what is the "Web Content" process?

[marchello_lippi2]

Hi all,

What is the "Web Content" process?
It appears when I open firefox window.
Whenever I perform killall "Web Content", the firefox tab crashes.
Then I refresh firefox tab and the "Web Content" process appear again in top.
What is that???

14.04 LTS

[halogen2]

It's part of Electrolysis aka multiprocess Firefox. Essentially, that "Web Content" process is the tab.

[marchello_lippi2]

That's fine, but the "Web Content" is among the biggest CPU consumers... :-/ Is there any way to make it stop consuming so much?

[halogen2]

What extensions do you have?
Is it so CPU-hungry if you disable all your extensions?

Is it so CPU-hungry in a new, clean profile, with Electrolysis enabled and everything else default?

[marchello_lippi2]

I got no firefox extensions so far, at least from what I know.. Is there any way to have a kind of "hidden" extensions in firefox?? How do I check it then?
Please advise.

[halogen2]

That's OK, then you can skip that and go straight to this -

Is it so CPU-hungry in a new, clean profile, with Electrolysis enabled and everything else default?

If it still uses a lot of CPU, go back to your main profile.

How much does the CPU usage vary depending what website you're viewing?
Compare a simple site like this, to various pages on this forum, to something really script-heavy (likely your favorite news site will do). I would also suggest watching how the CPU usage changes as you interact (or don't interact) with the sites.

[marchello_lippi2]

I guess it was some temporary glitch, now it does not consume so much.
Thanks for replies anyway.

[gfe]

I had problems with excessive Web Content resource usage (2.4 GB on a 4 GB machine with one tab open) after starting to use the "new" Firefox. Disabling the Ghostery add-on solved the problem.