High RAM Usage that doesn't go away

[SciFi Fan Here]

I'm on the latest 32 bit version of Firefox.
I'm on the latest version of Windows 10 that is public (Creator with all updates)

I have four tabs that open when I start Firefox. When I do this, the RAM usage is typically around 600-700MB.
I noticed in Task Manager that when I close all tabs except for new tab, due to RAM usage over 2GB, that one of the three instances of Firefox will retain around 800-1000MB.
I went to about:memory and discovered the problem, but it is labeled private. I've done a dump or two of these large RAM usages, although I have a connection that does not make it feasible to send them anywhere.
The instance that has the private data is the second one. To clarify, there is one instance that is standalone, and there are two instances that are grouped together below that, when you sort by app. I'm talking about the one on top, of the two that are grouped together. Don't know if that is relevant or not.
I have waited a minute or two, hoping this private data will get put somewhere, such as the browser disk cache, to no avail.
What I have done to purge the data is to intentionally crash Firefox, because it is faster to do that, then to close Firefox and then reopen it.

I would ask questions, but I'll admit I only know enough about computers to use them on an intermediate level, so I'm no expert and don't claim to be one. Any help I can get to sort the RAM usage issue out would be great.
Yes, I've tried doing garbage collection and then minimizing RAM usage, to no avail thus far. Maybe I'm missing a step somewhere that is important?

Thank you ahead of time for any assistance you can provide.

[the-edmeister]

If I may ask, what is the reason for you using Private Browsing?

Do you have a similar problem with high RAM usage when in "normal browsing" mode?

Overall, many users don't understand what Private Browsing mode does, and doesn't do. For instance, PB doesn't make the user anonymous on the internet. Your Internet service provider, employer, or the sites themselves can still track what pages you visit. Private Browsing also doesn't protect you from keyloggers or spyware that may be installed on your computer.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... ut-history
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/tr ... ection-pbm

Learn what PB does and think about why you use it. There might be a better solution to whatever you are trying to accomplish via the PB mode.

.

[SciFi Fan Here]

I'm not using private browsing. The reference to "Private" is in the details of the memory usage. When I click "Measure" on the about:memory page it gives me a verbose description of memory allocation, and one of the references is that the data is private.

If that is an absolute verified "can't be anything else" use of Private browsing, then it's a symptom of some kind of hack, and I'll be a little more diligent in my online activities as far as security is concerned.

[SciFi Fan Here]

Just for clarity, I'm pasting a snippet of the output of the verbose memory allocation
Other Measurements

4,095.94 MB (100.0%) -- address-space
├──2,466.30 MB (60.21%) ── free(segments=308)
├────951.25 MB (23.22%) -- commit
│ ├──618.02 MB (15.09%) -- private
│ │ ├──606.35 MB (14.80%) ── readwrite(segments=5916)
│ │ └───11.67 MB (00.28%) ++ (7 tiny)
│ ├──189.52 MB (04.63%) -- image
│ │ ├──117.37 MB (02.87%) ── execute-read(segments=136)
│ │ ├───68.39 MB (01.67%) ── readonly(segments=299)
│ │ └────3.76 MB (00.09%) ++ (2 tiny)
│ └──143.71 MB (03.51%) -- mapped
│ ├──143.32 MB (03.50%) ── readonly(segments=72)
│ └────0.39 MB (00.01%) ++ (2 tiny)
└────678.38 MB (16.56%) -- reserved
├──655.68 MB (16.01%) ── private(segments=5522)
└───22.70 MB (00.55%) ++ (2 tiny)

You can see above there is mention of "Private" that is around 620MB. I do not know what that is, how it is caused, whether or not it is waiting to be cached to disk, how to force it to go away without crashing or closing Firefox, etc.

I would appreciate as much information as I can get about this, and I won't be opposed to it being comprehensive.

[Brummelchen]

provide some information please
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/us ... ix-firefox

test firefox in safe-mode please:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/tr ... -safe-mode
or
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode

[SciFi Fan Here]

I'll note that the problem hasn't appeared today, so testing to see what happens in safe mode seems moot for the time being, will do so if the event occurs again.

Here is the troubleshooting information, I was going to paste the raw data, but I don't know if it would show correctly, so here is the text. If you want raw data, I'll add that as well.

Application Basics
------------------

Name: Firefox
Version: 54.0.1
Build ID: 20170628075643
Update Channel: release
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:54.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/54.0
OS: Windows_NT 10.0
Multiprocess Windows: 1/1 (Enabled by default)
Google Key: Found
Mozilla Location Service Key: Found
Safe Mode: false

Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
---------------------------------

All Crash Reports

Extensions
----------

Name: Application Update Service Helper
Version: 2.0
Enabled: true
ID: aushelper@mozilla.org

Name: Firefox Screenshots
Version: 6.6.0
Enabled: true
ID: screenshots@mozilla.org

Name: Follow-on Search Telemetry
Version: 0.9.1
Enabled: true
ID: followonsearch@mozilla.com

Name: Multi-process staged rollout
Version: 1.50
Enabled: true
ID: e10srollout@mozilla.org

Name: Pocket
Version: 1.0.5
Enabled: true
ID: firefox@getpocket.com

Name: Shield Recipe Client
Version: 1.0.0
Enabled: true
ID: shield-recipe-client@mozilla.org

Name: uBlock Origin
Version: 1.13.4
Enabled: true
ID: uBlock0@raymondhill.net

Name: Web Compat
Version: 1.1
Enabled: true
ID: webcompat@mozilla.org

Graphics
--------

Features
Compositing: Direct3D 11
Asynchronous Pan/Zoom: wheel input enabled
WebGL 1 Driver WSI Info: EGL_VENDOR: Google Inc. (adapter LUID: 0000000000011c06) EGL_VERSION: 1.4 (ANGLE 2.1.0.2a250c8a0e15) EGL_EXTENSIONS: EGL_EXT_create_context_robustness EGL_ANGLE_d3d_share_handle_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_d3d_texture_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_surface_d3d_texture_2d_share_handle EGL_ANGLE_query_surface_pointer EGL_ANGLE_window_fixed_size EGL_ANGLE_keyed_mutex EGL_ANGLE_surface_orientation EGL_ANGLE_direct_composition EGL_NV_post_sub_buffer EGL_KHR_create_context EGL_EXT_device_query EGL_KHR_image EGL_KHR_image_base EGL_KHR_gl_texture_2D_image EGL_KHR_gl_texture_cubemap_image EGL_KHR_gl_renderbuffer_image EGL_KHR_get_all_proc_addresses EGL_KHR_stream EGL_KHR_stream_consumer_gltexture EGL_NV_stream_consumer_gltexture_yuv EGL_ANGLE_flexible_surface_compatibility EGL_ANGLE_stream_producer_d3d_texture_nv12 EGL_ANGLE_create_context_webgl_compatibility EGL_CHROMIUM_create_context_bind_generates_resource EGL_EXTENSIONS(nullptr): EGL_EXT_client_extensions EGL_EXT_platform_base EGL_EXT_platform_device EGL_ANGLE_platform_angle EGL_ANGLE_platform_angle_d3d EGL_ANGLE_device_creation EGL_ANGLE_device_creation_d3d11 EGL_ANGLE_experimental_present_path EGL_KHR_client_get_all_proc_addresses
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0)
WebGL 1 Driver Version: OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.2a250c8a0e15)
WebGL 1 Driver Extensions: GL_ANGLE_depth_texture GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_blit GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_multisample GL_ANGLE_instanced_arrays GL_ANGLE_lossy_etc_decode GL_ANGLE_pack_reverse_row_order GL_ANGLE_robust_client_memory GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3 GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5 GL_ANGLE_texture_usage GL_ANGLE_translated_shader_source GL_CHROMIUM_bind_generates_resource GL_CHROMIUM_bind_uniform_location GL_CHROMIUM_copy_compressed_texture GL_CHROMIUM_copy_texture GL_CHROMIUM_sync_query GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_color_buffer_half_float GL_EXT_debug_marker GL_EXT_discard_framebuffer GL_EXT_disjoint_timer_query GL_EXT_draw_buffers GL_EXT_frag_depth GL_EXT_map_buffer_range GL_EXT_occlusion_query_boolean GL_EXT_read_format_bgra GL_EXT_robustness GL_EXT_sRGB GL_EXT_shader_texture_lod GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 GL_EXT_texture_rg GL_EXT_texture_storage GL_EXT_unpack_subimage GL_KHR_debug GL_NV_EGL_stream_consumer_external GL_NV_fence GL_NV_pack_subimage GL_NV_pixel_buffer_object GL_OES_EGL_image GL_OES_EGL_image_external GL_OES_compressed_ETC1_RGB8_texture GL_OES_depth32 GL_OES_element_index_uint GL_OES_get_program_binary GL_OES_mapbuffer GL_OES_packed_depth_stencil GL_OES_rgb8_rgba8 GL_OES_standard_derivatives GL_OES_texture_float GL_OES_texture_float_linear GL_OES_texture_half_float GL_OES_texture_half_float_linear GL_OES_texture_npot GL_OES_vertex_array_object
WebGL 1 Extensions: ANGLE_instanced_arrays EXT_blend_minmax EXT_color_buffer_half_float EXT_frag_depth EXT_shader_texture_lod EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic EXT_disjoint_timer_query MOZ_debug_get OES_element_index_uint OES_standard_derivatives OES_texture_float OES_texture_float_linear OES_texture_half_float OES_texture_half_float_linear OES_vertex_array_object WEBGL_color_buffer_float WEBGL_compressed_texture_s3tc WEBGL_debug_renderer_info WEBGL_debug_shaders WEBGL_depth_texture WEBGL_draw_buffers WEBGL_lose_context MOZ_WEBGL_lose_context MOZ_WEBGL_compressed_texture_s3tc MOZ_WEBGL_depth_texture
WebGL 2 Driver WSI Info: EGL_VENDOR: Google Inc. (adapter LUID: 0000000000011c06) EGL_VERSION: 1.4 (ANGLE 2.1.0.2a250c8a0e15) EGL_EXTENSIONS: EGL_EXT_create_context_robustness EGL_ANGLE_d3d_share_handle_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_d3d_texture_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_surface_d3d_texture_2d_share_handle EGL_ANGLE_query_surface_pointer EGL_ANGLE_window_fixed_size EGL_ANGLE_keyed_mutex EGL_ANGLE_surface_orientation EGL_ANGLE_direct_composition EGL_NV_post_sub_buffer EGL_KHR_create_context EGL_EXT_device_query EGL_KHR_image EGL_KHR_image_base EGL_KHR_gl_texture_2D_image EGL_KHR_gl_texture_cubemap_image EGL_KHR_gl_renderbuffer_image EGL_KHR_get_all_proc_addresses EGL_KHR_stream EGL_KHR_stream_consumer_gltexture EGL_NV_stream_consumer_gltexture_yuv EGL_ANGLE_flexible_surface_compatibility EGL_ANGLE_stream_producer_d3d_texture_nv12 EGL_ANGLE_create_context_webgl_compatibility EGL_CHROMIUM_create_context_bind_generates_resource EGL_EXTENSIONS(nullptr): EGL_EXT_client_extensions EGL_EXT_platform_base EGL_EXT_platform_device EGL_ANGLE_platform_angle EGL_ANGLE_platform_angle_d3d EGL_ANGLE_device_creation EGL_ANGLE_device_creation_d3d11 EGL_ANGLE_experimental_present_path EGL_KHR_client_get_all_proc_addresses
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0)
WebGL 2 Driver Version: OpenGL ES 3.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.2a250c8a0e15)
WebGL 2 Driver Extensions: GL_ANGLE_depth_texture GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_blit GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_multisample GL_ANGLE_instanced_arrays GL_ANGLE_lossy_etc_decode GL_ANGLE_pack_reverse_row_order GL_ANGLE_robust_client_memory GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3 GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5 GL_ANGLE_texture_usage GL_ANGLE_translated_shader_source GL_CHROMIUM_bind_generates_resource GL_CHROMIUM_bind_uniform_location GL_CHROMIUM_copy_compressed_texture GL_CHROMIUM_copy_texture GL_CHROMIUM_sync_query GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_color_buffer_float GL_EXT_color_buffer_half_float GL_EXT_debug_marker GL_EXT_discard_framebuffer GL_EXT_disjoint_timer_query GL_EXT_draw_buffers GL_EXT_frag_depth GL_EXT_map_buffer_range GL_EXT_occlusion_query_boolean GL_EXT_read_format_bgra GL_EXT_robustness GL_EXT_sRGB GL_EXT_shader_texture_lod GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 GL_EXT_texture_norm16 GL_EXT_texture_rg GL_EXT_texture_storage GL_EXT_unpack_subimage GL_KHR_debug GL_NV_EGL_stream_consumer_external GL_NV_fence GL_NV_pack_subimage GL_NV_pixel_buffer_object GL_OES_EGL_image GL_OES_EGL_image_external GL_OES_EGL_image_external_essl3 GL_OES_compressed_ETC1_RGB8_texture GL_OES_depth32 GL_OES_element_index_uint GL_OES_get_program_binary GL_OES_mapbuffer GL_OES_packed_depth_stencil GL_OES_rgb8_rgba8 GL_OES_standard_derivatives GL_OES_texture_float GL_OES_texture_float_linear GL_OES_texture_half_float GL_OES_texture_half_float_linear GL_OES_texture_npot GL_OES_vertex_array_object
WebGL 2 Extensions: EXT_color_buffer_float EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic EXT_disjoint_timer_query MOZ_debug_get OES_texture_float_linear WEBGL_compressed_texture_s3tc WEBGL_debug_renderer_info WEBGL_debug_shaders WEBGL_lose_context MOZ_WEBGL_lose_context MOZ_WEBGL_compressed_texture_s3tc
Audio Backend: wasapi
Direct2D: true
DirectWrite: true (10.0.15063.413)
GPU #1
Active: Yes
Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x1916
Driver Version: 21.20.16.4627
Driver Date: 3-9-2017
Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igd12umd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 igd12umd32
Subsys ID: 380817aa
RAM: Unknown

Diagnostics
AzureCanvasAccelerated: 0
AzureCanvasBackend: Direct2D 1.1
AzureCanvasBackend (UI Process): skia
AzureContentBackend: Direct2D 1.1
AzureContentBackend (UI Process): skia
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend (UI Process): cairo
failures: CP+[GFX1]: Potential driver version mismatch ignored due to missing DLLs igd10umd32 v= and igd10iumd32.dll v=0.0.0.0
Decision Log
D3D9_COMPOSITING:
disabled by default: Disabled by default
WEBRENDER:
unavailable by runtime: Build doesn't include WebRender


Failure Log
(#0): CP+[GFX1]: Potential driver version mismatch ignored due to missing DLLs igd10umd32 v= and igd10iumd32.dll v=0.0.0.0
(#4): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#5): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#6): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#7): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#8): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#9): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#10): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#11): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#12): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#13): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#14): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#15): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#16): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#17): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.
(#18): CP+[GFX1-]: ClientLayerManager::BeginTransaction with IPC channel down. GPU process may have died.

Important Modified Preferences
------------------------------

accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 2
browser.download.importedFromSqlite: true
browser.download.useDownloadDir: false
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 8
browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20170628075643
browser.startup.homepage: https://weather.com/weather/today/l/USAZ0289:1:US|https://www.facebook.com/|https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox|http
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20170628075643
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 54.0.1
browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2: true
browser.urlbar.daysBeforeHidingSuggestionsPrompt: 0
browser.urlbar.lastSuggestionsPromptDate: 20170701
extensions.lastAppVersion: 54.0.1
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.appVersion: 54.0
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.deviceID: 0x1916
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.driverVersion: 21.20.16.4627
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d2d: true
gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d3d11: true
gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d11layers: 2
gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d11video: 2
media.benchmark.vp9.fps: 108
media.benchmark.vp9.versioncheck: 2
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi: x86-msvc-x64
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1498652023
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.6
media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20170628075643
media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1499538276
media.gmp-widevinecdm.abi: x86-msvc-x64
media.gmp-widevinecdm.lastUpdate: 1498652039
media.gmp-widevinecdm.version: 1.4.8.903
media.gmp.storage.version.observed: 1
media.hardware-video-decoding.failed: false
media.webrtc.debug.log_file: C:\Users\MICHAE~1\AppData\Local\Temp\WebRTC.log
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
network.dns.disablePrefetch: true
network.http.speculative-parallel-limit: 0
network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
network.prefetch-next: false
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1499285130
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 138492
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
security.sandbox.content.tempDirSuffix: {3c67ee42-94a6-44a7-9ca4-d74a415e606a}
services.sync.declinedEngines:
storage.vacuum.last.index: 1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1498652754
ui.osk.debug.keyboardDisplayReason: IKPOS: Touch screen not found.

Important Locked Preferences
----------------------------

Places Database
---------------

JavaScript
----------

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility
-------------

Activated: false
Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions
----------------

NSPR
Expected minimum version: 4.14
Version in use: 4.14

NSS
Expected minimum version: 3.30.2
Version in use: 3.30.2

NSSSMIME
Expected minimum version: 3.30.2
Version in use: 3.30.2

NSSSSL
Expected minimum version: 3.30.2
Version in use: 3.30.2

NSSUTIL
Expected minimum version: 3.30.2
Version in use: 3.30.2

Experimental Features
---------------------

Sandbox
-------

Content Process Sandbox Level: 1

[therube]

I believe that "Private" is just showing that you are using your expected "around 600-700MB".
(Or maybe, it is ~600 + 600, since you have multiprocess enabled?)

[SciFi Fan Here]

Hello therube

I actually think that may be an error on my part because I did not look comprehensively at the memory report page and was just looking for something that was around that amount. When I dug deeper, I noticed there was a section for the specific process ID that I verified using Process Explorer. So, if I've misled anyone I apologize for that, and ask forgiveness.

The problem has not reared its ugly head again, and I've made some changes to my browsing habits to increase security. It appears to have worked, so I consider this solved.

I still do not have any idea why Firefox would retain that much data with just a new tab page. Anyone who can enlighten me on why that would happen, I'll happily try making modifications and possibly break my FF warranty.

[LadynRed]

I have been having the exact same issue, high RAM usage, sometimes over 2GB, have to completely close FF. At first I thought it was GMAIL, as I typically have 2 tabs open for 2 accounts, but closing those makes no difference. Also typical is having Facebook and Pinterest open at the same time, but but closing one or the other does not bring down the RAM usage. It does not happen with any consistency, I can have any combination of websites open and there is no telling what is causing it. It's extremely annoying, to say the least. I have run FF (now 54.0.1) in safe mode to see if it was a misbehaving extension, but even in safe mode, I've had it spike up to the 2GB RAM usage, which makes it unusable. I have turned off the 'web protection' of Malwarebytes and Kaspersky, one at a time and both at the same time.. that doesn't change anything either.

[DanRaisch]

If no improvement using Safe Mode, do you have the same problem if you create a new profile and test it with no extensions or non-default themes installed?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager
and
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_ne ... on_Windows

[LadynRed]

Haven't tried that yet, every time I've created new profiles I lose something, but I'll test it out. The system with the high RAM usage issue is running Windows 10, and it just got the Creators update. It's been doing this for a while though.

Thanks

[DanRaisch]

You would lose things moving to a new profile, until you transfer everything that you wanted to retain AND that was not causing the problem. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_ ... _-_Firefox