Firefox 3 RC2 - Memory Useage Still An Issue For Some
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Everytime I write about Firefox and it being a memory hog, I have to always point out the following:
First I have been using Firefox since it was in diapers. I personally believe it is far superior to Internet Explorer. I will continue to use Firefox no matter how much RAM it uses. Enough said. 
But over at PCMech a writer points out that his system is being sucked dry of memory by Firfox 3. BUT, it is also pointed out that Add-Ons are at fault and not the browser itself. Plus the writer adds that he has no intention of dumping Firfox either. But there is one sentence that describes my deelings as well:
Plus, if you have to steer clear of plug-ins to keep Firefox running correctly, then that is a stupid trade off. One of the primary “selling points” of Firefox is the ability to use plug-ins.
Also like this writer also states, RamBack does give some help, but it is minimal. On my system I have had as much as 15MB given back, which isn’t that great but it’s better than nothing.
Bottom line: If you expect Firefox 3 to be better on RAM usage you may be disappointed.
4 Comments
Ryan
June 5th, 2008
at 12:03pm
Well Ron, just as Microsoft can’t tell third party developers how to write their plugins/extensions, neither can Mozilla. (And believe me, there are a few doozies at the IE add-on site as well)
The browser makes only controls the plugin API, not what people do with it, if you write a good plugin is won’t hurt anything, you could write one who’s only purpose was to leak memory and crash the browser, and Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and Apple can’t do anything at all to protect you from that.
The best thing you can do with Firefox is decide what your needs really are, and use the fewest necessary extensions are to achieve the goal, if you just let them pile up, you aren’t going to like what ends up happening.
I leave it go with:
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper
Video Download Helper
Stumbleupon
And Firefox 3’s memory usage is comparable to Opera with a similar set up, and quite a bit less than IE 7.
Think of the extension API as a backpack on Firefox and each extension you load as putting another brick in that backpack.
Ron Schenone
June 5th, 2008
at 1:24pm
Thanks for the analogy.
Denny
June 6th, 2008
at 10:33am
. . __IE__ . Is . Better .
People Will Just Keep Usin Firefox No Mater How Bad it Gets
_____Because They Love To Hate Microsoft____
Ron Schenone
June 6th, 2008
at 11:24am
We are a dedicated bunch and love to be tortured!
You’re going to love IE 8.