Firefox 48 and its multi-process functionality are now here
I'm not sure if you remember this or not, but last month I reported that Mozilla wants to take a page from Google Chrome's playbook by integrating multi-processing functionality in the upcoming versions of Firefox. It seems that my sources were correct as the company has just rolled out Firefox 48 with the previously mentioned feature. Additionally, the latest update also brings more auto-complete suggestions and an easier-to-use discovery pane for new add-ons.
While multi-processing has been a part of Google Chrome for quite a while, Mozilla has just recently started testing it out. The new feature, called "e10s", uses individual processes for each tab so that if a specific page crashes, it won't take down the entire browser with it. To see if you have it enabled, you will need to type "about:support" (without quotes) in the address bar, then press Enter. In the page that opens up, look for the Application Basics category and check the field called Multiprocess Windows: 1/1 (Enabled by default) means that e10s is in effect. If the option is disabled and you want to activate it, type about:config in the address bar, press Enter, then find the entry named "browser.tabs.remote.autostart" and set the value to True.
In case you prefer using Mozilla's web browser, you might also enjoy reading some of our other related stories such as: "Top 6 add-ons to help you keep Firefox organized" or "Best add-ons to reduce Firefox's resource consumption".
