Firefox memory

[tarun]

Any way I could get FF to use less RAM? I've tried alternatives like Opera, K-meleon and IE-based (maxthon, avant) and I didnt like them.

I have 512 MB DDR and run win xp pro, mcafee 9.1 and no firewall. I mostly use windows media player 10 (i like the media library), msn messenger 7.5 and FF 1.5 (Bloglines, delicious, talkback and download statusbar extensions).

I find that the computer is slower than it used to be. I've resorted to using meebo.com.

Wondering if FF 1.5 is a resource hog like they say and if there is anything I can do about it.

[lankan_man]

I find that the computer is slower than it used to be.

Hmm, for that, run a virus scan, spyware scan, uninstall any unrecognized software, run your system defragment and restart you pc.

[FastGame]

If you're using the extension Ad Block, try without it.

I've seen reports of FF using 250+MB, mine has never gone over 60MB.

[rohitk89]

Any way I could get FF to use less RAM?How much RAM is it using currently? 50-75 is normal.
I've tried alternatives like Opera, K-meleon and IE-based (maxthon, avant) and I didnt like them.Flock? Have you considered using the Firefox source code to make your own browser? :D

[tarun]

It uses about 50mb. If thats ok, thanks all

Thanks lankan_man.

[efc]

I've seen reports of FF using 250+MB...

I can see that happening when you open a live feed (RSS bookmark in tabs). I did it by mistake recently and launched 31 tabs with one mouse click.

[hotmale]

I'm not a FF user but on Scot's newsletter there have been such complaints:
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/75.htm#ff15

[Conan]

I'm not a FF user but on Scot's newsletter there have been such complaints:
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/75.htm#ff15

I removed 1.5 and I'm back to version 1.07.

[FastGame]

I'm not a FF user but on Scot's newsletter there have been such complaints:
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/75.htm#ff15
I don't know what Scot's News is talking about....
On my system, a quick check showed Firefox 1.5 using about 27,000K on first launch, and between 50,000K and 60,000K after a couple hours hard use. That level of memory use is within bounds. (By comparison, IE6 used only 13,000K after initial launch on the same machine in the same session.)

I have 3 tabs (Scot's News, TZ, Wilders Security) in FF and its using 26,640 K, I visit the same sites in IE and its using 23,136 K in single window mode.

Open up 15 tabs in FF to 15 different sites, now open 15 IE windows to match the FF tabs. On my PC IE uses more memory than FF.

Like I said I've seen reports of high memory usage (250,000+K) in FF 1.5, mine has never reached those levels.

[Big Booger]

lately my firefox has been hitting 500MB of ram, but that's with around 20 tabs and 5 or 6 windows. I've tried the suggestion on the following page:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1327586/posts

But that didn't do jack squat... :D

[cash_site]

WOW... i only just realised how much a hog 1.5 is... mine is currently at 110mb ram!! I run a few extensions and multiple tabs/windows... hmm... hope this gets fixed!! :eek:

[Big Booger]

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9692/firefoxmemory4rz.png

Take a look.. :(

And this is with the latest 1.5.0.1 version. That really sucks.

[blackhat]

BB, From your TM shot, Am I correct that you have 2.5 gig of RAM? What combination of sticks would give you that? DRB

[carloc]

Try to change the browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers variable to 0 or 1 from the about:config page.
By default is set to -1 for a faster rendering of the pages in the history.

:source: About the Firefox "memory leak" (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009749.html) from The Inside Track on Firefox Development

[Big Booger]

BB, From your TM shot, Am I correct that you have 2.5 gig of RAM? What combination of sticks would give you that? DRB

I actually have 1 gig of ram, and 1.5 gigs of page file. :D

[Big Booger]

Try to change the browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers variable to 0 or 1 from the about:config page.
By default is set to -1 for a faster rendering of the pages in the history.

:source: About the Firefox "memory leak" (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009749.html) from The Inside Track on Firefox Development

That has seemed to solve my issue. :D Thanks carloc. You da man!
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/7678/jesus2wq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[carloc]

That has seemed to solve my issue. :D Thanks carloc. You da man!
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/jarvism/2005/07/05/jesus.jpg
:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:

[cash_site]

i tried it... i set it to 1... but how do u save the config file?

[carloc]

Just close and restart Firefox to apply the new value.
The settings are automatically saved in this file:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XYZ\prefs.js

[cash_site]

thx carloc...

oh yeah, i heard comments, that the memory leak is actually a feature... something to do about the caching of pages to make it easier for the back/forward nav buttons.. .LOL...

what other undocumented features do they have?? LOL

[adeydas]

mine uses 51000 +

may be it is a resource hog...

[adeydas]

I actually have 1 gig of ram, and 1.5 gigs of page file. :D
:eek:

[fatalfury]

These two tweaks mostly fixed (still the occassional memory hostage situation) the FF memory leak on my system.

Part 1:
In about: config, look for browser.cache.memory.enable Change value according to the amount of memory you have. I read this somewhere, but I've lost the link now.

128mb-512mb = 5000
512mb-1gb = 15000

You're mileage may vary of course, so tweak as necessary. Here (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.memory.capacity) is a guide that might help.

Part 2:
Found this over here (http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/03/26/this-may-help-your-firefox-memory-leak/).


Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize. Press Enter.
Now select True and then press Enter.
Restart Firefox.


The above tweak will take your FF RAM usage down to around 10mb when FF is minimized (depending on tabs and such). The drawback, of course, is that since the mem usage is swapped to the hard disk, it takes a few more seconds to call FF back up into RAM. But I haven't noticed a terrible delay.

With those two tweaks in place, and 8 extensions running, I have four tabs open right now and FF is using about 96mb RAM. Considerably better than the 6 digits with only one tab open before the tweaks. :cool: