Solved Firefox eating up my CPU

incedis · May 5, 2022

I went through the steps mentioned here 'Troubleshooting Firefox' but to no avail. Firefox is eating my CPU like there was no tomorrow.
Did not have that issue with Win 10. I do not know what to do at this stage and any help is much appreciated.
My workaround is to use Edge (good as well) but prefer Firefox as I am using addons such 'Relay".

Any help is much appreciated

Not Myself · May 5, 2022

You have not posted the details of your problem, so there is nowhere to start; details, for example, of how much of your CPU is being used, under what conditions such as number of tabs open in Firefox (and what version thereof), and most importantly the phase of the moon.

Pirilampo2 · May 5, 2022

Mine with about 30 tabs open and with the last version installed, the 100.0 and with windows build 22000.652 has a consumption between 0 and 3% CPU. Maybe some extension installed is the problem? Try uninstalling the extensions one by one and see if you can detect what might be causing this excessive consumption.

incedis · May 6, 2022

Usage is 5 tabs open and up to 22% CPU open. Tabs are simple internet pages. Version is 100.
If I open youtube, this is the only time where firefox is not using that much CPU.
As far as the extension, it is a step mentionned in the troubleshooting guidelines for firefox. I did try with a fresh install of Firefox without ext.

glasskuter · May 6, 2022

Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings | Firefox Help

A Refresh can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its default state while saving essential information like bookmarks and passwords.

support.mozilla.org

incedis · May 6, 2022

Thanks for your reply but in my first post there is a link that I followed including a complete refresh..

glasskuter · May 6, 2022

If it were me, I would uninstall Firefox using Revo Uninstaller being sure to select and remove all the leftover registry keys that Revo finds. Then restart.
Download an older version of Firefox and save it to your computer. Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/0.10/
Disconnect from the internet. (This is to keep Firefox from automatically updating the old version before you have a chance to test it)
Install old version and Go into Firefox settings-Firefox updates- check the box to download updates but let me choose to install them
Reconnect internet and check your cpu usage

incedis · May 6, 2022

Thanks. I thought about reinstalling FF entirely but this is a fresh install of Win 11 (about 1month ago).
Would it be worth it ? (I had the issue prior to moving to FF 100)
What I am trying at the moment is a config tweak. I read somewhere on the net that FF writing to disk could be the cause of high CPU usage (I am not an IT guy so don't quote me on that ).
Regarding the above, this is the tweak I have applied and they are making a difference. Not as good when I was on Win 10 where I could open up to 50 tabs without barely reaching 5% CPU usage. The only difference I can think of, when I was on Win 10, I had an Intel. On Win 11 (now) I am full AMD.
One last point I have noticed, is the tab the consumes the most CPU (compared to Edge) are the tabs regarding my trading with charts (I am a trader). Don't understand why though but this is what I have noticed..
Thanks again for your time

browser.cache.disk.enable false

browser.cache.disk.max_entry_size 0

browser.cache.memory.max_entry_size -1

browser.cache.memory.capacity 2560000

browser.cache.offline.enable false

browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl false

browser.cache.memory.enable true

PS: Just after checking "use hardware acceleration when available". I have only 9 tabs open. I guess I could add a GPU issue with FF on the top of the CPU :) See the Diff with Edge. 18 tabs open and barely 1% CPU.

johnlgalt · May 6, 2022

It's not just the number of tabs you have open - it's what those tabs are doing. Are you comparing the exact same tabs in both Firefox and Edge when you make the comparison on what they are doing?

Also, IIRC more than a few trading sites can be GPU intensive, as the info is being refreshed at given intervals, not to mention drawing intricate graphs and such. You can't just say "Well, YouTube is working fine but XYZ site isn't" if they don't do the same thing - a YT tab is displaying streaming content, and normally not doing a lot of processing on on the end user's side, but other sites may involved the need for more processing on the client side because the server cannot handle all the processing for every single client connected to it.

A more appropriate test would be to open the exact same tabs in both, and see the difference. Also it might be a good idea to find out which browsers the sites that seem to have issues recommend to use. It may be that Firefox is struggling because it does not have good native support for the technologies being used by site that is causing the spike.

incedis · May 6, 2022

I am not an IT guy and therefore my method / approach to troubleshooting is flawed. All I can tell you is what I have said before.
Win 10 -> No issue with Firefox
Win 11 -> FF goes nuts.
Also, I appreciate the time you are spending but keep in mind that I am forced to troubleshoot / change my workflow because of an issue. At heart, I do not want to even try to understand how those computers work..
Simplest work around is for me to stick with Edge. In all fairness, it does the job. Will mark this thread as solved as I do not wish to become an IT guy.. Nothing against IT guys here :)

johnlgalt · May 6, 2022

Windows 11 does have more advanced features and access to using the GPU for apps than Windows 10 did, but at the end of the day, you gotta do what is best for you. If Edge works better for the trading sites, then stick with it. I use Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Brave depending upon what I am doing, and certain sites I only open in certain browsers, too, so it's definitely a solution that I agree with.

Enjoy!

trevo · May 6, 2022

incedis said:
I
Simplest work around is for me to stick with Edge. In all fairness, it does the job. Will mark this thread as solved as I do not wish to become an IT guy.. Nothing against IT guys here :)

You mentioned addons in an earlier post and, specifically, Relay.
With Edge, you can install Extensions from both the Chrome store and Microsoft...Relay is in the Chrome store.

FrancoDT · May 6, 2022

incedis said:
I went through the steps mentioned here 'Troubleshooting Firefox' but to no avail. Firefox is eating my CPU like there was no tomorrow.
Did not have that issue with Win 10. I do not know what to do at this stage and any help is much appreciated.
My workaround is to use Edge (good as well) but prefer Firefox as I am using addons such 'Relay".

Any help is much appreciated

Didn't see it mentioned but did try turning off hardware acceleration in the Firefox settings to see if it made any difference. I started having problems with pages suddenly loading slowly in later builds and turning that off solved the problem. Might be worth a try just for kicks.

glasskuter · May 6, 2022

incedis said:
as I do not wish to become an IT guy.

Not all of us are IT guys (or gals). We just like it. Speaking personally, I use FF exclusively and I will say that in my experience an issue such as yours is usually caused by addons. It is so simple to uninstall (NOT disable) every one you have, restart, and check your cpu usage. Then add them back one by one, checking your cpu usage each time. Process of elimination is a form of troubleshooting anyone can do.

Just because an addon will work in one version of a browser does not mean it will work in another. The developers have to update their addon for it to work in some newer when a browser updates. That goes for all browsers, not just FF.

San Martino · May 6, 2022

Have you tried starting Firefox in the Safe Mode?

incedis · May 7, 2022

Well, I have some positive updates (as of today. hopefully will stay that way).
After reading countless posts with issues similar to mine, I discovered that Win 11 has an option where you pick apps that you want your dGPU to use. Last resort, decided to give it a try with FF. As far as I can tell issue is entirely resolved.. Posting in case someone else is struggling like I am :).
Thank you guys for your time !!
PS: Just to clarify, I meant the discrete GPU and not the integrated GPU.

Solved Firefox eating up my CPU

Member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Member

My Computer

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

Member

My Computer

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

Member

My Computer

Antidisestablishmentarianist

My Computers

Member

My Computer

Antidisestablishmentarianist

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Member

My Computer

Similar threads