In digital browsing, a unique breed of users is known as ‘tab hoarders.’ Among them, a Firefox user named Hazel stands out. Hazel has been conducting an experiment that would make even the most seasoned internet surfers gasp in disbelief for over two years. She has kept nearly 7,500 tabs open in a single Firefox browsing session.
A dedicated Firefox user kept 7,500 tabs open continuously for two years PIC.TWITTER.COM/HENBNZFLYY
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) MAY 7, 2024
Hazel’s relationship with her tabs is not just about convenience or multitasking. It’s a deeply personal journey. She doesn’t close tabs because it’s ‘like a trip down memory lane.’ She enjoys scrolling back through clusters of tabs from months ago, reliving the moments of discovery, learning, and thinking that each tab represents.
The number of tabs was impressive; however, the impact on her computer‘s memory was very small. The session file at that time, which contained the information on each open tab, was only about 70MB. This event proves that Firefox has a strong and reliable memory-handling mechanism. When a tab is loaded, it is put in the actual memory, but this is not done if the tab has not been opened recently. In other words, tabs are “unloaded” to disk. It is very convenient since the number of open tabs does not affect the computer’s performance, and it is a way for users like Hazel to keep thousands of open tabs.
However, the best of experiments can go bad. Hazel had a heart-stopping moment when her browsing session of over 7,000 open tabs was lost. She was only able to revive it by using the profiles cache to retrieve the old browsing session with the help of the supportive Firefox community. Hazelnut said the following once she had recovered her 7,000+ tab browsing session, “I feel like a part of me has been restored.”
firefox refused to restore my session that i’ve had going for 2+ years….
over 7k tabs down the drain….
— hazel☀️ (@sodiumPen) APRIL 30, 2024
This is in contrast to Google Chrome, the high-memory user software. For example, running Chrome for 10 tabs will result in more than 2,000MB, or 12.5% of PC memory. Assume a Windows 11 PC has 32 GB of RAM and 2TB of NVMe SSD memory. Additionally, Hazel’s Firefox massive session file is only 70MB.
Firefox can be used with many tabs because its memory management system is built to cope with them. Three primary components implement this feature: Tab Unloading, Smart Process, and Manual Unloading. Moreover, the browser also has its own Task Manager, which shows you how much memory and CPU your tabs, extensions, and other processes are using. You can also turn off the first component mentioned. Furthermore, new profiles and tab organization features for Firefox are to be expected in the near future. Some third-party Firefox add-ons, however, can help you with the same portion.
Mozilla, the group that created Firefox, has started to pay attention to the experience of people like Hazel. They aim to introduce a new system of tab organization that would simplify the process for people who have hundreds or thousands of saved tabs. In this case, the new feature will be a very welcome addition for tab hoarders, who will be able to better organize their digital memories.
