Firefox WC eats memory

[webclipperer 3]

98% of the reason I'm an Evernote Premium user is so that I can clip Web content in Firefox.  While version 6.10.2beta2 works best for me, it and beta1 and 6.9.3 all include a dealbreaker: an increase in memory used until the browser becomes unusable and needs to be restarted.  This memory grab proceeds slowly, even if I'm not actively using the browser (maybe due to unattended activity by Gmail, Facebook, etc.).  Using the browser heavily makes the memory grab happen much faster.

When I say memory grab, I'm talking about 1.5 to 2 GIGAbytes (according to about:memory) on top of my initial startup size of about 600 MB before the browser gives up the ghost and becomes unusably slow. 

Disabling the Web Clipper makes the problem go away.  Re-enabling makes the problem happen again.  Uninstalling and reinstalling all three versions makes no difference -- if any of those three WC versions is active, the problem occurs. 

Right now I'm copying URLs to Chrome and using its WC, but that's not a particularly convenient process for a frequently-used feature.

Firefox 50.0.2 (latest) and latest Win 10 Pro. 

Anyone else having this problem?

[gazumped 10,331]

Hi.  I'm on Firefox 51.0b6 which is the latest beta,  and while the browser is occupying 1.5GB of my memory at the present time,  I haven't noticed Evernote's clipper making that noticeably worse.  Firefox is not cautious in its use of available system memory.  Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling Evernote to make sure that any slowdown is not app related?

[webclipperer 3]

Thanks, gazumped.  Yeah, Firefox assumes a huge amount of virtual memory and lets the OS worry about paging and working sets.  But, that's proper -- in 2016, most apps should let the OS worry about physical memory. 

When I get to 1.5GB on the about:memory panel, Firefox is noticeably more sluggish.  When I get over 2GB, it's annoying.  Over 2.5 GB and Firefox is unusable. 

When I'm not using the last three Web Cilpper versions, I haven't seen memory usage above 1GB.  [But, I have not been in the habit of checking about:memory prior to my current problem, so I can't be sure that I haven't gone above 1GB in the past.]

Not sure what you mean about the slowdown not being app-related?  The slowdown only applies to Firefox, and it correlates exactly with skyrocketing about:memory usage.  That's not necessarily causation, but...

[Keith Berson 0]

I've been having problems with my Firefox and it consuming 1.5GP and more (as high as 3GB!)

Following FF's instruction, I went through the elimination process, and without the Evernote web clipper, FF averages ~500MB of memory, for days at a time. The moment I add in WC, though, the usage shoots upwards to 1GB, and never stops. Disable it, and it drops back to average. This clearly indicates to me that WC has a leak.

[gazumped 10,331]

1 hour ago, Keith Berson said:

I've been having problems with my Firefox

Join the club.  Firefox are supposed to have introduced a new memory management process which allocates memory to separate groups of tabs - though it's new 'Multi-Process' approach isn't necessarily switched on for everyone.  Complaints about its hoggy nature fill Google and most tech forums - I doubt Clipper is making it worse.  My MP processes are now 'on' courtesy of the link above - here's my current memory usage to compare....

[webclipperer 3]

I gave up and now just copy URLs I want to save to a Chrome window.  Annoying at first, but I got used to it fast.  I also use the Chrome window for scrolling captures, since FF multiprocess and Snag-It are not compatible.  At this point, I'm not going to reinstall the FF Webclipper until someone says it's working right.

Looking forward to Firefox 57 in mid-November, and hoping they caught up to Chrome in terms of speed...

[ABCDEFDH 0]

I confirm evernote's web clipper is (still) leaking memory. Right after I installed it I noticed up to 3 gigs of RAM used by firefox, increasing with time and when I disable the extension, it goes back down to under a GB for a few tabs. I also notice a great increase in CPU usage (about 20%) when I was running only fiefox, with web clipper.

Unfortunately, I don't think that firefox updates are likely to solve this problem ; it seems to me that the leakages are happening in evernote's extension. I actually have firefox 59.0.2 and web clipper 6.13.2.

[webclipperer 3]

I am also running the same FF and WC versions -- but, no issues for a while.  The more recent versions of FF's multiprocess architecture are much more stable on my machine, too.

When I started this thread, it was a real nightmare -- but now it works fine.  Sorry you're still having trouble.  :-(

[gazumped 10,331]

Hmmn.  My current FF seems to be v59 64bit and I'm on 6.13.2;  sorry can't offer any suggestions other than creating a new profile in Firefox (which is a lot of work if you have it customised to your preferences) or uninstalling and reinstalling.