Why is Firefox Using too Much RAM Memory? -Windows

When we compare browsers, memory consumption is one of the most considered fact. Who ever wins the browser’s race, it’s kind of sure that you will continue to use the browser you are comfortable with.

I am with Firefox because it has been a long time and I am comfortable with the plugins available for it. Well, reasons alone cannot stand against facts. So let’s find out why is Firefox consuming too much of your system RAM / Memory.

First of all, let’s check how much memory my Firefox V 20.0 is consuming right now with 3 open tabs including Gmail, WordPress and a webpage.

So, we have a clear picture here and a reason to panic! But before we do that, we need to find out what exactly is going on with Firefox. As we know that sometimes things meant to benefit us can also harm us if not given proper attention. The most ignored but crucial element that goes unnoticed are Addons.

 Speed Up Firefox Like Chrome

Even in my case, I have been installing Firefox Addons from time to time for testing purposes but eventually forgot about them as I didn’t use them actively or rather didn’t care about it. Till now, there was no way to find which Firefox Addon uses More Memory and causes Firefox to lag at start up and while working with multiple tabs.

Now you can get details of memory consumption for each of the installed and active Addons. The funny part is that a problem caused by an Addon can be solved by another Addon. I got this Firefox extension named about:addons-memory which helps to find memory usage by Addons and hence helping in reducing overall Firefox memory usage.

 Load Firefox Tabs one by one progressively to speed up loading

Identify and Remove Memory savvy Addons

Install about:addons-memory Addon in Firefox, there is no need to restart your browser. Now, open a new tab and on the address bar type / paste about:addons-memory and hit Enter. On the page you will find all the installed addons and their memory usage.

Disabled Addons will show no usage as you can see in the later section of the above image. This Addon also provides an option to minimize Firefox memory usage, all you need to do is just click on it. Unbelievably, it freed up nearly 50 MB of memory from Firefox. This depends on the number of tabs opened and their contents. The maximum memory freed in my case reached up to 150 MB. This Addon does not show memory usage in real time, so you need to refresh the page for fresh statistics.

 How To Activate Firefox Plugins Only When Required and Disabled Otherwise

To free up memory further, you can identify and remove / disable unused but active Addons. Keep in mind that useful plugins do take a lot of memory depending on the feature they are providing. Hence, it’s better to think carefully over removing all Addons just considering the Memory usage.  I will be happy to see a feature like this to be integrated within Firefox.

What To Do For Battery Boost on Laptop and Maximize Backup Time Without Charging - Windows

Battery backup is more of a concern in mobile devices and even Laptops too. This become more critical when you carry it out at schools or work most of the time. And question arises how can you maximize battery backup and last as long as it used to when it was new.

Here are some tips to boost battery of laptop and increase backup time and last longer without AC charging more often.

1. Setting Screen Brightness

Display takes up most of the battery power so, unless working outside in sunlight, brightness should be extreme low (0%). This can be lowered from Power options in Control Panel or laptops come with function key to do that.

Try to Turn of Laptop LCD Screen while listening songs or when away from Notebook.

2. Kill Useless Windows Processes

Not exactly useless but some programs start with windows and use Computer Processor. These are often used and not always. For example: On my Laptop, I noticed programs like Skype, Dropbox and Google Drive starting up without need. They keep using Processing power and hence battery juice.

3. Disable Wireless Network Connection

While testing some software tools to optimize laptop battery, I noticed that they stress on Wi-Fi connection. So, it is recommended to turn off Wi-Fi when you are not in network; this will save useless efforts by laptop to search for network. Also, it can be disabled even while in network for example watching movie or working on documents offline.

4. Disable CD/DVD Drives and USB Ports

If you are comfortable with touch-pad and do not use external USB mouse with laptop then disable USB ports. I bet you do not use optical CD/DVD Drives more often and for some, it might be never so, why keep it enabled uselessly?

To do that, type “device manager” in start menu and press Enter. In Device Manager, find the optical drive and right click on it to disable. Same is applicable for any other peripheral device attached to your laptop.

5. Setup Power Plans

Use Power Saving Plans in Power options available under Windows Control Panel.

From Advance Power Settings, you can customize the time as per required for various devices and processes. Try to keep it minimum.

6. Battery Calibration

If battery backup has reduced significantly, you should recalibrate laptop battery. As suggested by LifeHacker,

The calibration process basically involves first turning off your screensaver and other power management settings that put the computer to sleep. Then fully charge the laptop before letting it run all the way down until the computer shuts off automatically.

Once the battery has fully drained, you can charge it back up again and restore your screensaver and power management settings.

7. Use Battery Optimizer Windows Software

Battery Optimizer is a diagnostic and optimization tool for laptop’s battery which will analyze the capabilities and optimization options. It takes some time to analyze (say 10 minutes).

A chart is displayed after the diagnostic run which highlights how much battery life you will gain when you run the program’s optimizations. If you have optimized your laptop already for mobile use, you may not gain as much as when you are running the program on a factory default laptop. The more unnecessary features are enabled, the more you will gain from the optimizations.

If battery heath is shown between 50-80% (Good) then you can recalibrate it and if it is below 25%, then its time to buy new battery.

There are some useful software like Battery Care which can suggest when to calibrate laptop battery, BatteryInfoView which gives all detailed information related to Battery right from Manufacturer name to charging cycles and time duration.

Should Laptop Be Always Plugged in AC Charging?

Laptop batteries may last a little longer if you let them fully discharge occasionally as suggested on Telegraph.

There’s no point in leaving the charger plugged in when you are not using the computer as even in this state it will be consuming a small amount of power. Lithium Ion laptop batteries typically last 3 or 4 years, whether you use them or not, maybe a little longer if you allow them to fully discharge once or twice a month.

Laptop Battery Backup Improvement Tips

• Hard Drive- More your laptop’s hard disk has to work, the more power it will have to use. Defragging the hard disk will reduce the time it takes to find files. Learn more Hard Disk Maintenance Tips to improve performance. If possible upgrade to SSD, here’s how you can upgrade Laptop HDD to SSD.

• Operating System- Experience says that Windows 7 is till now offers maximum battery backup. On Ubuntu and other Linux Distros, backup time reduces to half.

• Cleaning- Try to clean the metal contacts on the battery and your laptop with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol.

That’s all. Keep these in mind whenever you don’t have AC charging option available readily and want to work outside, while traveling or at school.

VLC is NOT Best Video Player for Windows, Here’s Why it Sucks

Popular opinion may not be always right. VLC Media Player is widely used and recommended by everyone on web and even some of your friends too but I do not. They say that VLC can play almost any video format available on the Earth , which is true but there is more to it.

Most media players available can play all popular formats. Even the default Windows media player can do so if there are required codecs available.

User expects more than just playback compatibility and that’s where VLC lacks.

 

1. Difficult Keyboard Control

 

Out of the box, hot keys for VLC are very confusing or uncomfortable I will say. I prefer jumping forward by pressing “Right Arrow” which is obvious to many of you. VLC is totally different in this case, you need to press combination of keys.
Though they are customizable but it why it isn’t default?

 

 

2. Boring Interface

This is the reason why many users do not prefer Media Player Classic which takes you back to the era of Windows 98. VLC has recently did some work on appearance and brought Skin feature but lacks modernity.

Take a look at GOM Player or Daum PotPlayer‘s interface to know the difference.

 

3. No external Codec support

VLC has inbuilt codec support and doesn’t support any codec or filters outside their library. If something cannot be decoded by its own codec library, it cannot be played on VLC. That’s a rare possibility but what about performance?

There are some audio streams like AC3 which can be decoded by some codec to give better sound quality than the one inbuilt in VLC. Also, problem can be noticed while seek positioning HD videos. VLC lags or do not properly positions in case of forwarding or moving backward. This is because, though the codec has capability to decode but it is not the best choice.

GOM Player on other side lets you choose codec of your choice. If you do not understand, it finds the one compatible and best for playback on web and downloads it.

This might be the reason GOM installer size is 30% lesser than VLC.

 

4. Subtitle Editor

Though subtitles are supported, but you cannot edit them in anyway in VLC.

Also, if you like to customize the speed or the size of subtitles, option isn’t available right away. One has to enter Tools and Preferences to do it if you do not remember the Hotkey. In GOM Player however, these options are readily available on right click context menu during video playback.

 

 

5. Remote Control app for Android

I like to watch movies sitting away from Computer screen so definitely need control remotely. VLC has no official remote control application and the ones available aren’t as sophisticated as GOM Remote control for Android.

Lastly, watch this video which explains why VLC Media Player sucks

Which Media Player should I use?

If you have read the article completely, it is clear that I recommend GOM Player. Go for it, you will feel better.