How can I fix a drastic and sudden increase in memory usage?

Question

Before I start, I've already been having slight issues since the middle of last year, but I thought nothing of it. Firefox starting up using a good chunk of memory was normal, and I could run it alongside my other programs just fine. However, about 3 or 4 days ago, Firefox has started to spike in memory usage, to the point where it slows my entire computer down, will not load pages, and it's generally a mess. I always have to force close it, too, because whenever I close it conventionally, it's still open in the background. I've been having the background issue for a few months, but it's never been a large problem until the last few days. I had thought, at first, that it was the result of some programs that got installed as part of another installer. I had no issue with the installer, considering it came from a trusted forum for game design on an official topic, from a veteran member. However, it installed multiple toolbars and multiple programs. I went through all of them, uninstalled them, cleared my registry, everything was gone. However, this memory problem reared its ugly head, later. I uninstalled, reinstalled. Didn't work. I tried to reset firefox, but it stayed open in the background, and I could not reset it. I disabled my addons (ones I've been using for over a year, now), nothing. I tried to open Firefox with all addons disabled, but it stayed open in the background and refused to re-open properly. I'm actually on another browser right now because Firefox is no longer working for much of anything... I also put a couple of attachments up to show the increase in question. It starts at around 270,000 K (though the screenshot shows around 312,000), then after about 4 or 5 minutes on my homepage, shoots up to well over 1,000,000 and it basically stops functioning. If anyone has any additional steps they think I could take, I would appreciate it.

Answer 1

'''[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode Start Firefox in Safe Mode]''' {web link}
While you are in safe mode;
Type '''about:preferences#advanced'''<Enter> in the address bar.
Under '''Advanced,''' Select '''General.'''
Look for and turn off '''Use Hardware Acceleration'''.
Poke around safe web sites. Are there any problems?
'''[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix]'''
This article describes how to make Firefox use less memory to make it run faster and prevent crashes.