Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Do you experience browsers slowing down when opening many tabs (maybe 20-30 tabs, opening and closing some of them, one after another)? The CPU plot is going all red and PC slows down, even down to short freezes. I assume it's the RAM clogging up and not clearing, even when I restart browser or restart X server. Any advice on that please? Can I clear RAM from browser tabs (if that's the real cause) somehow, without the need of PC restart? Now I'm using the latest 6.3.1, but that happened in previous versions (5, etc.) as well.

Cheers,
Damian

Have you tried restarting the X server? You'll have to restart the browser afterwards. You don't say which browser you're using. If it's Firefox, it will remember all the tabs you had open and ask if you want to resume where it was when it was closed.

Hi @szept :
The issue you're experiencing with the browser slowing down and heavy RAM usage when opening many tabs (20-30) is common, really common, especially with modern browsers like Firefox or Chrome that run separate processes for each tab. This can lead to high system load, even after closing some tabs, because they usually run secondary processes in the background (except you configure them not to do c).

If you wan too mitigate the issue without restarting the system:

Try to Manage browser RAM usage:

Extensions like The Great Suspender or Tab Unloader (for Firefox) automatically unload inactive tabsfrom RAM while keeping them open in the browser, freeing up resources without closing tabs entirely (you can use an option when right clicking on tabs to close tabs of some domain or the ritht tabs or...)

You can use the browser's task manager (Shift + Esc in Chrome) to see which tabs or extensions are using the most resources and close them if necessary, it can help you to make a better use of ram.

Clear cache and free memory without restarting (I don't remember who, but some user created a script to do this, I have this intalled, but I don't remember in what puppy distro, and I can look for it now, sorry)

Limit the number of browser processes: This is not the final solution, because (in my case) I use a lot of tabs, but I need all of them and I can close and open all the time, I wanna have then eye point everytime, but you can...

Firefox: Go to about:config and set the browser.tabs.remote.autostart option to false. This reduces the number of separate processes for tabs, although it may impact overall tab performance.
Chrome: Access chrome://settings/, and under "System", make sure the "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed" option is turned off. You can also limit the number of processes per tab.

Reduce the use of browser extensions:

Some extensions consume a lot of resources. Try disabling or uninstalling extensions you don't use frequently to reduce the load. (what I did is have working the ones I need the most, the other in stand by ready to activate just in case)

These adjustments should help improve your system's performance when dealing with multiple browser tabs, but the best option for me is install SLIMJET browser and (if possible) increase RAM.

For puppy, the most.... the better (I'm running 12 Gb Dual Channel and I am really pleased, although I love to have better ram.. sniff sniff)

Hope it helps.

Have a nice day.

I use the following script linked to a keystroke combination when things seem a bit slower. It have added lot of line returns to make it look more pretty and an auto close function. Many thanks to Joe for his original script.

#!/bin/sh

# simple tool for puppy linux to clean caches
# Joe Arose aka big_bass

echo "before flush"
echo
free -m
echo "--------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo
sync ; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

echo
echo "after flush"
echo

free -m
echo "--------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo
echo "closing after 8 seconds"
sleep 8 && exit

# bash

Thanks a lot for advice guys! Forgot to mention... I mainly use Vivaldi (it's based on google, but without spying, at least that's why they say), occasionally Firefox.

pp4mnklinux wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:29 am

Extensions like The Great Suspender or Tab Unloader (for Firefox) automatically unload inactive tabsfrom RAM while keeping them open in the browser, freeing up resources without closing tabs entirely (you can use an option when right clicking on tabs to close tabs of some domain or the ritht tabs or...)

The Great Suspender sounds like something I need!

pp4mnklinux wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:29 am

You can use the browser's task manager (Shift + Esc in Chrome) to see which tabs or extensions are using the most resources and close them if necessary, it can help you to make a better use of ram.

Shift + Esc works for Vivaldi too. I didn't know that - thanks!

pp4mnklinux wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:29 am

Chrome: Access chrome://settings/, and under "System", make sure the "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed" option is turned off. You can also limit the number of processes per tab.

There's an option in Vivaldi's tabs section which feels similar, but I can ask on Vivaldi's forum as well!

pp4mnklinux wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:29 am

These adjustments should help improve your system's performance when dealing with multiple browser tabs, but the best option for me is install SLIMJET browser and (if possible) increase RAM.

I've spent some time looking for a suitable browser (once I've found out Google, Microsoft, etc. are spying on people and forwarding data to secret agencies) and I've found Vivaldi. I really like it. I've never heard of SLIMJET. I went to their website and they've got my attention. I might try it. How do I install it on EasyOS?

Thanks,
Damian

viewtopic.php?t=3684

When I have got free time I will create the portable slimjet 44 version. Meanwhile u can try this.

(Slim v44 rocks!)

szept wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 8:21 pm

I've never heard of SLIMJET. I went to their website and they've got my attention. I might try it. How do I install it on EasyOS?

@szept, for best results, please start a new thread about Slimjet.

szept wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 8:21 pm

I've spent some time looking for a suitable browser (once I've found out Google, Microsoft, etc. are spying on people and forwarding data to secret agencies) and I've found Vivaldi. I really like it. I've never heard of SLIMJET. I went to their website and they've got my attention. I might try it. How do I install it on EasyOS?

Thanks,
Damian

viewtopic.php?t=12803&sid=62d62ff4a82ae ... 071a3e31ad

Thanks a lot for help and advices guys!

So is your problem solved? Did you find a browser you like, or find a way to make your browser work the way you want it to? Let us know!