Reduce Firefox Memory Usage

[Computer_Freak]

Many Firefox users notice that the open source browser can take a lot of memory, sometimes several hundreds of mega bytes. Fortunately Firefox lets you control to some extent how much memory it will consume.

Most of the time, Firefox doesn't use abnormal amount of system memory, however it does sometimes due to other sources, like number of plug-ins, themes and extensions. It is also highly recommended that you have the latest version of Firefox as the memory usage is minimized.

Firefox fixed a number of memory leaks in version 1.5.0.1, so make sure you have the latest stable version. Now let's optimize Firefox to use less memory and to work faster.

Type about:config in the address bar.

• create a new boolean entry config.trim_on_minimize and set it to true
• set browser.cache.memory.capacity to a fixed size (the default values are: for 256 MB RAM - 14336, 512 MB RAM - 22528, 1 GB RAM - 32768). A good value to try is 16384.
• set browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers to 0
• change image.animation_mode to none

Go to Tools/Options.

• set the disk cache memory to a low value (less than 50 MB)
• turn off Java
• try to avoid these extensions: Adblock, Fasterfox, IE Tab, Session Saver. Use Adblock Plus instead of Adblock.
• don't use more than 5 extensions

Using these tips, I could make Firefox use 50 MB of RAM on average, from more than 100 MB of RAM before.

[Gurkan.]

Good stuff!

My firefox has been running at sub 50MB mark for the entire day.
It works great for me.

Thanks a lot.

[timon]

Download History

Firefox can slow down or hang if the download history is allowed to accumulate. Clear the download history (you may need to exit Firefox and delete the file "downloads.rdf" from the profile folder in some cases) and change this setting to solve the problem:

Tools -> Options -> Privacy and uncheck "Remember what I've downloaded"

[XDRoX]

Memory Usage Upon Minimize
This is how to reduce the memory usage when you minimize your Firefox.

1. Type about:config in Firefox address bar and press Enter
2. Right click in the page and select New > Boolean
3. Type config.trim_on_minimize in the box that pops up. Press Enter
4. Select True and then press Enter
5. Restart Firefox.

What it will do is, when each time you minimize your Firefox, the memory usage will dramatically drop down to 10Mb but then it will slowly increase up to 50Mb. When you maximize it back, it will stay on 50Mb or maybe 70Mb.