Huge burst in virtual memory
Firefox 51.1.2, XP ad block and flash block
Recently all of the sudden Firefox occasionally takes an extra 400-600 GB of RAM when first loading some website; it builds up slowly and stays high and then drops back to normal, with no further activity on the part of the user.
It happens on various sites, not just one; and not every time on the same site.
As if something feels the need to update something and doesn't care much how much memory it takes to do it.
Recent changes - XP update for worry worm, and latest Firefox.
Very serious effect on a machine with 1.2GB of RAM! Everything goes into swap and the machine hangs with hourglass until it finishes.
If you know what changed to cause this, please back off.
Chosen solution
hi, we have seen some reports about similar symptoms with adblock plus with its recent update to version 2.9. can you please try to replace it with https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ and see if the problem continues.
Read this answer in context 👍 3All Replies (5)
400-600 MB not GB.
I meant 400-600 MB, not GB, extra RAM.
sorry for extra post. confusing buttons.
Modified by rhhardin
Task manager graph, from idle machine; batch job start Firefox and load althouse.blogspot.com, with no user input; then close it after it settles down to its final state (which used to be the state it reached without any memory spike).
The CPU usage fluctuates when it starts swapping.
The spike in question is all the stuff above the level memory line it settles to.
Chosen Solution
hi, we have seen some reports about similar symptoms with adblock plus with its recent update to version 2.9. can you please try to replace it with https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ and see if the problem continues.
Yes that's it. It also makes Firefox unaccustomedly snappy. Thanks.