Gateworld Ads cause Firefox to Use up to 72% of you CPU Fix in Here

[Skydiver]

I resent the distraction. That makes me less inclined to click on them.

same here. it's rare that i will click on any internet ad simply because there's so many of them, but there are also so many 'bad' ads out there. by bad i mean, in trying to close a pop up a couple of years ago, i downloaded some piece of adware/spyware that it took me two years to root out and destroy off my old desktop

if i'm interested in something, i'll go google their site and check things out. and i do go to amazon via gateworld's ad, but generally speaking, i treat them like phishing mails...i don't trust any of them, no matter what site they're on

I've had a few ads on yahoo that trigger my company's spyware program (we can't go to sexually explicit, violence or hacking sites...and a couple of yahoo's ads do trigger that software)

[Droops]

It's the latest build of Firefox, there is a memory leak. I rolled back to an earlier version and haven't had that problem since. Perhaps you should try that too?

Which build is it exactly?

[stargate barbie]

i'm actually one of those idiots who still uses IE, but since i got my new computer, its only crashed about twice (in six months) and neither time was due to IE. which i find very odd.

[Darren]

I don’t really Mind the Memory leak on deer Park cause I have 768MB of RAM, but my processor maxing out because I’m on GateWorld using Firefox and it’s using 72% of the cpu does cause a problem

You definitely don't want to be using a browser with a memory leak. It will gradually consume your system resources -- that's what a memory leak is. It's not the fault of GateWorld or any other site you visit.

I once had a version of Netscape with a memory leak for my operating system. Eventually the entire system grinds to a halt and needs to be rebooted. The only way to fix it is to upgrade / replace the browser.

The GW Forum log-out error has been a mainstay for a year now. Everybody sees it. Not sure why.

[Qasim]

The GW Forum log-out error has been a mainstay for a year now. Everybody sees it. Not sure why.

Somebody in the 'About the forum' section once said it had been implemented to get round a software bug

[mazzmatazz]

Which build is it exactly?

Not quite sure now, it was some time ago that I had it, I rolled all the way back to 1.0.5 when I reinstalled my PC, and it works just peachy

And yes, I had to reinstall my pc BECAUSE of Firefox. The memory leak was really bad, and gradually files got corrupted and certain sites wouldn't load.

Edit: Apparently it's linked to the flash plugin, and this has a suggested reason and fix.

[Egeria]

I'm using 1.0.5, I had similar problems to mazz and to do a full reinstall. Whilst 1.0.5 carries on working problem-free I've no plans to update firefox.

[Qasim]

I installed 1.5 Beta 1 and its all over the place *crosses fingers*

[Col. Newman]

I installed 1.5 Beta 1 and its all over the place *crosses fingers*

what do you mean by "all over the place"? and did you download the lasest Build? Latest Build link right Here and after you install that Build you will be able to check for update just go to the Help menu and click on "Check for Updates..."

[knocknashee]

Not quite sure now, it was some time ago that I had it, I rolled all the way back to 1.0.5 when I reinstalled my PC, and it works just peachy

And yes, I had to reinstall my pc BECAUSE of Firefox. The memory leak was really bad, and gradually files got corrupted and certain sites wouldn't load.

Edit: Apparently it's linked to the flash plugin, and this has a suggested reason and fix.

Nice intel there...might be why my PC is now sat on the floor awaiting £300 worth of repair work, to include a new hard drive, which is so badly corrupted, it's beyond re-use, only as a one off to get what files I can off it.

Definitely time to source another alternative browser, cos I won't be re-installing FireFox in a hurry now I know that it's probably the likely culprit to my continuing PC woes. Shame, cos I prefer to use open-source where possible, but at the rate it damaged that hard drive, I'm not in a hurry to abandon IE again. It might be a power hungry, system-hogging monster which stores an mound of crap in my PC, but at least it never physically damaged it.

Just as well I read this, since I was going to install it on my other half's PC, which I'm using at the moment...thanks for the heads up people.

[Skydiver]

Which build is it exactly?

yeah, what build of firefox is it? i have 1.0.6 and was going to install 1.0.7, but if they're both bad, i'll use the 1.0.5

I think part of my issue is that, while my puter does have the speed, 3 gig processor and 512 of ram, it is a lappy and more sensitive than your random desktop

[RDAfan61]

I just started using Firefox because every time I tried to quote a post with IE for the last few weeks IE would freeze up. The log out error is not a big thing but your browser freezeing any time you want to quote someone in a forum is a big pain. It's not only me either, lots of others are complaining about the same problem.

The most I have seen Firfox use so far is 43% and that was a short spike.most of the time it's only at 4%. I'm liking Firefox so far. No pop ups and while the page still loads a bit slow it seems slightly faster than IE.

Mine is 1.0.6 And I take it back. This last time it spiked to 72% ironically. Hadn't done that before. Spooky.

[iLemon]

yeah, what build of firefox is it? i have 1.0.6 and was going to install 1.0.7, but if they're both bad, i'll use the 1.0.5

I think part of my issue is that, while my puter does have the speed, 3 gig processor and 512 of ram, it is a lappy and more sensitive than your random desktop

I know exactly what you mean! My computers just like that, everything just slows the thing down, like msn, wmp, p2p software, torrent software, EVERYTHING! I'm starting to miss my old computer, as lousy as the harddrive space was, it was suprisingly fast.

Thanks for the link mazz

[SmallTimePerson]

Is FF supposed to use 70mb of your computer memory?

only 42Mb here
not much difference, i have RAM optimisers running , that maybe why mines different

[Major Tyler]

The Firefox memory leak is an easy fix. Essentially, the problem is that the Mozilla people simply haven't gotten around to allocating how much memory Firefox should use, so the program takes as much as it can. Think of Firefox as your 16 year old daughter who just ran off with your credit card (ie. memory) which happens to have no spending limit. All you have to do is tell the program how much it is allowed to "spend" on memory.

1.) Open a new Firefox window (or tab) and type "about:config" without quotes into the address bar and click "Go."

2.) Right-click anywhere, select New, then Integer. In the dialog prompt that appears, type:

browser.cache.memory.capacity

3.) Click OK. Another dialog prompt will appear. This is where you decide how much memory to allocate to Firefox. This depends on how much RAM your computer has, but generally you don't want to allocate too little (under 8MB), but if you allocate too much, you might as well not do this. A good recommended setting is 16MB. If you want 16MB, enter this value into the dialog prompt:

16384

(Why 16384 instead of 16000? Because computers use base-12 counting. Thus 16 megabytes = 16384 bytes. Likewise, if you want to double that and allocate 32MB, you'd enter 32768.)

4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of Firefox and restart. If your Firefox still uses the same amount of memory, give it a few minutes and it should slowly clear up. If that fails, try a system reboot.

See? No reason at all to ditch Firefox!

Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-.../1327586/posts