Firefox running a bit slow? Try this

[Dman]

Although it initially looks intimidating, as long as you can follow instructions it's easy. Takes about 5 minutes.

It's for broadband, so don't try it if you are still on dial-up.
As you will need to access these instructions, C&P them into Notepad and leave it open on the desktop. When asked to type something in, it's obviously easier to c&p from notepad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To get started, open your Firefox web browser.
In the address/location bar, type [about:config] and then press your Enter key. (NOTE: DON’T TYPE THE BRACKETS FOR ANY OF THESE.)

Tweak #1:
In the Filter bar, type [network.http.pipelining]. Then, double-click on this line under Preference Name in order to change the value from false to true. (if it's already true, move on to the next tweak)

Tweak #2:
In the Filter bar, type [network.http.pipelining.maxrequests]. Then, double-click on this line under Preference Name and change the value from 4 to a higher number, anywhere from 10 to 30. I set mine to 30.

Tweak #3:
In the Filter bar, type [network.http.proxy.pipelining]. Then, double-click on this line under Preference Name in order to change the value from false to true.

Tweak #4:
In the Filter bar, type [network.dns.disableIPv6]. Then, double-click on this line under Preference Name in order to change the value from false to true.

Tweak #5:
In the Filter bar, type [plugin.expose_full_path]. Then, double-click on this line under Preference Name in order to change the value from false to true.

Tweak #6:
In the Filter bar, type [network.protocol-handler.external.ms-help]. Now, you are going to create a new Preference Name with an Integer Value. To do this, right-click on this line under Preference Name and select New, then Integer. In the New Integer value box type in [nglayout.initialpaint.delay] and click OK. Then in the Enter Integer value box type 0

(that’s a zero) and click OK.


Tweak #7:
In the Filter bar again type [network.protocol-handler.external.ms-help]. Now, you are going to create another new Preference Name with an Integer Value. To do this, right-click on this line under Preference Name and select New, then Integer. In the New Integer value box type in [content.notify.backoffcount] and click OK. Then in the Enter Integer value box type [5] and click OK.

Tweak #8:
In the Filter bar again type [network.protocol-handler.external.ms-help]. Now, you are going to create another new Preference Name with an Integer Value. To do this, right-click on this line under Preference Name and select New, then Integer. In the New Integer value box type in [ui.submenuDelay] and click OK. Then in the Enter Integer value box type 0

(that’s a zero) and click OK.


Now, close your web browser and restart it.
You should now be browsing faster.

 

[neil_g]

could you just explain what exactly you are changing there and why?

 

[Dman]

could you just explain what exactly you are changing there and why?

Nope, haven't got a clue. All I know is I did it and my FF is now faster than Safari.

 

[-Rob-]

Did you write these tweeks yourself or have you done a copy and paste yourself? If so, what was the original source?

 

[Richo]

Works wonders thanx. Ian
P.S Opened task manager and FF seems to be using less memory too

 

[TheBionicDan]

You get a big fat warning that changes to about:config may invalidate your warranty at the start of this (I'm sure this is tosh, but.....) I'm not sure I would do this without knowing what it's doing.. sorry!

 

[sbowler579]

Did these tweaks last year and they do seem to work.

 

[Dman]

Just to clarify, I was given these by someone else, one of those things that I suppose does the rounds. I tried them and it worked a treat, I can't tell you any more than that though. If in doubt, leave it be I guess.

 

[-Rob-]

What I'd like to know is if these easy tweeks make Firefox so much better, then why do Mozilla not make these the default settings? Surely there must be a downside to it?

 

[Thmaga]

I remember seeing this on another forum a while back

I think there was concerns that pipelining can cause some servers to decline connections as it can be mistaken for malicious behavior. (DoS Attack maybe?)

Wiki Link to what its doing :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_pipelining

 

[recrudesce]

it modifies the amount of connections the browser can make to request information from a server.

so basically you're flooding the server with more connections than it's expecting, therefore are more likely to be declined a connection as it might see it as a DoS.

another tip on how to make FF quicker... deinstall it and use Chrome

 

[whiteflyer]

You get a big fat warning that changes to about:config may invalidate your warranty at the start of this (I'm sure this is tosh, but.....) I'm not sure I would do this without knowing what it's doing.. sorry!

Warranty from a bit of free downloaded software

 

[neil_g]

it modifies the amount of connections the browser can make to request information from a server.

so basically you're flooding the server with more connections than it's expecting, therefore are more likely to be declined a connection as it might see it as a DoS.

that makes sense. i think i'll leave the changes off, its not like FF is slow to the point of worrying about for the sake of denied access to sites.

 

[chrisgeary]

i've never had denied access to sites using FF. Chrome isn't what it promised to be. I find it quite unstable and just as much a memory hog as FF. Plus there aren't the plugins available that FF has.

 

[Steve Smith]

I have been having problems with Firefox recently. It seems to freeze occasionally and often just shuts itself down with no warning.

I have started to use Safari.


Steve.

 

[recrudesce]

i've never had denied access to sites using FF. Chrome isn't what it promised to be. I find it quite unstable and just as much a memory hog as FF. Plus there aren't the plugins available that FF has.

Chrome isn't what it's promised to be !?! How did you work that out ?
It's a bloody quick browser, which is what they said it would be.

I've never experienced a Chrome crash, or it being unstable and I'm on the Dev channel where you'd expect it !

 

[neil_g]

i could never get the flash plugin working on chrome for some reason, that was enough to bin it off for me lol

i use a combo of IE8 for work (some apps need it to be fully supported) and FF3 for personal and browser compatibility testing. no grumbles on either for me personally.

 

[chrisgeary]

I worked it out on the basis that it was no quicker or slower than FF for me. Plus it crashed more and it promised to keep crashes to one particular tab by design but everytime it did crash, I lost all tabs.

 

[dalex_257]

it modifies the amount of connections the browser can make to request information from a server.

so basically you're flooding the server with more connections than it's expecting, therefore are more likely to be declined a connection as it might see it as a DoS.

That is a bit of an overstatement. FF does not do it for every request, besides not all servers support it. And it does not mean you are flooding server with requests - it means you are doing several of them asynchronously without waiting for replies from the earlier ones. It actually reduces the load on network.

 

[recrudesce]

how does it reduce load on the network by having a larger number of concurrent open and Keep Alive connections ?

i'm sure having 100 open and Keep Alive connections results in a higher load than having say 50.

but as said above, if it was deemed necessary to do this to Firefox, why is it not like it "out of the box" after 4 major releases ? probably because it's not required, or not recommended.

 

[godaz]

Worked a treat for me, Safari and Firefox on comparable speeds now (start up and browsing)

Cheers

 

[-Rob-]

I bit the bullet and tried this last night. It seemed to make a bit of a difference but Firefox was never slow to begin with so the marginal increase in speed will hardly be noticable. It has decreased the demand on the processor though. I'll just have to see how the stability of it is over the next few days.

 

[dalex_257]

how does it reduce load on the network by having a larger number of concurrent open and Keep Alive connections ?

i'm sure having 100 open and Keep Alive connections results in a higher load than having say 50.

but as said above, if it was deemed necessary to do this to Firefox, why is it not like it "out of the box" after 4 major releases ? probably because it's not required, or not recommended.

It packs more into single TCP/IP packet (several connections data). Read the references from that Wiki page mentioned earlier in this thread. It is not the same as open 20 firefox tabs all banging the same URL.

 

[whiteflyer]

I had a look in my about:config file and found all the changes had already been done.

I guess these where done with firetune for version 1.5. So and old tip, that has cause me NO problems at all.