Firefox Browser is generally considered as high resource using application but thats not the point always, since most applications usage similar resources when used for longer period and since this is a Browser application it needs to be running for a longer period and this increases its memory consumption.
If you check out your Windows Task Manager : Click Ctrl+Alt+Del : and you will find that generally Firefox is using heavy resources.
Now lets start scanning our browser to find out what may be the real problem behind this high memory usage :
Tip 1 : Try to Uninstall all the useless/Disabled Add-ons in your browser. Go to Tools>Add-on’s for uninstalling a firefox Add-on.
Tip 2 : Uninstall all useless or disabled firefox themes. Go to Tools>Add-on’s>Themes to perform this step. By doing this you can make firefox use lesser resources.
Tip 3 : Clear all the private data : Browsing History, Useless Download History, Saved Form & Search History, Cache data, Cookies, Saved Passwords & Sessions. This all data should always be removed in regular intervals for security purpose and in order to save memory usage. Deleting cookies regularly will keep your system secure because cookies contain important data and you need to take care of it.
Tip 4 : Reload Firefox in Regular Intervals : If you have been running firefox from a long period ie couple hours make sure you close all the tabs/windows once and open firefox’s fresh copy again. This was all the data will be closed and the firefox will work faster because of lower memory usage.
Tip 5 : Make sure you always have the latest version of browser, Add-on’s and all the plugins in order to make sure your browser runs more efficiently.
Make sure you note the firefox memory usage before trying out these 5 tweaks and then once you perform the above steps check out the memory usage, iam sure you will see great positive results. Do let me know if you have any other tips which can be useful for our other readers.
Swaroop says
Firefox 3.0 although out in Beta, has an amazing memory foot print. The new version has fixed many memory leaks in FF 2.0 !
Chetan says
Good tips there 🙂