There are many Windows and Mac users who spend about of their time staring at open up tabs in their web browser. It'due south the center point of activity, allowing you to reply to emails, play games, check social media, lookout man videos, and more than. The possibilities are countless, but, unfortunately, your organisation resource are not.

Browsers similar Mozilla Firefox tin and will utilize up available system memory the more you use them. This can cause your computer to tedious downward and stop responding, specially if you tin can't figure out the cause. If Firefox is using as well much retentivity during general usage, you'll need to try these fixes to see if they resolve the problem.

Restart Firefox

All web browsers suffer from memory leak problems, including Firefox and Chrome. Memory leaks are usually caused when a browser, with multiple running tabs, is left running for a long catamenia of time. After a while, the open tabs begin to eat up and claim most of the bachelor arrangement resources, leaving your PC struggling to respond.

If that happens, and yous retrieve Firefox is the cause, an piece of cake solution is simply to restart Firefox. Closing Firefox may not fully cease whatsoever running Firefox processes, however. If you're running Windows, you'll need to check that all running Firefox processes have closed in Windows Task Manager.

  1. To do this, right-click the taskbar and select the Task Director option.
  1. In the Job Manager window, find any running Firefox processes. To end them, right-click the entry and select the End Task option. This will force Firefox to close.
  1. If you're on Mac, you tin can force quit a running Firefox window by correct-clicking the Firefox icon on the Dock and selecting Quit. If Firefox doesn't close and stops responding entirely, repeat the procedure, selecting Force Quit instead.

Disable Firefox Extensions, Plugins, and Themes

Firefox is a customizable browser with various add-ons that can extend its functionality, from themes to extensions (similar to how Chrome extensions work). Unfortunately, adding too many add-ons can occasionally take a detrimental impact on your browser performance, peculiarly if you're running on a lower-powered PC.

If y'all're wondering whether a Firefox theme, plugin, or extension is causing Firefox to use likewise much memory, you'll need to disable them. Here's how.

  1. To disable Firefox add-ons, open Firefox and select the hamburger carte du jour icon in the pinnacle-correct. From the menu, select the Add together-ons option.
  1. In the Add-ons carte, you'll meet options for Extensions, Themes, and Plugins on the left. In Extensions, select the slider next to an enabled extension to disable information technology. To remove information technology, select the three-dots carte du jour icon next to it, and so select Remove from the menu.
  1. If you're using a custom Firefox theme, switch back to the Default theme by selecting the Enable button in the Add-ons > Themes menu. Every bit the default Firefox theme, it offers the to the lowest degree likelihood of causing unnecessary memory usage.
  1. If you're worried that a Firefox plugin (such equally a media playback plugin) is causing issues, select the three-dots menu icon next to a plugin in the Add-ons > Plugins menu. From the menu, select the Never Actuate option to disable it.

Cheque For Firefox Updates

Each new Firefox release brings new features and bug fixes that can help to reduce the impact of known bug, including unnecessary memory usage. If Firefox is out of date, you might be missing a crucial bug prepare.

  1. To check for new Firefox updates, select the hamburger menu icon in the meridian-correct. From the menu, select the Preferences option.
  1. In the Preferences card, ringlet down to the Firefox Updates section. To check for new updates, select the Check for updates choice. Firefox will check for updates and, if an update is bachelor, it will update automatically or prompt you to install it, depending on your settings.

Use The about:memory Menu to Minimize Retention Usage

Mod browsers similar Firefox are designed to try and minimize their retention footprint, even if it doesn't always work. If Firefox is using too much memory, you tin can take advantage of a hidden settings bill of fare called nearly:memory to force information technology to apace reduce active memory usage.

  1. To do this, type well-nigh:retention in the address bar and press enter.
  1. From the list of bachelor options in the about:retentivity settings menu, select the Minimize memory usage option. If successful, a Memory minimization completed message will appear below the options. You can repeat this process at any point.

Switch to Firefox Condom Mode

Firefox Safety Way is a special browser mode that helps you to identify and fix issues with the browser. If you suspect that a problem with a Firefox add-on or setting is causing unnecessary retentiveness usage, switching to Safe Way can help to diagnose the problem.

  1. To switch to Firefox Condom Mode, select the hamburger card icon in the top-right. From the carte du jour, select Assist > Restart with add together-ons disabled.
  1. Confirm you desire to restart Firefox in Safe Mode by selecting the Restart option in the pop-upwards.
  1. Firefox will restart, giving you the option to open Safe Fashion or reset Firefox entirely. Select Outset in Safe Mode to launch Prophylactic Fashion.

The Firefox window volition launch as normal, simply with all extensions, themes, and plugins disabled. Use your browser as normal while monitoring system resource usage. If it isn't using a huge amount of memory, this would indicate a trouble with Firefox during normal usage, and you'll accept to investigate further.

Alter Hardware Acceleration Settings

To maximise the ability of your system resources, Firefox uses hardware acceleration to balance out the demands of various running tabs and services. This tin can cause an increased need on your system resources which can cause other running apps to deadening down or crash.

If that'due south the case, y'all'll need to change Firefox's hardware acceleration settings and, if necessary, disable it entirely.

  1. To start, open up the Firefox settings menu by selecting the hamburger bill of fare icon > Preferences.
  1. Under the General > Performance section of the Preferences tab, uncheck the Apply recommended performance settings option to view additional settings. From there, reduce the Content procedure limit value to limit the number of additional running Firefox processes and reduce memory usage in the process. Alternatively, disable hardware acceleration completely by unchecking the Apply hardware dispatch when available option.

Reset Firefox to Default Settings

When all else fails, and you lot tin't diagnose a problem with Firefox's settings, add together-ons, or features, you may find that resetting it to default settings can help to resolve a problem where Firefox is using also much memory.

  1. To do this, open up Firefox and select the hamburger menu icon > Assist > Troubleshooting Data.
  1. In the Troubleshooting Information menu, select the Refresh Firefox option in the peak-correct corner.
  1. Firefox will warn you that this volition erase any browser settings, add-ons, and customization. Information technology won't, however, remove your bookmarks and browsing history. To ostend, select the Refresh Firefox selection to begin the process.
  1. Once the reset process is complete, Firefox will restart. You'll see a Success message, allowing you lot to restore previous tabs and windows. Ostend your choice, then select Let'south go to resume using Firefox.

Using Firefox Effectively

If Firefox is using too much memory, the fixes above should assistance to resolve the trouble in most cases. If they don't, you may need to consider alternative solutions, such equally switching to another browser or upgrading your hardware. A irksome browser could signal to other issues that might crave diagnostic tools to help identify and fix.

In one case Firefox is working properly, yous can accept reward of its many privacy-focused features. For case, you can make Firefox safer to employ with extra security settings, use Firefox Monitor to alert you to any privacy breaches, or you can use Firefox Individual Network to stay anonymous online.