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.exe process remains after closing Firefox

  • 3 iimpendulo
  • 5 inale ngxaki
  • 13 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu Starwanderer

more options

I closed Firefox 5 over 45 minutes ago. At the time it closed, I had around 60 tabs open. The Firefox window closed, but now, over 30 minutes later, firefox.exe is still consuming 624 MB of memory. For the record, currently Windows Task Manager shows firefox.exe consuming 00 CPU, 639,772 K Mem Usage and a Peak Mem Usage of 771,296 K.

I'm seen this behavior at other times and, on those occasions, the firefox.exe process did eventually terminiate and release that memory. Why does firefox.exe take so long to terminate? Is this a bug or just a result of the way I use Firefox? I do tend to have a lot of tabs, 60 to 75, open at any given time. I'm guessing that's more tabs than the typical user.

I closed Firefox 5 over 45 minutes ago. At the time it closed, I had around 60 tabs open. The Firefox window closed, but now, over 30 minutes later, firefox.exe is still consuming 624 MB of memory. For the record, currently Windows Task Manager shows firefox.exe consuming 00 CPU, 639,772 K Mem Usage and a Peak Mem Usage of 771,296 K. I'm seen this behavior at other times and, on those occasions, the firefox.exe process did eventually terminiate and release that memory. Why does firefox.exe take so long to terminate? Is this a bug or just a result of the way I use Firefox? I do tend to have a lot of tabs, 60 to 75, open at any given time. I'm guessing that's more tabs than the typical user.

All Replies (3)

more options

I should go on to add that I have already seen the Firefox Hangs |Hang at exit document and none of these look like the obvious issue. I'm running Java Version 1.6.0_26, so current there. I'm not running any of the listed Internet security software. The only extensions I'm running are Java Console 6.0.26, ReloadEvery 5.0.0 and Xmarks 4.0.1, so not a lot of extensions.

more options
more options

As I mentioned before you replied, I had already looked at that document and nothing jumped out as being the culprit. Perhaps it is a Java applet, but I am on the latest version.