Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

How to keep FF from gradually increasing memory usuage until it freezes?

  • 2 replies
  • 16 have this problem
  • 19 views
  • Last reply by Bob Ratliff

more options

When I open Firefox it uses ~50k of memory. As I use FF the memory usage gradually goes up to ~500k then starts freezing. If I reload windows and FF the memory usage goes back to about 50k. I continually get messages saying that FF is using too much memory. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

When I open Firefox it uses ~50k of memory. As I use FF the memory usage gradually goes up to ~500k then starts freezing. If I reload windows and FF the memory usage goes back to about 50k. I continually get messages saying that FF is using too much memory. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

All Replies (2)

more options

This issue can be caused by an extension or plugin that isn't working properly.

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

  • Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

more options

Cor-el, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm afraid I don't understand how to check the extensions or plugins in safe mode. If I disable them one at a time it would take many days to determine which one is bad as it takes a day or so for the memory leak to accumulate even with a lot of use. When the culprit is identified do I disable it and do without that plugin or extension?

Thanks, jrra