Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on September 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

One of the major reasons Firefox is approaching 400 million downloads is because of how customizable the browser is thanks to extensions. In a way Firefox extensions are bittersweet, because they can provide some unique and useful features, but at the same time they can cause some unwanted problems.

It’s been well over a year since I last took a look at the issues some popular Firefox extensions caused. Most of the extensions listed there caused crashes, memory leaks, and excessive CPU usage. Since then, a Leak Monitor extension has been created to notify users when a certain type of memory leak occurs. This has successfully helped dozens of developers eliminate memory leaks in their extensions.

Unfortunately not all of the problems have not been solved when it comes to the extensions. Some can still cause Firefox to crash, leak memory, or make your CPU usage skyrocket. Today I thought that I would revisit the current status of extensions to see which ones are still causing the problems.

To find the extensions that have problems, I turned to the Mozilla Knowledgebase as well as their bug tracker. I was able to uncover more than a dozen extensions that have performance related issues, and I’m assuming you’re using the most recent versions of the extensions as well as the latest version of Firefox. You’re sure to have even more problems if you’re using older versions of Firefox or extensions that are outdated.

Below is the list that I came up with, and along with each extension I mention the issue along with any known fixes.

Note: You may or may not experience the problems mentioned. If you haven’t had a problem with an extension there is no sense in removing it.

• Adblock
  Issue: Has been known to crash Firefox when trying to use Gmail Chat.
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed if you use Gmail Chat.
• All-in-One Gestures
  Issue: Can cause Firefox to crash, and conflicts with the inline spellchecker on Linux and OS X.
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed if you’re using Linux or OS X.
• Fasterfox
  Issue: Can interfere with website access, and problems may continue even if Fasterfox is removed.
  Fix: Reset the defaults or start with a new profile in Firefox. Also make sure that you have prefetching disabled in the extension.
• Firebug
  Issue: Causes excessive CPU usage
  Fix: Disable Firebug when it’s not being used, or create a separate profile to use it in.
• ForecastFox
  Issue: Memory leaks due to satellite imagery.
  Fix: It’s recommended that the extension be removed, or you can install an older version without the satellite imagery.
• Google Browser Sync
  Issue: Causes excessive CPU usage with GIF animations.
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed.
• Google Web Accelerator
  Issue: Crashes Firefox when closing the browser.
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed.
• IE Tab
  Issue: Memory leaks
  Fix: It’s recommended that the extension be removed, or you can install IE View Lite as an alternative.
• Loki
  Issue: Memory leaks
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed.
• Media Player Connectivity
  Issue: Causes Unresponsive Script Warnings
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed.
• Mouseless Browsing
  Issue: Causes excessive CPU usage
  Fix: None available right now. It’s recommended that the extension be removed.
• SessionSaver
  Issue: Memory leaks
  Fix: Use Session Manager instead.
• Tabbrowser Extensions (TBE)
  Issue: Slows down Firefox, conflicts with other extensions, and can stop Firefox from working.
  Fix: It’s recommended that the extension be removed, or you can install Tab Mix Plus instead.

People running Firefox 3 right now should be careful if using the ForecastFox or FoxClocks extensions. Both of those are known to have memory leaks (ForecastFox report here and FoxClocks report here).

The extensions that I’ve listed above are all currently known to have some sort of problem. The bad news is that not all of the extensions have been as thoroughly tested as the ones mentioned here, and that’s because Mozilla relies on people like you to submit bug reports when you encounter an issue. If you frequently notice memory leaks, try a fresh Firefox profile, and then install the extensions one by one until you find the culprit. The odds are pretty good that the leak will be the result of one of your “more complex” extensions, and so you may want to start with those.

Additional resources from Mozilla include the Reducing Firefox Memory Usage page and the long list of Problematic Extensions.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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1,024 total CUDA cores, 94 ROPs, and 3GB of GDDR5 RAM on board. Yup, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is indeed a pair of GTX 580 chips spliced together, however power constraints have meant that each of those chips is running at a tamer pace that their single-card variant. The core clock speed is down to 607MHz, shaders are only doing 1.2GHz, and the memory clocks in at 3.4GHz. Still, there’s a ton of grunt under that oversized shroud and reviewers have put it to the test against AMD’s incumbent single-card performance leader, the Radeon HD 6990. Just like the GTX 590, it sports a pair of AMD’s finest GPUs and costs a wallet-eviscerating $699. Alas, after much benchmarking, testing, and staring at extremely beautiful graphics, the conclusion was that AMD retains its title. But only just. And, as Tech Report points out, the GTX 590 has a remarkably quiet cooler for a heavy duty pixel pusher of its kind. Dive into the reviews below to learn more, or check the new card out on video after the break.

Read – AnandTech
Read – HardOCP
Read – Tech Report
Read – PC Perspective
Read – Guru 3D
Read – X-bit labs
Read – Hot Hardware
Read – techPowerUp!
Read – TechSpot

Continue reading NVIDIA’s dual-GPU GeForce GTX 590 emerges, can’t slay the Radeon HD 6990 titan

NVIDIA’s dual-GPU GeForce GTX 590 emerges, can’t slay the Radeon HD 6990 titan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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X-bit labs has a (pretty massive) scoop of AMD info to share with us this week, as it has put together the above chart detailing what it expects the company’s APU roadmap will look like for the remainder of the year. Published a couple of days ago, this data has now been partially corroborated by the snoops over at DigiTimes, who confirm a couple of the model names and agree that AMD is planning an initial Q3 rollout of five Llano chips, to be followed by even more processors coming in Q4 of 2011. Llano represents AMD’s play for the performance crown, coming as it does with dual- or quad-core processing units, DirectX 11-capable Radeon HD 6000-series graphics, and a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, all bundled up inside the same warm and toasty package. More E-series APUs for power-conscious users are also said to be on the cards, and AMD itself should be making these plans official at Computex in Taipei come early June. It’s a bit of a wait, but we’ve got a feeling it’ll be worth it.

Continue reading AMD’s quad-core Llano APUs pegged for Q3 2011 release, Computex unveiling

AMD’s quad-core Llano APUs pegged for Q3 2011 release, Computex unveiling originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PAX East 2011, which kicks off tomorrow, is widely expected to finally deliver a dual-GPU solution from NVIDIA’s Fermi family of graphics chips, a PCI Express-saturating single-card workhorse to be known as the GTX 590. While we wait for its arrival, however, here’s a sentimental look back upon 2010 and another little prototype that NVIDIA had kicking around its labs back then. Emerging over in a Chinese forum, this dual-GPU board features two GF104 chips (the same that made the GTX 460 such a winner) and a snow white PCB paintjob that makes it look utterly irresistible. We’re loving the four DVI outputs and, just like you, have no idea why this card never came out, but that shouldn’t obstruct the enjoyment of looking at the darn thing. More pics after the break.

Continue reading Visualized: NVIDIA’s dual-Fermi card that never was

Visualized: NVIDIA’s dual-Fermi card that never was originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Been wondering how that new 6Gbps SATA interface and Marvell controller have been treating Intel’s latest SSDs? The answer, it turns out, is really rather nicely. Faced off with OCZ’s awesomely quick Vertex 3 drive, the 250GB SSD 510 from Intel more than holds its own, occasionally flashing ahead and taking the lead. Opting for Marvell’s processing chip has improved Intel’s sequential performance, but has actually led to it taking a ding on random read speeds — the latter being arguably more important on a day-to-day basis. Still, this $584 drive is one of the finest the consumer world has yet had to feast upon and should encourage high expectations from Intel’s 25nm G3 storage units, which are still to come. As to having the extra Serial ATA bandwidth, we’ll leave it to Anand from AnandTech to summarize: “these next-generation SSDs not only use 6Gbps SATA, they really need it.”

Intel’s SSD 510 reviewed, measures up well against Vertex 3 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AnandTech, PC Perspective, Hot Hardware  | Email this | Comments