About various plugins and tips on the "wonderful" weaning of Firefox to eat RAM

    This is a response to a post about the AFOM plugin and similar tips.

    Unfortunately, the AFOM addon is the same trick as with the config.trim_on_minimize parameter (in about: config set this parameter to true and observe the same effect when the browser minimizes). It really reduces RAM usage, but at the expense of memory flush using swap / swapfile .

    Here are the graphs obtained using TaskInfo:
    image


    In the standard Windows Task Manager, the Flush Process Memory Out operationIt looks like an instantaneous reset of the Mem Usage value and stable rather quick after it is resumed to a value of 50-180MB or more, depending on the number of installed add-ons and open tabs + complexity of open sites. But it will stop at a value that is less than it was before the operation, since during this time a part will overflow into the swap.
    I took the name “Flush Process Memory Out” from the same TaskInfo. There, this operation is in the context menu of processes, and you can do the same for any process.

    With time(usually after a few days) this strategy leads to slow returns to the browser window and slow reactions to the internal functions of the browser that have not been used for a long time (opening options, searching through tabs / history and others). That is, almost everything that is not actively used now merges into a swap, which is why it turns out that right after the operation of this trick, when trying to switch tabs, travel through history, open new sites, the user does not notice any brakes. Brakes appear over time.

     

    Conclusion


    Yes, these tricks reduce the consumption of RAM and do not affect the main functionality of the browser when using it actively, but know how and why.
     

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