switched it and now waiting to see what happens.

 

[Hyfi]

Thanks for that suggestion. I just switched it and now waiting to see what happens.

That was it! Problem solved. No more thrashing. Thanks for the great tip!

 

[E.Man]

Using a budget desktop I bought new 5 years ago. No idea of the processor but I know I tried to get value with 8gig ram and have upped the psu and vid card.
Running Win 10 after the online up from 7.
Firefox was dragging badly but I've been very happy since Quantum came out.

 

[Tim64]

I dumped Firefox and I am currently using Opera I like the speed dial icons at the home page. I have been using it for 6 months and really like it. It's very intuitive on setting it up just the way you want it and comes with a ad blocker that is simple to unblock for sites like AK.