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I think I have 3 extensions; Health Report says I have 8 and I'm using ~700 mb of RAM. What's going on?

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  • Last reply by rcaastro

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Firefox crashes occasionally and Microsoft sends messages that I'm running out of memory. I'm using 3 extensions: Ad Bock Plus, URL Fixer and Colorful Tabs, yet the Health Report indicates that I have 8 extensions. I've reset Firefox, eliminated Sync, etc, yet RAM usage continues to climb. I'm using WIN 10, 64 bit. Should I switch to Firefox 64 bit? Would it make a difference? Thanks to all who answer.

Firefox crashes occasionally and Microsoft sends messages that I'm running out of memory. I'm using 3 extensions: Ad Bock Plus, URL Fixer and Colorful Tabs, yet the Health Report indicates that I have 8 extensions. I've reset Firefox, eliminated Sync, etc, yet RAM usage continues to climb. I'm using WIN 10, 64 bit. Should I switch to Firefox 64 bit? Would it make a difference? Thanks to all who answer.

Chosen solution

rcaastro said

How do I delete/remove extensions that I don't see in Tools>Add-ons?

The ones that you don't see in Tools => Add-ons are the ones that you didn't install yourself   (they 'come with Firefox'). No need to worry about them.

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Hi

Yes, you will probably see some benefit from moving to 64 bit Firefox for Windows.

Some other add-ons may use fewer resources, but I think that switching up the version of Firefox that you are using will be a good first step.

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Note that Firefox comes with some special system extensions that you can only see on the Help -> Troubleshooting Information page (about:support)


When multi-process windows in Firefox is enabled then Firefox will use more memory and may be less responsive. Try to disable multi-process windows in Firefox to see if that has effect.

You can disable multi-process windows in Firefox by setting these prefs to false on the about:config page.

  • browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false
  • browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false

You can open the about:config page: via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

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Thanks for the quick responses, Seburo and Cor-el. I've updated to Firefox 54.0.1 (64 bit), and disabled the multi-process capability. I've also switched to uBlock Origin from Adblock Plus. I still use anywhere from 330 to 700 mb of RAM when I check. In addition, Under the Health Report I see that there are 8 extensions open. I think I've only opened two and don't see any more than that when when I go to Tools>Add-ons. To further confuse me, when I look at More System Details it lists 8 Extensions, among them Ad Block Plus--which I deleted, but does not list uBlock Origin. None of this is causing me to lose sleep but does any one know why the information isn't the same throughout and would I do any damage if I found a way (or you showed me the way) to deactivate all of the extensions except uBlock Origin and Colorful Tabs? Once again thanks for all. suggestions.

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rcaastro said

To further confuse me, when I look at More System Details it lists 8 Extensions, among them Ad Block Plus--which I deleted, but does not list uBlock Origin.

You still see AdBlock Plus in your system details, and not uBlock Origin,   because you switched to uBlock Origin   after   you first posted here   (as you told me in a private message).

Would I do any damage if I found a way (or you showed me the way) to deactivate all of the extensions except uBlock Origin and Colorful Tabs?

You can disable the extensions that you don't use   -   the less the better.

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How do I delete/remove extensions that I don't see in Tools>Add-ons?

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Chosen Solution

rcaastro said

How do I delete/remove extensions that I don't see in Tools>Add-ons?

The ones that you don't see in Tools => Add-ons are the ones that you didn't install yourself   (they 'come with Firefox'). No need to worry about them.

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Thanks to all for your help. I'm done with this and will live with Firefox using anywhere from 300-600 mb on a seemingly random basis.