27
Mar
Why I love Firefox; and what does it do with all the CPU and RAM
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Firefox is the best software that I have ever downloaded from a referral.

I got hooked on to it because of three reasons :

First, two years back, this was the best browser which had tabbed browsing. I remember the time when Firefox wasn’t used much. I used to frequent an internet cafe near my college, where internet surfing was done by opening hundreds of IE windows. In those days, I must have pressed Alt and Tab more times than the rest of the keyboard. Tabbed browsing was much more simpler. So when I got my own connection and laptop (On my last day on engineering, I threw my PC out of the window of the third floor), I found Firefox and haven’t been able to let go of it ever since.

Second, Add-Ons. For the first five minutes, I could not understand what an add-on on a browser could mean. For some reasons, I imagined it as a lot of toolbars. Slowly I found out about the whole new world of add-ons and what they could do for me. I’m still a fan, and the best one that I have found in recent times, is called Firebug. I am sure most of you know about it already, but in case you don’t, it can be found here.

The third reason became more apparent later on, as I ventured more towards Linux. Firefox could be used with ease on both the platforms. And now with the availability to synchronize bookmarks and stuff across machines, it is impossible that I will get off Firefox anytime soon.

But off late, Firefox has started messing around with my system. Especially after the launch of Firefox 2.0.0.3. The machine gets unresponsive a lot more times than it used to, the memory leaks have increased, and it takes up most of the CPU, and lots and lots of RAM.

Here is a screenshot :

Sometimes, the total memory usage goes up to a value as high as 650MB. Now that is a hell lot more than what a browser must be using. If any of you have been having such problems with Firefox, or if you know how to fix this, do drop in a comment.

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3 Responses to “Why I love Firefox; and what does it do with all the CPU and RAM”

  2. Dhruva Says:
    March 27th, 2007 at 11:45 pm

    nice blog buddy !!!!

    same here .. my CPU is crunching, crushing & crying over mighty arms of firefox.

    I hope someone replies to your post with a solution. (too lazy to google and find n fix myself)

    also, my rough calculation tells me that amount of memory used is directly proportional to number of tabs you have open at the moment and the formula is no. of tabs X 10,000. (eg - the moment you took this screenshot you must have 12 tabs open as mem usage is 120, 000)

    :) … tc ..

  3. Vercingetorix Says:
    March 27th, 2007 at 11:53 pm

    hey dhruva, that’s for that.

    the cpu usage goes up like that, especially if you keep jumping from one tab to the other. But if any time, you close firefox and restore session, it takes up 50-70% less RAM.

  4. Virtual Poona Blogger Says:
    March 29th, 2007 at 3:15 am

    This is an interesting question….I’m using XP Pro in my bedroom and connecting through a FON WiFi router which is connected to my Linksys router which is connected to a PC in the living room. Using Firefox since 2001 (dial-up at that time)and loving it more now. Occasionally I get a ‘Virtual Memory is low’msg but the auto solution from Windows increases my cache size so I just continue. This usually is a problem only if I’m downloading Torrents while simultaneously listening to streaming audio. As far as tabs go I try to minimize use of them and instead use the Back button. Since I have a Blog I use the old Mozilla suit simultaneously (Compose feature is great)while running Firefox 2.03 and everything is smooth. I compose on Mozilla, copy and paste to Blogger window and in less than 5 seconds my post is visible. And now with the Performancing extension from Firefox, I can’t complain!
    Anyway, I’m not much of a techie so RAM
    usage doesn’t mean too much to me, just enough to invest in a 2GB USB drive. Nice job on the Indian blog research !

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