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Memory use, stability for recent FF versions (41)

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by tn

tn
tn
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XPsp3 Prior to FF ver 30 or so, I have had no problem using 400 tabs. In recent versions 39, 40, 41 I have experienced several slowdowns, lockups and crashes (session manager is a life saver). I had no reason to look at memory use before, but I see now that 1.5GB is used. Since my system has only 4GB total it seems that lack of memory may be the main issue.

Cache and history clearing works temporarily. The freememory add-on only clears about 3%. Paring down the tabs to about 200 made very little difference. A bigger impact resulted by changing session history from 50 to 20, but I am still looking at 800MB.

If I load a minimum session (one window, one tab) and clear cache and history, the memory usage is still 500MB. This cannot be normal. I have the same set of add-ons I have always used: stylish, noscript, session manager, flash, adobe, misc players.

Any ideas?

XPsp3 Prior to FF ver 30 or so, I have had no problem using 400 tabs. In recent versions 39, 40, 41 I have experienced several slowdowns, lockups and crashes (session manager is a life saver). I had no reason to look at memory use before, but I see now that 1.5GB is used. Since my system has only 4GB total it seems that lack of memory may be the main issue. Cache and history clearing works temporarily. The freememory add-on only clears about 3%. Paring down the tabs to about 200 made very little difference. A bigger impact resulted by changing session history from 50 to 20, but I am still looking at 800MB. If I load a minimum session (one window, one tab) and clear cache and history, the memory usage is still 500MB. This cannot be normal. I have the same set of add-ons I have always used: stylish, noscript, session manager, flash, adobe, misc players. Any ideas?

All Replies (4)

user633449
user633449
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Hello,

The Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information.

Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information.

To Refresh Firefox:

  1. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
    • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click help Help-29 and select Troubleshooting Information. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
    • If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
  2. At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
  3. Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
  4. Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.

Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

tn
tn Question owner
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I'll give it a shot, but it isn't a real solution. I tried the refresh a few weeks ago, and it did temporarily clear up some problems such as FF health report not working. All those same issues are back now. Health report does not work, and memory use has crept up over 1GB again. I have an almost identical setup on another PC and it uses around 300MB.

It would be great to get some insight into the issue such as isolating it to particular memory intensive web pages. It seems like FF is doing more than just caching the tabs, since the memory use creeps up even when I am staying on the same page. Also the caching does not seem to be that useful since half the time I visit an existing tab, the page is reloaded anyway. The constantly changing memory use suggests that even inactive tabs are being actively cached, perhaps due to new ad content. If this is so, I think there is a real need to restrict that behavior.

Modified by tn

alan_r
alan_r
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I can't imagine how anyone can use much more than 10 tabs let alone 400. I think this is just asking for trouble. Why don't you save bunches of related tabs in folders on your Bookmarks Toolbar?

tn
tn Question owner
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Its all about how you want to use your PC. Some are happy with one app, one browser window, and a few tabs. Others need more. Before the session manager add-in was available having more than one window with a few tabs was risky, since FF did not reliably recover sessions after a crash.

Now I use tabs as fast bookmarks. I still have bookmarks, but its too slow to fumble through them for ongoing research. Tabs allow you to have common surf topics grouped by window, and at your fingertips. Window1 - finance, window2 - shopping, window3,4,5 - work related research, etc.

A really nifty feature would be a way to convert an entire window of tabs into a bookmark folder in one go, and back again. If FF is going to have memory problems with even one window of tabs, this is really needed. Session manager can archive groups of tabs, but it needs improvement.