Firefox CPU Usage and Google Reader »
Ever since installing Firefox version 2, I've noticed a steady deterioration in my computer's performance, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. Since installing the 2.0.0.1 update, it's been even worse. For some reason, I decided to try and figure it out yesterday, and I think I've managed to stumble on the reason. Please note that isn't to say that I've fixed the problem - only that I know the cause.
I typically keep 10-12 tabs open in Firefox. Perhaps I shouldn't, but I do. It's just the way that I use it. I almost constantly keep Firefox running. I just have little reason to close it, and with 1GB of memory, it's usually not a problem. Even when Firefox gets up to a couple hundred MB of memory, it's rarely an issue. If it is, I simply close the window and restart it with the tabs intact. I maybe do this every week or so and life goes on. But still, the performance was getting worse.
I mean it was really bad. I couldn't even operate the browser. I would click on a field and start typing and it would be seconds before the text would appear. Or I would highlight text and it would take a while for it to appear. Or I would click on a field and start typing and by the time it started, the text would appear in an entirely different field (or on a completely different tab because it clicked elsewhere on the screen). Performance was horrible. The CPU load wasn't generally bad, but every once in a while, I would notice it burst to a high level.
Often, those 10-12 tabs I keep open are the same, and there isn't anything fancy on them. A lot of times there isn't even much scripting on them. Simple pages. So there isn't a lot going on there. But there was one page that had all sorts of action on it. So I decided to close it down, restart the browser and see what happened. Once I did, performance returned to normal immediately. The page? Google Reader.
If you've been reading for a while, you know I left Bloglines for the Google Reader a while back. I've been happy with the change. But most days I'm on the computer for hours at a time, and a lot of what I do is in the browser, so I just couldn't deal with this sort of performance hit. So after a couple days of testing, I have to say that I'm pretty sure it's the Google Reader (combined with Firefox 2) causing the problem.
The solution at the moment is that I've got a window running IE7 that contains only the Google Reader, and my Firefox window that runs everything else, and it seems to be running fine to this point. I'll see how that goes. I don't like it, but at least it doesn't slow down the rest of my operations. Anyone else having this sort of problem with Google Reader and Firefox?
Comments (30)
The Reader team generally runs Firefox 2, and we haven't seen this problem. Does it occur when starting Firefox in safe mode (so all extensions are disabled)?
Mihai Parparita
Google Reader Engineer
Posted by mihai | January 1, 2007 8:16 PM
Yes, though to a somewhat lesser degree. I only have one extension installed that I use with any regularity (Firebug beta8), so disabling them isn't a huge deal. I also have Google Browser Sync installed, but it's not a hardship if it's not running constantly. I do have coComment 0.2.3.0 and Scuttle 0.3.1 installed, but I rarely use either, so I can disable them indefinitely.
With the extensions disabled, and the Reader open and active, I get peak "bursts" of activity, rather than the constant slowdown that I was seeing previously, where the entire process just slowed to a level where I couldn't do anything at all. Typically things run fine, but watching the task manager (this is in Windows XP SP2), I will very regularly see a burst of 30-80 for the firefox.exe task. Close the reader tab and it goes away entirely.
Not completely scientific, I realize, but it does seem to be a regular happening. For what it's worth, I'm getting a similar, though not as significant, behavior with IE7 on the same machine - but only when IE7 has the focus. When I click off of IE, the level drops. Since I use FF as my primary browser, it's not really an issue. Only when reading, and I can live with that for the most part. Since the browser is in focus most of the rest of the time, that's an issue with Firefox.
Posted by Chad Everett | January 2, 2007 10:14 AM
Yesterday I installed Firefox 2.0.0.1 and I haven't been able to load my Google reader at all?? keep getting a Error 400 Bad request?? No Display at all?
Thanks,
Tom
Posted by yoparts | January 5, 2007 6:31 PM
I have been observing similar slow-downs associated with the combo of 2.0.0.1 and Google Reader. I noticed that if I leave my PC on for a while, then after a number of "sleep" and "wake ups", then Firefox start to consume more CPU cycles, even though it is not trying to update the screen or anything. Maybe this is a barrage of expired timers, or something similar to that, I just don't know.
The annoying thing is that the CPU stays up (5-15%) and that prevents the "auto suspend" mode from kicking in (luckily, I have a dual core, so FireFox doesn't eat all CPU cycles).
The previous scenario happens on my XP Professional box. But on my older Windows 2000 box, the browser can get really slow that I have no other option of restarting it.
As you have said, I don't have scientific evidence about the root cause of the problem. At first, I thought that it is an isolated problem, but now that I ran into your post, I started to think that it is a real issue.
I hope that this will be looked at by Google Reader team or FireFox. I would love to debug this thing myself, but I don't know where to start. There is no real log to look into (I used the -console switch, but that didn't provide a lot if insight).
Posted by Ross Shah | January 16, 2007 10:34 PM
Sounds about the same here, though my primary PC (laptop, actually) isn't dual-core, and it doesn't go into suspend mode. Eventually I have to restart Firefox to get it to clear things up. Or I can't leave the Reader running.
I do have a dual-core system, and on that one I can generally get by with it, though the behavior seems similar, as you describe.
Posted by Chad Everett | January 17, 2007 7:52 AM
I got the same high CPU usage while working on a heavy page (flash video + Ajax calls + lots of text and graphics).
I suspect that it's the XmlHttpRequests that use lots of CPU. And the FireBug extension actually boosts this CPU usage while monitoring those Ajax calls.
In safe mode was not a noticeable problem.
Funny thing that when I entered safe mode I got a prompt to update the FireBug to a new version. So I did, tested in safemode and returned in normal mode.
Issue was gone so maybe the last FireBug release fixed exactly that.
Nevertheless FireBug is a must so my Athlon XP 1.4 ghz will have to go :)
Posted by cosmin | January 17, 2007 2:28 PM
I also use FireBug, and have just updated, so I'll keep an eye on it too. I hadn't noticed it before, so perhaps it was one of the betas that caused it. We'll see...
Posted by Chad Everett | January 17, 2007 3:34 PM
I have this problem too; when I leave a Google Reader tab open for a long period of time Firefox's CPU utilization grows to a significant proportion (it's currently at a consistent 50%) until I shut down Firefox.
I do not use the FireBug extension, but I do use AdBlock+.
Posted by hashashin | January 18, 2007 12:07 PM
I too have the same issue.
If you look at my CPU load graph, it wold be as looking at some mountain spikes...and sometimes a mountain with a flat top shows up.
Posted by Mohamed Salem | February 6, 2007 5:36 PM
Like many here, I suffer from the high CPU utilization. This happens to me on two different systems: At work and at home. One's a dual core and one a single core.
Both Firefox installations are identical with regards to plugins.
What's odd is that in both cases the CPU utilization stays at 50%-56%. Because there's CPU available, I don't notice it right away, even when though I do a lot of compilation at work and gaming at home.
I realize the situation when I browse and some div's don't hide anymore (like comments on flickr pictures). My quick workaround, as others pointed out, is to restart the browser.
Posted by Javier | February 22, 2007 10:33 PM
I forgot to mention before that I don't use Google Reader or FireBug but I do have Adblock. I also rarely close my Firefox instance unless I need to either reboot or it's using too much CPU.
Posted by Javier | February 22, 2007 10:38 PM
I recently upgraded my computer, and I'm now running a dual-core as my primary system.
I have to say that, though I don't keep Google Reader open, I rarely see the CPU usage get above a couple of percentage points (I'm running the VIsta Multi Meter Gadget that shows both cores).
This system does have 2GB of RAM, which is often at least half used (1GB), so it's quite possible that the prior problem was related to the need to swap - it had 1GB of (physical) RAM, so it may have needed to swap, leading to increased CPU utilization. Just a thought.
Posted by Chad Everett | February 23, 2007 1:32 PM
I have the same problem with Google Reader and Firebug and having only 512 megs of memory it doesn't take long for the CPU to start hitting 90% and 100%. If it wouldn't have been for the original post I would not even have realized what was going on. I always have Firefox open with Google Reader in one tab, but from now on I guess that I will have to use the IE7 solution. Thank you for posting this!
Posted by Eddie | February 23, 2007 6:20 PM
I had this same problem and was eyeing Google Reader as well - not sure if it is really at fault though ... Iinstalled FlashBlock 2 days ago ( and left Google Reader open the same as I always do ). Haven't experienced the problem since. Prior to installing Flashblock, this machine's CPU would've been pegged at 90% by early afternoon ...
Posted by Brian McKendrick | February 27, 2007 11:56 AM
I have cpu usage spikes in firefox (since somewhere mid v1.5), they occur every 25 seconds (that's nearly 30 secs, coincidence?) and from initial run they increase in intensity to the point where everything freezes. I dont use many extensions (though some people here mentioned firebug which is installed)
I've turned off the page buffering to reduce the memory footprint, but it still eats 300 mb with 17 tabs open (I dont think 17 tabs is too many, what are tabs for if not to be used?). Pages with flash tend to make this balloon to over half a gig, and eventually flash movies will stop playing properly (in any browser) and i have to reboot(!) coz closing everything wont cut it. Closing the tabs does not normally free the memory, can you say memory haemorrhage?
Funny though, this is on my win 2k athlon XP 1gb mem at work and the cpu thing doesnt happen on my Core 2 duo 2gb XP machine at home...instead it just eats about 500mb after the first couple of tabs!
I've supported Firefox from the beginning, it's a better browser than all the others for so many reasons and I dont touch ie except for testing...but I suspect it's either really badly written, or trying to be too clever to the point of unusability.
On other forums people say "every release of FF gets better", I disagree, it's more like every release fixes a quirk or two but adds some others that you "just have to put up with" because it's "a better browser than ie"..hah
Sorry that felt like a rant, I'm just sharing my experience ;)
Posted by Wilko | March 16, 2007 9:02 AM
I'm not convinced that the issue is Google Reader. I'm having these "halting" issues with Firefox also, where I begin typing in an edit box and the text doesn't show up for a while, and where it takes seconds for Firefox to respond to mouse events. This only seems to happen on my quad-processor computer; my other single and dual core computers don't exhibit this issue. I tried disabling addons, but that didn't fix it either.
I strongly suspect it's related in some way to either the form spell checker or the dropdown form memory boxes.
Posted by Werewolf | April 20, 2007 12:44 PM
Same observation here. It definetely has to do with Google Reader. It's sufficient to press reload in that tab and CPU goes down.
Posted by Matthias | April 25, 2007 8:46 AM
I have the same problem with Firefox 2.0.0.3, even with no extensions enabled.
As soon as I open Google Reader *or* Gmail the CPU starts spinning and memory usage starts to skyrocket. I have 2 Gb of RAM but it gets so bad that other applications run out of memory. Closing tabs doesn't help. Restarting Firefox doesn't help. All I can do is reboot! Something is very wrong.
I'm frustrated that I've found reports of these memory leaks doing back 2 years but it still hasn't been fixed. I love Firefox but it's rendering my machine unusable. I've mostly quit using Gmail - actually finding I prefer Yahoo anyway - but that doesn't make it OK for Firefox to run amok!
Posted by chchatham | May 8, 2007 3:35 PM
I think there should be some kind of CPU load analysis within Firefox to show which extension or part of Firefox that is causing the high load.
Posted by Korayem | June 6, 2007 4:20 AM
I have a very similar problem, and I'm glad I came across yr blog, because I've just sorted out my problem, or at least paused it for the time being.
I use Google Reader, but I can't say that I've experienced serious issues on Google Reader. But what I have done is install the Google Extensions for FireFox. I'm running FF 2.0.0.4 now, and I just disabled both the Google Reader extention and the Google Browser Sync extension, and restarted.
My initial thought on this was the fact that I access some Java Applets. I was under the impression that it was the Java Apps. Being a Java Developer, I know how heavy these applet can be, so I didn't think twice about it. But I've got three tabs open, all with the Java applets which I thought was causing the issue.... FireFox is running smoother than it's run in a long time. Plus... lately, it's been running at over 250MB of RAM with only 7 or 8 tabs open. Right now I only have 5 tabs open, but with the 3 tabs running my applets FF is running at 167MB... no delays in switching tabs, and processor running smoothly.
FF crashes on me on a daily basis. I suspect it won't anymore. I will have to wait and see though. I kinda got used to it because I didn't think it was my extensions.
So... it would appear as if my issue is solved. Thanx for that, and Google Guy... I love your extensions... so if you can find your leak, that would be great... for the time being... I won't be enabling them for a while
Posted by Pip | June 6, 2007 6:39 PM
I was having a similar problem, and stumbled upon your page. Ultimately I narrowed it down to the Yahoo! toolbar which was causing the spikes in the CPU usage by firefox. Disabled it - and it seems hunky dory - well so far...
Posted by Arijit | August 23, 2007 7:00 AM
September 10th, 2007
If you are googling this for your gmail (especially with chat) being very slow and eating up 99% of your CPU with FireFox 2.0.0.6 (newest as of 9/10/07) I have found the solution (for myself at least)!!!
Another weird symptom I was getting was that the emoticons weren't being displayed properly, and there were some other visual artifacts. Unfortunately, the problem lies with one of my favorite extensions: Image-Zoom.
If your problems seem like mine, try disabling Image Zoom: Click Tools -> Add-Ons -> Image Zoom -> Disable, then close and restart Firefox.
Click a chat window, make an emoticon or two, and it should be fixed. If this doesn't fix it for you, but you are having similar problems, do what I did and find it manually.
First of all, see if it is an add-on that is causing your problems. Start Firefox in safe mode by going to Start -> Run (or by hitting WindowsKey+R) and enter the command: "firefox -safe-mode" and just click "Continue to Safe Mode" without checking any of the boxes. Go to www.gmail.com and login, and test it out. If the problems disappear, one of your extensions is messing it up.
To find which one, start Firefox in regular mode, then disable about half of your extensions. Restart Firefox and try gmail again. If it is working correctly, try enabling each extension, restarting firefox, and trying again, until you get the problem again; the last one you enabled is the problem extension. On the other hand, if after disabling half it does not work, keep disabling one at a time (restarting Firefox after each enable/disable) until it does work.
Posted by Matt L | September 10, 2007 6:44 PM
Hi Matt -
Good tips, unfortunately I don't use the Image Zoom extension! In fact, these days about the only extensions I use are Firebug and Forecast Fox. It seems that regardless of what I use, what I have enabled and what I do, Firefox regularly just eats memory.
So I keep an eye on it. Usually it's not bad until it hits 500MB or so, at which point I just kill it and start over. Then I repeat as needed.
Still, good tips - thanks for the great detail!
Posted by Chad Everett | September 10, 2007 7:03 PM
I appreciate the folks that are keeping this blog going and contributing their stories in a constructive, factual, non-emotional manner. I'm glad I found this blog.
///// Posted by chchatham on May 8, 2007 3:35 PM: As soon as I open Google Reader *or* Gmail the CPU starts spinning and memory usage starts to skyrocket. /////
I have a similar problem with EITHER of these two applications, and for me, the problem doesn't start immediatly. Yes, I get high load when loading Gmail or Google reader, but I expect that. Once the page load is done, CPU returns to normal for a while. Firefox/2.0.0.11 is the version here. I don't know that it's a memory leak, it seems to be caught in some kind of loop because there is firefox.exe memory being consumed and released even though the browser is locked up. I've tried to wait it out, but even after several minutes, it's still locked and has to be killed.
///// Posted by Korayem on June 6, 2007 4:20 AM: I think there should be some kind of CPU load analysis within Firefox to show which extension or part of Firefox that is causing the high load. /////
Amen to that!!
I'm going to try the IE work-around for these two applications. I'm quite apt, technically, but I don't have the tools necessary to pinpoint this apparent Firefox allergy to certain Google pages.
Posted by Robb Topolski | February 5, 2008 6:04 PM
I'm having exactly the same problem with 10-12 tabs open, where one of them holds my Netvibes content. If I close Netvibes, cpu usage goes to a normal state. Perhaps a general problem with heavily Ajaxed pages?
If I try to close Firefox, I get sometimes the error that there is a long running script waiting to finish.
Posted by Felix | February 19, 2008 6:30 AM
I had a similar problem, and as I have 2GB of RAM and dual core I was keen to find a software solution. Migrated to Opera (as Firefox was being so buggy) but it is ALSO struggling with Flash video heavy Google Reader channels. Maybe its just time to upgrade.... :(
Posted by Luke | May 24, 2008 6:22 PM
I just googled this topic and found this post. I'm having the same problem, but with FF 3.0 Release Candidate 1.
Posted by Mac | June 6, 2008 11:14 AM
I just experienced it on Firefox 3 final. Found my CPU at ~100% and it returned to normal as soon as I closed the Google Reader tab.
Posted by Ahmad | July 2, 2008 3:36 AM
I am using the FireFox 2.0.0.15 on Windows XP - No Addons.
1) There is a major issue with the Browser consuming CPU - so much that the whole m/c just hangs. With no option but to ReBoot.
2) While playing Streaming videos the memory usage of FF increases drastically.
These days I have started using IE more and more. I hope we dont go back to those IE days.
Posted by Anu | July 29, 2008 12:29 AM
I have probelm with firefox 3.0.1, but not with Google Reader.
I run my laptop, dual core, 2GB, mostly on Wireless and for some time now it's been very hot. I wasn't sure if it has anything to do with my laptop being a bad product not cooling the wireless module enough, or the fact that I noticed that firefox often takes up at least 20%, often more of my CPU Usage.
I had the problem with firefox 2 and hoped that upgrading to ff3 would help, but no. It came to the point that I started using IE again.
Then I started searching and came over this blog. I fist disabled all the addons, restarted, but still 30% and 200MB. What I had open? Only 6 Tabs of pure html. No flash, no high-profile sites at all. How is it possible?
Then I see that I have two firefox windows open, not just the one I restarted. The other one has similar amount of tabs that I remember checking another day, and for some reason teh sessions have been saved. Maybe the computer crashed, maybe I closed the process, i don't remember. What is strange is that now my CPU Usage is 1-3%, and ff at 0%! That's a new. And I already enabled all the addons.
The strange thing is that it has been running at a high percentage almost from the first day I installed it. I usually just hibernate, but also restarted, to no avail. THere should definately be some tool, if there isn't already, where you can monitor your browsers performance and pinpoint out where it is consuming all the power. In my case there was another window, with tabs using a lot of flash, which was using power but not visible.
I hope it stays this way. Next step is to figure out how to remove the GoogleUpdate.exe that I believe arrived after having installed Chrome. Shutting down the process doesn't help, checking Administrative Tools/Services (Win XP) I can disable GoogleUpdaterService.exe, which is not the same process. The first one cannot even be found!
It'sfrustrating when products you used to like, ff and google, starts to seriously annoy you.
Posted by julian | September 20, 2008 10:54 AM