This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Task MGR Shows 6 or more Firefox processes Running

haiweepp
haiweepp
more options

Ever since the "upgrade", Firefox slows to a crawl after being open a few minutes. When I check Task Manager I find anywhere up to 10 FF processes running at the same time (1-2 tabs open) and the total memory being used can be up to 2 GB. If I close any of the processes then all of them close at the same time. Even as I write this the program will freeze the page for 15-30 seconds or more then suddenly release. I have to use Flash because many of the pages I need to visit daily still uses it and refuse to find any other way to program. I'd really like FF to work. I'd even be okay with the old problems but I might have to move to Chrome if FF stays this unstable.

Ever since the "upgrade", Firefox slows to a crawl after being open a few minutes. When I check Task Manager I find anywhere up to 10 FF processes running at the same time (1-2 tabs open) and the total memory being used can be up to 2 GB. If I close any of the processes then all of them close at the same time. Even as I write this the program will freeze the page for 15-30 seconds or more then suddenly release. I have to use Flash because many of the pages I need to visit daily still uses it and refuse to find any other way to program. I'd really like FF to work. I'd even be okay with the old problems but I might have to move to Chrome if FF stays this unstable.

Chosen solution

Also, please see the reply from philipp in this thread regarding accessibility services: Firefox 57 hangs up.

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (6)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

That seems like a lot of processes; I don't really expect to see more than 4 or 5. You can adjust the number of content processes on the Options page to see whether that improves responsiveness. This article has the details: Firefox's performance settings. Does that make any difference?

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Also, please see the reply from philipp in this thread regarding accessibility services: Firefox 57 hangs up.

haiweepp
haiweepp Question owner
more options

i reduced the processes to 4. I was able to use the browser for a while but then froze again. I found four copies (with 1 tab open), one was 2.6 GB, one was 1.8 GB and the other 2 were right at 500 MB. I tried the thread you recommended and changed that setting so we'll see how that goes.

haiweepp
haiweepp Question owner
more options

The last solution seems to have worked. I still have too many FF processes going on (dropped to 4 but still see 5 or 6). Nevertheless, it hasn't frozen for the past few days so it seems to be working. Thank you for your time and happy holidays.

ARREB
ARREB
more options

There option to limit one process does not work with the new Firefox Quantum so you will have to use and older version of Firefox and then it may actually work.

This does not work in the newest version of Firefox and will NOT run only one process. I am a 35 year computer tech with a LOT of experience. Firefox will need to patch the new Firefox Quantum to allow this option to work.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

ARREB said

There option to limit one process does not work with the new Firefox Quantum so you will have to use and older version of Firefox and then it may actually work.

The setting on the Options/Preferences page is for one to seven content process. There also will be a process for the UI.

My about:config lists these preferences and I currently have 6 total firefox.exe processes, five of which have -contentproc in their command line:

  • dom.ipc.processCount => 1 (default)
  • dom.ipc.processCount.extension => 1 (default)
  • dom.ipc.processCount.file => 1 (default)
  • dom.ipc.processCount.web => 4 (computed by Firefox?)
  • dom.ipc.processCount.webLargeAllocation => 10 (default)