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Thread ID: 72142 2006-09-01 00:57:00 Mozilla Firefox uses a lot of resources - is this normal? xmojo1 (4630) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
481806 2006-09-01 00:57:00 I've been finding that Firefox uses a lot of resources on both my home PC and work laptop. Memory use can be anything between 40MB to 100MB+ and CPU use can be up to 33%. The version of Firefox on both machines is 1.5.0.6. Is this normal? xmojo1 (4630)
481807 2006-09-01 01:24:00 Yes, according to the makers of Firefox it is a "feature" which is supposed to help with caching or something like that bob_doe_nz (92)
481808 2006-09-01 01:36:00 The processor usage is quite surprising but the memory isn't. On my computer (using Linux) the memory usage (including virtual) for firefox is 130Mb while the Java VM running under it is quite a bit extra. The processor usage is below 1% most of the time though.

Firefox is known to have several memory leaks. What this means in practice is that you need to close all FF windows at least once or twice a day when using it intensively or the memory usage will gradually increase. Disabling Java will also substantially reduce memory usage.
TGoddard (7263)
481809 2006-09-01 01:55:00 You can read about the new caching method here:
developer.mozilla.org

If you want to disable the feature to decrease memory usage type "about:config" into the location bar and hit enter. Then type "session" into the filter field. Double click on "browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers" and set the value to 0. For more information on this preference read:
kb.mozillazine.org

In addition if you are a user of extensions sometimes they can increase cpu and/or memory usage. Try running Firefox in safe mode (kb.mozillazine.org(Firefox)) which disables all the extensions to see if that helps. If it does then you can try disabling them one by one until you find the culprit, also this page may help:
kb.mozillazine.org
mcm (11074)
481810 2006-09-01 05:45:00 More reading (and tips to reduce it) on the Firefox memory leakage on these pages:

www.freerepublic.com

kb.mozillazine.org

www.computerworld.com
FoxyMX (5)
481811 2006-09-01 06:23:00 Hit: Ctrl + Alt + Del, > Task Manager > Processes
> then hit: Mem Usage (twice) to get the processes that take most memory up at the top.

Is "dumprep.exe" there?
This happens to my PC occasionally and I have to quit Firefox and restart it, sometimes having to "end" the "dumprep" process using Task Manager since Firefox will not close by itself.

For a discussion on this problem see here: spam.weblogsinc.com
Strommer (42)
481812 2006-09-01 09:37:00 Dumprep.exe isn't running on my PC; I do run 3 FF extensions though. Hope these memory leaks will be addressed in the next build of FF. xmojo1 (4630)
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