Hacker News Reader

I've found that it chews through memory and drags down the whole browser, even when I'm not actively using it.

That was true a year or two ago, but I've found it much improved as of late. Fb 1.7 is very good.

Are you using firefox 3.6? Current firebug version is 1.9 and it has some cool new features http://hacks.mozilla.org/2012/01/firebug-1-9-new-features/

I meant "from 1.7", sorry.