By coincidence, just this morning I had a panic because I tried to close FF by closing the only window (which is something I need to do periodically because memory usage will build up over time), and I thought I had lost the tabs because when I opened it back up, they were gone with no way to restore. Apparently the behavior had changed so that closing the last window no longer closes FF, but just that window a la Skype.
(Fortunately I was able to figure out what was going on and restored the previous window.)
Also, the automatic "check before exiting FF" got turned off somehow.
I also suggest using Tab Session Manager. Sometimes I save a session and close everything and start working on a different project, but I know I can go back to my previous session and continue the previous project. I'm not afraid of losing any tabs because it also has an autosave.
Firefox normal collection, automatic or triggered in about:memory, will reduce memory used by Firefox about the same as restarting firefox. The latter only SEEMS to reduce usage because it also unloads all tabs which are only reloaded when accessed. If you want to prove that to yourself compare a restart preserving tabs and manually trigger tab unloading in about:unloads
If you are dealing with normal amounts of memory usage and you have less than 16GB you may consider upgrading RAM considering this is as little as $40-60 at this point and well worth the look.
The check before closing multiple tabs didn't get turned off somehow the default changed in 2021 to default unchecked.
Lastly the behavior regarding closing the last window closing Firefox remains unchanged. It does in fact still work that way. If it didn't properly close I would suggest that is a bug or a second window on another workspace. If all you desire is to restart as opposed to actually closing firefox you can trigger a restart in about:profiles this has the benefit of working no matter how many windows you have open.
>Firefox normal collection, automatic or triggered in about:memory, will reduce memory used by Firefox about the same as restarting firefox.
Obviously not, since the memory usage is increasing without bound despite no corresponding increase in memory-intensive tabs. Thanks for suggesting an alternate workaround for the collection failures though.
>If you are dealing with normal amounts of memory usage and you have less than 16GB you may consider upgrading RAM considering this is as little as $40-60 at this point and well worth the look.
I have 32 GB, which it (thankfully) hasn't come close to, but would, if I weren't periodically restarting. Kinda funny how we automatically don't expect 16 GB to be enough memory for text/image web pages though.
>The check before closing multiple tabs didn't get turned off somehow the default changed in 2021 to default unchecked.
Makes sense, I think it was a while since I was shocked to see that behavior.
>Lastly the behavior regarding closing the last window closing Firefox remains unchanged. It does in fact still work that way. If it didn't properly close I would suggest that is a bug or a second window on another workspace.
No other workspaces, so probably a bug. I found this report of something very similar, though on Mac rather than Windows:
>If all you desire is to restart as opposed to actually closing firefox you can trigger a restart in about:profiles this has the benefit of working no matter how many windows you have open.
Thanks, but I'd prefer the option that can be done with a few quick key commands, and Firefox isn't customizable in that way anymore.
The quit behavior does seem to be a Mac specific behavior not a bug. You'll note the request to change it is labeled an enhancement as opposed to a bug. I agree it seems a sub-optimal choice.
Your memory usage growing without bounds on the other hand is obviously a bug. I would create a fresh profile and see if you can reproduce this behavior without extensions and report it.
(Fortunately I was able to figure out what was going on and restored the previous window.)
Also, the automatic "check before exiting FF" got turned off somehow.
So, yeah, lots of fun surprises to deal with.