IE7 Memory Hog

[Stuey]

I've been using IE7, and been experiencing a lot of issues with it on multiple computers.

On both my laptop and office desktop - both with shared video memory, IE7 keeps consuming more and more resources until everything freezes.

With a memory usage widget, I've determined that I'm running into memory issues. Explorer won't work, ctrl-alt-del won't work, no additional programs will work.

Since I'm doing research and cannot afford to start closing down my open windows, I need another solution (and no, Firefox is not an acceptable substitute).

This has only been starting somewhat recently.

Both systems have 1 gig of ram, one is running XP Media Center (Pro variant), and the desktop is running XP Pro.

Thanks!

[EzyStvy]

How many open windows do you have?

[Stuey]

Not too many. The last time this happened, I had three IE windows open, one with three tabs, the 2nd with one tab, and the 3rd with four.

I'm used to having dozens of windows open - this problem only started happening recently.

Sometimes I close a window and ctrl-alt-del, and it shows that a particular IE window is consuming a lot of resources (100-220 mb), but that's not always the case.

I adjusted my page file size from ~1500mb to "system managed size" and it's still at about 1500mb.

[Statica]

Do any of these pages use a 3rd party plugin (Java, Flash etc)? If so the memory leak could be attributed to those. While IE7 is a definite hog, I haven't see it suck memory like you've experienced. Check what plugins or add-ins are loading up with IE. Try to disable all 3rd party plugins and try enabling them one at a time .. and use ONLY those that you need. Unfortunately, as you make a browser more and more modular, you have to rely on other s/w manufacturers to code well.

[glc]

Is downgrading back to IE6 an option?

[Stuey]

I don't think I can downgrade to IE6 - I've grown rather fond of the tab feature. I used to be able to have dozens of IE6 windows open without incident though. I guess that will be my last resort.

I'm not sure if it's IE7 alone that's causing the problem. Before, I had only one window open, but Photoshop wouldn't open, and neither would explorer. I'm typically using IE most of the time I'm on the computer these days, which is why I think it's at least partially responsible.

It sometimes happens at 80-90% memory usage, so I'm thinking that this all has to do with the fact that my memory is shared with the video.

Also, I'm fairly sure that JAVA isn't responsible, and there is rarely a flash application embedded in any of the tabs or windows when it all crashes down. It is possible that it's javascript causing the errors - I've also had problems with IE crashing when closing a javascript-created popup window.

[cmillar6]

If you insist on having that many IE7 windows and tabs open you are going to chew up ram. Firefox is not a viable option as its memory leak problems are worse than IE7's My father in law had exactly the same problem for exactly the same reason and I upgraded him to 2 gigs of RAM and the problem went away.

[Stuey]

I now believe that the problem is 100% due to IE7 but still don't know why.

With no programs running at all, I start IE7. Once the home page loads up (yahoo), I check via task manager to see the memory usage. 52mb. Once I navigate to any web page, the usage just increases until it all well, craps out.