I've been using firefox for the past 10 years but lately they're really pushing me to my breaking point. I hate change, I really hate it, I don't want to have to switch browsers again but over the past several months I've been considering it.

Firefox updated again to Quantum 68. And it's ignoring the fact that I don't want multi processes. It's done this before, and I've had to search and figure out how to turn off the extra processes, but it looks like it won't work anymore.

Computer was freezing and freaking out and I accidentally switched to my task manager and about went into shock upon seeing nine firefox processes. Immediately go to jump through the hoops I've gone through before, and... find that multiprocesses are already disabled from last time. What. Why do I have 9 firefox processes making my computer go incredibly slow? :( Why do they keep making the browser so hard to use? If there's a way to force chrome to be one process, it looks like that's where I'm headed.

I don't really know anything about technology 😔 All I know is more than one firefox process in my task manager = slow computer and they're forcing a lower quality of life on me. Anyone know how to bypass this?

This is the first time I've looked into this (but I noticed multiple instances of FF in my volume mixer recently and I was so confused about that, so thank you!).

Forgive me if this is the same setting you're talking about because I don't know much about tech either tbh, but if you uncheck the "Use recommended performance settings" box under Performance in the general settings, you can set a maximum number of processes that FF can use. Does that help, or is that what you already changed?

Ah! That was super promising, but I set it to one process and restarted, and it still gave me 4 processes. Thanks anyway, since that brought it down. (Hopefully it won't start adding more anyway but you never know)

The setting I was talking about has to do with going in about:config and fiddling with stuff (mess with stuff in about:config at one's own discretion). In the past when this has happened I google "how to stop firefox multiple processes" and see answers on the support. mozilla site. My settings for it had already been set to false, by myself previously, which spurred my rant here lol.

I'm using a super old laptop -fujitsu siemens lifebook E series from 2007? o.o still alive and kicking! made for Win Xp but works well with Win 7! As browser i use opera. it still has several processes (just counted them: 11!!! O.o) and my machine rarely freaks out, though it does freak out/freezes often enough.

I also have an HP 2000 (much newer) but it's MUCH slower! I use opera and Chrome? on that one? but EVERYTHING makes it freak out or freeze. ;-;

Sadly, i think it's possible that most browsers will forecefully have multi-processes. I also don't understand why. In any case, Firefox would kill both machines i mentioned. :( This is why i gave it up. I also dislike changes and i'm not good with tech stuff.

laughing in Google Chrome use One process.

Firefox has been on shaky ground for a couple years now, I'd say best to just start saving back bookmarks and hop over to another (more process friendly) browser.

Chrome is not a one process browser and is not recommended for low-end systems as it uses more system resources than other browsers.

One reason modern web browsers run multiple processes is because it allows tabs/plugins to crash independently when something goes wrong. If the browser were to run everything on the same process, one site/plugin/extension crashing would freeze/crash the whole browser.

It is also more secure to have multiple processes, as each process is isolated from the other processes by the browser and your operating system. This helps prevent code from one website from "looking" at the data you have open in another tab/website (like your internet banking information).

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of system are you using? Total amount of RAM and processor? Are you having these issues with only Firefox open or do you usually have multiple programs open at once? It's ok if you don't know, I was just curious.

Also, did changing the setting Darkrai recommended help with the freezing issue at all?

Here's what my computer says, no idea what any of it means ^^; It's a windows 7 desktop computer by the way

RAM: 3.00 GB Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz 2.13GHz

I usually only have firefox open, alongside my task manager to make sure the memory used by firefox doesn't get out of control. It usually does. I don't dare have much of anything else open or my computer is even more slow. (Anything else open is usually a creative program like word, paint, or photoshop) But most of the time I only have firefox open and it happens.

I don't know if changing the setting helped much. When it was one process I could check my task manager and see when it got up to using 1,000,000 K memory I would close and restart. Now it spreads as much memory used to its several processes.

I don't know anything, I feel like the slowness has to do with what I'm doing in my tabs in firefox. When I'm deep in the middle of something I'll have youtube (search), another youtube (video I opened in new tab from search), another game website similar to subeta, google spreadsheet, and discord. I also have ad block plus (which I've heard I should switch to something called ublock origin? like I said I hate change so I haven't gotten around to it) as well as noscript.

If it's truly better I'll go back up to more multiprocesses but it's hard to manage in task manager and know when to restart the browser.

check Gem's reply they explained why multiprocsesses are used if you're interested in knowing.

I think my friend uses opera and doesn't have much trouble with it (in fact other browsers giving her trouble is why she turned to opera) but I don't know much about it. I actually have a laptop with windows 8 that I primarily use chrome on, because the firefox is, well.. incredibly slow, moreso than on my desktop.

I don't have much space on my desktop left so I don't like having multiple browsers so I only have firefox whereas the laptop came with chrome on it.

Thank you so so so much for the explanation! you used layman English and i understand better! Though, on my windows 7 machine, the multiple processes didn't stop the browser to crash. all tabs. -.-

i used to have like 6-7 tabs open, one in Google Docs -for work, then research and music o.o and well, let's just say have to learn how to use 4 or 5 only... and no music (Google Docs and Youtube hate one another recently) Tragedy!!!! haha XD

omg! THANK you so much for the ping! <3 <3 <3

Thanks for posting the specs! Unfortunately, there won't be much you can do in terms of performance improvements without upgrading your system (your processor is quite outdated and 3GB of RAM is very low), but I'll list some options for you to try.

uBlock Origin and AdGuard AdBlocker are more lightweight adblockers when compared to AdBlock Plus. You can try swapping that extension as a first step if you don't want to switch browsers right away. The user experience of using either of these alternatives won't be significantly different from AdBlock Plus, so it will be a small change.

You can also try installing a small extension like Auto Tab Discard which can reduce Firefox's RAM usage by hibernating unused tabs, freeing up their RAM for the system to use until they are needed again. This does not close your tabs, they will still be there until you choose to close them.

Also out of curiosity, is browser.tabs.remote.autostart the setting you originally changed in about:config?

I think switching to a more lightweight browser will be your best bet for a free solution in the long run. You will have a hard time finding a current browser that does not use multiple processes as the single process browser is obsolete in terms of software design. I would give Midori or Opera a try if you decide to try another browser. Midori will be the more bare-bones of the two in terms of features (it does still offer adblocking though) and may have some issues opening Google docs (you may get a message that your browser is not supported when you try to use Google Drive). Midori also requires very little hard drive space, since you mentioned that is a concern.

Opera will be a larger change in terms of user experience, as its interface is different compared to Firefox and Chrome.

UR Browser is also an option. This browser has adblocking included (like Opera) without the need for an extension. It also looks very similar to Chrome as it is built from Chromium (the open-source code that Chrome itself is based on), so if you are familiar with Chrome already this will be an easy switch.

- You're welcome! I'm glad it was easy to understand. The entire browser can still crash even with multi-processes, they help in terms of stability but cannot prevent 100% of all crashes, especially on an older system. You might also try checking out the Auto Tab Discard extension I suggested to Luck to see if it helps.

Omg! you're a gem, and too nice in trying to educate us <3 i personally feel too old for new technology, and having someone explain in such an easy to understand way is greatly appreciated. I will try and use that extension, but for now i don't really need it. Crashes happen rarely on the windows 7 laptop. the newer one, with windows 8 though.... yea, i might need it there.

I finally switched back to Firefox a month or so ago, tired of Google's invasiveness. Firefox is working fine for me.