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]
it works
Much much faster now. Thanks.
‘WOW’ greased lightening compared to my old configuration.
Thank you.
Is it only me?
Right after (some of) these mods, a search on google gives me a page where each link gets added the “This site may harm your computer.” message.
Annoying.
far too complicated for poor old me; LAW OF THE UNIVERSE: tinkering to make ok better always makes ok worse
Don’t worry JSeb, it’s just a coincidence. Google is having major issues around the world right now – nothing to do with these tweaks.
When you get to that warning page after clicking through a Google search, just remove the Google portion of the URL and you’ll be fine. I’m sure Google is working overtime on resolving the issue.
Yep, I heard that on the radio later today. What a coincidence!
Good tips, thanks.
I wish you could tell us what each of these do:
network.dns.disableIPv6: set “false”
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5“; (Five)
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0; (zero)
I don’t like to change anything without knowing what it does. Besides people might be in a certain situation for which these settings arent suitable. For example, does this affect bandwidth? Does it affect browser security?
But hey thx alot for the tips. Gonna try them now.
Thanks, this is way faster than Safari, and especially IE!
The reduced ram usage on minimize don’t work…
It drops down to 30M or 40M then climbs right back up when minimized…FireFox has always had a ‘runaway’ ram problem.
I experienced problems with these changes when using jquery library… jquery seems to think the document is fully loaded, but in fact, parts of the document (javascript, css), might not yet be loaded…
i DO NOT recommend using this if your running on a macbook pro. my computer started crashing when streaming video as a result of these changes. i had never had a problem with my computer crashing until i fucked around with these settings.
Thank You
you da man
thanks for these. though flash is behaving strange, even after updating to v.10. anyone else having a problem?
I’d like to comment on the guy who said that you should remember the settings in the case that you would like to change back.
Wouldn’t simply removing and reinstalling the firefox browser rectify this? If you take it completely off your computer and put it back on, I would think it would have the default settings in this case. This solution might be easier than changing everything back.
@Adam You can also launch Firefox in safe mode (instructions) and choose “Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults”.
Thanks for the tip Zach. I haven’t had a problem with these adjustments, in fact, quite the contrary. Just curious and wanting to make sure everyone else realizes this.
THANKS BoyGenius!! The difference in speed is like night and day!!
control click
clearly you are too dumb to use firefox
on a mac you press i think ctrl + click
its either that or shift + click
you go into the settings on your mac, into track pad and mouse configurations and select double tap to right click.
alternatively just press cmd click and it does the same thing
I could not find ui.submenuDelay OR content.notify.backoffcount neither of those are in the list but everything else was, thanks for the tweaks. I especially liked the warning message from Firefox about voiding my warranty.
control click, or if you have a laptop put two fingers on your mousepad and click