Does anyone else have this problem, know why it happens, or how to fix it? If I leave firefox open for a while my computer starts running at 3 miles per hour and Task Manager reports that it's using upwards of 330MB of ram (it's always around this number). I've searched/asked around and some people seem to have this problem and others don't, but never found out WHY it's happening or what to do to stop it.

Any thoughts?

that doesnt help.


Anyway pommy, I have the same problem. Ive tried to lower the cache but that only helps marginally.

So if it starts running relaly slow, i kill the process and restart firefox. This allows me to restore my previous session and go from there. Also the firefox 3 beta fixes a lot of memory leaks so maybe firefox will get its act into gear one of thesse days.

Mine's only using 65, but Fire Fox 3 will be out soon and I hear they've fixed a bunch of memory leaks.

My Firefox is currently eating about a quarter of my RAM. I think. Which is about 256MB.

I don't generally have performance issues, though. I have more trouble with the CPU-hogging adverts on MSN.

Check your Firefox theme and the extensions you have installed. One of them could be doing it. Start Firefox in safe mode and see if you still have the problem, if not, it's something in your profile (most likely an extension). Disable half at a time until you pinpoint it.

You can try upgrading to Firefox 3 Beta 2. It is quite stable (I'm using it now), it has over 300 memory leak fixes including some new routines which do a smarter job of garbage collecting some specific type of object.

Also note that depending on how many tabs you have open, how many pages you've visited in a session, and how much memory you have allocated to memory cache (by default, it's unlimited) Firefox may simply be using memory legitimately. And don't just limit the memory cache; what good is your memory if you don't use it, anyways?

Right now my Firefox is using 75M of memory. And I'm fine with it.

Dumb question (since I'm not an uber-tech):

How do I check? I don't see that info in Task Manager.

Mine uses 77.

Task manager- Processes. "Mem Usage" column.

mine was on 97% CPU and 87M earlier, and barely loading, so I killed it. tried the beta, no better. downloaded opera, it's really quite ugly.

Oh snap. There's a fourth column there...

IE7 FOR LYFE!

Does FF release memory when you close a tab? Another thing I discovered is that animated GIFs consume memory like a fat man in a buffet.

I've had many instances where FF has failed to release memory. Hopefully something will be done about that soon.

My firefox is only using 31 MB.

Mem Usage != RAM usage.

I think this is a distinction that many, many people fail to make.

There's some string setting in about:config that sets a limit to how much it uses or something. I don't really know. Is this Firefox 3 beta x?

This was posted before, but it helped me once way back in the day.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/15-coolest-firefox-tricks-ever.html

In addition to telling you how to cut down on ram usage, there's an option to store firefox in physical memory on minimize in lieu of ram. I got tired of opening my laptop to a login screen every morning back in the day. Seemed to help.

porn sites will do that

wow I just looked at my processes and firefox is using up 225megs

not to mention every time it asks me to update quicktime firefox crashes..

and my downloads history doesn't work.

oh and when I try to say.. save an image by right-click it does not work. i have to drag the image from the browser to my desktop.

Mine is using about 63 MB, but I've only been to Massassi during this session. Try that extension check.

Hm, Opera with one tab and one window only takes 25.

My firefox becomes horribly bogged down if I leave my computer on for over a day with the browser open.

[Tech]

I miss those guys

But Leo Laporte is on KFI AM 640! :unsmith:

My firefox eats ram too

That's awesome

Page-based memory allocation, memory fragmentation and an inefficient heap manager.