Firefox extensions cause memory leak
A while back, I had posted an article on how to enhance your firefox experience.
Shortly thereafter, I came across an article on digg that pointed out several of my favourite extensions are responsible for memory leaks in Firefox, notably SessionSaver, FlashGot and Adblock (the last 2 only when installed together, not otherwise). So, what’s a extension-loving firefox geek to do?
Well 2 choices:
- Don’t keep Firefox open for too long – especially if you tend to have a lot of tabs open.
- From the same site that identified the memory leak problem, this firefox configuration hack. The hack essentially forces Firefox to move data into virtual memory when minimized, thus forcing the physical RAM usage. If you have a lot of tabs open when you minimize the window, it can increase the time taken for Firefox to restore itself.
Personally, my Firefox use tends to be run the application, open lots of tabs, read/file stuff and quit the app. I’ve put in the configuration hack on my Firefox install, but I don’t run into this slow restore after minimize problem simply because of the way I use Firefox.
Anyway, I hope this above info helps you fix your FF memory usage problems.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 17th, 2006 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Geek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on April 18, 2006 at 7:55 am Bookworm wrote:
Another option is to replace those extensions with comparable extensions that do not leak. Session Saver can be replaced with Session Manager and Adblock can be replaced with AdBlock Plus, which is the same as adblock, but without the mem leak & under active development. Adblock Plus also supports filter subscriptions, so you can (if you must) do without FiltersetG Update (which, according to the article, is what actually creates a mem leak when used with Flashgot).