As the title suggests, why does Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 require so much RAM? I have had this problem on two laptops, if I start browsing the internet, so long as the first window is open, (even if it is the only window open). IE will continue to suck up epic amounts of RAM, until the computers RAM usage is at 100%, at which point, the IE stops responding, and I have to force it to close the internet explorer. The computer is fully up to date. The computer has 2GB of RAM, and so far the most that IE has used was 1.7GB, the other 0.3GB was used by other programs. As you can imagine this is extremely annoying. Is there anything that I can do to reduce the amount of RAM that is used?
Try updating to the newest version of IE, if you must continue using it... Opera, Chrome, Firefox, etc etc. There are many superior alternatives.
Because IE is like "wow all this RAM that you are not using... what a waist of money! Let me help you there!" Update IE, is that does not solve your issue you probably have a tool bar or ActiveX (probably malware) on the system or installed in IE. Fix your problem, and get better alternative web browsers.
I'll help you, Browsers FireFox - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Opera - http://www.opera.com/ Chrome - http://www.google.com/chrome Safari - http://www.apple.com/safari/ Maxthon - http://www.maxthon.com/ Amaya - http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ All of these are alternatives to your Memory Hogging Malware Ridden Internet Explorer, did I mention that most of those browsers are faster then Internet Explorer. Out of those browsers I listed Firefox, Chrome, Safari (The engine that its based on is Open Source), Maxthon and Amaya are all Open Source (Notice that Opera isn't listed in that sentence, yet). Also If you do go with a different browser (FireFox I assume) here's some useful Add-ons / plugins Firefox Add-ons Adblock Plus Fasterfox (You have to register to download this) Extended Statusbar Google Preview Image Zoom Translator If your interested, there are also Themes for Firefox. My Firefox (For you older FireFox users, my theme is actually using an Extension called "Stylish", the skin itself is known as a "Style" which is called "Vista Black Firefox Sapphire", I'd link to it but the website is down, the previous URL for it was http://userstyles.org/styles/8924 PS: Like my Bookmarks Toolbar?
if you use Vista or Windows 7, I know a theme that will make firefox be part of Vista Aero UI. Like so: Here is how: (you will realize after this how Firefox is freaking flexible and easy to do) Get Glasser here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7336 If you want the Windows Explorer (green teal), Windows Media Player (black, like I have), or Windows Mail (blue) style background on the personal toolbar/Bookmark toolbar, download http://www.sixxgate.com/files/GlasserExtras.zip. Install the CSS files with the Stylish Add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108) If you want to hide the menu bar and press Alt key to show it (like in Windows Vista), download this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3895 OR this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4762 Tell Firefox to show the "Bookmark Toolbar" (that is the black bar on the picture) [View>Toolbars>Bookmark Toolbar] if you want to access firefox addition settings (and have the ability to screw up Firefox), on the address bar type: about:config, I never counted how many options they are, but it looks about 1200 options (yes, there is a search engine for this), enjoy!
Thanks for all of the responses. IE would start sucking up RAM even from a fresh install of windows, so I don't think that it is a matter of re-setting the IE, or an issue with Malware. I have installed all of the updates for IE, I even tried IE 8 beta, no luck. I have installed Firefox, and it is now working, (I tried it a few months ago, and it just kept crashing). Thanks again
The version of FireFox that you most likely installed a few months ago was probably the 3.0 Beta, this as sense gone live and from my experiences only crashes if you have 489 different tabs open (Unable to re-create this crash).
EH, it happens to me as well. Firefox is just as bad as well. When things start slowing down, I start copy-pasting URLs to Chrome. The RAM usage seems to be dependent on both usage and time. I tried IE8 beta, and that suffered from similar problems, although they weren't nearly as severe. Right now, all I have open in this browser window is this one tab, and IE is using 330MB. My remedy: close and reopen windows frequently, if a page must be left open for a long time, open it in chrome. IE and FF are both crazy RAM hogs when it comes to prolonged browsing sessions. Since the browsers aren't beign drastically redesigned any time soon, adjust your browsing habits accordingly.
Something is wrong with your system. Try Opera web browser, it's not used a lot, and malware (yes, I read what you said) probably don't know how to to play with it.
Prometheus, I could not agree with you more. Everyone that does not experience the problem is either oblivious or does not use the multiple tab / window feature. From what I understand, each process run by IE, Firefox, etc... is put in to a container. The container has what the process needs to run. If 2 processes need the same protocol to run, then both processes run seperate protocols inside the container. So, if you have a bunch of tabs or windows open, every time there is an ad or video a seperate entity of flash is needed to run. So you start to eat up a bunch of memory. When you close a certain tab, there is a feature that stores part of the tabs info to memory incase you navigate back to that site during your session. Until you close the main window these occurances will build up. IT IS SO ANNOYING. Try turning off cache, turn all plug-ins off and only run the ones you need when you need them. You can also turn down the amount of memory that your browser is allowed to grab.
