Multiple instances of firefox.exe in Task Manager

whirlyman · Post by **whirlyman** » March 25th, 2005, 2:24 pm

I did a search but couldn't find anything on this.

Here is the problem: If I open two or more sessions (separate windows) of Firefox then one firefox.exe process stays open in the Task Manager under "Running Processes" even after I close the windows. When I then open a new window of Firefox I now get two running processes of firefox.exe. I can repeat this until I have as many firefox.exe running processes as my memory will allow. What's up with that? I'd rather not have to terminate a firefox.exe from the Task Manager whenever I've had multiple windows open. Thanks.

whirlyman · Post by **whirlyman** » March 25th, 2005, 2:33 pm

I just realized the same thing happens even if I just have multiple tabs open too.

ulillillia · Post by **ulillillia** » March 26th, 2005, 1:40 am

When I was installing the Firefox 1.0.2 update (as from the updates available notice near the system time clock), I had all my browser windows closed and it was saying that Firefox was still running. The only other program I had running was Winamp which was about 130 minutes into play of one of my custom designed songs. I then told it to close Firefox when the notice came up, but then, a few seconds later, it said that Firefox was still running. My task bar only had Winamp on it as a running process. I told it to close the program anyway and it apparently installed after this. So, in other words, you're not alone.

Heairsoft · Post by **Heairsoft** » March 26th, 2005, 7:59 pm

I was going to post something about this too but ran a search to see if anybody had the same problem. YEP! I have up to 7 firefox.exe processes each about 23,000-50,000K of memory taken up at times when I view the task manager. I always have to end them all since they really slow down my computer. If anybody finds a fix for this please post it.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » March 27th, 2005, 1:00 am

Some with this problem have found it was caused by extensions. Try disabling them.

Heairsoft · Post by **Heairsoft** » March 27th, 2005, 8:05 am

I would rather kill all of the processes in the task manager rather than disabling my precious extentions :/
I think that its the tabs that are doing it anyways.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » March 28th, 2005, 2:29 am

I just meant, disable them for the purpose of diagnosis. If the problem doesn't exist with them disabled, re-enable one at a time to find out which is causing trouble. It doesn't take long, click Tools -> Extensions, right-click on an extension, select "Disable". When they're all disabled, restart Fx. To re-enable, do the same, select "Enable".

whirlyman · Post by **whirlyman** » March 28th, 2005, 9:00 pm

Well, I don't know why, but I longer have any problems. I've since installed extensions (Clone Window, Adblock, ieView, Nuke Anything, Smoothwheel, SuperDragnGo, Session Saver 2, ForecastFox) where before I had none. Oh well.

rickymiata · Post by **rickymiata** » April 1st, 2005, 8:36 am

I have the same problem with multiple instances and very high memory use. I am running FF bare. No extensions on a XP machine with 2 GB RAM and a AMD 3.2 64 processor. Firefox either gets VERY slow or hangs up completely.

I am getting very close to going back to IE. I hate that thought but the constant problems are really bugging me.

Anyone seen an answer yet?

AnotherGuest. · Post by **AnotherGuest.** » April 1st, 2005, 9:35 am

Multiple instance of Fx running simultaneously is not normal, and it is not due to multiple tabs.

You all need to make sure of two things: (1) you have installed Fx correctly and (2) you have all your extensions disabled. For the first, look below the download button for Release Notes and follow the instructions to the letter. For the second, start Fx in safe mode to disable all extensions and themes. What is safe mode? Look in Fx Help on the Fx Web site. It's in the FAQ. You have bookmarks pointing to help.

omnichronic · Post by **omnichronic** » April 2nd, 2005, 7:58 pm

I've been having a similar problem since yesterday.. When using FF, JavaScript doesn't function properly (if at all). JS is enabled in the Options and the Advanced options are also set correctly. When I close FF and try to reopen it, nothing happens since firefox.exe is still running in the task manager. It doesn't open a new instance of the program, just does nothing. I have to manually close firefox.exe after closing the browser, so I can open it again later. I'm running on XP Pro with FF 1.0.2 (also tried 1.0.1). It seemed to have began when I was clearing my cache in the Privacy tab. I think if I reinstall FF and reboot Windows, it fixes itself. However if I clear the cache again, same problems begin. It's not due to plugins or new installations, just noticed it after clearing the cache via the options panel. Ideas?

AnotherGuest. · Post by **AnotherGuest.** » April 3rd, 2005, 11:41 am

omnichronic,
Some sites manage to write subtle, infinite loops in JavaScript, and this will shut down JS. If it's the same problem I know about, one workaround is Tools/Options/Web Features/Advanced uncheck last button (Move Images). This disables a small part of JavaScript and prevents this particular erroneous code from running.

There is a bug report on this. But is it a bug in Fx or in JS? I don't know, but I am told there are innumerable ways to mess up JavaScript, so it's almost prohibitive to try to prevent all such problems.

However, I have not experienced multiple copies of Fx as a result of this JS error, and it had nothing to do with clearing the cache. This may be a different problem, which may be worth a separate post on the Firefox Bugs forum.

If you are knowledgeable in Web coding and can find a minimal, reproducible test case, it's probably worth a bug report.

omnichronic · Post by **omnichronic** » April 3rd, 2005, 11:50 am

I'm very sure it's not JS-related. I just noticed that FF was going a little JS crazy until I rebooted. But the main problem was that it doesn't shut itself down. It closes the browser window, but the exe continues to run in the task manager. When I go to open FF again, nothing happens. Rather than open a second instance of the program, it just does nothing. It works if I close the exe via task manager. I don't think it's cache or JS-related anymore, but maybe a bug within FF. Maybe it's trying to run some code, and closing it interrupts it. But I have also noticed it happens on and off with no sign of a cause. Sometimes it closes without problem, and sometimes it leaves a process running. Could be something in the new version, but I didn't notice it for a few days.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » April 4th, 2005, 12:07 am

Have you tried a new profile? http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/profile#new

Westis · Post by **Westis** » February 12th, 2006, 10:34 am

AnotherGuest. wrote:Multiple instance of Fx running simultaneously is not normal, and it is not due to multiple tabs.

You all need to make sure of two things: (1) you have installed Fx correctly and (2) you have all your extensions disabled. For the first, look below the download button for Release Notes and follow the instructions to the letter. For the second, start Fx in safe mode to disable all extensions and themes. What is safe mode? Look in Fx Help on the Fx Web site. It's in the FAQ. You have bookmarks pointing to help.

All extension disabled and firefox started in safe mode:
1. visiting the start page and then closing -> normal termination.
2. visiting http://foamy.libertech.net/cell.mp3 and then cancel when it lets me chose to download or open and then close browser -> firefox.exe remains running and a new one is created when I start firefox again.

this is a clean install of firefox on a newly installed (and updated) windows xp. a few extensions are installed but safe mode disables them...

Multiple instances of firefox.exe in Task Manager

Multiple instances of firefox.exe in Task Manager

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