OT Firefox using lots of memory

[Dave Baker]

I seem to recall a post from Dave Plowman about this a while back. I've used Firefox quite happily for years now but gradually it's been getting slower to load up and it's using huge amounts of memory. I've got a really old pentium pc with 512mb of ram and FF is going straight to 350mb of that just to start up. If I open more than one or two tabs it stops dead.

I tried it in safe mode with all the add-ons disabled and that did help but it's still not great. I suppose on a modern pc with gb of ram and a fast processor no one notices but it's screwing my ability to use the internet at all now. Given it used to be fine I have to presume it's the recent versions of FF that are the problem.

Thinking about reinstalling an earlier version or maybe just move to a different browser?

Suggestions?

[Dave Baker]

I think I may have answered some of my own questions. AdBlock plus was using about half the 350mb of ram. I'm now trying to find something less memory intensive.

[Adam Funk]

UBlock Origin is supposed to be more efficient.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Dave Baker escribió:

FF version 28 is fine. This is the last release before they moved to the new look ("Australis").

You can also type about:memory in the address bar and click the three "Free memory" buttons if it starts to chug.

Chrome is a horrible memory hog. Try Pale Moon, it's based on the same engine as FF with a lot of the crap stripped out so runs a lot faster on slower hardware.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Dave Baker escribió:

Uninstall Adblock and install uBlock Origin. Works the same but a lot faster and uses less memory.

[Tim Watts]

Thanks for that - just trying it on Chrome...

[Mark]

Or add more memory ......

[Ranger]

Yes, it has got a lot worse lately. Not just with FF either, same with Pale Moon too.

Yes, that does help.

And so does that.

Chrome does handle those poorly written web pages rather better but it's a much more minimal browser than FF or its derivatives. No real session manager at all for starters and much less configurable. Some don't like google's reputation for snooping on what you do on the net either.

Short story is that there is no perfect browser.

[Another Dave]

I've just tried that on Pale Moon - works a treat. Thanks

Another Dave

[rick]

how did you tell what is using what in Firefox .... I use it, happily tell you what mine is using if you tell me how :-)

[Dave Baker]

Simples. Windows Task manager (ctrl-alt-del) tells you how much memory each application or process is using. I uninstalled AdBlock Plus and compared the memory Firefox was using with and then later without it.

[Dave Baker]

Doh! Why didn't I think of that.

[Jonno]

Dave Baker scribbled

Join the 21st century.

[Dave Baker]

Gave it a try but it used about the same memory as Adblock on my system at least, another 100mb plus as soon as it was installed.

[Dave Baker]

Thanks. Tried that too but it crashed after install twice in a row. For now I'll stick to running with no adblocker installed. That way Firefox is using about 200mb of ram rather than 320-350mb on initial start up and that gives me enough leeway on the 512mb total my system has (the max this cpu and motherboard can use) to open up a few tabs without everything grinding to a halt.

As an experiment I fired up a very old version of IE that still lurks on my pc from when Windows XP was first installed and all that used was about

40mb. In extremis I might go back to something like that but for now I can manage.

[Fredxxx]

I use uBlock. I would have thought a good ad-blocker should reduce memory usage, not increase it!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Try seamonkey. Its firefox without the bloat IIRC

they reckon it will lift off on 128Mbyte RAM

[John Rumm]

One of the problems with all modern browsers is they are hulking great monsters. Alas going back to old versions is not really an option in many cases as the world moves on to HTML5, and higher levels of default security on web sites. You will find yourself locked out of an increasing number of sites in the older browsers, and that is before you worry about the gaping security holes that were fixed in later versions.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Dave Baker escribió:

OK, no worries. I'm wondering if your problems are indicative of a developing hardware fault, particularly you mentioning PaleMoon crashing after launch.

Maybe time to think about a replacement machine - buying used or ex- corporate, you can get a hell of a lot for very little money these days.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Worse, sites are now written almost entirely in JavaScript. You cannot believe how most modern sites are constructed. There are links to every analytic engine under the sun, frameworks cosnistoing of someone elses javascript are routinely loaded, with someone elses templates and the whole thing is cobbled together by arts graduates with a degree in simpering sycophancy and pastel matching.

Joomla, Wordpress,..Google analytics, jquery..

Alas going back to old versions is not really an option in

Hahahahah

What security? the likes of Joomla are gaping security holes by their very existence.

You will find yourself locked out of an