# Firefox not releasing memory?



## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Anybody else have problems with Firefox not releasing memory? I'll look in the task manager, see how much RAM it's eating up, see it's eating too much, and close tabs, only to have it remain the same or even using more a couple mins later. Right now it's using 306 MBs of RAM. A couple hours ago it was using 1.5 GBs of RAM. When I closed it through the Task Manager, and opened it back up with the same tabs (I use an extension called Session Manager that keeps track of what's opened whenever Firefox crashes and reloads them upon the next start up), after everything loaded, it was using only 122 MBs of RAM.
Running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, and always running the latest stable version of Firefox.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Firefox gets bloaty depending on what plug-ins you're running.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

I'm only have 8 extensions installed. Downloadhelper, flashblock, gmail notifier, IE View, noscript, PDF download, Session Manager, and Reload Every. No Themes or Personas or anything. I can't imagine why it will go from 150-200 MBs to 400-500MBs in the course of me doing nothing though.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I see this happen a lot on my PC. I haven't actually monitored to see if the same behavior exists with Firefox on my Mac.

Suffice to say... Firefox is one of many apps that doesn't seem to give back the memory it takes in all cases.

I've had times when I would close Firefox on my PC and then run Task Manager to watch the memory... and when it did give back the memory upon closing I would see not only RAM free up... but then fill up again from the swap/cache file and then clear again!


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Methinks something's amiss.

This box is W7 Home Premium 64
Firefox 3.6.3 ~58 MB
Add-on's: Flashblock, Adblock, and a couple of others that aren't doing anything right now.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> Methinks something's amiss.
> 
> This box is W7 Home Premium 64
> Firefox 3.6.3 ~58 MB
> Add-on's: Flashblock, Adblock, and a couple of others that aren't doing anything right now.


Yeah, I think something's wrong when it's drawing 1.5 GBs lol


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Which AV are you using?
I did see several complaints on Firefox with AVG.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Firefox will run in the couple hundred mb range usually if you are doing a few things in it and have some tabs open.

Sad but true for power users.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> Which AV are you using?
> I did see several complaints on Firefox with AVG.


Have been running Avira Free edition for probably a year (Had the same problems then, even on my OLDer computer), just recently switched to Microsoft Security Essentials.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

"Power Users" :lol:

Haven't seen that one in a while.
I know I'll ruffle some feathers here, but to me that term has always been synonymous with "disorganized".

Having a bunch of stuff opened, while actually working on one task, isn't power usage. It's just poor housekeeping.

Example: How many of these is Al really focused on?
Does he really know what's at the bottom of the various piles?


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

kevinturcotte said:


> Have been running Avira Free edition for probably a year (Had the same problems then, even on my OLDer computer), just recently switched to Microsoft Security Essentials.


Running MSE here as well, but this one's only a tad over a week old.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Do you close Firefox regularly or do you leave it opened for hours or days?
I close and reopen hundreds of times a day.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

With all the add-ons I use, it does run around 210-220 MB with one tab open. Each additional tab seems to add 7-10 MB. NOAH weather pages with Java run a little higher. If I open Cnet.com in a new tab I'm looking at a 20 MB jump.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I get +10 mb on cnet in a new tab.
I guess some add-ons are increasing per tab.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> Do you close Firefox regularly or do you leave it opened for hours or days?
> I close and reopen hundreds of times a day.


I prefer to leave it open, though once I notice it's drawing over 500MBs, I'll force it to close through the Task Manager so that when I open it back up, Session Manager pops up and reopens all my tabs. As long as the computer is on though (Which is usually 24x7), Firefox is open.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

You should close firefox more often, that helps a lot.

Should be no need to keep it running all the time.



Marlin Guy said:


> "Power Users" :lol:


I like to use the term to describe people that use their machine more than just opening one tab for email and one for google


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Grentz said:


> You should close firefox more often, that helps a lot.
> 
> Should be no need to keep it running all the time.
> 
> I like to use the term to describe people that use their machine more than just opening one tab for email and one for google


Just 2 tabs? Wow! I have 16 tabs open right now lol That shouldn't cause it to be eating up 1.5GBs of RAM though lol


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

WTF are you doing with 16 tabs?

Ya, firefox is known to be a memory hogger so I am sure that is part of the issue if you have 16 tabs open and do not close it down entirely every now and then.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Grentz said:


> WTF are you doing with 16 tabs?
> 
> Ya, firefox is known to be a memory hogger so I am sure that is part of the issue if you have 16 tabs open and do not close it down entirely every now and then.


lol Gmail, DBSTalk, Twitter, and Facebook are always open (They open by default on the RARE occasion that I do a regular close and open). I have others that are relevant right now, so they're open.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Grentz said:


> WTF are you doing with 16 tabs?


Isn't it obvious? He's a power user.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

This is what I'm talking about. I had 16 tabs open. I just closed 10 of them. Firefox actually went UP from drawing 415MBs to 478MBs. Left it 5 mins (Figured it might take a little bit to let go of the extra memory), and it's still drawing 478MBs. I force it closed with the Task Manager, and once all the tabs get reopened and loaded, it's only using 131MBs.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

kevinturcotte said:


> lol Gmail, DBSTalk, Twitter, and Facebook are always open (They open by default on the RARE occasion that I do a regular close and open). I have others that are relevant right now, so they're open.


You don't use Thunderbird for your email?????


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

phrelin said:


> You don't use Thunderbird for your email?????


And have ANOTHER program running? lol


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Got an extra HDD lying around?
If so, do a fresh install.
Then install the add-ons one at a time to see and monitor the memory usage as you go along.

Maybe you'll get lucky.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> Got an extra HDD lying around?
> If so, do a fresh install.
> Then install the add-ons one at a time to see and monitor the memory usage as you go along.
> 
> Maybe you'll get lucky.


Back before I built my new computer (Beginning of April), I used to back everything up, format the hard drive, and for a fresh install of Windows probably every 45 days or so. Always had the same problem.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

kevinturcotte said:


> And have ANOTHER program running? lol


Whats the problem with that? We are not in the 90s...computers can run more than 1 thing at once :lol:

and you didn't buy all that memory and CPU power to be using barely any of it! If it is not acting weird who cares how much memory it is using.



Marlin Guy said:


> Got an extra HDD lying around?
> If so, do a fresh install.
> Then install the add-ons one at a time to see and monitor the memory usage as you go along.
> 
> Maybe you'll get lucky.


Might be best to just try making a new firefox profile before doing that. One nice thing about Mozilla and profiles is that it is easy to do.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Grentz said:


> Whats the problem with that? We are not in the 90s...computers can run more than 1 thing at once :lol:
> 
> and you didn't buy all that memory and CPU power to be using barely any of it! If it is not acting weird who cares how much memory it is using.
> 
> ...


You mean just start from scratch with a whole new fresh Firefox install, without any of my old (Current) settings, bookmarks, passwords, etc.?


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Use the profile manager and you can make a new profile next to your current one. It will be like a fresh install, but you can switch back to your other one so you do not lose anything.

Firefox keeps EVERYTHING in the profile. So making a new profile is like a fresh install.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Grentz said:


> Use the profile manager and you can make a new profile next to your current one. It will be like a fresh install, but you can switch back to your other one so you do not lose anything.
> 
> Firefox keeps EVERYTHING in the profile. So making a new profile is like a fresh install.


I always use MozBackUp to backup my profile into an actual file. Have to see what happens if I just backup my book marks and user names/passwords, and carry just those over to a fresh install.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Well first you can just make a profile next to your current one.

Do it 100% textbook, dont use a third party program or anything.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Grentz said:


> Well first you can just make a profile next to your current one.
> 
> Do it 100% textbook, dont use a third party program or anything.
> 
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows


How do I transfer just my bookmarks and passwords over to the new profile?


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

For bookmarks:
http://www.lockergnome.com/oztech/2008/01/29/how-to-export-firefox-bookmarks/

For passwords:
http://www.watchingthenet.com/how-to-backup-your-saved-passwords-in-firefox.html


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## -Draino- (May 19, 2008)

I've always thought of a "power user" as someone who runs a very clean, very tight fully patched box. Somone who also has more memory than needed and a high end graphics card and a high end CPU.

Kind of like having a car that will do 200mph but the speed limit is 55. You'll never use it, but it's there if you need it.

I call someone with all kinds of process's running and window open.....just sloppy.


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

No, a 'Power User' is someone who has FaceBook, Twitter and MySpace running simultaneously. 

--- CHAS


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

The last time I heard the phrase 'power user', Dvorak was touting the new Pentium as a "screamer!"


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Due the generally friendly nature of this site, I'll refrain from my thoughts on anyone who uses facebook, twitter, or myspace on a regular basis....:lol:


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

The guy who uses this is a "power user."








Yeah, I have a computer with an Intel(R) i7 processor with 9GB DDR3 SDRAM and a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 video card plus a whole lot of other crap and 2.5 TB of disk RAM. And once in a great while I process some video or watch TV via my Slingbox, but most of the time I do stuff like modify some web pages and photos, do my taxes on Turbo Tax, check my email, pay some bills on line, browse Amazon to buy something, and post here. I'm certainly not a "power user" as I don't use the computer's full power, ever.

It's pretty much like using the pictured Cat for a 10'x12' home garden. But if I had one, I'd crank it up and move it a couple feet.


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

This thread is funnier than some of the ones in "Laughter is the best Medicine." I'd use that power tool to really clean up that messy office...:icon_lol:

I'm up to 188 mb Firefox useage with just three tabs open. Firefox has been open for about two hours.


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