I see the usage go high if downloading something in Firefox, especially if downloading multiple files at the same time. When it's idle or when I'm just browsing though it's typically 40+ MB and that's with 4 extensions and 1 additional theme.
I was wondering how much memory people expect a browser to use? Is 40mb particularly bad? and can it be compared fairly with other browsers which don't have all the various extensions and addons?
If a high memory usage doesn't adversly effect the way I surf or use my PC, then I'm really not bothered. Checking memory usage constantly is like looking for a problem that doesn't really exsist.
Lastly every system is different. 40mb might be a lot to some and peanuts to another. It makes comparisons worthless.
Autoruns is very good - I disabled about 50% of all my startup items. XP is running very smooth.
Problem is you have to do it again and again; many updates (Java RTE, QuickTime, Adobe Reader, etc.) all put their crap back into the startup list at every update.
I'd say Autoruns is for advanced users; inexperienced users go better with Startup Inspector.
I didn't even need to use Autoruns to cut my processes down from over 50 to 20 now. I used msconfig, also went into services and disabled what didn't need to be running, and some programs have an option to disable them at start up. For example I disabled jusched.exe in msconfig and went into control panel and selected Java and the update tab and disabled automatic updates. Jusched.exe never ran again and no need for renaming the file or any other tweak.
If a high memory usage doesn't adversly effect the way I surf or use my PC, then I'm really not bothered.
When Firefox is using something like 80+ MB I know it because it causes my system variable speed cooling fan to run much faster with more noise. When I used to use Opera I never noticed it using nearly as much as Firefox, but since I haven't used Opera for at least a year now I have no current comparison on my system. But then again I've noticed a number of programs that seem to run "bloated" on WinXP.
For example I disabled jusched.exe in msconfig and went into control panel and selected Java and the updated tab and disabled automatic updates. Jusched.exe never ran again and no need for renaming the file or any other tweak.
Autoruns isn't something necessary for me, although I've played with it in the past. Like you I disabled the Java updater in the Java Control Panel link, then I used CCleaner to delete the automatic startup entry from the registry and I've never once seen it load again.
For those that are worried about FF's mem usage you can get it to drop when FF is minimized to tray.FF usually between 40 - 100 here and no problem.
config.trim_on_minimize [boolean] (False) *Create - This setting only works in Windows, and determines whether Firefox - much like other Windows applications - reduces its memory usage when minimized to the Taskbar.
If set to true (the default), it will use less memory when minimized, which is useful for systems with low RAM and multiple open applications. However if set to false it will speed up minimizing/maximizing Firefox, as it will not constantly attempt to reduce and reclaim RAM, and this can also increase stability - thus I recommend a setting of false for most people.