Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

My Task manager shows 6 firefox.exe, what should I do?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

Lizzysmom
Lizzysmom
more options

My computer is running slow, so I went to Task Manager, and discovered 6 Firefox.exe listed. Why would that be? should I get rid of some of them?

My computer is running slow, so I went to Task Manager, and discovered 6 Firefox.exe listed. Why would that be? should I get rid of some of them?

All Replies (2)

FredMcD
FredMcD
more options

More than one process is normal for the current Firefox. http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/22/multi-process-firefox/

Multi-process Firefox is codenamed "e10s". https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/multiprocess

Try to disable multi-process tabs in Firefox. You can disable multi-process tabs in Firefox by setting the related prefs to false on the about:config page.

browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false

Type about:config<enter> in the address bar. If a warning screen comes up, press the I Accept the Risk button. At the top of the screen is a search bar.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

You can first try to limit the number of content processes to 1.

You may see three or more Firefox processes running.

  • one process for the main Firefox thread (user interface)
  • one or more content processes set via dom.ipc.processCount
    Options/Preferences -> General -> Performance
    remove checkmark: [ ] "Use recommended performance settings"
  • one process for the compositor thread (Windows;graphics)

You can find the current multi-process state on the Troubleshooting Information (about:support) page.

  • "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" -> "Application Basics":
    Multiprocess Windows
    Web Content Processes