[aka Brett]

My FF has become a hog /at times using close to a gig of ram,on a 2 gig machine
I have used it with the add ons disabled and the problem is also there {perhaps not as bad though}.
I have been tolerating this issue for quite some time in the hopes than one of the many versions that is constantly being released would fix it,.. I am currently using 14.0.1.

Any tricks or fixes for this that anyone is aware of?

And yes I do have alot of tabs open...been doing that for years, but excessive memory usage was not an issue in the past.

[flavallee]

If you have several websites open at one time, they're going to use a sizeable amount of RAM.

Websites are getting more system-hungry because of all the graphics and multimedia content they contain.

RAM is meant to be used and not sit idle.

--------------------------------------------------------

[aka Brett]

That makes sense about the websites being more complex in the past,,,but still ff has something going on that it didnt in the past.
Example I just merged my windows so I could choose save and quite to reopen the current session without losing any tabs.
Upon reopening I have 119,260 k for the private memory set with a commit being 148,100/ prior to save and quite my commit was 756,480 and the private memory was a little less 712,000 or so.....so with the exact same content I was using 5 times more ram

With ff using so much ram it starts to slow rather than run snappier as well as windows suffering itself as preloaded ram has to dump and then be taken by FF resulting in the HD having to be hit more often.

I am not alone with the issue with FF slowing gobbling ram ...I am not sure which version it began on,but there does seem to be many people noticing it as well on the internet.

[aka Brett]

I tried the tweak at the link below...no joy

http://www.kabatology.com/08/29/conf...sume-less-ram/

Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by aka Brett

I tried the tweak at the link below...no joy

http://www.kabatology.com/08/29/conf...sume-less-ram/

Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?

Lets not be bashful here

[Phantom010]

Maybe the following can help?

1. Type about:config in the Firefox address bar.
2. Search for browser.sessionhistory.max_entries.
3. Double-click on the value 50, change it to something lower, 5 should be good.

[aka Brett]

Thank you very much,
I have hours of time tied up on this...a little here and a little there
I went to research your tweak so I could understand it...while doing so I ran across this below which has other tweaks ...I would have never found this without your post..I owe you big time

http://www.davidtan.org/tips-reduce-...y-cache-usage/


Do you understand tip number 3 on that page is it in reference to disk cache or memory {ram cache}
At one point it appears to be referencing what would be "temp internet files" on disk..but later it appears as if it actually goes to ram.

Also when I go to tip 5 and paste in the address I come up with this

Number of entries: 2129
Maximum storage size: 24576 KiB
Storage in use: 5378 KiB
Inactive storage: 5378 KiB


The entries are essentially just a long list of addresses

I am attaching a screen grab of FF current memory usage as shown in task manager in case it can be of use.
Note usage is often higher than current usage ...which pounds my 2 gig of ram laptop pretty hard which uses shared video.

[DoubleHelix]

Sounds normal to me. I routinely see 500MB to 1GB of RAM usage by Firefox on my computer. RAM is meant to be used. Firefox is more of a hog, but that's the just the way it is. The current version is 15, by the way. You should keep your browser up to date.

If you don't like Firefox, switch to Chrome.

[Phantom010]

Originally Posted by aka Brett

Do you understand tip number 3 on that page is it in reference to disk cache or memory {ram cache}
At one point it appears to be referencing what would be "temp internet files" on disk..but later it appears as if it actually goes to ram.

Tip number 3 is referring to both browser.cache.memory.capacity and browser.cache.disk.capacity. I think it addresses both type of cache. However, I'm not familiar enough with Firefox to confirm this.

That's a lot of memory usage indeed. Is that even after applying the above tweaks?

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by DoubleHelix

Sounds normal to me. I routinely see 500MB to 1GB of RAM usage by Firefox on my computer. RAM is meant to be used. Firefox is more of a hog, but that's the just the way it is. The current version is 15, by the way. You should keep your browser up to date.

If you don't like Firefox, switch to Chrome.

Its a hog for sure... I have chrome on the others machines but for my main PC I use FF essentially due to the Tabs mix plus,flash block and ad block plus add ons
I am running version 15.01 now 14 was out when I created the thread.

Originally Posted by Phantom010

Tip number 3 is referring to both browser.cache.memory.capacity and browser.cache.disk.capacity. I think it addresses both type of cache. However, I'm not familiar enough with Firefox to confirm this.

That's a lot of memory usage indeed. Is that even after applying the above tweaks?

I havent applied any tweaks yet..I am going to wait until I end a session then apply the tweaks and restart FF...I have alot of work up in FF at the moment been going about 3 to 4 days.
I will try Tip 3 in the link and your tip at the same time ...FF sort of acts like it just consumes more ram sort of based on how much you use it IMO...in other words If had been using 10 tabs of various pages for a while and my ram usage went up...After closing 9 tabs I wont gain that much back...its as if it wants to remember for me{memory cache} to speed it up?..but since I use it heavily with long sessions at a time it actually gets out of control..there are at times it goes to a gig of ram being used.

When I first open FF it works great...even if I open several tabs....but as times goes on and more and pages have been viewed the ram usage goes up.

I think it is a feature to speed up the experience for the average user...but long sessions make the usage go very high.

From the research I have found it seems the more ram a pc has the more FF will take....so it should be fixable by tweaking it to what a lower speced machine would use
Your tip should help alot as "back pages" are stored in ram...if a person is cruising a site for a long time he could build many back pages....while 5 should be plenty as per your tweak.

Will apply the tweaks in a day or two after i close this session or am forced to restart ff whichever occurs first

[aka Brett]

I applied 1 and 3 usage is about a quarter gig at the moment..will run it for a couple days and see what happens.

Something else to note FF also has "runaway" history
If you go to your history you will see a list of all your history..it doesnt stop there however..if you start typing in something random it will start pulling up very old history {in my case over two years old}..so in effect old history is kept stored anyway.
In my case this will mean thousands of entries 700 days times 10 pages would be 7000 ...so my estimate for me is about 30,000 entries.
I will do some more research on that to see what I can come up with.

[DoubleHelix]

Are you actually experiencing a problem? Firefox, or any program, will use as much memory as is available. That's the point. Doing otherwise is like having a driver's license and never driving further than the end of the driveway. What's the point? Storing history is a convenience. Why type the same address over and over and over and over?

You're looking for problems that don't exist. Firefox uses memory. Good. History is stored. Ok. What is it you want to change?

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by DoubleHelix

Are you actually experiencing a problem? Firefox, or any program, will use as much memory as is available. That's the point. Doing otherwise is like having a driver's license and never driving further than the end of the driveway. What's the point? Storing history is a convenience. Why type the same address over and over and over and over?

You're looking for problems that don't exist. Firefox uses memory. Good. History is stored. Ok. What is it you want to change?

Are you actually experiencing a problem?

Yes is slows down my machine in general and FF itself will start becoming slow and stops responding for a few seconds at a time.

Firefox, or any program, will use as much memory as is available

Not always a good thing...Its a benefit for the OS to use all available memory but not an application to use it all that doesnt need it.

Storing history is a convenience

To a point its stored in a data base..the larger a data base becomes the slower it goes.

You're looking for problems that don't exist. Firefox uses memory. Good. History is stored. Ok. What is it you want to change?

It is a problem, I am not alone it is a known problem...I had reached 1.3 gigs earlier being used by FF. I essentially was forced to restart it as it was becoming slow..and graying out the active widow for several seconds at a time...a crash was coming shortly.

Firefox uses memory. Good

Not when usage becomes so high it causes problems.

What is it you want to change?

Whatever is needed to have FF behave as other browsers

[DoubleHelix]

Originally Posted by aka Brett

Yes is slows down my machine in general and FF itself will start becoming slow and stops responding for a few seconds at a time.

Slows what down? Your use of Notepad? iTunes? Windows Media Player? Word? What? What slows down? Firefox stops responding? Yes, that happens. Your computer is weak on specs. Sometimes it stalls while loading content. Unless this happens consistently at regular intervals, it's not a problem.

Originally Posted by aka Brett

Not always a good thing...Its a benefit for the OS to use all available memory but not an application to use it all that doesnt need it.

Wrong. If you only want to run an operating system, go for it. If you want to run programs, they actually have to use memory. They'll use as much as possible to provide the best user experience.

Originally Posted by aka Brett

To a point its stored in a data base..the larger a data base becomes the slower it goes.

Totally not true. I don't know what "data base" (do you mean database?) you're talking about. The larger what gets? The slower what goes? I think this is a swag comment.

Originally Posted by aka Brett

It is a problem, I am not alone it is a known problem...I had reached 1.3 gigs earlier being used by FF. I essentially was forced to restart it as it was becoming slow..and graying out the active widow for several seconds at a time...a crash was coming shortly.

What addons are loaded?
How many tabs open?
What version of FF?
What version of Windows?
RAM? CPU?
What other programs open / running? EVERYTHING?
Closing and reopening Firefox fixed everything?
This happens all the time?
While you're browsing one single site in one tab?

Originally Posted by aka Brett

Whatever is needed to have FF behave as other browsers

Mozilla would have to write exactly the same code as Microsoft and the exactly same code as Google. That would mean every browser would be totally identical. Then you could pick one or pick 3. They'd all behave exactly the same in every condition.

Not going to happen.

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by DoubleHelix

Slows what down? Your use of Notepad? iTunes? Windows Media Player? Word? What? What slows down? Firefox stops responding? Yes, that happens. Your computer is weak on specs. Sometimes it stalls while loading content. Unless this happens consistently at regular intervals, it's not a problem.


Wrong. If you only want to run an operating system, go for it. If you want to run programs, they actually have to use memory. They'll use as much as possible to provide the best user experience.


Totally not true. I don't know what "data base" (do you mean database?) you're talking about. The larger what gets? The slower what goes? I think this is a swag comment.


What addons are loaded?
How many tabs open?
What version of FF?
What version of Windows?
RAM? CPU?
What other programs open / running? EVERYTHING?
Closing and reopening Firefox fixed everything?
This happens all the time?
While you're browsing one single site in one tab?


Mozilla would have to write exactly the same code as Microsoft and the exactly same code as Google. That would mean every browser would be totally identical. Then you could pick one or pick 3. They'd all behave exactly the same in every condition.

Not going to happen.

Slows what down? Your use of Notepad? iTunes? Windows Media Player? Word? What? What slows down? Firefox stops responding? Yes, that happens. Your computer is weak on specs. Sometimes it stalls while loading content. Unless this happens consistently at regular intervals, it's not a problem.

As stated prior below
Me

Yes is slows down my machine in general and FF itself will start becoming slow and stops responding for a few seconds at a time.

Wrong. If you only want to run an operating system, go for it. If you want to run programs, they actually have to use memory. They'll use as much as possible to provide the best user experience.

We know they have to use memory 1 gig plus ram on a 2 gig is not providing the best experience thus why I created this thread.
You

Totally not true. I don't know what "data base" (do you mean database?) you're talking about. The larger what gets? The slower what goes? I think this is a swag comment.

Very true
SQlite database
From source

The switch to storing data in SQLite databases has caused a problem for Firefox users who use the web browser heavily. The databases grow over time and reduce the startup time and responsiveness of the web browser due to fragmentation. This can be largely attributed to the fact that Firefox will not optimize the databases

http://www.ghacks.net/tag/firefox-database/

What addons are loaded?

Stated prior
Me

I have used it with the add ons disabled and the problem is also there {perhaps not as bad though}

How many tabs open?

Stated prior
Me

And yes I do have alot of tabs open...been doing that for years, but excessive memory usage was not an issue in the past.

you

What version of Windows?

7

RAM?

Givin in prior post

on a 2 gig machine

CPU?

It doesnt matter which cpu I have that doesnt effect ram usage..but its a dual core 1.8 pentium

What other programs open / running? EVERYTHING?

No more than usual
Notepad,yahoo FF

This happens all the time?

After ff has been running several hours

While you're browsing one single site in one tab?

Stated prior

After closing 9 tabs I wont gain that much back.

Closing and reopening Firefox fixed everything?

It does for a few hours as mentioned

Mozilla would have to write exactly the same code as Microsoft and the exactly same code as Google. That would mean every browser would be totally identical. Then you could pick one or pick 3. They'd all behave exactly the same in every condition.

The point of behave as used/ is in regard to memory management which FF has been know to have issue with wth recent versions