Hello,

Just thought that I would share this with everyone.

Have you ever noticed that in the task manager Firefox takes up so much memory. here is a little tip to put it in its place.

PROCEED VERY CAREFULLY.

1 open firefox, type about:config and press enter

2 right click on the page and select new option then select Boolean

3 enter the following string config.trim_on_minimize press enter

4 find the value and make sure that it is set to true

5 restart firefox,

what this has done is when the user minimizes firefox, it will reduce its memory consumption.


Hope this helps

Your right, it uses like 40,000 k but i dont get part 1
where do you type about:config?

In the address bar, Commander Gman.

Ok thanks tg1911 so im there the next thing is i dont get is right clicking but where? in the open space with lots of info?

Just click anywhere in the open window, mouse over New, and select Boolean.
In the box that opens, just paste this into it:
config.trim_on_minimize
Click the OK button.
Now, look for the entry you created (config.trim_on_minimize), and make sure it says true, under the Value column.
If it says false, just double-click the entry (config.trim_on_minimize), and it will change to true.
Close the about:config window.

Ok thanks again tg1911 i was able to save more or less 20,000 k

You're welcome, Commander Gman.
Glad to be of help.

Whoa thanks a lot

Thanks for the tip!

It works great in XP! I didn't notice any change at all when I did it in Vista.

I used this tip for a while but have reversed it. Had no ill effects at first, but over time Firefox became unstable. Changing the value back to false fixed that. Your mileage may vary, depending on what extensions you have installed and how many tabs and windows you have open at one time and other factors. From what I've read, it is common for extension writers to fail to test for memory leaks before they post the extension. Altho i think Firefox 2.x still leaks on its own.

Remember that this trick will only reduce Ff's memory consumption when you minimize the browser window(s). Whether left minimized or not, as long as the browser is open, memory consumption will steadily increase again until it is minimized again.

Thanks

Thanks nigglesnush85 , I've just installed it and seen a big reduction too 40,000K down to 3,000K - pretty good

Thanks also Papakid - I'll pay attention to behaviour etc.

i tried this ... memory usage dropped from 60,000 K to 6,000 K

but, i kept my task manager open and monitored Firefox.exe and i noticed it was steadily rising back up. Anyone know why this is? is it a leak from extensions ?

I use FF 2.0.0.4 with a whole lot of add-ons like:

NoScript
ADblock Plus
Redirect Remover
Dom Inspector
Download Statusbar
Download Them All
Fasterfox
IETab
Link Alert
Yahoo Toolbar
Bugmenot

Awesome

that was a very nice trick knocks off about 20k of usage.

Hello,

Glad it works,

With regards to xcr0okedx's question, The ammount of pluggins that the browser is using will affect how much memory it uses. try uninstaling an extension then testing FF and see how much difference it makes.

hope this helps

I know it sounds kind of stupid, but how do I undo this change?

Do you just change to value to false?

Setting it to False, would disable the entry.
Just double-click the entry, to toggle it to False.

Thanks so much! 5/5 on your tips!

Firefox's Before: 77-80k
Firefox's After: 10-15k


:D

i have a question:how do u remove an entry??

Set windows to show hidden files,
How to see hidden files in Windows

Close Firefox.
Double click My Computer / Local Disk (C:) / Documents and Settings / your User name / Application Data / Mozilla / Firefox / Profiles / (random characters).default
Locate and right-click your Prefs.js file.
Mouse over Open With, and select Notepad.
Do a search for the preference name you want to remove.
Highlight that entire line it's on, and delete it.
Click File and select Save.
Close the file.
Restart Firefox and go back into about:config, and it should no longer be there.

I have a question. What is to be gained from using this tweak if the memory slowly creeps back up to where it was?

Thank you Sir, most helpful

The tweak reduces the memory needs of FF this is useful as it frees up the systems resources for other applications and (in my experience) improves the performance of the browser.


No problem, glad to help.

Thanks, never knew firefox took up so much memory.

Ok I just tried it, about 5 minutes later FF crashed!! I did a sys restore but the value stayed the same, I went back in clicked on the new line right clicked and hit reset. So far so good!!!

Phil

Just wondering, how does it work? What does this value adjust?

I believe that in some programming languages the keyword trim is used to filter the unneeded bits and pieces* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> that are running. So the command is basically saying that when the browser is minimized it will filter or flush parts it doesn't need.

Thanks for the tip, nigglesnush85.

No problem, glad to help.

This works fine

Ok most everyone is happy! Since fooling with FF it crashes almost every day, I guess I need to delete it and reload it to get things straight.

Phil

Have you tried setting the value of config.trim_on_minimize to False?
Just double-click the entry, to toggle it to False.

Thanks a lot for that!