Try using the latest candidate build of Firefox 3.6.4: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/3.6.4-candidates/build6/win32/en-US/

(Build 7 is being created as I type.)

What it does is create separate processes in the task manager for plugins. That should help you determine if the memory issue is in Firefox or the plugin. See http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2010/04/20/firefox-3-6-4-beta-available-for-download-and-testing/

Try to disable Firebug (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions). Firebug is know to cause such memory issues.

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions (list is not complete)

Thanks for your answers,

I've installed the 3.6.4 beta and tried disabling Firebug.Disabling Firebug decreased the memory usage significantly.What exactly is the new "Plugin container for Firefox",because when I disable and enable add-ons I can't see any change at plugin-container.exe,the only change I see is at Firefox.exe.

Was Plugin container being shown along with Firefox.exe in 3.6.3 as "one"?

Regards.

In all versions previous to 3.6.4, whenever a plugin like Flash, Java, etc. would use a lot of memory, you would see that usage in firefox.exe. If a plugin crashed, it would take Firefox down with it. As a result, people blame Firefox for bugs in plugins. See Use plugins to play audio, video, games and more

In 3.6.4, if a plugin is used, it will be run in a separate process. The biggest advantage is that is that if a plugin crashes, Firefox won't crash. See Send plugin crash reports to help Mozilla improve Firefox

That does not include extensions, which is what Firebug is.

Thanks for information.

The file plugin-container.exe is the file that runs the plugin in a separate process, so if plugin-container.exe crashes then Firefox remains unaffected.

I was having problem with FireFox 3.6 using to much memory (over 1 GB) and slow to a halt. When i remove Google's Search Engine (click down arrow located in the search box then choose "Manage search engines"), the problem goes away. While i was searching for answers, this did not come up so i thought sharing this info may be helpful to some.

Plugin Container.exe uses excessive memory, slows the computer and constantly crashes Adobe Flash player.

It consumes more CPU than running firefox right now Firefox is using 211,000 and the plugin container exe is using 287,736...way too much of a drain.

Firefox should undo this new addition to their browser.

I have the same problem and I tried the suggestions given above but nothing seems to work. Regarding the container.exe I do not know what can be done and how to stop or remove it. Please someone help

Google Search engine has nothing to do with the plug-in as far as I know I was not having a problem with crashes UNTIL the plug-in.

Firefox needs to rethink this extension or Adobe does. Adobe has had a few problems this last month or so and causes conflicts in browser...not really Firefox, the plug-in container was their answer to Adobe problem, I understand that, but certainly they need to be aware it causes more of a problem than it is solving.

Keep writing Firefox...let them know how buggy this thing is.

Thanks

Have you upgraded to 3.6.6? See http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2010/06/26/firefox-3-6-6-now-available-for-download/

Yes, sir I did. That is pretty much when the problem started. It seems to be crashing less, however; the drain on the CPU is 2 and 3 times the "cost' of Firefox.

Seems like they could get this a little smaller. I have reported and emailed Adobe as well..they've been doing a few weird updates also. (Since updating them, I am unable to view .PDF from my Browser..ie; Bank Statements, Bills...) Error message states that the Adobe Reader Is not compatible (cannot work from my browser) I have the latest with DLM and Adobe is still having a problem..been going on for 2 weeks now.

Well..thanks for the advice..(sometimes it IS the simple things)

Susan

i have the same problem here. After i got the new version i can't see pdf files on firefox, sometimes it crashes and give random choppy performance, memory is way over 1gb of use.

I totally uninstalled the newest version, too buggy and firefox isn't listening. Re-installed 3.5 ... pdf/adobe flash 10 works fine now..so I guess Adobe fixed their glitches but firefox hasn't. The new flash pulls a little extra but certainly not hanging, crashing and pulling whole computer down.

Hope firefox listens to their users soon. Such a shame for them not to admit this version is buggy.

Good luck with yours,

Susan

Hey guys,

i currently have firefox 3.6.11 installed and have high memory usage problems too. it usually starts at around 60.000 K (the way my taskmanager shows it to me) and it climbs gradually over the passage of time. right now it's violently fluctuating between 160.000 K and 210.000 K. yesterday it climbed all the way to an inordenate 850.000 K and i was forced to reboot my laptop because simply restarting firefox didn't cut it, even with ending the process and that of the plugin container aswell.

The plugin container in itself usually uses a steady 160.000 K but this still seems high to me. None of my other programs ever reach even 50.000 K. Not even my games go over 100.000 K even when i'm lagging and have FPS drops.

what the hell is going on? what do i do to prevent this?

edit: it should be noted that i only have 2 extensions: mcafee siteadvisor and AVG safe search, the first of which being disabled. The addons im using all came pre-installed when i downloaded firefox except for my blackberry addon but i installed the software for it after the 850.000 K hit, several hours after, and that wasn't the first time i had to reboot my laptop (or home computer for that matter) due to firefox memory usage issues.

edit 2: i found this link: http://www.noheat.com/2006/10/09/firefox-using-too-much-memory-heres-the-fix/ it seems one possible explanation for the problem. If this were to be the case, one could posit that every time you open a new flash program firefox feeds memory to it, and later doesnt have it released because flash doesn't tell firefox its done. so if you, say, go to kongregate or armorgames and you play 10 different games, your system will just slow down like hell.

im not trying the program suggested in the link because i dont know enough about computers and i might fek it up, but i do remember having played a lot of flash games the other day so that might have been the cause of the spike. so a note to mozilla, i suppose: talk to the nice people at flash and PLEASE make your software communicate more!

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins

Flash Block is a Firefox extension to block Flash objects and allow them individually when needed.

Flash Block: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/433

I am using Firefox 3.6.13 under 64 bit Ubuntu 10.10 and have the same problem.

On Windows XP (SP3), my former OS, there was a utility available that would reduce memory used by all applications that kept Firefox in check.

Today, my Firefox (same # of tabs and windows as usual) grew to 3.8GB, consuming ALL my available RAM. This is the first time I've seen this. However, growth to 1.2+GB is common.

I'm posting my story of trying to find a fix in the hopes that this will help some of you out...

I enjoy watching Netflix a lot from the instant watch and Firefox is my browser of choice, but unfortunately after an hour of streaming Firefox had climbed to around 700-800k in file size and then it would crash. I tried to use Flashblock like many forums had suggested to do but with Netflix it seemed to provide no solution.

Then I tried something that I didn't think was going to work but miraculously it did. I had downloaded an addon called IE Tab 2 ( Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/ie-tab-2-ff-36/ ) to fix the annoying aspect of some web pages telling me that I must reopen the link in IE for it to work. So, I decided to run Netflix streaming through the addon and while the plugin-container file got a bit larger it didn't keep climbing in memory usage like before and I could stream as long as I wanted without issues.

Firefox seems to be inefficient at removing streamed memory and it just accumulates, which could be very bad for sites like Netflix because if it is all stored up in the memory of the web browser odds are there is a way to extract the streamed media from it, creating the possibility of essentially downloading netflix movies. Firefox should really fix this problem soon, but for now if you want to keep streaming on sites like Netflix for long periods of time and you are faced with the same issue I have, first download Flashblock to see if it helps, and if it doesn't download IE tab 2.

I wont repeat what everyone else said, but my FF is using 166K with 2 Mozilla.com tabs open, and - get this - 18 separate plugin-container.exe processes running simultaneously.

I suppose I will have to switch to IE9 every now & then. I won't install another addon or two to try & solve the problem.

Maybe by FF 4.2 it will be, I hope!

I think this is a problem with Adblock Plus. I have reported it as a critical bug and an update is coming out this Monday. Hooray!