Hi, Once in a while I try to clean up my tabs. First thing I do is use “merge all windows” to put all tabs into one window.
This often causes a memory clog and firefox get stuck in this state for 10-20 minutes
I have recorded one such instance.
I have tried using the “discard all tabs” addon, unfortunately, it is also getting frozen by the memory clog.
Sometimes I will just reboot my PC as that is faster.
Unfortunately, killing firefox this way, does not save the new tab order, so when I start firefox again, it will have 20+ windows open, which I again, merge all pages and then it clogs again !
So far the only solution I have found is just wait the 20 minutes.
Once the “memory clog” is passed, it runs just fine.
I would like better control over tab discard. and maybe some way of limitting bloat. For instance, I would rather keep a lower number of undiscarded youtube that as they seem to be insanely bloated.
In other cases, for most website I would like to never discard the contents.
In my ideal world, I would like the tabs to get frozen and saved to disk permanently, rather than assuming discard tabs can be reloaded. As if the websites were going to exist forever and discarding a tab is like cleaning a cache.
I came in here knowing exactly what the comments would look like, and I’m still disappointed. “Just don’t use so many tabs” is not an answer. If you don’t have anything constructive to say, just move on instead of getting uppity about…not using browsers very heavily or understanding other use cases.
Yeah, thousands of tabs seems extreme. But “you should dedicate a larger amount of time and effort all day, every day to make the computer’s job easier” is a bad take. That’s obviously worse than OP’s existing workflow.
Sorry OP, I don’t have a real answer either. You might find Arc Browser’s tab system to suit you better, but since it’s chromium-based I suspect performance might be worse.
Edit: out of curiosity, how much memory does your PC have, and how much is Firefox using during these freezes? I wonder how much of the delay is caused by swapping.
Frankly the answer is to not use so many tabs.
I think it’s crazy to need more than 10 active tabs open, let along thousands. I’m a software developer who will regularly go down rabbit holes and I’d never dream of opening so many tabs.
The fact is OP isn’t using the browser in a way that it was designed for. Plus they’re being unreceptive and rude in some of their replies.
Yes it is. If somone is holding a knife upside down and complaining it doesn’t cut their steak, are you rude and ignore them? or comment that they’re doing it wrong? OP has the knife upside down.
FF (or any browser AFAIK) is not designed to do this , OP is doing it wrong is a valid answer.
On the flip side OP wants FF to change so it can do what they want, which is also valid. After all, a sensible person adapts to the environment around them, an insane person expects the environment to adapt to them, therefore all progess is made by insane people. Have at it OP :)
It is worse than OP’s existing workflow, even though the existing workflow sucks. “Do this thing that sucks even more” is not an answer. “I don’t have this problem, so you must be mentally ill” is also not an answer.
LOL. I love this.
Computers don’t magically make things easier, it just does as it is told(as instructed by code). Computers don’t come out as a self-made human assistant that adapts to your personal needs and can magically do anything you want.
If it’s so much of a burden that smarter people haven’t figured it out, go at it. You might just fix it.
But “to make computer’s job easier” is the dumbest shit I’ve heard in a while.
I am going to keep beating that drum until firefox gets better It’s already improving, I used to struggle at 700 tabs now I almost make it to 2000. Of course it is mostly artifice as most tabs get fully discarded and what I want is all tab texts in live memory and the ability to search all tab text. Maybe even text search in all pictures in all tabs using object recognition, but clearly we’re not anywhere near that yet !