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.

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

Why so many firefox's are launch when only one is running? Resource hog.

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Task manager (screen capture) is showing 9 Firefox's open when only one is open with only one tab. This is causing system resource and locking up my computer at times.

Task manager (screen capture) is showing 9 Firefox's open when only one is open with only one tab. This is causing system resource and locking up my computer at times.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (1)

more options

It is quite normal to see three or more Firefox processes running.

  • one process for the main Firefox thread (user interface)
  • one or more content processes set via dom.ipc.processCount
    Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Use recommended performance settings"
  • one process for the compositor thread (Windows;graphics)

You can find the current multi-process state on the Troubleshooting Information (about:support) page.

  • "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" -> "Application Basics":
    Multiprocess Windows
    Web Content Processes

See also;