Reduce Firefox's memory usage

This month's CustomPC has a great tip for reducing the amount of memory that Firefox consumes when it's running in the background.

If you've ever watched your process list when firefox is in use you won't be surprised to hear that it can consume vast amounts of memory - multiple open tabs or windows is the major culprit.

To force Firefox to trim it's footprint when minimised do the following:

• Type "about:config" in the URL address bar
  
• Right-click in the window and choose "New" and then "Boolean"
  
• Enter "config.trim_on_minimize" as the preference name
  
• Select "True" as the default value
  
• Restart Firefox
  

That's it! Now watch the amount of memory it uses rapidly drop when Firefox is minimised...

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Memory, CustomPC, Andrew Beacock