How to fix high CPU usage with Firefox 👉 – Wingdings Translator Online

High CPU usage in Firefox browser is mainly due to scanning of heavy website elements and background processes. But How to fix high CPU usage with Firefox? It can be fixed by changing your browser settings and avoiding the use of a lot of third-party plugins that run in the background.

Firefox is often considered the epitome of a secure browsing experience. Similarly, it also comes with a lot of useful feature sets, which more often than not, tick off all the important prerequisites for the end user.

Whether it’s on the customization front or efficient tab management, there’s a lot to look forward to. Also, it doesn’t hog too many system resources compared to its Chrome counterpart. Or so I thought.

When I recently switched to Firefox, I noticed that my PC’s performance was constantly declining. After further investigation through the windows task manager , the Firefox browser turned out to be the main culprit. It was draining more than expected level of RAM and other related resources.

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Also, it was not an isolated case. Many concerned users have posted the same query on various Mozilla support forums. If you are also on the same page and facing high CPU usage issues with Firefox browser then this guide will help you.

Try the basic solutions

Before moving on to the slightly advanced fixes, let’s start with a few fundamental ones that are known to rectify the underlying problem more often than not. In this regard:

The first solution requires exiting and then restart firefox . Be sure to save all open tabs before doing so.
Next, it is also recommended to have the latest version of the browser. If that’s not the case, consider upgrading right away. Click on the menu and select Download Firefox Update . You can also manually download and install it on your PC.

Likewise, it is also recommended that you properly shut down your PC (no sleep or hibernation) and then restart. Once it starts, launch the browser and see if the high CPU usage has been fixed or not.

These were the most basic fixes that often resolve temporary CPU jitter. If this doesn’t help, you can continue with the advanced troubleshooter.

Start Firefox in safe mode

When you start the browser in safe mode, it will disable all third party plugins, themes and extensions. So, if the browser works as expected in this mode, then the extensive resource consumption could be attributed to any of these plugins. Therefore, you should consider disabling it.

Here are the steps to start Firefox in safe mode with add-ons disabled :

Throw the Mozilla Firefox browser
Click on the menu located at the top right.
Select Aid > Reboot with plugins disabled in the dropdown menu.

This will launch the browser in Safe Mode .

Check how you are performing now. If you notice a noticeable improvement, restart your browser back to normal mode and uninstall recently installed extensions one at a time, until the performance issue is fixed.

Although third-party plugins add more features to the browser, they could well be the cause of some problems. In those cases, it is best to eliminate them and look for their alternatives.

Use strict tracking protection

Firefox comes with three different levels of tracking protection: standard, strict Y personalized. It is the strict one that is known to block most trackers, cookies and content on various sites. This, in turn, could also speed up the loading time of various sites. Then you might consider enabling it.

Here are the steps to enable strict privacy in Firefox browser :

start the Firefox browser on a computer.
Click on the menu and select Options.
Switch to section Privacy & Security from the menu bar on the left.
Select mode strict in the section Enhanced Tracking Protection

Now check and see if it gives any favorable results.

One of the biggest drawbacks of strict mode is that its heavy protection mechanism might break some of the websites and their content. Therefore, you may need to prepare for this compensation.

Enable hardware acceleration

When it comes to graphics-intensive components, Firefox uses your PC’s main process by default. However, other applications may not be able to make optimal use of RAM and thus could slow down the entire PC. Therefore, consider telling the browser to use the PC’s graphics processor instead of the main one.

Here are the steps to enable hardware acceleration in Firefox :

start the Firefox browser on a computer.
Click on the menu and select Options.
Scroll down to the section Performance on the tab General .
Uncheck the option Use recommended performance settings

Enable the option Use hardware acceleration when available

See if you manage to fix the Firefox high CPU usage issue. The hardware acceleration feature is totally dependent on the graphics processor, so a weaker chipset might not offer preferable mileage.

Reduce content process limit

By default, Firefox allocates the maximum available content process (which is 8). This makes it easier for the browser to deal with multiple tabs open at once. But on the other hand, it also leads to higher RAM consumption. Therefore, you might consider lowering its value for optimal RAM usage.

Here are the steps to reduce content process limit in Firefox :

start the Firefox browser on a computer.
Click on the menu and select Options.
Scroll down to the section Performance on the tab General .
Uncheck the option Use recommended performance settings .
This will bring up the Content Process Limit dropdown menu.
Change the value of 8 to something lower, say 4

Restart Firefox and then check if the high CPU usage issue is resolved or not. Lowering the content process limit can make it difficult for you to deal with multiple tabs simultaneously. Therefore, consider keeping the number of open tabs at a lower level.

Delete the content-prefs.sqlite file

The content-prefs.sqlite file contains data related to user profiles. But if any data gets corrupted, it could have a negative impact on the overall performance of the browser. Therefore, it is recommended to delete this file and let Firefox automatically create its new instance.

Here are the steps to remove Firefox profile with content-prefs.sqlite :

Throw the Mozilla Firefox browser
Click on the menu located at the top right.
Select the option Aid > Troubleshooting information .

inside section Basics of the app go to profile folder and click on the Open Folder button.

Select the content prefs.sqlite file and Remove the same.

Once done, restart the browser and see if the resource consumption has been minimized or not. When deleting the old file, you may notice that some settings are out of sync with your preferences. So make sure you set it accordingly.

Refresh Firefox (Reset)

If none of the aforementioned methods managed to bring favorable results, then it’s time to reset the browser to its default state.

Note: Firefox Reset will remove all third-party plugins and customizations you have made to the browser. However, your data (bookmarks, password, etc.) will remain safe.

Here are the steps to reset and update Firefox browser on computer :

Copy and paste about:support into the Firefox address bar and press the Enter key.
This will take you to the troubleshooting page.
Click on the Update Firefox… button on the right.

This will open a dialog for your confirmation.
Hit the Update Firefox Command button.

Wait for the process to complete and restart the Firefox browser.

By performing these steps, you will lose all installed extensions as well as any settings you have made in the browser. However, if it ends up fixing the problem, then it’s worth the effort. I just checked if this has fixed the high CPU usage.

Conclusion on how to fix high CPU usage with Firefox

So all this was from this guide onwards, it might fix high CPU usage issue with Firefox browser. We have shared a total of seven different solutions that could help you rectify high CPU usage in Firefox browser.

In my case, installing some third-party extensions kept browser processes running all the time, which in turn led to high resource consumption. So, by starting the browser in safe mode, I was able to identify that these plugins were the culprit.

Therefore, removing the recently installed extensions returned the CPU usage to what was expected.

If none of the above solutions work for you, then it is better to switch to an alternative browser for your computer

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