Stop Script!

[Joe]

Just wanted to let you know that most of my sessions on the computer surfing the web are plagued by all sorts of interruptions from "unresponsive scripts." What the bleep are these things? And why are they unresponsive? What a nuisance!

And yes there is some sort of Firefox add-on to stop these things. But that is reportedly a gateware for malware to come in and infect your computer.

So what can be done about these things? Here's a pic of what I'm talking about.


Oh, and by the way, you get three choices: (1) Continue, (2) Debug script, and (3) Stop script. But then there is a checkbox stating "Don't ask me again." If I were to check that checkbox, which of the three choices would I (in effect) be making? I haven't the foggiest idea.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I think maybe it is only some script of a advert or something I wouldn't want, so I sometimes click 'stop script'.....doesn't seem to make much difference....never seen the de-bug option.

 

[Jeremy]

Well, simply put these scripts in pages that are on the brink of crashing Firefox. Stop Script is the best course of action. After that not a bad idea to close Firefox, right click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the context menu. Check to make sure there's no hung Firefox processes and if there are end them before restarting Firefox. The best way I can think of to describe what is actually happening is that Firefox's memory usage is hitting a critical point where these scripts are causing Firefox to nearly crash. It has nothing to do with the scripts themselves being bad.

 

[Joe]

Here's that article that criticizes NoScript and other Firefox add-ons.

NoScript and other popular Firefox add-ons open millions to new attack

 

[Joe]

Well, simply put these scripts in pages that are on the brink of crashing Firefox. Stop Script is the best course of action.

Yes, Stop Script is the one I always choose.

After that not a bad idea to close Firefox, right click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the context menu. Check to make sure there's no hung Firefox processes and if there are end them before restarting Firefox.

Ok, but what I am not understanding is if (Session 1) Firefox is taking up a lot of memory, and I close it, then restart it,
won't (Session 2) Firefox take up the same amount of memory? If not, why not? Also, is Firefox's memory usage related to the number of tabs I have open in it? If I close some of the tabs, will that reduce Firefox's memory usage?

The best way I can think of to describe what is actually happening is that Firefox's memory usage is hitting a critical point where these scripts are causing Firefox to nearly crash. It has nothing to do with the scripts themselves being bad.

You know, I think you may very well be right. I have been getting some error message/warning thingies
saying that I was low on memory. These warnings would propose closing a particular program, sometimes Firefox, sometimes something else. I tended to respond by closing everything I was running except Firefox.

 

[Jeremy]

Yes, Stop Script is the one I always choose.




Ok, but what I am not understanding is if (Session 1) Firefox is taking up a lot of memory, and I close it, then restart it,
won't (Session 2) Firefox take up the same amount of memory? If not, why not? Also, is Firefox's memory usage related to the number of tabs I have open in it? If I close some of the tabs, will that reduce Firefox's memory usage?




You know, I think you may very well be right. I have been getting some error message/warning thingies
saying that I was low on memory. These warnings would propose closing a particular program, sometimes Firefox, sometimes something else. I tended to respond by closing everything I was running except Firefox.

By sessions you mean you're running multiple browser windows? Personally I fully embrace tab browsing. I have one browser window with fifty million tabs open But yeah, you would have to kill Firefox off completely to dump the memory it's using up if I got what you mean right.

Closing some of your tabs actually may help some.

What are the specs of your machine out of curiosity?

 

[Joe]

By sessions you mean you're running multiple browser windows?

No. Only one window. I meant if I'm running Firefox from 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM, and then there seems to be a problem, so I close it down, then restart it at 10:00 AM--what is different at 10:00 AM from what was going on from 9:00 to 9:45 AM?

Personally I fully embrace tab browsing. I have one browser window with fifty million tabs open But yeah, you would have to kill Firefox off completely to dump the memory it's using up if I got what you mean right.

Closing some of your tabs actually may help some.

Would using a different browser help? I have an older version of Opera, which I like ok. I could update that and try using that instead of Firefox.

What are the specs of your machine out of curiosity?

Let me see what I can dig up and get back to you.

 

[Jeremy]

No. Only one window. I meant if I'm running Firefox from 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM, and then there seems to be a problem, so I close it down, then restart it at 10:00 AM--what is different at 10:00 AM from what was going on from 9:00 to 9:45 AM?



Would using a different browser help? I have an older version of Opera, which I like ok. I could update that and try using that instead of Firefox.



Let me see what I can dig up and get back to you.

Well, granted that you make sure all traces of Firefox are closed through Task Manager, the resources Firefox is using is dumped. Firefox starts taking it's piece of the system resource pie all over again. It's not an issue I would switch browsers over. It's just something you learn to deal with. I can guarantee Chrome wouldn't be any better. And whatever you do don't go using an older version of a browser. That can be just as risky as using the notoriously insecure Microsoft browsers.

 

[Joe]

What are the specs of your machine out of curiosity?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.


This is taken from the Belarc Advisor report. Belarc - System Management For The Internet Age. Software license management, IT asset management, IT security audits and more. (Unfortunately, the report puts text into two columns. So I found it a bit difficult to copy and paste the text from the report into a single column without creating a jumbled mess.)

Operating System new - server roles
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 9/27/2011 8:20:06 PM


System Model
TOSHIBA Satellite C655D PSC0YU-018002
System Serial Number: [Omitted by Joe]
Enclosure Type: Notebook

Processor
1000 megahertz AMD C-50
No memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded

Main Circuit Board
Board: TOSHIBA Portable PC Base Board Version
BIOS: Insyde Corp. 1.60 06/23/2011

Memory Modules
2664 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Local Drive Volumes new - volume encryption
c: (NTFS on drive 0) 306.33 GB 193.34 GB free

306.33 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
193.34 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633J SATA CdRom Device [Optical drive]
TOSHIBA MK3275GSX [Hard drive] (320.07 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 51VZT3FDT, rev
GT001M, SMART Status: Healthy

There's a utility on my desktop called Resource Monitor (Microsoft Windows Operating System).
this is showing 3072 MB installed memory, but 410 MB of memory is "hardware reserved," leaving approximately 2662 MB of Usable Memory. It shows all kinds of programs loaded into memory--some of which I never use, some of which I only use rarely.

 

[Jeremy]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.


This is taken from the Belarc Advisor report. Belarc - System Management For The Internet Age. Software license management, IT asset management, IT security audits and more. (Unfortunately, the report puts text into two columns. So I found it a bit difficult to copy and paste the text from the report into a single column without creating a jumbled mess.)



There's a utility on my desktop called Resource Monitor (Microsoft Windows Operating System).
this is showing 3072 MB installed memory, but 410 MB of memory is "hardware reserved," leaving approximately 2662 MB of Usable Memory. It shows all kinds of programs loaded into memory--some of which I never use, some of which I only use rarely.

Okay, so it's safe to say your system is pretty old. It looks like your hardware dates back more than ten years. Another thing I get from what you said is that despite what it says it sounds like it's running a 32bit version of Windows 7. It's got a 4gb memory module but can only see a little over 3gb due to the OS being 32bit. You are basically running with less than half the amount of memory that's considered the new standard and there's nothing you can do about it without buying an 8gb module AND also buying a 64bit version of Windows.