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Firefox uses too much Memory (RAM) - How to fix
Firefox sometimes uses more memory (RAM) than it should. This can make Firefox slower, and in extreme cases, it can even make Firefox crash. This article describes how to make Firefox use less memory. Depending on your operating system, you can review and monitor memory usage through specific tools.
The latest Firefox version includes improvements about memory usage. Update Firefox to the latest version. Extensions and themes can cause Firefox to use more memory than it normally would. To determine if an extension or theme is causing Firefox to use too much memory, start Firefox in Safe Mode and observe its memory usage. In Safe Mode, extensions and themes are disabled, so if you notice a significant improvement, you can try disabling or uninstalling extensions. Many web pages have content you don't really need that uses memory to display. To prevent automatic loading of unwanted Flash content, use the "Ask to Activate" setting in the Add-ons Manager Plugins panel. See the Set Adobe Flash to "click to play" on Firefox article for details. Some extensions allow you to block such unnecessary content; for example: For certain plugins that play videos such as Flash, the content rendering in full screen can be accelerated by hardware. It eases memory usage in case of a dedicated graphics card memory. Firefox hardware acceleration eases memory usage in case of a dedicated graphics card memory. Firefox's memory usage may increase if it's left open for long periods of time. A workaround for this is to periodically restart Firefox. You can configure Firefox to save your tabs and windows so that when you start it again, you can start where you left off. See Restore previous session - Configure when Firefox shows your most recent tabs and windows for details. Each tab requires Firefox to store a web page in memory. If you frequently have more than 100 tabs open, consider using a more lightweight mechanism to keep track of pages to read and things to do, such as: Having many applications running simultaneously may cause your computer to run slowly and other applications to as well. By closing down some of the unnecessary applications, memory usage will be reduced. If you exhausted all tips in the previous sections and your memory usage is still close to the maximum, maybe it's time for you to add more memory to your computer. RAM is cheap and will provide a huge performance boost.Table of Contents
Updating Firefox to the latest version
Extensions and themes
Disabling memory consuming extensions and themes
Hiding intrusive content
Checking Flash hardware acceleration
Checking Firefox hardware acceleration
Restarting Firefox
Using fewer tabs
Other applications using up memory
Memory troubleshooting tools
Even if you're not a C++ programmer, you can try your hand at some of the tools and tips Firefox developers use to debug leaks.Add RAM to your computer