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Is there an update available to reduce the IE7 memory consumption?

When I open GMAIL, Google Reader, Live mail and microsoft.com in different tabs, task manager shows it's taking ~ 133MB of memory. But when I open the same 4 tabs on Firefox, it takes only 44MB. This is one of the things that's barring usage of IE7 regularly.

Are you telling us that for every page we view, there is an additional call to your "anti-phish" site to do a check, before it loads?

What kind of plan is that!

No wonder so many users are opting to turn it off.

I'd be curious to see what data is sent / received to get this kind of performance issue.

If it is anything much more robust than...

Send > url

Receive > Flag (integer)

I sincerely hope that you plan to fix it.

Plus if this is enacted on every AJAX request, yikes-o-rama!

I also hope that once I visit: 'google.com', 'youtube.com', 'msdn.com', that these sites are added to a local whitelist... for a period of time (e.g. 2 days) such that I'm not querying the MS anti-phish site on every visit to Google I make.

"Plus if this is enacted on every AJAX request, yikes-o-rama!"

Considering that AJAX calls can only be made to the same domain as the originating page, this statement holds no truth.

"Is there an update available to reduce the IE7 memory consumption?"

How many addins do you have?

For every tab you open, IE7 clones those addins.

"When I open GMAIL, Google Reader, Live mail and microsoft.com in different tabs, task manager shows it's taking ~ 133MB of memory. But when I open the same 4 tabs on Firefox, it takes only 44MB."

I'm sure that's a valid point. But if you close those tabs in IE, you get the memory back. Whereas Firefox doesn't give it all back. I'd rather have higher memory usage, then leaking memory usage.

Dave, automated whitelists are a terrible idea.

For example, let's say that you visit www.mybank.com a few times.

Under your scenario, the page would be added to a whitelist.

Now, let's say that a hacker defaces the site and inserts some code that directs your login info elsewhere. www.mybank.com is now a phishing site.

The situation becomes even worse when domain names expire and new people register them.

Not true. The download of an update for Windows Vista can be done but the installation process send back the message: does not work with your system. My Vista is RC1.

Zian, Dave clearly said local caching for a short period (2 days). If you think Microsoft isn't doing its own caching you're kidding yourself. The only  reason why Microsoft wouldn't want to do local caching would be because then they wouldn't get as good usage statistics. Go and see what WebSideStory and the like charge for their stats and see how much Microsoft stands to make out of this.

@Aedrin,

You constantly mention this "memory leakage" issue with Firefox that causes you to reboot frequently.

Can you provide some stats as to what Mem you see being used, for tabs X,Y,& Z being open?

I've used Firefox for ages, daily, and don't see any problems you're mentioning. I'm just curious if your install of Firefox is broken or mis-configured.

As for IE7 "reclaiming" all this memory, I think you're a bit optimistic... I just opened 8 "intense" tabs (Digg, Slashdot, Gmail, etc.) in IE7... memory grew and grew (100Mg+)... then I closed all but Digg (got about 13Mgs back).

I don't think Firefox is perfect, but I don't see any of the troubles you speak of with memory.

see also

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/12/12/ie-december-2006-security-update-is-now-available.aspx#1276355

<g>

Bye,

Freudi

AC, I suppose it's possible to do that securely. I just don't know of any ways.

Regarding the usage monitoring, I agree that that's certainly a side benefit.

I often phish in frames and have suffered no performance issues. I hear if you use PhishPhox things are much worse and private browsing data goes to the wrong hands. Is that true?

I was having problemw with memory usage while IE7 is loading up. I opened the task manager window and watched the memeory usuage grow from 130 to over 1000. The processes from 35 to over 200. Once the page? was completely loaded the memory/ process reduced back to the nominal.The 2 files/processes that seem to be duplicated were ctfmon.exe and ieeplore.exe

If I open multiple IE's I will run out of memory.  I have 2G memory currently.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Brian

"You constantly mention this "memory leakage" issue with Firefox that causes you to reboot frequently.

Can you provide some stats as to what Mem you see being used, for tabs X,Y,& Z being open?"

I can't really, as it happens while working. So I'm constantly updating a page, etc. And I don't keep many tabs open (3-4 maybe).

@Aedrin

>For every tab you open, IE7 clones those addins.

It is correct that every tab instantiates those add-ons but regarding memory consumption that does not mean that the entire add-on is cloned. If it is well developed it will make use of inter thread/process communication and factorize all the common data it needs.

@IE team

Please fix the "disappearing caret bug" that I have noticed in several add-ons:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1012680&SiteID=1

@IE team

IE desperately needs a Bug tracking system or a way how we can officially file bug reports again.

Although IE7 and Vista are now out of Beta does not mean that they are bugfree. On the contrary, the more developers are now playing with the new technology the more important it would be to give them a chance to report their findings.

I and certainly many other IE testers would be very pleased if you could reopen the Connect database with all the existing reports again. I have spent much time in filing bugs in Connect and I cannot understand why I do not have access to the reports any more.

Besides, cangratulations on the Vista Launch.

after pulling my hair out, and going insane, I found that IE suffers from a serious CSS bug.

http://therealcrisp.xs4all.nl/ie7beta/css_zindex.html

The above site, clearly demonstrates the bug and what damage it causes.

Therefore I have 2 questions:

1.) When will this bug be fixed.

2.) Are there any hacks or workarounds for this.  I seriously need to get around this issue ASAP.

TIA, Jason

now i wait for this update

http://read-articles.blogspot.com/

@Jason

The bug you have found is a real dousey.  It hasn't got much attention, because it only appears when you start doing complex layouts, and useually another bug bites you first, blurring the real cause of the issue.

The CSS z-index stacking in IE is horrible, and this one grossly illustrates it.  I give kudos to the IE team for fixing the sky-high z-index on select lists, but this one is definitely the next in line in terms of just plain real bad bugs in IE.

On a side note, developers looking for a real good tool... the Web Developer toolbar extension has just been updated with a bunch of new, cool tools.  Its only available for Firefox of course, but it is just amazing... sort of makes you go... "Wow!"

"Is there an update available to reduce the IE7 memory consumption?"

I found that it helped a lot dropping several toolbar and other add-ons from IE.

Call me a ranter, or whatever you want... but IE7 needs an: "Open this Frame in a new [Window|Tab]" option.

For anyone that is looking for a quick and easy extension to create for IE7, this one would be simple (I hope), yet prove immensely handy.

That said, if it is real easy, can someone point to some docs that would make developing this myself, a piece-o-cake?

tx

Steve

@steve_web

To extend your context menu of IE you have to write a small javascript that opens the frame URL in a new window like this:

<script type="text/javascript">

window.open(external.menuArguments.document.URL,"Frame");

</script>

Then add a key with the name of the context menu entry in your registry at

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt\]

Set the "(Default)" value to the path of your script.

Add the REG_DWORD value "Contexts" and set it to 1.

That's it ;-)

I love IE 7 and Windows Vista.

However I cannot express enough the high level of urgency that is required in the innovation field. Microsoft needs to heavily boost R&D in both IE and Windows before companies such as Apple and Novell out-innovate.

I know you've heard it all before but I know Microsoft is a massive company with brilliant minds. Now that Microsoft has more or less caught up to the market standards it's time to push out products that will blow Mac and Linux user's minds. The strategy may very well lie in the past (in regards to the Windows 95 launch, how many inovations did people want and see there?)

Keep up the good work team! I have a lot of faith in you guys to make excellent products

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR IE8 WHICH EVERYONE WILL LOVE:

- Closing a tab without selecting it/making it active

- Support for JPEG 2000 and Windows Media/HD Photo

- Similar to per-domain cookies and pop-ups, ability to selectively disable Java, JavaScript and Flash for specific domains, or disabling for all domains except trusted ones

- Set as background option back in IE

- Replace the UGLY mouse wheel scroll icon

- Support for embedded ICC color profiles in JPEG and PNG images

- Save favicons to URL shortcuts permanently

- Session restore in case of crash

- Save the windows size, always maximize upon launching

- Totally revamped addon/extension/plugin API and SDK

- A UI for managing stored passwords

- STANDARDS COMPLAIANCE OF AT LEAST 75%

Dear IE Blog team...

Could you please tell me when the MUI Packs for IE7 will be released on MSDN?

We have the English version of Windows XP SP2 running with the Dutch MUI pack.

We are desperately in need of the Dutch IE7 MUI pack.

Any hint on the release date is welcome...

Regards,

SlowZone

Ever since i installed this IE7 Phishing Filter Performance Update the memory usage for IE7 is higher. Please do something about the memory usage.

@anonymous

use middle click of mouse to close a unselected tab

@anonymous

use middle click of mouse to close an unselected tab

@anonymous

IE7 session restore is already implemented in Windows Vista

On XP SP2 (clean and genuire)with IE 7.0.5730.11, download update for XP SP2 32 bits fromhttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928089. After install, it is impossible to get Windows Update to work. I only get a page telling me that I have Vista and I need to go with the Starmenu to get Windows Update. I made a restore point and I can get again Windows Update.

@Sumer

On a 2 years old XP SP2 installation, no problems with KB928089 and Windows Update

I would like the find on a page function added to the standard right click menu.

"However I cannot express enough the high level of urgency that is required in the innovation field. Microsoft needs to heavily boost R&D in both IE and Windows before companies such as Apple and Novell out-innovate."

Most innovations are limited by standards. And when Microsoft develops something to go past the standards, they are yelled out for proprietary code. Even though that has sometimes advanced the internet.

I've been researching an overall performance issue at our enterprise that occurred after installing IE 7. We have several users who now experience a hesitation when trying to open their Lotus Notes inbox after receiving a new message. Their Notes client screen fails to fully draw then hangs for a few seconds before  finally opening. At first I assumed it could be the filter and applied the patch to no avail. I've found nothing related to this issue elsewhere on the net, however I can tell you that uninstalling IE 7 correct the issue. Any ideas?

"Most innovations are limited by standards. And when Microsoft develops something to go past the standards, they are yelled out for proprietary code. Even though that has sometimes advanced the internet."

The XMLHttpRequest object being a prime example. Microsoft first creating an ActiveX object for use in Outlook Web Access - its now a native object in major browsers.

Wasn't IE the first to implement the designMode functionality?

@Aedrin/Steve

I think we are all for innovation, if MS wants to develop the "activXMLWeb3.0TriggerListeners" for IE8, then cool.  If the W3C doesn't see fit to add it as a spec, thats fine too...

HOWEVER!, before they add any NEW stuff, the community of "DEVELOPERS!, DEVELOPERS!, DEVELOPERS!" would like to see the basic stuff that is already in the specs handled PROPERLY!

.setAttribute() should work on every attribute of the DOM, without having to set weird case specific values "cellPadding", "rowSpan", and wacky new names like "htmlFor", "cssText", and being able to set things like the "name" attribute without building ridiculous DOM elements named '<input name=""/>'.

.addEventListener() is sorely missing

CSS border types: outset and inset

<button>Hello</button> elements that follow the spec.

CSS border-radius properties would make a very welcome addition

Making the "C" in "Cascading Style Sheets" actually mean Cascade (e.g. links in containers don't pick up cascaded styles)

Making DOM inserted form elements 100% less buggy would be a simple, yet very welcome addition.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Then when all the currently existing bugs are fixed, by all means, add the "activXMLWeb3.0TriggerListeners" implementation... even if it is proprietary!  No one will have a reason to complain then.

I just upgraded to Windows Vista.

And for some strange reasons, IE7 becomes very sluggish, the menus take a long time to open, the search dialog opens about 10 seconds after pressing Ctrl+F.

Opening and closing of tabs also takes a while.

Page rendering is normal.

If I try to launch IE7 via a shortcut or the address box in the taskbar, IE7 crashes. However, it IE7 is already open, doing the same things won't crash it.

Even stranger, IE7 works smoothly in another user account, on the same computer.

I've reset IE7 settings, deleted all files and favorites, it's still sluggish.

Any ideas what's going on? corrupted user account?

Hi mocax!! Is IE 7 really that slow or there is some problem with your internet connnection at that time? I am still using the IE6 and based on your comment I am kinda hesitant to use the IE7 right now. Anyways thanks for the info.. :)

@mocax: What happens if you run IE without addons?  (See http://enhanceie.com/ie/troubleshoot.asp)

I'm getting tired of reading this blog and seeing all the "Firefox this and Firefox that" comments.  If you like Firefox, fine, go use it.  But this is a blog about IE7 and those of us who read it are interested in it and not how you saved 2KB of memory with Firefox.

Can You take this off once you've downloaded it? I downloaded it and it's making my internet move along alot slower. How can I take it odd??

Why should I have to manually download this "fix" if Microsoft knows that it's a problem?  It should be an "automatic".  The average computer user shouldn't have to search all over Microsoftland to figure out why the PC is running so slowly. But it's a moot point anyway, since IE7 started to make my computer freeze up everytime I opened IE7. (the error code said it had something to do with missing data file on the phishing filter) So I just uninstalled it and went back to IE6 as a default. I was never a fan of Firefox til now.  

The update helped me - IE7 is a lot faster when i am using our comany's web apps. I found it after looking for ways to make my sluggish IE7 faster.Some analysis of the problem is at http://mygreenpaste.blogspot.com/2006/12/case-of-sluggish-internet-explorer-7.html and some analysis and link to the patch at http://mygreenpaste.blogspot.com/2007/01/fix-available-for-performance-problems.html.

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