Closed Bug 621950 Opened 15 years ago Closed 15 years ago

plugin-container.exe eats my entire 200 MB satellite bandwidth in seconds

Categories

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
General
Version:
3.6 Branch
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: lianaent, Unassigned)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.10) Gecko/20100914 Firefox/3.6.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.10) Gecko/20100914 Firefox/3.6.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) I've seen there are a lot of problems with plugin-container.exe, but FF's response has been that that is the way it's supposed to work, so it's not a bug. However, I've seen nothing about satellite users. We are limited to 200 MB download per 24 hours. Whenever plugin-container.exe starts, our bandwidth is consumed in seconds costing us $5.00 every time to restore. We simply cannot have this thing automatically running, no matter how intentional it is. We need to know how to delete it from our computer completely, and forever. Otherwise, we will start billing Mozilla every time we crash. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: I'm not sure when this plugin-container kicks in, maybe when we use Paypal, but EVERY TIME it kicks in our bandwidth disappears. Actual Results: I can't show you the error, because when it happens we lose internet and I wouldn't be able to get on this bug site. But, in Task Manager it says plugin-container.exe and mem usage is maxed out. We need to know how to remove this, in effect, virus completely.
That would be flash or something downloading content. Update your flash, your java, your quicktime, etc. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=9530495#p9530495 will show you how to disable plugin-container
Severity: critical → normal
Version: unspecified → 3.6 Branch
In case of Firefox 3.6.10, it can only be caused by Flash, QuickTime or Silverlight (other plugins are not running in plugin-container.exe by default). plugin-container.exe is only a thin wrapper around the plugin that talks to the main process. It doesn't run anything extra or download something on its own or something. If you want to disable plugin-container.exe, set the preference dom.ipc.plugins.enabled to false (type about:config in the locationbar and press enter). But that will run the same code inside the browser, so I don't think it will make a difference.
I've found one solution: stop using Firefox and stick to IE. I'd prefer not to have to do that as I have to develop software that will work in FF as well as IE. I renamed plugin-container.exe to something else, and now of course FF keeps crashing. If it's not plugin-container.exe that's causing the problem directly, but it is indirectly by enabling Flash, QuickTime or Silverlight downloads, or maybe they're just running on their own, then I need to know how to disable auto-updates of those applications. However, when the bandwidth crashes it's plugin-container.exe I see in my Task Manager. Please advise...
You shouldn't look in the Process Manager, but rather at the Website(s) you opened to see where the Traffic comes from. As already mention above Websites using Flash, Quicktime or Silverlight sound suspicious. And I doubt this is about the Auto-Update of that Plugins, but rather the Website Content they show you.
I've found one solution: stop using Firefox and stick to IE. I'd prefer not to have to do that as I have to develop software that will work in FF as well as IE. I renamed plugin-container.exe to something else, and now of course FF keeps crashing. If it's not plugin-container.exe that's causing the problem directly, but it is indirectly by enabling Flash, QuickTime or Silverlight downloads, or maybe they're just running on their own, then I need to know how to disable auto-updates of those applications. However, when the bandwidth crashes it's plugin-container.exe I see in my Task Manager. Please advise...
Don't blame the messenger; the plugin container is just the thing that contains plugins, i.e. Flash... or, well probably just Flash mostly, but other crap like Windows Media Player or Quicktime or any number of things you can disable at will from Tools->Add-ons->Plugins. Simply put, you're on a crippled connection and are going to have to take action on your end because 200MB is _nothing_ these days and many websites are bloated. My suggestions to you: 1) Update all your plugins. It may or may not help here, but it's always a good idea. 2) Don't worry about plugin-container.exe itself; if you disable out-of-process plugins to get rid of it you're just back to letting plugins run wild from inside firefox.exe instead of a separate process (plugin-container.exe) that can crash without killing Firefox. The plugin-container.exe protects you from Flash or other plugins crashing Firefox. 3) Disable or uninstall any and all plugins you don't use. If some plugin is running in plugin-container.exe, your problem is not plugin-container.exe, it's the plugin in that container that's sucking up your bandwidth. 4) Run Adblock Plus. Don't download ads and crap if you have to pay to download them, and plenty of them are Flash and bloated as hell. 5) Run Flashblock. Don't let Flash (or Silverlight which it can also handle) do whatever it pleases. You'll have to give permission to each and every Flash animation and video to play, which means no more pre-downloading of video in a page you're not going to bother watching. URLs for the above: 1: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/ 2: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/What%20is%20plugin-container 3: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using%20plugins%20with%20Firefox 4: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865/ 5: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433/
(In reply to comment #5) > I've found one solution: stop using Firefox and stick to IE. Not really. Your complaint is directly aimed at plugins which can be installed for IE too. If you have different plugins installed for IE than Firefox that's an unrelated coincidence. Disable the ones you don't need in Firefox (and IE too, if you can). My bet is on Flash, just because it's a known bloated annoying mess. Flash is probably installed for IE too. Also, IE doesn't have Adblock Plus or Flashblock, which I suspect are going to be your best tools at avoiding plugins wasting your bandwidth. (aside from just disabling most of them wholesale via the Add-ons Manager, as previously stated)
Wow, a ton of great info - thanks Dave! I'm not really blaming the messenger. We're stuck with satellite because we live out in the country, and Verizon has promised us that they will never ever ever install broadband in our area for the rest of eternity. So, with satellite comes the 200 MB limit, until they improve the satellite technology. In the meantime, it's very annoying, to say the least, when our usage drops from 100% to 0% suddenly and we find ourselves at dialup speed. So, in a way I guess I do blame the messenger for assuming that everyone is on broadband! I wonder what dialup people do? We don't watch videos or download anything except after 2 am when the restrictions are lifted. Still, things keep creeping in that eat bandwidth, and I keep fighting them like some crazy video game. It will probably take me awhile to get through all your info. I really appreciate it, and I'll probably have more questions. Thanks again! Larry
(In reply to comment #8) Glad I could help some. In any case, this is a bug tracker for Mozilla specifically not a support forum, though we obviously do try to help with support when we can. So I'm going to close this bug report and direct you to support.mozilla.com to ask about any specific issues with plugins as they'll probably have more info than anyone here. (if of course a specific bug in Firefox is found then you can file a new bug for that, but for now this is a support issue about plugins) > I wonder what dialup people do? Clearly they're screwed... :/
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 15 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
Well, it looks like my solution is working. When we were using Firefox our usage was typically around 30% to 40%, very rarely making it back to 100%, and once a week or so dropping to 0% and forcing us to dialup speed. Since using IE exclusively for one week, we have not dropped below 95% once. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting!
In other words, you don't care why IE avoids your problem, just that it does? In which case, why ask for help to fix the problem in the first place? IE is a bad idea and there's no reason you can't just disable whatever plugin is screwing you over that hasn't been installed for IE but is for Firefox. Troubleshooting is outlined in comment 6 and would only take a few minutes.
Sorry, I guess I wasn't criticizing so much as just commenting. Anyway, I didn't know what the problem was until you pointed me in the right direction, which is why I asked in the first place. I'm far less familiar with the nuances of FF than IE. Maybe IE is less prone to add stuff that eats bandwidth? I've started looking at your fixes, but I haven't had time to look it all over yet. But until I'm sure I'm done, we've been using IE exclusively to avoid the $5.00 charges. Which raises an interesting question. If going over the bandwidth limit causes other people to lose their bandwidth, then why does paying the satellite company $5.00 fix the problem?
(In reply to comment #12) > Maybe IE is less prone to add stuff that eats bandwidth? Neither IE nor Firefox are the problems here. Again, as you already stated it's a _plugin_ that's causing the problem. That's some software installed into a browser. For all I know it's malware installed just into Firefox; I don't know. You'll have to look to find out. (again, see comment 6) Firefox is frequently blamed for the crap other companies install into it, as this bug report is an example. The big problem is that people generally have no concept that it's physically impossible to stop. Once you've run an installer on your system it can do anything from install a bogus plugin in one browser or anther or multiple, to format your hard-drive. Windows isn't exactly a secure operating system. As to the greed question WRT your ISP, well the answer there is obvious: greed. They can get away with charging for bandwidth usage like this because there's less competition in that market whereas in dialup markets this sort of crap was considered pretty much inexcusable by its users (with less bandwidth available, even) and the competition all switched to unlimited models in order to compete, which to this day are used by the broadband ISPs. In some countries that didn't have similar dialup ISP competition their cable broadband ISPs sometimes now have worse bandwidth caps than your satellite service. Competition works when it's real. Sadly, your satellite ISP knows for a fact that there's no competition in your area, so they're gouging you.
Note that in the case of Flash, IE and Firefox use a *different* plugin. It's not because you update in IE, that Firefox is using the latest one (or vice versa)! Downloading in IE gives you the IE version, in FF the FF version. This might be a reason why you see a difference in the 2 browsers, even if you made sure that you visit the same websites in each.
Thanks guys. All good info and I hope it clears these issues up for others. Even as a computer professional I don't understand all these nuances just for lack of time to keep up with it all. As to Adblock, one line in the description concerns me: "Out of the box, Adblock Plus comes without any filters whatsoever but will offer to add a filter subscription on first start — that is a list of filters maintained by other Adblock Plus users and will be updated automatically regularly." First, do these filters cost anything? I didn't see anything about money in the descriptions, but just wanted to be sure. Second, "updated automatically" - this is my problem to begin with - automatice updates!
(In reply to comment #15) > First, do these filters cost anything? I didn't see anything about money in > the descriptions, but just wanted to be sure. no. > > Second, "updated automatically" - this is my problem to begin with - automatice > updates! It's 338 KB (a bit less) ever 5 days.
Hey Larry, I hope you've been able to find some assistance, but this is turning more into a support forum thread, not a bug. Could you possibly take this discussion to support.mozilla.com? thanks.
Yes, as I said in comment 9 support.mozilla.com is the better place for this and they may in fact be able to help you better if you identify a specific plugin that's causing trouble. This isn't a support site but we do have one with people who know more about the mess that is the plugin landscape. ;)
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