Why Has Firefox Got So Cpu/Memory Hungry?

[apetley]

Over the last few years I have been a great fan of Firefox but this last week my notebook frequently grinds to a halt or just plain freezes up when using it.

I have just installed Google Chrome and suddenly my browsing experience is all roses again so I'm happy but at a loss to explain why Firefox should suddenly become such a drag on my notebook.

Any comment would be welcome.

Andy.

[Phil Conners]

Probably due to plug-ins.

[lomatopo]

I stopped using Firefox ~ 9 months ago as it was always hanging (multiple, unstoppable 'firefox.exe' processes running), wouldn't close, took forever to start-up or would hang, uses a ton of memory with creep and cpu. Can't believe anyone uses it anymore.

[Rama]

how old is your notebook? what version of firefox are you running? I'm running firefox, lots of plug-ins, absolutely no memory or cpu problems or firefox stability issues.........

[sulasno]

I stopped using Firefox ~ 9 months ago as it was always hanging (multiple, unstoppable 'firefox.exe' processes running), wouldn't close, took forever to start-up or would hang, uses a ton of memory with creep and cpu. Can't believe anyone uses it anymore.

create a batch file to task kill firefox after closing it

[siamect]

I stopped using Firefox ~ 9 months ago as it was always hanging (multiple, unstoppable 'firefox.exe' processes running), wouldn't close, took forever to start-up or would hang, uses a ton of memory with creep and cpu. Can't believe anyone uses it anymore.

create a batch file to task kill firefox after closing it

It's like putting plaster on a broken bone... or to put you head in the sandbox when you have headache...

[katana]

It could be a Firefox add-on causing it. I had the same problem recently with an add-on called Ghostery which was very memory hungry, so had to remove it.

You could try disabling your ad-ons one at a time to see if one of them is the culprit.

Edited September 3, 2010 by katana

[MickeyM]

I had similar problems with FF 3.6+ and found a solution (work-around) at:

http://www.technogad...er-exe-process/

Do a Google search on plugin-container.exe for other comments on this issue.

[tominbkk]

Agree on the plug-in comment. I went through my many plug-ins and cleaned them up...then FF was working all chirpy again!

[apetley]

Thanks for all the good advice, much appreciated.

I may give FF another go sometime but after installing Google Chrome I am growing to like that alot!

[Crushdepth]

I think it has just gradually bloated out. I don't use addons but still had increasing headaches with it (mainly on my laptop). I recently got fed up and reluctantly tried Chrome again. It has improved a lot and has become my main browser, although I still use Firefox occasionally for the odd Chrome-unfriendly site.

[bkkmick]

I also had all the above problems with FF3+. Sometimes using up to 900k and becoming slow to use. I upgraded to FF4 (beta) and all those problems have gone. I think this is by far their best version yet. (don't know if all addons will work but ABP does!)

[zzdocxx]

I had similar problems with FF 3.6+ and found a solution (work-around) at:

http://www.technogad...er-exe-process/

Do a Google search on plugin-container.exe for other comments on this issue.

Same here a month or two ago.

[kabal1234]

moved on to chrome. all ff plugins i use are available on chrome, looks better (imo), faster, less resource intensive.

it was fun while it lasted, ff.

[bendejo]

There are certain FF plug-ins I don't use very often (like gspace and FEBE), so I disable them but do not uninstall, and this makes a world of difference performance-wise. Just enable and restart when you need them. There was one novelty plug-in I was using (I think it was ani-weather) that really slowed things down, got rid it.

I'm not too keen on using a google browser, considering all the stuff I've done to my FF installation to keep off the like of google analytics and such, for the same reason I don't use google DNS.

[BB1950]

I use FireFox with over 100 add-ons. Firefox 3.6.8 was starting to behave like the OP mentioned. I just upgraded to FireFox 3.6.9. It does seem to be a lot faster now. It's too early to tell if the memory is being consumed and not released. Nor if it is crashing anymore. But it is a major improvement.

According to the release notes. Major bug fixes were made dealing with memory consumption and crash problems.