Omnipass + Firefox 2.0 == 40% CPU?!

So I'm sitting here checking out my morning blogs and I'm getting annoyed by the fan running on my PowerPro L 8:15. Those of you who have one know that the fan isn't loud, but my wife and son are out, so in a quiet house it was annoying.

Anyway, pull up Task Manager to see what's using cycles and causing things to heat up. Firefox and OmniPass were each pulling down a pretty constant 20% CPU (one on each core). If I take focus off of Firefox, both drop to sporadic 1-3% range. Huh. Odd.

So then I exit OmniPass. Firefox CPU, focused or not, is now in the 0-3% range. That's what I'm seeing as I type this.

I don't remember it happening with earlier Firefox versions, though I may just not have noticed. It sure plays havoc with battery life, as well -- I'm at 48% from 100% after about an hour. I usually get 3 hours out of a full charge when doing lite web browsing.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has seen this? I don't know if this happens with older Firefox versions, or IE.

I never thought I'd use the fingerprint scanner, but now that I've had it, I kind of like it. Anyone know of a replacement for OmniPass that *doen't* suck? Preferably one that actually works with Firefox 2?

I know that OmniPass (mostly) worked with previous Firefox versions, but it doesn't seem to do so with 2.0.

 

That's weird, typically for me Firefox 2.0, and 1.5, were the apps using up the most of my CPU. In fact, having just looked at task manager, Omnipass is using none of the CPU. While Firefox is using anywhere between 14-45%. IE7, and Firefox 2.0 seem to use a little more processing power in general then there older versions, especially IE7. I also noticed a slight drop in battery life on my HEL80 as a result of the new internet browsers (although i have no concrete numbers). Luckily, i also recently installed Notebook Hardware Control, and now i can easily compensate for the greater CPU loads. Don't know if you have it, but if you don't you may want to try it. At the worst the computer just restarts anyway. And it increased the battery life of a friends laptop by 30min! Sorry i couldn't of more help, i typically use omnipass for logging on to my computer only, and to access one encrypted folder.

 

When I was collecting data for my review I got 2 h 45 min with screen on 3/7 and on the internet the entire time while using word. I am pretty sure I was already using FF 2.0 by then though I am not 100% sure at this point.

Also, Omnipass seemed to transition without a hitch over to FF 2.0. I did have some issues when I upgraded to an older version. Reinstalling FF solved the issue. You may have experienced a corrupted file while installing the new version of FF.

 

Something to consider with what you guys are saying loss of battery life with the new browsers...

With the new generation of browsers there really shouldn't be anything magically causing them to use more cpu unless you have plugins.. the more you have the more your system uses. Pop-up blockers, all that stuff is "active" and when the event trigger fires, of course you will use more CPU.. However, just as the browsers have changed, so have the websites. Now there are AJAX sites that deliver almost streaming applications, more sites are inheriting PHP or XML for dynamic content, pictures are being listed at higher resolutions, banners went from static images to PDF's or flash animation...Many of them are even interactive which means they have to have event triggers programmed...

Basically, what I'm getting at is you should watch your send and recieved data, especially if you guys are blogging, most of that stuff tries to stay cutting edge so its got ASP, AJAX, JAVA, XML, among other varieties of technologies driving it. Your wireless card + cpu will have more impact on your battery life then you CPU by itself.

Technology is great, the more power we have, the sloppier people get until we start peaking our limits, then the code gets refined and cleaned, then faster hardware again... Right now with most of the modern world having faster then dial up, websites dont care so much about keeping it small and simple.. The buzzword is "user experience", and its pushing for transparency between web data and local data. Soon, you wont be able to tell the difference between something running on your home pc and off the net, because all the languages will bleed together, and all the applications will potentially have local and remote data sources.

 

Yes i have noticed this Omnipass high cpu usage also. I use IE7, and when
IE7 is in focus cpu usage cycles constantly between 15-40% and i have less battery life on my compal hgl30. If IE7 is NOT in focus, i have 1-3% cpu usage only. If i right click the omnipass icon and exit it, (in other words i kill the omnipass application), cpu usage is back in the 1-3 % range when IE7 is in focus. I think what is happening is Omnipass - when IE7 is in focus - is constantly searching for login/password fields to fill. This should explain the high cpu usage and it sucks. I am looking for an Omnipass replacement at this moment.