Mozilla overhauls Firefox about:performance page

about:performance, an internal page in Firefox that shows which tabs open in windows are consuming how much, has been updated to give a clear picture on which tab/page is using more CPU cycles.

Firefox new about:performance

To try it out, ensure you’re using the latest Nightly version,

1. Visit about:config

2. Find and change preference dom.performance.enable_scheduler_timing value to true.

3. Close and relaunch Firefox and visit about:performance to see the new look.

Warning: Close Firefox and reopen it after flipping the preference, otherwise the browser will crash and you’ll see Mozilla crash reporter dialog.

Update: The Preference has been enabled by default.

new about performance page

current about performance page in Firefox

Old and new about:performance page change: ‘Performance of Web Pages’ wording has been changed to ‘Resource Usage per tab’

Depending on usage, the page may display Energy Impact for a tab as high or medium or low or None.

Use can select a row with mouse in about:performance page, double-clicking a row selects the tab.

UPDATE: New Firefox about:performance page to feature memory column in Firefox 65 and Control Center to show ‘Energy Impact’ and ‘Memory footprint’ for individual pages and More sub-menu Hamburger menu to contain Task Manager item.

about:performance page with memory tab

performance in Control Conter and Task Manager in menu

Image credits: Mozilla

Hamburger menu with More sub-menu contains Task Manager item, which opens about:performance page.

UPDATE: As said above, Mozilla has added Task Manager item to ‘More’ section of Firefox menu in version 64 Nightly to open about:performance page.

Task Manager menu item

BTW, if you type about:p in address bar, about:performance will be auto-filled, read Firefox 64: Autocompletes about: URLs in address bar.

Venkat Eswarlu

Venkat is an independent technology journalist and the founder of Techdows. He has been covering web browsers, Windows, and software news since 2009. His exclusive scoops on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge features have been cited by Forbes, TechCrunch, Wired, CNET, and other major publications.

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