A handful of Firefox tweaks that will double your browser speed
Firefox users take note: You need to do this. Now. As in, this instant. More savvy users are probably already familiar with editing Firefox’s configuration file but whether you’re a computer rookie or a seasoned veteran, Gnoted has issued a handful of tweaks that really get Firefox cooking. As much as we all love the fox, it can get a bit slow on occasion – especially if you’re like us and have 35 open tabs spread across four windows at any given time. By tweaking the way Firefox handles some caching functions, you can dramatically improve page load speed and even prevent Firefox from hogging your system resources while minimized. If you don’t currently have any experience playing with your configuration file, don’t be scared. Just follow the simple instructions, take your time and if you want a security blanket to squeeze, jot down each setting before you change it so you can always restore the default configuration if need be. So without further ado, hit the jump and get tweaking – just remember to restart Firefox when you’re done.
Reduce the amount of RAM Firefox uses for its cache feature
1. Type “about:config” (no quotes) in the adress bar in the browser.
2. Find “browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewer”
3. Set it’s value to “0“;(Zero)
Increase the Speed at Which Firefox loads pages
1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit Enter.
(Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.)
2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 10.
This means it will make 10 requests at once.
3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0“;.(Zero)
This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages faster now.
Optionally (for even faster web browsing) here are some more options for your about:config (you might have to create some of these entries by Right Click –> New– > Interger or String
network.dns.disableIPv6: set “false”
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5“; (Five)
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0; (zero)
Reduce RAM usage to 10MB when Firefox is minimized:
This little hack will drop Firefox’s RAM usage down to 10 Mb when minimized:
1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter “config.trim_on_minimize”. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.
Thanks, Mel!
[Via Unplggd]
Thanks, it seems a good deal faster than Safari, which I have been using for a while.
Thank yoU!
Holy cow, it’s much, MUCH faster. Great tip!
This is always useful thanks boy boy
Thank you BGR!!! How ’bout hooking some of us fans with some retro-styled BGR logo shrits!?!? I mean with stuff like this and the heads up on phone info’s you’ve got to have something for the RAVING FANS!!!
Thanks, the speed improvements are definitely noticeable
these are all great, but why didn’t they have these built in by default if they knew firefox users’ main need was speed?
Thank you for posting the instructions!
Thanks. I see a tad more speed but then again the Fox already has very good speed. Anyway, these tweaks haven’t hurt anything
Def see more speed but firefox now skyrockets to 168,520k instantly if i open 6 or 7 tabs. even thought i did the minimize boolean, it stays just as high when minimized.
That last one that reduces its RAM usage when minimized is great for my netbook!!!
Wow I definitely notice a HUGE speed improvement–thanks!!
Siam, not everyone has the same set-up as you and boygeniusreport readers.
Let’s take a look at just one of these settings, initial paint delay.
(I’m obviously over-simplifying, but I think it still reflects reality.)
Think about two of the basic bottlenecks to you seeing a Web page, the time it takes to download the page content and the time it takes to “paint” that content onto your screen so that you can see it. Both depend on the resources you have available. The first resource is bandwidth and the second is CPU.
By waiting for a half second, Firefox can download 1/2 a second of data before it makes its first “paint”. If your connection is fast enough, that first paint gets enough of the data onto the screen that you can start reading the page right away and it may not matter how many more paints it needs to make because you’re already engaged with a somewhat functional page, not waiting.
For people with fast connections, setting the initial paint delay to a smaller number often works just fine because they get enough data downloaded and even if that means that the total time it takes to complete loading the page (because it requires more time-consuming paintings) is a tad longer, it’s all OK.
But for people with slower connections (and or slower CPUs) changing that initial paint delay number lower usually means that the first paint doesn’t get enough of the page data painted onto the screen for it to be usable and it might take several paints before the page becomes usable. Because painting actually takes time, the more of those Firefox has to do, the longer it is before the page becomes usable and before the page is completely finished displaying.
For some people on really slow connections, dial-up, for example, or with slower CPUs, setting the initial paint delay up to half a second or even a full second might actually make the browser feel a lot faster.
So, a setting that works for one user may not work for another. Firefox’s default settings are optimized to work for the largest number of users. That means that some people on both ends of the spectrum could benefit by tweaking a particular setting but most people will have a good experience with the default settings.
- A
thanks for this, its sooo much faster now
To illustrate a bit more and add to the complexity, take a look at these visualizations of Firefox taking the data it has, building up the document, moving the parts around as it gets more and more data, and finally painting the page.
Gecko Visualizations
Now imagine you go in and change the settings that control what pieces of the work Firefox does and in what order, and you can see that there’s a lot more to this than just tweaking a parameter or two and “making Firefox faster” for all or even most users.
- A
> Wow I definitely notice a HUGE speed improvement–thanks!!
Yeah, me too.
Now to see what’s screwed up by this!
If nothing, a real win.
definitely so much faster. thanks!
Wow… Definitely a noticeable improvement. Thanks.
Awesome!
Nice…thanks!
My speed has definitely improved but I also have to agree with Jacob up above. With 3 tabs open, even when minimized, I’m seeing like 87mB usage…
Wow, streaming porn is so much smoother now!
THANK YOU!
my adobe flash player seems to not be working anymore? it wants me to download it? can anyone help me out here?
Or you could just use Safari. It’s faster than Firefox by default.