Firefox Resource-Hog: A Solution For Your CPU Usage?If you're like me -- and I know you are, because you're almost certainly coming here from Google -- you have a problem with Firefox. Or rather Firefox is creating a problem for you by consuming all your Windows XP system resources, eventually hanging up and completely freezing.
The problem was bad in 1.5 and worse in 2.0, in my experience. And Mozilla clearly couldn't give a crap. When you go to their "support" page for this problem, you get the standard help desk line -- it's not our program, YOU are doing something wrong. Denial, denial, denial...
They offer several suggestions. I tried them all, and no luck. Then I went surfing and tried everyone else's solutions. No luck. Finally, I took one of those random stabs in the dark. The fact I am typing this in a Firefox browser is testament to the fact that it works (so far). It's far from perfect, but it's temporarily stopped me from switching to Opera. (For how long, I cannot say.)
The Mozilla help page mentions running programs in compatibility mode. Specifically, it claims that running Firefox in compatibility mode can create excessive CPU consumption. So I checked, but I wasn't running in compatibility mode, so that wasn't the problem.
After exhausting all other possibilities (disabling extensions, browser cache, etc.), I decided to defy the support tips and to run Firefox in compatibility mode for Windows 98. I've occasionally found this tactic useful with other balky apps.
It appears to have worked. So here's how to proceed.
1) Start Firefox in safe mode. Disable all add-ons and reset all user preferences. I have been re-enabling add-ons successfully since the fix, but it's prudent enough to take them out first.
2) Go to the Firefox exe file (or just your start menu short-cut). Right-click on the icon and select properties.
3) You'll see a few tabs. The one you want is "Compatibility." Check the box labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows 98/Windows Me" from the dropdown box. It will look like this:
4) Restart Firefox.
5) Note: You can try this part first if you want. Type about:config into the address bar of Firefox.
6) Type "browser" in the filter field.
7) Make the following changes (basically you are disabling all disk cache functions):
browser.cache.disk.enable -- set to false
browser.cache.memory.enable -- set to false
browser.sessionstore.enabled -- set to false
browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash -- set to false
8) Close all Firefox windows and wait for the process to finish of its own accord. You may be tempted to terminate the process from the Task Manager. Don't.
When I followed these steps, I found myself with a reasonably functional Firefox 2.0.0.11. Your results may vary. I've seen plenty of suggested solutions which the author claimed were a sure fix, but which did not work for me.
But for all of you who have been struggling with this, I suspect any hope of a solution is better than what you've been finding so far.
Full disclosure: The cache change will cause page loading to be a bit slower (even on DSL). CPU consumption is still a bit on the high side while actively loading pages (70-80 percent), but nothing like it was before (i.e., Firefox 2.0.0.x was completely unusable before).
After a few hours browsing, I have noted that the CPU usage is creeping upward. Rebooting the browser fixes that, but again, not ideal.
Leave a comment here to let me know whether this worked for you. If nothing else, let us add to the massive amount of Internet rumination on this topic.
Good luck!
(Given the vast pervasiveness of this problem, I will gladly accept tips from any who are moved to do so. God knows, I would have paid one to fix this problem. You can find a donate button on the top right column of my i-Ching page.)
Posted by J.M. Berger || Permalink
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2 Comments:
Ugh, I had this same problem. Have you upgraded yet to Firefox 3? They seem to have resolved the memory issue, and I haven't had any other problems, though I hear some people are encountering bugs.
I have indeed upgraded and it works a lot better.
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