6 Tips to Reduce Firefox Memory Consumption Problem

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Memory Consumptions problems of Firefox are really a big problem, Amit has asked me to share a few tricks to keep the memory low while using FireFox, here are a few tricks to keep your memory consumption low while using FireFox. FireFox 3.0 RC 3 released few days backs and the final version is scheduled for release this coming Tuesday.

All the following tweaks can be achieved by typing in about:config in the Firefox address bar and entering part of the bolded parameter into the filter field.

Browser.cache.memory.capacity - To reduce memory consumption reduce the amount of RAM that is assigned to Firefox.

1. Controls the maximum amount of memory to use for caching decoded images and chrome (application user interface elements).
2. This determines if and how much system ram Firefox will use to cache itself. The element does not exist and has to be created. The default value is set to automatic which means that Firefox uses a certain amount of RAM by default. (values for Firefox 2.x)

• 32 MB of RAM -> 2 MB

• 64 MB of RAM -> 4 MB

• 128 MB of RAM -> 6 MB

• 256 MB of RAM -> 10 MB

• 512 MB of RAM -> 14 MB

• 1024 MB of RAM -> 18 MB

• 2048 MB of RAM -> 24 MB

• 4096+ MB of RAM > 32+MB

It is also possible to turn this feature of by assigning the value 0 to it. This can greatly decrease the performance of Firefox and is not advised at all.

Browser.sessionhistory.max_entries

1. Reduce the amount of websites that are stored this way to reduce the memory consumption. It does not make a huge difference for most surfing habits to reduce the figure to 5 or 10.

Browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers

1. Automatically determine the maximum amount of pages to store in memory based on the total amount of RAM.
2. If you have 64 MB of Ram 1 page is stored in memory, 2 for 128 MB, 3 for 256 MB, 5 for 512 and 8 for everything higher than that figure.
3. If you never navigate using the Back and Forward buttons in Firefox you can set this value to 0 to disable the feature.
4. Otherwise reduce the amount of pages stored in memory to make this feature use less memory.

config.trim_on_minimize

1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.

Using FireFox in SafeMode

You can also try starting FireFox in SafeMode, which disables all extensions and themes and loads Firefox with the default template. If this method uses continuously less memory a theme or extension is most likely responsible for the high memory consumption.To run Firefox in safe-mode simply add the following parameter during startup “-safe-mode”.

Using Portable Version Of RC

If you use RC versions of FireFox, I suggest you use portable version of the RC version which can be downloaded from PortableApps.

If you are using the RC 3, wait for the Firefox 3.0 which is schedule to release this Tuesday June 17 2008 or download the portable version from PortableApps.