Firefox uses excessive RAM

I connect to the Internet via dialup. I know, but that's all that is available to me. Anyway, when I go offline and DO NOT TOUCH my computer, Firefox begins to eat up RAM, to the point that the cooling fan is absolutely racing and the computer is unresponsive to keyboard or mouse inputs. Remember, Firefox is IDLE and OFFLINE with gmail, Outlook, Facebook and two other tabs open. I have confirmed that Firefox is the RAM user by looking at Task Manager. Why is this happening?

Both Gmail and Facebook may monitor for changes and dynamically update the page. Typically these would be small amounts of data, but some add-ons may spring into action, for example, to pre-load or download videos.
Can you replicate the problem in Firefox Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings). More info: [[Troubleshoot Firefox issues using Safe Mode]].
You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using
Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (''not'' Reset)
Any difference?

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Has anyone else noticed firefox using more RAM in windows 7?

I've noticed this lately and firefox has been using more RAM lately. I only have 1 tab open and it doesn't matter what page I would be on when it happens. It wouldn't bother me if I still had 6GB of RAM but I am going on 3.5 now. Can you guys fix this please? Just being on this page alone it's at 2.15GB when it would usually be at 1.78 and in processes it says 260,000k. I don't have any other windows or tabs open.

All is good now :D

Using excessive RAM

your application is using too much ram or even excessively so istemiyorum.Ben use firefox and my friends so I started to use chrome

your application is using too much ram or even excessively so istemiyorum.Ben use firefox and my friends so I started to use chrome

Recently upgraded to 7.0.1 and twice now have had warning that Firefox using excess memory.

Windows XP with 2Gb Ram

As it sounds like you know what you're doing, you know the way that iTunes works. However, because you have not archived/exported (please correct me if you have) your library. There should only be a slight difference between the two.
If you have not already been here, this also has some solutions.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore/lostmusic/
Zach

Why does AVG Internet Security keep warning me that Firefox is using excessive memory and advisin me to close it and reopen?

My browser was open and I was on Facebook. A message appeared from AVG Internet Security 2012, which is operating on my computer, telling me that FireFox was using excessive memory -- "260 MB of memory" and suggesting I close FireFox and reopen.
This has happened several times; also when I was on CNN and Yahoo webpages.

How much RAM do you have?
300MB is a lot if you only have 512MB, but not too much if you have 1 or 2 GB, or more.
http://blogs.avg.com/community/avg-feedback-update-week-44/
See - 3. AVG Advisor = Disable AVG Advisor performance notifications <br />
or try using the "Change when these notifications appear" and set a higher threshhold

Latest Firefox uses THREE TIMES as much RAM as Firefox 3.6, and is slower to boot.

My laptop has limited RAM - about 2GB. Of the browsers I've tried (Chrome, Safari, Firefox), Firefox uses the least RAM, but it still uses around 1GB of RAM to display about 10 tabs (gmail, facebook, reader, and assorted other websites) - this seems insanely high.
Thinking back, this didn't seem to be a problem "back in the day", so to speak, so I tried installing Firefox 3.6 again.
Lo and behold, with the same addons and the same tabs open, Firefox 3.6 is using 300MB of RAM where Firefox 21 used 980MB of RAM. In addition, navigation is noticeably snappier in Firefox 3.6 - probably because it doesn't have to page to disk as often (which would often lock up my computer using Firefox 21).
I thought that newer versions were supposed to improve memory performance, not triple the required memory...

Hmmm, I don't find that number of tabs has much effect. For example, at the moment, I have gmail, facebook, and google reader open. 600MB.
Searched a random word on Google, opened the first ten links (a mix of wikipedia, imdb, apple trailers, youtube, etc). 660MB. So quadrupling the number of tabs led to a 10% increase in memory usage... Which is fine. 6MB, on average, for a tab seems pretty reasonable to me.
It's the baseline usage that's high.

How on earth is it possible that Firefox uses 40% of my RAM, doing absolutely NOTHING?

I start Firefox and my RAM usage immediately goes to 40%. No other apps open, all Firefox add-ons disabled, no sites open in tabs, nothing. I have 3 Gig RAM, that's not much, but it's more than sufficient for browsers like Chrome and Opera. I really prefer Firefox, but as soon as I have just two tabs open, my RAM goes to 90% and my CPU usage goes to at least 80%. It then doesn't take long till it crashes. Although the Crash-report "promises" feedback, I never ever got any. . .
I realize Firefox is a free app, so perhaps I shouldn't be complaining, but hey, all browsers are free these days and I would hate to go back to Chrome.
What can I do to reduce Firefox's use of resources? As I'm typing this it is using 250,000 K of RAM, basically doing nothing, accept keeping this one support-tab open.

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.
*Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
You need to close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

Firefox uses too much CPU ff3.6.3 any HELP?

Firefox uses way too much CPU. Running MAC OSX and ff 3.6.3 using "activity monitor" shows Firefox uses typically 96% of my CPU !!
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== I noticed my computer was getting s- l -o w- e -r

Hello Kr.
This kind of issues are, unfortunately, more common and the we'd like. Thankfully, 99% of the cases are very easy to solve. However, you do need to diagnose what your exact problem is. Do this:
#run Firefox in [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode safe-mode] to disable all extensions, themes and plugins. If this fixes your issues, be them with RAM or CPU usage, then you know it's a problem with plugins, themes or extensions. Proceed to number 2. If safe-mode doesn't fix the issues, then read bellow, after this list;
#update all extensions, themes and plugins in your Firefox. If this doesn't solve the issues, proceed to the following number;
#disable all extensions, themes and plugins in your Firefox (not running safe-mode). Being certain that, as in safe-mode, the problems you're having have gone away, enable one plugin at a time. You should be certain that you WANT that plugin to be enabled, so keep your overall number of plugins as low as possible. When you encounter the problems, you know you've found a problematic plugin, so disable it for good. Keep enabling all plugins (except problematic ones) until you've gone through them all.
#enable one extension at a time. Again, be certain that you WANT that extension to be enabled, so keep your overall number of extensions as low as possible. Also, try the theme you want to have installed so see if that is what's causing the problem. When you encounter the problems, you know you've found a problematic extension/theme, so disable it for good. Keep enabling all your extensions (except problematic ones) until you've gone through them all;
#you're done! You've fixed your problems with problematic add-ons. If you want to keep using those problematic add-ons, please contant their author for support.
Ok, if disabling all extensions and plugins through safe-mode didn't work to bring Firefox's CPU and RAM usage to good levels, then you have different issue. The most likely scenario is that you have a third party software running on your computer that is messing with Firefox. Do as follows:
#try reinstalling Firefox. No data will be lost. You can get the latest version for free at [http://www.getfirefox.com/ getfirefox.com]. If that doesn't fix the problem, proceed;
#do a virus/malware check on your computer. If this doesn't fix it, proceed;
#disable all software running in the background that you don't want to have running in the background (in windows, this is done by pressing WINDOWS+R in your keyboard, typing "msconfig" (without the commas) and pressing enter. Now, under the "Startup" tab, you can uncheck the software you don't want, and reboot your system for changes to take effect. If you're unsure of what software you want running, ask someone with more experience). If this doesn't fix your issues with Firefox, proceed;
#check your firewall/antivirus/security suite for enabled functions/features that you don't want and/or may be conflicting with Firefox. You'll find that these features are most likely tied to Internet Security features, such as link scanners or URL checkers and the like. If you're not sure they are conflicting with Firefox, simply try to disable them to see whether or not that's true. As long as you don't browse the web with your antivirus completely off and your firewall completely turned off, there should be no problems. If this doesn't solve the issues, proceed to the following number;
#check your operating system security options, mainly advanced options that are not configured by default. While it's very unlikely that this may be the cause of the problem (after all, it's the last item on the list), it's remotely possible. If this doesn't work, proceed to the following point;
#update your modem/router software. There have been some reports that some modem/router software may cause Firefox and other browsers to loose performance and/or stability. If updating doesn't fix your issue, try other versions of the software, if possible. If you need support with this, contact your modem/router manufacturer. If this doesn't help, proceed;
#clean up your OS registry, using appropriate software. Make sure you've followed my instructions correctly, but if this all doesn't work, [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles create a new Firefox profile] (this can be temporary, of course) and see if the issues persist. Report here the results, so we can't help you further.

Firefox use too much memory

Hi
I had this problem one weak ago, I did all suggestion that this link said and it didn't help:
https://support.mozilla.org/ar/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram#w_disabling-memory-consuming-plugins
I don't have many taps oppened only 47 taps.
My firefox now usiing 2GB ram, can anyone help me how to fix it?
Thank you

Hello,
Can you please follow the instructions in the ''Memory troubleshooting tools'' section of the [[Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix]] support article and provide the about:memory section details in this ticket. We can take a look at it and suggest possible options.
Thank you

Plugin-container is using excessive CPU time with nothing going on, ie 50%. How do I inhibit this?????

ver 8.0.1. filling out this form, plugin-container is using excessive amount of CPU (> 50%) in basic an idle stage. This needs to be stopped. How do I do this???
thanks

Can you check this issue on Firefox 9?
* getfirefox.com

Why does firefox use more memory the longer it's open?

Firefox goes from using 90,000k when first opened to 293,000k after a couple of hours. It didn't used to go up that high. This is just Firefox this doesn't count what plugin container uses. This just started happening where it would get this high. I've not installed any new addons recently. The addons I do have are foxy tunes, adblock plus, Java console, Java quickstarter, move media player 7, Memory fox, Microsoft.net frame work assistance, personas, and yontoon layers. I've tried running in safe mode and disabling all the addons and I've still got the same result. I'm using firefox 3.618.

Sometimes application and programs don't report to the OS that it is no longer using the Ram and therefore the Ram Appears in use. Go to the Mac App Store and download a free Application called Free Memory. It's a useful tool that allows you to free that Ram that is not being used right from the Menu Bar.

Firefox using to much memory. What do I do?

'''Information:''' I am using Firefox version 13.0 (I am on the beta update channel). Firefox use's 600,000K (screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/EHwZr.png) and it slows down firefox a lot...
'''My system specs.'''
*Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bits)
*AMD Phenom II X4 955 @3.20GHz
*8GB DDR3 RAM
*Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
*Space (not sure if it matters though...): 3TB combined.

Hello xnij,
I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with Firefox 13.0.
You should visit the [http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ plugincheck] page to make sure all your plugins are up-to-date. If no noticeable change occurs, try launching Firefox in Add-Ons-disabled mode. Try enabling and disabling different Add-Ons to see if any of them is using more memory than the other. You could also take a look at the [[Firefox consumes a lot of CPU resources|firefox cpu resources]] and the [[High memory usage|high memory usage]] support articles.
Thank you for your patience and all your interest in Mozilla Firefox. Please let me know how it goes and please mark my answer as solution if you found it helpful.

Firefox 4.0 RAM usage soars over time in Mac OSX 10.6.7 and is never freed

Firefox 4.0 RAM usage typically averages between 400-750MB for light usage (1-2 windows, 1-3 tabs each). Memory usage skyrockets over time, and/or if I open more tabs or windows where I've seen it consume well over 1 GB of RAM of my total 4 GB. Firefox 4.0 never seems to free much of this RAM relative to what it's consuming either.
The only plugins enabled are QuickTime, Flash and Java (and disabling any of these to use Firefox efficiently should not be required).
The worst I've ever seen was it using 1.27 GB of RAM when all I had open was Facebook (1 window, 0 tabs). Something is not right with this browser...Shouldn't it free what it isn't using?

Same here. I upgraded to FF5 yesterday morning and by this morning FF was using 1.26GB RAM and over 1GB Virtual Memory (less than 24 hours). I've had this problem ever since I started using FF with version 3...
The only add-on I use is Firebug.

Firefox eating my ram

I just updated my frefox from 21 to 22 and now it is making my mac run at full blast eating up my ram

see: [[Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix|Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix]]

Firefox uses all CPU resources when loading pages with lots of images.

I just installed XP, and when I load pages with a ton of images, say, tumblr, Firefox uses ALL CPU time until it finishes loading.
But because of the slowdown, it takes forever to download all the images.
It's not related to my connection, I've got 15mbit downstream.
I have Win7 on a different partition, and I have never had this problem.
As far as I know, all my drivers and XP are up to date.
I could have an old driver lurking, should I be looking at something specific?
I've tried to find something on Google, but I've not found anything really helpful...

I haven't gotten around to installing antivirus (or anything else, for that matter).
If I watch in Task Manager, Firefox.exe goes to 100% as soon as I load the page.
And no, that guide didn't help much. I don't have any addons or plugins yet, this is a new install.
I got a huge slowdown a bit ago, it's because it was using almost 1.5GB of RAM o_o

Firefox uses excessive RAM

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