Firefox 55 high memory usage

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Since version 54, and now 55, I am seeing FF memory usage going through the roof. Even if I don't open too many tabs, after a few hours of running, FF has chewed up all my available RAM and I start getting Windows warnings to close it in order to continue working. FF RAM usage is up to about 4 GB at that point.

Now when I google "Firefox 55 memory usage" I get a bunch of hits saying how greatly improved memory usage has become in these latest versions which is obviously the opposite of what I'm experiencing. So, is there a way I can determine what's going on? I have not added any new extensions recently, but maybe some of my old ones don't play nice with these newest FF versions? Is there a way to tell if one of my extensions is causing this and if so, which one?

FYI, I'm running the 64-bit version of FF on Win 7 machine.

Thanks!
 
uninstall and reinstall.


There might be a app/widget/add-on running that is installed on the browser that is eating the memory.
 
I am no computer expert but I am seeing more freezes in just the past couple of days on my tablet (Amazon Fire). I use Firefox nightly which is the ongoing "development" version so I expect the occasional problem but I have not seen it this bad. I use this because I have been unable to get normal Firefox via the Amazon App store. It's still not terrible but I just wanted to surface to say I'm suddenly seeing freeze/lockup probs as well.
 
Open the menu and click on the help "?" button. Open Health report and it will list the number of plug-in crashes for the past month. If it's more than a few then there could be an issue. If so, you could perform a reset/refresh from the troubleshoot option.
 
I'm not a fan of 54 or 55. but firefox has had memory leak issues esp with adblock plugins for years.

Just dont leave a tab open overnight etc.

Chrome is a good option as well but I only use it for the built in flashplayer.
 
I Have Fire Fox and Google Chrome and mostly use Fire fox . I have to say that Google Chrome is noticeably better . The only thing I know about computers is that I have one.
 
Add ons? I had adblock plus and ghostery. Firefox was bogged down to the point of frustration. Uninstalled both and it's super fast now.
 
I am a Chrome user and tried Firefox the other night. I couldn't figure out how to get a microphone to work on it. I gave up after spending hours on it.
 
There is a add on called cache status. You have to force it to show on a add on tool bar then add the tool bar. but it can mange the cache for you, show the current amount in the too bar and you can easily click it and clear the cache whenever you want.
 
go to tools, web developer, then select performance. then in the center of the window, there is a take snapshot. you can go from there and see what's using memory.
 
Originally Posted By: sprite1741
Add ons? I had adblock plus and ghostery. Firefox was bogged down to the point of frustration. Uninstalled both and it's super fast now.


adblock plus<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Ublock origin
 
Yep, uBlock Origin is what I use and have been using for a long time, so it's not anything that recently changed in my environment.
 
Originally Posted By: Killer223
go to tools, web developer, then select performance. then in the center of the window, there is a take snapshot. you can go from there and see what's using memory.

OK, but I'm not sure what the below information is telling me or what to do with it. Any hints where to go from here?

36134838413_dc3850d064_o.png


36943066005_b3bafe4520_o.png


36943073445_e523f70f4b_o.png


36943066075_d327e62a1a_o.png
 
Did you try the Cache Status plug in for FF? You can also limit the maximum cache in the about:config firefox set up page.
 
Originally Posted By: SHOZ
Did you try the Cache Status plug in for FF? You can also limit the maximum cache in the about:config firefox set up page.


I did - you can see its results in the bottom right corner of the screenshots above. Cache seems to be at reasonable levels, yet the overall memory footprint is huge.
 
Open Firefox
Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
Firefox will display a security warning, click on I'll be careful, I promise!
Search for the browser.cache.disk.capacity preference, which determines the maximum cache size.
Double-click to edit (Integer value)
Increment the value to your convenience (default value 50000, which represent 50 MB)


I have mine set at 1024. Current cache size is 676KB and memory is 557,764k and 373,300k. Using the 64 bit so it has two process.
 
Isn't browser.cache.disk.capacity preference referring to the amount of hard disk space that cache is taking up? It is not the issue here.
 
Originally Posted By: SHOZ
Open Firefox
Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
Firefox will display a security warning, click on I'll be careful, I promise!
Search for the browser.cache.disk.capacity preference, which determines the maximum cache size.
Double-click to edit (Integer value)
Increment the value to your convenience (default value 50000, which represent 50 MB)


I have mine set at 1024. Current cache size is 676KB and memory is 557,764k and 373,300k. Using the 64 bit so it has two process.

OK, so my browser cache was set to 256 MB. I set it to 1 MB (1024), as you did. This kind of defeats the whole purpose of having cache, IMO, but whatever. Two hours later, FF is already chewing up 3.75 GB of RAM. Ugh...
 
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