Firefox Memory Usage Triples In 24 Hours

DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">almost unable to use</div>Why is it that my Firefox browser v2.0.0.3 with <b>only 5 tabs open</b> sees its memory usage triple in 24 hours?

Right now, after a reboot it's using approximately 70,000k. Before I rebooted it was using 210,000k and was almost unusable.

This is a consistent problem with me. My computer runs 24/7 btw.
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    Some extension, probably. Use Opera. It's faster, easier, and better, and it never crashes or leaks memory.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    I don't have any addons or extensions installed - this is a fresh install.
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  • [WHO]Them[WHO]Them You can call me Dave Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10593Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1618176:date=Apr 1 2007, 10:12 AM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Apr 1 2007, 10:12 AM) [snapback]1618176[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Some extension, probably. Use Opera. It's faster, easier, and better, and it never crashes or leaks memory.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


    Ho ho ho, you almost got me. April Fools indeed.
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    What, when you have a choice between one browser, which, sans extensions, triples its memory usage in 24 hours and does not adhere to W3C standards, or another browser, which is faster, more easily customizable, and has features that the other browser lacks or needs extensions to make up (and is fully W3C compliant), you go for the slow, leaky, extension-bound crappy one instead of the fast, sleek, easy one? One of us is the April fool here, and it's not the one with a full head of rich, masculine hair.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618201:date=Apr 1 2007, 03:13 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Apr 1 2007, 03:13 PM) [snapback]1618201[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    What, when you have a choice between one browser, which, sans extensions, triples its memory usage in 24 hours and does not adhere to W3C standards, or another browser, which is faster, more easily customizable, and has features that the other browser lacks or needs extensions to make up (and is fully W3C compliant), you go for the slow, leaky, extension-bound crappy one instead of the fast, sleek, easy one? One of us is the April fool here, and it's not the one with a full head of rich, masculine hair.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    No offense, but rather than change my browser due to one opinion I think I'll wait and see if any other Firefox users experience this same issue.
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    You can reinstall Firefox or make a new profile to see if either of those work, but Opera takes about 5 minutes to download and install, and that's if you're clicking slowly.
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  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    That, and Opera does a whole lot of stuff right out of the box. In fact, my only major gripe is that Opera's Widgets appear on the start bar, rather than on a tab.
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  • XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618208:date=Apr 1 2007, 04:48 PM:name=Mantrid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mantrid @ Apr 1 2007, 04:48 PM) [snapback]1618208[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    That, <b>and Opera does a whole lot of stuff right out of the box</b>. In fact, my only major gripe is that Opera's Widgets appear on the start bar, rather than on a tab.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    <img src="http://www.frozensloth.com/forums/macguy.jpeg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />

    Anyway, I've used firefox for ages and never experienced the memory leak, and mine usually doesn't go about 35k even with 5 or more tabs open.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    6 tabs open right now: 104,240k memory.
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  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618209:date=Apr 1 2007, 12:53 PM:name=Xyth)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xyth @ Apr 1 2007, 12:53 PM) [snapback]1618209[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    <img src="http://www.frozensloth.com/forums/macguy.jpeg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Oh, burn. Although you don't necessarily look like a pretentious prick using Opera. I mean, you can if you want, and its certainly fun when people complain about IE exploits or Firefox memory leaks...
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618210:date=Apr 1 2007, 01:55 PM:name=Depot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Depot @ Apr 1 2007, 01:55 PM) [snapback]1618210[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    6 tabs open right now: 104,240k memory.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    You could also stop opening tabs. Tha tmight fix it <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/nerd-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::nerdy::" border="0" alt="nerd-fix.gif" />
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  • XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618213:date=Apr 1 2007, 04:59 PM:name=Mantrid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mantrid @ Apr 1 2007, 04:59 PM) [snapback]1618213[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Oh, burn. Although you don't necessarily look like a pretentious prick using Opera. I mean, you can if you want, and its certainly fun when people complain about IE exploits or Firefox memory leaks...
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    But if we try to not look pretentious, <i>then how will people know we are better then them?</i>
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    Any of you Firefox experts, what do you think of this fix?

    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    1. Open a new tab. Type "about:config" without quotes into the address bar and hit enter/click Go.

    2. Right-click anywhere, select New, then Integer. In the dialog prompt that appears, type:

    browser.cache.memory.capacity

    3. Click OK. Another dialog prompt will appear. This is where you decide how much memory to allocate to Firefox. This depends on how much RAM your computer has, but generally you don't want to allocate too little (under 8MB), but if you allocate too much, you might as well not do this. A good recommended setting is 16MB. If you want 16MB, enter this value into the dialog prompt:

    16384

    (Why 16384 instead of 16000? Because computers use base-12 counting. Thus 16 megabytes = 16384 bytes. Likewise, if you want to double that and allocate 32MB, you'd enter 32768.)

    4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of Firefox and restart. If your Firefox still uses the same amount of memory, give it a few minutes and it should slowly clear up. If that fails, try a system reboot. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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  • RobRob Unknown Enemy Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 25Members, NS1 Playtester
    I've noticed firefox hogging memory before, too. Minimizing the windows usually seemed to make it clean up and free what it wasn't using anymore. (I get the feeling that it caches every page it's viewed in memory or something...)
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    I think the issue may be the way Windows manages memory. Take a look at <a href="http://shsc.info/WindowsMemoryManagement" target="_blank">this</a> and see if it helps.

    As for Firefox... Have you installed over a previous version? I had a similar issue once, where it would hang around 30% CPU usage constantly. I uninstalled Firefox, wiped out all traces of its profiles and registry entries, and then installed the latest version and completely recreated my profile, and now it seems to be fine.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    I'm going to do a fresh install now, thanks.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    Guess it was a poor uninstall - I uninstalled it, deleted any files left, cleaned out the registry, rebooted, re-installed - and it was like I never uninstalled it.

    Is the profile etc. kept elsewhere, other than in the Mozilla folder?
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  • JimmehJimmeh Join Date: 2003-08-24 Member: 20173Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1618232:date=Apr 1 2007, 11:57 PM:name=Depot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Depot @ Apr 1 2007, 11:57 PM) [snapback]1618232[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Guess it was a poor uninstall - I uninstalled it, deleted any files left, cleaned out the registry, rebooted, re-installed - and it was like I never uninstalled it.

    Is the profile etc. kept elsewhere, other than in the Mozilla folder?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox

    I believe.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    I got it all this time.

    Fresh install with 5 tabs open: 57,050k.
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  • Sephiroth2kSephiroth2k Join Date: 2002-04-21 Member: 481Members, Constellation
    I know the new gran paradiso was having memory leak bugs and they advise against leaving it open too long.. I would say just restart app before it gets too high?
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    Yeah, guess I'll have to use another browser if I intend on leaving it open 24/7 like I do now.
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  • Vahn_PaktuVahn_Paktu Join Date: 2002-10-28 Member: 1666Members, Constellation
    Why do you keep it open for 24 hours? I open massive amounts of tabs and I still close the main window a lot.
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  • RoverRover blargh Join Date: 2003-09-23 Member: 21139Members
    I've noticed the same thing, but I just close it every now and then. I haven't noticed the browser slowing down, but every now and then while having to task manager something to close it, I notice it's at 200+. Also: have opera installed, but I don't use it. *likes his plugins <!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->that are probably being the memory hog<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->*
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    Opera (and probably Firefox with some goshdarn plugin) can be configured to just save your session whenever you close. Then when you open the browser again, it resumes all the pages you were viewing. This would solve your problem, although if you switched to Opera that would solve it without you having to do that.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    I don't think plugins or extensions are the issue, since I have none installed yet.

    But hey, I tried closing FF with 5 tabs, opened 4 IEs so I could work at least four of the sites I needed to, and used an identical amount of memory (around 72000k).
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1618267:date=Apr 1 2007, 10:21 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Apr 1 2007, 10:21 PM) [snapback]1618267[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Opera (and probably Firefox with some goshdarn plugin) can be configured to just save your session whenever you close. Then when you open the browser again, it resumes all the pages you were viewing. This would solve your problem, although if you switched to Opera that would solve it without you having to do that.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You don't need a plugin to save your session. In the main tab in the options window, choose "Show my windows and tabs from last time" under "When Firefox starts".
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  • WarriorWarrior Join Date: 2003-02-16 Member: 13624Members
    FF has a known memory issue. The highest mine been up to was 1.2GB. I had about 35 tabs open...I accidently opened up one of my bookmark folders and was spammed with 35 websites lol.
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  • DepotDepot The ModFather Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7956Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1618298:date=Apr 2 2007, 12:35 AM:name=Warrior)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Warrior @ Apr 2 2007, 12:35 AM) [snapback]1618298[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    FF has a known memory issue. The highest mine been up to was 1.2GB. I had about 35 tabs open...I accidently opened up one of my bookmark folders and was spammed with 35 websites lol.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Wow. Just wow... <img src="http://www.ibparcade.com/style_emoticons/default/diespam.gif" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
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  • puzlpuzl The Old Firm Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14029Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    The issue is being address in firefox 3.

    In the mean time <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1327586/posts" target="_blank">http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1327586/posts</a>
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  • EpidemicEpidemic Dark Force Gorge Join Date: 2003-06-29 Member: 17781Members
    edited April 2007
    Yes - I experience it too, however, once I close it down and restart the browser it disappears.
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