Why do we continually have to tolerate Firefox's ridiculous mem leak?

[WastedJoker]

We're 3 versions in and absolutely zero has been done about this - it's been a continuous thorn in Mozilla's side yet they ignore it.

Look at this - 2/3rds of a gig of ram used merely for a 3-tab firefox browser session.

Is there anything I can do to ease the memory leak/usage or do we have to keep putting up with it?

[Anibal P]

Stop using addons in FF

I have been using FF since the Thunderbird days and have never had leak issues, but then again I only use base addons

[cabron]

But it's not a bug, it's a feature :p

[alpha2beta]

Thats Why I use Chrome 4 beta

[halcyoncmdr]

I don't even use Firefox and it's plain as day that add-ins cause more memory usage. Cache causes memory usage. What is the big deal if you are still able to browse? Non-used memory is wasted memory. It sits there doing nothing when it can be used to speed up your system.

[strotee]

If it bothers you that much then report the issue to Mozilla.

Bugzilla

[3.14159265]

I believe there is a configuration modification that you can do to cut down on memory usage when it's minimized.

EDIT: If you are on Windows, set config.trim_on_minimize to true.

[bigmehdi]

I've just open 3 tabs. Only 100 Mb indicated on resource manager (that's nothing on my 6Gb system).

I use ton of extensions. Nope doesn't leak for me.

[ilev]

Thats Why I use Chrome 4 beta

Try Memoryfox or AFOM addons.

[Shadrack]

Thats Why I use Chrome 4 beta

+1 my combined chrome memory usage is <150MB atm.

[DOOOMKULTUS]

Stop using addons in FF

That is FF's USP. It has nothing else to offer of greater value than other browsers if not for Addons.

I use Opera, always found it to be best among memory management of all browsers from personal experience.

[Blackhearted]

Looks like a problem with your config tbh. As i have 10 tabs open and am not even using a third of your memory usage. And at it's worst it only hits maybe half that.

[Calum Veteran]

Thread moved to: Help & Discussion Center ? Software Discussion & Assistance ? Web Browser Discussion ? Firefox (Gecko)

[trieste]

Spend some time isolating the culprit extension(s) instead of, you know, putting the blame on something which has not deserved it since 2 years ago?

You did not even confirm the leak in Safe Mode... call yourself a Neowin geek. :)

[crispkreme]

My memory usage at the most is 200MB. If its bothering you, try creating a new profile.

[djesteban]

Ok, disable ALL addons and then see if you have the same memory footprint... I bet it won't. And, if you are not happy with Firefox, try an alternative, like Chrome for example.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Fx memory handling is pretty garbage, addon system or not the browser still doesn't do as an efficient job as the other two leaders, Opera and Chrome.

[MR_Candyman]

I can confirm the memory leak. It's what got me to switch to Opera in the first place. I NEVER used addons, just default install. It was a huge PITA and they never did anything about it. Yes, I did submit bug reports

[Bhav]

I've never had a memory leak like that...so I'm not really "tolerating" anything :p

[draelas]

oh no! this program is using 600mb of my 4 gigs of ram! what good is all your ram if you dont use it. maybe FF has a mem leak, but is it slowing itself down? no. is it slowing your system down.. no.

[JoeyF]

I've been using Firefox ever since the Firebird days, I've never had a single issue with memory links, and there are times when I have 10-15 tabs open.

I've seen a few people experience this memory leak at work, however. Normally they're playing flash games (Farmville especially).

[brentaal]

Ask the extension author.

[ToneKnee]

Sorry but I had about 20+ tabs open across 3 windows and it was only using about 250mb of RAM, so what's the problem? Your setup, it's obvious a plugin or an addon is causing the problem. Stop saying crap that Mozilla have done nothing to solve the problems, because they have, it's one of the browsers which use the least memory.

Back up your bookmarks, create a new profile, and add a new addon one by one until you find out which one is causing the problem.

[Dance.]

Yep, a rogue extension :shiftyninja:!

[MR_Candyman]

oh no! this program is using 600mb of my 4 gigs of ram! what good is all your ram if you dont use it. maybe FF has a mem leak, but is it slowing itself down? no. is it slowing your system down.. no.

Honestly, it's probably that kind of attitude which is why they don't ever fix this problem. I had it at times using up to 1.5 gig of memory, and when I only had 2 gigs of it, ya, it wa s ahuge pain in the behind. Even now I only have 4 gig and would hate to lose over a gig of it to a browser