High CPU usage by Firefox

[vester]

Hello, I am using

Windows 7
Sandboxie v5.16 (64-bit), although I have had this issue for the past few versions
Firefox 52.0.1 (64-bit), although this issue was also present for the past few versions
I have Symantec antivirus running.

My problem occurs sometime randomly after using Firefox for a while inside a sandbox. The baseline CPU usage (when I am doing nothing) jumps from 0% to 25%, and if I am actively using the browser, CPU usage can jump to 50%. This does not happen with Firefox outside the sandbox. It also does not happen immediately after starting firefox in a new sandbox, but starts sometime later. I don't know what triggers it or why. After the problem first starts, if I close the browser and start it again, there is a period of a minute or so where the CPU usage is normal, and then it spikes to 25% and stays there without me doing anything.

Some things I have tried:
After the problem starts, I have tried restarting firefox after disabling all add-ons, which didn't work, and then removing all add-ons, which also didn't work.
I had created a new Firefox profile and started it in a new sandbox. The issue continues to appear.

It's gotten infuriating enough that I've shifted to Chrome as my main browser, although I would really prefer Firefox.

What is causing the problem, and how can I solve it? Thanks in advance!

[Barb@Invincea]

Hello vester,

Please see this entry:
https://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?Kno ... 20Products

Any chance that e10 is still enabled in Firefox?
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/view ... 2&start=30

What extensions are installed? And, does the issue occur if your antivirus is disabled/removed?

Also, please give the beta a try:
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/view ... 60&t=23888

Regards,
Barb.-

[vester]

Thanks for responding!

The problem goes away (for a while) if I delete the sandbox and start Firefox anew, but the problem pops up again sometime after. Because I can't figure out what causes it or when it starts, I have not deleted the sandbox in which I currently have an issue. I'm using that sandbox to test your solutions.

I tried these things from your link:

Set "browser.tabs.remote.autostart" and "browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2" to FALSE
Changed security.sandbox.content.level to 0
Disabled Symantec Antivirus (I have not tried removing it yet)
Installed Sandboxie v5.17.5

None of these things changed the situation. I am still getting 25+% of CPU usage when idling Firefox. I will try removing Symantec later.

I have an extensive list of add-ons, though only about half of them are enabled at one time. (I enable different ones for different sandboxes.)
The ones I had enabled--and have now removed--for this particular sandbox were:
Disconnect
FireGestures
Forecastfox
Ghostery
New Tab Override
NoScript
Stylish
The Addon Bar
Thumbnail Zoom Plus
uBlock Origin

I have other add-ons installed and disabled. If you think that those could affect the browser, I'll gladly post them later.

[Barb@Invincea]

Hi vester ,

Did you disable e10 outside Sandboxie? (It won't work otherwise, and sometimes it reverts so you have to make sure the changes went thru before launching FF sandboxed).

Does the issue happen with a brand new Firefox Profile? Are you visiting any specific websites when the problem occurs?
You mentioned "after a while", do you have a more specific example, so that I can test?

Did you follow the steps listed here?:
https://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?Kno ... 20Products
What is the exact version of your Antivirus? Does it add any Browser toolbars or Website protection? (If so, disable it and re-test please).

Regards,
Barb.-

[vester]

I disabled e10 outside Sandboxie (and it did not revert), but when I started up Firefox inside sandboxie, the values were unchanged. So I changed those values while within the Sandbox too. (If this messed things up, please tell me how to revert back and I'll do the procedure again.)

The issue did happen again with a brand new Firefox profile, though I'll give that another try tomorrow and report back with the results.

This issue happens in different sandboxes, for which I visit exclusively different websites. It happens with a sandbox exclusively for Facebook, and another for more general purposes like gmail, amazon, etc. I can't seem to pinpoint exactly when it starts. Sometimes the sandbox is a few days old, sometimes a few weeks old. I hypothesize that it may be triggered when I close the browser and start it up again, though that is pure conjecture. I save my tabs every time--I don't know if that has an effect.

I looked for the "Firefox Cleanup" option, but I don't seem to have one. I'm using Symantec Endpoint Protection, and I can't seem to find the "Administrative Settings". My version is Symantec Endpoint Protection version 12.1.4113.4156. To the best of my knowledge, it did not add any browser toolbars. It has three different modules: "Virus and Spyware Protection", "Proactive Threat Protection", and "Network Threat Protection". When I did my testing earlier, I disabled all three.

[Barb@Invincea]

Hi vester,

when I started up Firefox inside sandboxie, the values were unchanged.

You should not see multiprocess enabled inside Sandboxie after turning it off outside.
Please make sure the changes went thru outside Sandboxie, then delete the Sandbox contents and relaunch Firefox (Sandboxed).

Have a look at these steps to disable browser protection:
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/arti ... 72174.html

Regards,
Barb.-

[vester]

Hi Barb,

Thank you for your patience while helping me with this problem. I realize that the seemingly random aspect of it makes it difficult to diagnose and solve.

I have now disabled e10 outside the sandbox, then deleted the sandbox contents, and restarted Firefox.
Deleting the sandbox means that the issue is (temporarily) gone, and I will monitor to see if the CPU spike occurs again.
(I realize that "deleting the sandbox" is a "solution", but having to re-login into many accounts and adjusting the add-ons for each sandbox is a hassle, especially if I use Firefox as my main browser.)

I am now running Firefox in both the original profile with e10 disabled, and a completely new profile with e10 disabled, and will report back if the issue appears again.

[JohnBox]

Just wanted to chip in shortly that I can relate to the issues vester is having, SBIE seems to be a bottleneck of some sort.

Whenever I work outside SBIE things run fast to really fast, when working inside SBIE things run normal speed or slow, this so especially with browsers.

It seems to me the design of the logic of SBIE actually handling a decent throughput of data or handling the data in the assigned space, the sandbox on the HDD, is not made for large chunks of data.

At least this is my impression or perhaps SBIE development is not keeping up with browser development and browsers getting better and faster being able to handle more data in a "better" way.

Not a software engineer so cannot tell, this is just a felt impression on performance I am seeing using SBIE for some time now.

[vester]

I'm reporting back that the issue has indeed occurred again on the new Firefox profile with e10 disabled.

This occurred with only HTTPS Everywhere and uBlock Origin extensions installed, and the only website regularly accessed was Facebook (occasionally, but rarely, clicked on links from facebook). I had used it for a while with only HTTPS Everywhere installed and the problem didn't occur, but the seemingly random nature of the problem means it doesn't completely rule out HTTPS Everywhere. It appears now then that it's possibly an issue with uBlock Origin? I'm trying it again with some add-ons other than uBlock Origin to see if it's a Firefox (or other computer setting) issue or an add-on issue.

If this doesn't work, I'll attempt a clean install of Sandboxie. I've been using Sandboxie for a long time with Firefox and add-ons, so this is a very strange occurrence to me.

I should note that this does not appear to happen on a new computer with Sandboxie installed. Emphasis because I haven't paid close enough attention to CPU usage during Firefox, and my usage there were almost exclusively Chrome.

I have issues too with Chrome, on the same computer that I have Firefox problems (randomly crashes with 'Aw, snap' messages that require sandbox deletion to become functional again), but I assume that's for a separate thread.

[Barb@Invincea]

Hello JohnBox,

If you could please provide a more detailed description of what's going on, and if possible, include logs or data showing what's the problem, that would be very helpful to start looking into it.
However, if your issue is not Firefox related, please start a new thread.

Sandboxie currently supports the latest browsers. And, regarding the bottleneck that you mentioned, please have a look at this thread for clarification:
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/view ... ck#p126034
------------------------- X -------------------------

Hello vester,

See if disabling Firefox's sandbox helps (be sure to conduct these steps outside Sandboxie, and relaunch Firefox to ensure the values have changed before launching it in a Sandbox):
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/view ... 15#p126087

Long shot, but do you have any Nvidia drivers installed?
If yes, check this out (is not the exact same problem, but it might be related):
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/view ... ia#p127309

If you are able to find out a non-random scenario for the issue, please let us know and we'll look into it.
Also, let us know what Sbie version are you running.

Regards,
Barb.-