firefox memory usage - 1GB!

My firefox uses tons of memory. It's not unusual after an hour or two of browsing to end up with 800mb-1gb of memory usage, according to windows task manager. I do have a lot of add-ons enabled.

So I installed the "about:addons-memory" add-on today, which shows the current memory usage of each add-on. According to the add-on, all the add-ons together, including Firefox itself, is using 79.81mb currently. I also installed the plugin "Tab Data" which shows how much memory each tab is using. Currently the one open tab is using 1.42mb.

Currently Windows task manager shows Firefox is using 303mb, with just a single tab open (about:addons-memory).

I have a few plugins enabled but most are set to either "ask to activate" or "never activate".

So why is Firefox using 303mb with only a single tab open when the add-ons seem to be using so little memory? I did notice one little bit of info at the bottom of "about:addons-memory":

"Note: Many Add-ons, especially non-JetPack ones, may include static or dynamic overlays that may add scripts, DOM or styles directly to the browser. Such things cannot be distinguished from the browser itself and hence cannot be counted towards the add-on. As a result the actual add-on memory usage may be a lot higher than reported here!"

When I start Firefox in safe mode, it starts with around 100mb memory usage according to windows task manager. With add-ons re-enabled it starts back up at around 250mb on Google's search page. Is the "about:addons-memory" add-on just reporting false memory readings about the addons? It must. Is there any way to get actually memory usage of each add-on so I can pinpoint what is causing the issue, or could it be that they are all using more than it is showing? The thing is, my add-ons are installed for a reason - I use them. But 1gb of memory usage seems extreme - it seems that even after I close all my tabs, it still uses the same amount of memory until I close Firefox and restart.

The trim_on_minimize tweak does nothing for me. I created the entry and set it to true but minimizing makes zero difference in memory usage by Firefox.

The thead I started on Amazon working oddly was totally separate from the memory usage of Firefox in general. Amazon is the only site that gives me that issue which is why I started a different thread about it.

Anyways, this was a nice waste of an afternoon. Totally uninstalled Firefox following your guide on the other thread. Used MozBackup, Revo uninstaller, ran ccleaner, wiped profile, rebooted, ran ccleaner again, then re-installed the latest Firefox.

Memory usage immediately after re-installing: 160mb - just as before

Used Mozbackup to restore bookmarks and extensions. Memory usage immediately after restarting and configuring extensions: 350mb, just as before.

After a short while browsing - memory usage: 500mb - 1GB, just as before.

So I give up. I tried individually disabling each and every extension last night, and restarting Firefox between tries. No individual extension seemed to have any noticeable effect on memory usage, other than a few MB at most. Yet in safe mode it immediately drops from 350mb at startup to 160mb. So I can't figure it out. It seems disabling individual extensions only makes a small impact, yet all disabled in safe mode makes a huge impact. According to "about:addons-memory" all my extensions added together are only hitting under 80MB, so I don't get it. Also, there seems to be major memory leaks, as the longer I surf, the more memory gets used up, even after I close all but 1 tab. I think Firefox just has terrible memory manamagement. That might not be so important on a 64bit system with 8-16GB, but on my 32bit system with 3GB, Firefox is taking a significant chunk of memory from me.

I'm giving up on this I guess - I'm hoping to get a new system later this year once Windows 10 comes out, depending on what processors are out there. For now I guess I just have to suffer with the high memory usage.

Reducing memory usage - Firefox - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

Why wouldn't I use the 32bit version? My system is 32bit.

What version are you using ? I found v29 worked well and once they changed the GUI in v30 things started to go wrong v32 and v37 is sort of ok v38 lots of problems again.

I am using v37 and after completely un-installing and deleting the profile (all I saved was an export of my bookmarks) then re-downloading all the plugins / extensions again it is working better than it was (still no where near perfect though) I noticed that by not having Silverlight installed made a significant difference also... I avoided all the usual recommended tweaks in about:config also this time as I found that in my case they never made any noticeable difference anyway. In comparison to yours I would say mine is using roughly 100mb less however if I have more than 4 tabs open with sites that use Flash then the memory usage is unpredictable. IDM and KeeFox can cause it to be troublesome also... make sure plugin container is not blocked by your firewall as that repeatedly trying to access the net and failing bumps the memory usage up.

I dunno I am no expert on the subject, to me it seems like FF is a bit foxed in the last 9 versions and does not play nice with Flash being the bottom line... I just thought it might be of some use to you if I told you what I have tried... not really found a concrete solution as yet but like I say it is better than it was.