Firefox: Reduce memory usage
Lowering the memory usage of Firefox is very helpful, especially with older systems: The Mozilla browser often takes up a few 100 MB of RAM and, depending on the available RAM, slows down the entire computer.
Firefox: Reduce memory usage through add-on control
In itself, Firefox is a brisk browser - as long as it doesn't stand up for itself. By checking installed add-ons, you can help him get back on his feet:
- Not only should you always use the latest version of "Firefox", you should also keep the plugins up to date.
- To update, open "Tools | Add-Ons", click on "Extensions" in the following dialog and then on "Update".
- To keep the browser and add-ons automatically up to date in the future, open "Tools | Settings" and click on "Advanced". Go to the "Update" tab below. In the "Automatically check for updates for" area, activate the "Firefox" and "Installed add-ons" options and confirm with "OK".
- Test in the safe mode of the browser whether the extensions are actually responsible for the excessive memory hunger. To do this, right-click on the program icon, select "Properties" and type in the dialog behind the program call the parameters "-safe-mode".
- Confirm and open the browser. In the start dialog, activate "Deactivate all add-ons" and click "Continue working in safe mode". Check in Task Manager how much less memory is now being used. A few megabytes of difference are normal, since the extensions themselves take up space and have to reserve additional memory for some functions. Only with a significantly larger difference do you actually have a problem with an extension.
- Then restart Firefox in normal mode. Then open "Tools | Add-Ons | Extensions", mark an extension, click on the associated "Deactivate" button and restart Firefox. Check whether the storage behavior has improved. Then "activate" the extension again and repeat the process with the next one. In this way you can identify and deactivate the problematic add-on. Suspicious candidates for memory errors or high memory requirements are Adblock, Fasterfox, Forecastfox, Tabbrowser Extensions and the Google Toolbar.
Optimize Firefox configuration and reduce memory usage
The cache speeds up the browser. However, if it migrates to the swap file due to insufficient memory, the effect is reversed. Therefore, you should match the cache to the RAM memory.
- To do this, write "about: config" in the address line and press Enter.
- In the "Filter" field, type "browser.cache".
- Check in the list that the setting "browser.cache.memory.enable" has the value "true" and change it if necessary by double-clicking.
- Now double click on the "browser.cache.memory.capacity" setting to edit. If you have 4 GB of RAM, leave the value at 65536. If you have less RAM, change the value proportionally, for example to 16384 with 1 gigabyte of RAM. To do this, double-click on the setting, enter the new numerical value in the dialog and confirm the change with "OK".
- Free RAM: Another configuration setting ensures that Firefox releases a large part of the memory when minimized. To do this, right-click on an empty space in the dialog window and open "New | Boolean". Then enter "config.trim_on_minimize" and confirm with "OK". In the next dialog choose "true" and "OK". After restarting Firefox, the setting is effective.
Clear unnecessary data to make Firefox faster
Firefox saves downloads and records all visited websites in the chronicle. You only need this data for a short time - delete it regularly, preferably automatically.
- To do this, open "Tools | Settings" and click on "Privacy".
- Under "Chronicle" leave "Save visited pages for the last" activated, but set the value to "1" - Firefox only keeps data for one day.
- You can also deactivate the "Remember downloaded files" option if you do not want to save them. "OK" confirms the changes.
- Now open "Tools | Downloads". Each download in the list can be deleted separately using the associated "Remove" link. Click on "Clean up" to clear the list.
We have put together more tuning tips for the Mozilla browser here.