Firefox 50 Released

[Chiefcrowe]

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/50.0/releasenotes

Good news is that multiprocess is now enabled for me so it probably is for most others as well now. It also seems to be smoother on certain websites.

 

[nemesismk2]

firefox 50 has enabled multiprocess for me as well

 

[Elixer]

https://www.neowin.net/news/firefox-50-is-out-today-brings-massively-improved-start-up-speeds

Luckily for fans of the browser, the delay meant that Mozilla developers got the chance to fix an important bug in Firefox add-on SDK module. This bug was causing massive delays when the program was starting up, especially when users had lots of add-ons.

But now that the bug is fixed, users who upgrade to Firefox 50 should be greeted by massively improved start-up performance. According to some tests, start-up speeds have improved by 35% without add-ons and up to 65% when users rely on add-ons. That’s a massive gain in speed, equating to almost three seconds less when starting the browser.

Other changes in Firefox version 50 include support for emojis even if the base OS doesn’t support them, improved find-on-page functionality, the ability to cycle through tabs with ctrl + tab, new preferences, and a number of other improvements.

I didn't notice it loading that much faster, but, then again, I use a SSD.

 

[balloonshark]

Thanks for the heads up.

I have a couple of questions I should know the answer to. How can I tell if I have the 64bit version installed? How can I tell if multi-process is enabled?

 

[mikeymikec]

Multiprocess Firefox works here now (verified in process list and about:support), however... the tab job that I've given it on previous occasions for performance testing resulted in identical performance to before, 40 seconds compared to Chrome's 15 seconds.

Downloading the 64-bit version now in case that helps.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Awesome news Elixer. I've been hoping that startup speed would be improved recently!

Balloonshark - to check if multiprocess is enabled, type in about:support in the address bar and under multiprocess windows you should see 1/1 (Enabled by default)

To check if you have the x64 version go into Control Panel and Programs and Features, and then you should see Mozilla Firefox 50.0 (x64 en-US)

 

[balloonshark]

Balloonshark - to check if multiprocess is enabled, type in about:support in the address bar and under multiprocess windows you should see 1/1 (Enabled by default)

To check if you have the x64 version go into Control Panel and Programs and Features, and then you should see Mozilla Firefox 50.0 (x64 en-US)

Thank you. It looks like I am running the 64 bit version but multi-process is disabled by add-ons.

Edit: If I open a new window in task manager I do see two lines under firefox (2).

 

[bigboxes]

Thanks for the heads up guys. Now, running FF x64. Performance has increased greatly. It appears the multi-process is disabled by add-ons.

 

[Shamrock]

Is there a way to force x64? Mine also says : Multiprocess Windows 0/1 (Disabled by add-ons)

 

[mikeymikec]

Multiprocess Firefox works here now (verified in process list and about:support), however... the tab job that I've given it on previous occasions for performance testing resulted in identical performance to before, 40 seconds compared to Chrome's 15 seconds.

Downloading the 64-bit version now in case that helps.

The 64-bit version managed the same job in 38 seconds.

Btw, in either 32 or the 64-bit version of Firefox, while multiprocess support is enabled, I'm only getting two Firefox processes regardless of the number of tabs. Is everyone else seeing the same behaviour?

 

[Puffnstuff]

Thanks for the heads up Chief. I updated the browser on my desktop and will get the rest later.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

There's no real way to "force" x64. You basically have to uninstall firefox and install the x64 version which you can download from their website here:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all

Is there a way to force x64? Mine also says : Multiprocess Windows 0/1 (Disabled by add-ons)

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Yes, by default you get 2 processes. Now you can change that, and I changed mine to 4. Someone posted this link in the other thread which tells you how:

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/02/15/change-how-many-processes-multi-process-firefox-uses

The question that I have though, does increasing the number of processes slow it down at all or does it make your session more stable and robust?

The 64-bit version managed the same job in 38 seconds.

Btw, in either 32 or the 64-bit version of Firefox, while multiprocess support is enabled, I'm only getting two Firefox processes regardless of the number of tabs. Is everyone else seeing the same behaviour?

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Anyone else having issues playing netflix now? I just tried on 2 PCs and it gave an error message and one of the messages said to upgrade to the latest version of firefox which was strange, and one time it said the widevine module crashed.

 

[Shamrock]

There's no real way to "force" x64. You basically have to uninstall firefox and install the x64 version which you can download from their website here:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all

I did that, but it's still coming up as disabled. In programs, it does state it is x64. Should I disable my add ons until it is multi-process?

 

[pyonir]

NoScript is not compatible with multiprocess? Seriously?

 

[Mem]

Any of you guys had random lockups or crashes in Reliability History (in Security, Maintenance) with Firefox over last few versions?..I have but since I switched to Vivaldi 64 bit browser my Reliability History has remained at 10/10 for last month or so with no issues. Very weird since only Firefox is the cause on my PC with regards to Reliability History.

 

[mikeymikec]

The question that I have though, does increasing the number of processes slow it down at all or does it make your session more stable and robust?

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Multiprocess_Firefox

"Future versions of Firefox will run the browser UI in a separate process from web content. In the first iteration of this architecture, all browser tabs will run in the same process and the browser UI will run in a different process. In future iterations, we expect to have more than one content process. The project that's delivering multiprocess Firefox is called Electrolysis, sometimes abbreviated to e10s."

I suspect that there isn't a fully functional implementation in the release version of Firefox for effectively handling more than 2 processes. My guess is that with more about:config changes (or changes to the code more likely), that about:config option you mentioned may come into play. I would have thought that if FF 50 (release) could manage more than two processes, it would have shipped like that.

Baby steps I guess. I don't know enough to understand with confidence all the ins and outs of sandboxing, but it looks like it's still in development but some milestones have been reached, so therefore multiprocess Firefox should be a bit more secure than single-process FF:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Sandbox

I guess that increased performance depends upon how the controlling process and content process interact, as well as process threading.

 

[ronbo613]

Multiprocess disabled by add-ons. Plugin or extension? Perhaps when/if the add-on that disables multiprocess is updated to be more compatible with the current version, it will be enabled?

I use Adblock and Leechblock, but no script blockers.

 

[coffeemonster]

Multiprocess disabled by add-ons.

I use Adblock and Leechblock, but no script blockers.

I only have uBlock Origin on mine and have multiprocess enabled

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Thanks for posting mikey. That makes sense, they will be slowly improving the multiprocess so I'll just leave things with their default settings.

As for multiprocess being disabled by addons - what I did before was disable each one to see which was causing it and then if you can live without it, you can take it out.

Mem - Haven't seen many random crashes in quite a while here. It could be the user profile or some addon/extension that is at fault?

 

[Mem]

Chief, thx for the reply, wierd thing is it happens on both my PCs with FF.

I've two options either stick with stable Vivaldi which has been great or go back to FF50 which is still on my PCs, I've tried clean install of FF. Guess I've to decide on which browser or do more troubleshooting with FF.

 

[pcslookout]

NoScript is not compatible with multiprocess? Seriously?

Next year.

 

[ninaholic37]

They're still using Firefox 17esr here at the library. Fast and it works I guess.

 

[pyonir]

If you want to know which add on is disabling the multiprocess feature, you can use an add on for that: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/

I actually have 3 (or 4, don't recall. Just saw noscript wasn't supported and that's a deal breaker so I won't be using multiprocessing until that's updated).