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I had always been a Firefox fan.  I was able to configure it just how I liked it.  When Firefox Quantum came on the scene (making most of my extensions useless), I delayed upgrading for a long time while I tried out Waterfox and Pale Moon.  I finally settled on Pale Moon and used that for a long time.

However, Pale Moon has one serious drawback for me – none of the mainstream password managers that I have tried recognise it or work with it (despite its Firefox heritage).  I have tried RoboForm, LastPass and Dashlane (the latter is currently my preferred tool).  I use unique, complex passwords for best security, so a password manager is essential.  Eventually I got over having to cut and paste passwords from a password manager’s vault into the browser.  So I decided to bite the bullet and go back to Firefox Quantum.  I have now adjusted to the new screen format and limitations.  Some of my old extensions have been upgraded to work with it (though not always as well as before), but now I seem to have a new problem.

I haven’t heard this problem being reported by anyone else, so maybe it is specific to my setup.  Very quickly after starting Firefox, memory usage ramps up – as seen in Task Manager (I have Windows 7 Pro 64).  Spread over some seven different tasks à la Chrome (the old Firefox opened just one task), memory usage in one of these gets up to over 1.5 GB and eventually the machine starts thrashing (I have 8 GB RAM) or Firefox crashes.  Shutting down and restarting Firefox resolves the problem – for a while.

I thought it might be a memory leak in one of the extensions, so I started in safe mode.  Memory usage still ramped up, albeit not as quickly.  I have also noticed that if I let it go for as long as possible, the memory usage will drop down of its own accord to around 800 MB before starting up the ladder again, not something I would expect from a memory leak.

BTW, I have some 20 pinned tabs for URLs I use all the time (including this one 🙂 ).

So: 1) does anyone know of a decent password manager that will function fully with Pale Moon and other boutique browsers? and 2) has anyone seen memory usage problems of the sort described with Firefox Quantum (and know of, or be able to suggest, a solution)?

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

 

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

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HiFlyer

Remind you of anyone?

http://dilbert.com/strip/2018-05-03

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

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anita.yk, dononline, columbia2011, AlexEiffel, Microfix

Thanks for your response. As I understand it, you are suggesting that the “searching” delay may occur if the use of the standalone installer happens to coincide with a WU scan. As this has happened for me every time I have installed a .msu patch over the last year or so, I am not sure that it is a coincidental clash. Rather, it seems that the standalone installer is INVOKING the search (as I think @ch100 is suggesting).

While the search delay is a bit annoying, it doesn’t take that long. So I will just accept it in future.

Thanks again.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

2 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, ch100

Thanks Kirsty. I assumed that the last part was an “are you sure” check. I was mainly curious about why it had to search for updates when I had already specified the update required by double-clicking on its .msu file.

I hadn’t disabled my internet connection. And it did say it was checking for updates “on this computer”. So I assume that it was searching my computer for that update. Perhaps double-clicking the .msu file just invokes the installer and passes to it the KB number of the patch (from the .msu file). Then the installer searches the PC for the .msu file for that patch – which would be a rather circular way of doing things!

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

Win 7 Pro Haswell 22 nm. Group B. Up to date as of March updates.

Uninstalled 4099950 (originally installed from WU on 8 April, so old version) and 4088878 (installed afterwards from catalogue). Rebooted. Then re-installed 4099950 (catalogue version, .msu and .exe) followed by the same 4088878 (.msu). Rebooted. All as per Abbodi86’s advice – thanks, also to everyone else here.

Did this about an hour ago – so far so good. Although both the .msu and .exe files for 4099950 were in the same folder, I didn’t the .exe script flash on momentarily as expected. However, I might have blinked at the time! Will just have to take it on faith that it executed OK. (BTW, I wasn’t having any problems before doing this, but I just wanted to ensure that this didn’t cause any problems with April updates, which I intend to install tomorrow if still no problems.)

One question (slightly OT): Running .msu updates invokes the Standalone Installer. The first thing it does is go away for 5-6 minutes “Searching for updates on this computer” – even though I already clicked on the update to run. Then it asks me if I want to run the update I clicked on in the first place!?!? Anyone know why it does this?

Thanks again!

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

Win 7 Pro x64, Group B.
Installed patches as follows in two sessions (this afternoon and evening, Sunday):
1. 4099950, 4100480 (from Windows Update – had to tick 4099950)
Forgot to Check for Updates afterwards.
2. 4088878 (reboot – OK; Checked for Updates – no new ones found)
3. 4099467 (temp. hitch as wouldn’t download from Catalog via Pale Moon browser – don’t know why; switched to Chrome, all OK)
4. 4096040 (reboot – OK; Checked for Updates – no new ones found)
5. Office 2010 patches x 4 (ticked ones only; no reboot called for; checked for updates: found 4018317 for MS Outlook, unticked)

So far (late Sunday evening), all still OK.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

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MrBrian, SueW

anonymous wrote:

Basically, it is recommended there that you install KB 4056897 and KB 4073538 BUT ONLY restart your computer AFTER both updates have been installed. Do not restart after the first update, but only after both are installed. Apparently, this way the potential boot problem with 4056897 gets corrected before it happens.

OK, silly question – how do you install both patches without a reboot in between?

I am Group B, Win 7 Pro, and have been trying to do this for months (that is, install the Win 7 security-only patch and the corresponding IE11 patch with just one reboot after both installed).  However, whenever I try to install the second patch after successfully completing the first (with a “restart required” message), I get another message saying something to the effect that “only one wusa process is allowed at a time” (forgotten the exact message).  This happens even if I Close the wusa screen rather than Restart.

I have just installed both of the January patches, same problem – had to reboot after the first one before it would let me run the second (both eventually installed successfully).  If there is a way to delay rebooting until after both patches are installed, it would save me a lot of time every month – it takes my old PC at least 10 minutes to complete a reboot cycle.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

Check here:

http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4014985

 

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

I was aware of that.  I just couldn’t find the list of IE patches.  All OK now – see my response to @PKCano above.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

Thanks for that.  I had been trying to find the IE update in the MS Update Catalog which is where I expected to find it – but got nothing.

However, I just tried it again and now it’s working ?!?!  I must have been doing it badly before.  Anyway, I’ve got it now.  Thanks.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

Thanks.  That is in fact where I eventually discovered it.  Actually I was looking for the Microsoft source.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

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Kirsty

I just sent a post beginning “I’m confused”.  Now I am even more confused.  I checked the top of the page before submitting the post to ensure that I was logged in.  When I pressed submit, it failed with the message “are you sure you want to do that?” (sounds like something out of a video game!).  I pressed submit again – this time it went OK, but when I checked I found that the message was “awaiting moderation”.  So – checked the top of the page again, to find that I had been logged out.  Is there a time limit involved here?

LH (in case this also gets me logged out).

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

ch100 wrote:

I don’t think we call 1703 RTM. It is only another Service Pack for Windows 10.

My bad.  Perhaps I should have said “official release” of Creators Update.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
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ch100

Perhaps the change to 7 days in this build is for test purposes.  It is not uncommon for programmers to change constants or other values to smaller numbers in order to get quick results for whatever they are testing for.  With RTM so close, testing with the original/final value might end too close (or too late) for the official release.  Once they have verified (or not) that the logic works OK at 7 days, they still have time to restore the intended value (30 days or whatever) in time for RTM.

Just a thought.

 

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)

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Elly, ch100, woody, b

In the “old” blog at the top of each article there was a link to the comments section for the article. The link indicated the number of comments. I found this useful: if there no comments I could skip to the next article.

Now, in the “new” blog there is always a link titled Comment on the AskWoody Lounge with no indication as to whether there are any comments. Often I click the link only to find there are no comments to read. This is not a major deal, but it does get a little frustrating. I could save ten seconds by not clicking the link if I knew there were no comments yet :-).

So my suggestion is to add the number of comments in parentheses – e.g., Comment on the AskWoody Lounge (nn) where nn is the number of current comments (0 if none yet). Besides simply indicating whether there were any, or none at all, this would also indicate the popularity and/or controversy of the article in question.

Generally, I think the Lounge is a great improvement.

Dell Precision 3630 w/32 GB RAM, 500 GB (C:), 1 TB (D:)
Window 10 Pro x64
Internet: FTTC (Fibre to the Kerb)