Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

firefox opens 6 processes in windows task manager

more options

Each time I open FF and look into my task manager I find that FF opens 6 processes at the same time. I Did not open 6 firefox tabs and yet it still opens 6 tabs in windows task manager. And each time I try to end one of the processes it ends FF all together. First of all why does it open 6 processes and what is it doing in the background.

Each time I open FF and look into my task manager I find that FF opens 6 processes at the same time. I Did not open 6 firefox tabs and yet it still opens 6 tabs in windows task manager. And each time I try to end one of the processes it ends FF all together. First of all why does it open 6 processes and what is it doing in the background.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (2)

more options

It is quite normal to see more Firefox processes running.

  • process for the main Firefox thread (user interface)
  • one or more content processes, see:
    Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Use recommended performance settings"
  • process for the compositor thread
  • process for extensions
  • process for WebRender when this feature is enabled

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

  • "Help -> Troubleshooting Information"
    "Application Basics": Multiprocess Windows
    "Remote Processes" further down

See also the about:memory page for information about the process IDs.

more options

Ok thanks cor-el. I almost thought something was wrong here. I'll definitely look into this. And so I am just a little bit wiser. Thx