Make Firefox Load Faster
April 28th, 2007 · by David Bradley
Wonderful as the Firefox web browser is, it is certainly not the fastest to start nor the fastest to load pages. After a quick spot of googling I found a discussion forum explaining how to get sites to open faster as well as how to make Firefox load faster.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take
1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return
2. Search for network.http.pipelining, if it is set to false, double click it and will toggle to true
3. Clear the search, and search this time for network.http.proxy.pipelining, double click to set to true
4. Clear and search for network.http.pipelining.maxrequests, double click and change the value from its default (usually 4) to 30, this makes Firefox make more requests to sites you visit
5. Now, copy this phrase to your clipboard, nglayout.initialpaint.delay and right click anywhere in the about:config page. Create a new “integer” and paste the phrase nglayout.initialpaint.delay. Now, set its value to 0, to speed up browser response.
According to forum member dudeinAmerica, if you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages much faster now.
Alternatively, and described as simpler and more effective is Fasterfox.
Next, you should download a program to make Firefox load faster. You can find the Firefox Preloader here. You’re mileage will vary, but if you’ve been getting frustrated by a slow Firefox, this will lift its foxy brush and stick a rocket up its ass.
Here’s an additional tip for reducing Firefox’s enormous RAM overhead. Open about:config again and search for browser.cache.disk.capacity, double click and change the default 50000 to 15000 if you have between 512Mb and 1Gb of RAM.
Also, if you want to release RAM when you minimize FF, go to about:config. Right click an empty space, and create a new Boolean, call it config.trim_on_minimize, and set its value to TRUE.
Restart Firefox and feel the effects.
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20 responses so far ↓
naveen // Sep 27, 2007 at 4:28 pm
When I open Mozilla I find a pop msg saying “I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE”
I am unable to open orkut in my computer eitherin IE or in Firefox. A msg pops up saying orkut is banned you fool…………..what should I do plzz help me.
naveen the “I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE” is caused by a computer infection! You caught the W32.USBWorm. A quick fix can be found here. Good luck.
db
dpelia // Oct 10, 2007 at 9:09 pm
uh..it didn’t work on my computer…..
I should have said, as with all tweaks of this nature, “you’re mileage may vary”.
i’m a little bit confused. is that mean that after i download Fasterfox i still have to download Firefox Preloader, or i just choose one?
You can use both, one pre-fetches pages the other is a GUI for FF speed tweaks.
Zac // Apr 3, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Whats the last tweak for?
Zac, I thought I said in the post. It’s to release memory when you minimize Firefox, which can be quite useful if you don’t want to close the browser.
db
Arniceous // Apr 27, 2008 at 4:35 am
Tweaked my dad’s system with all the about about:config settings. Works Great! Thanks =)
Glad things worked out Arniceous. If you also used the memory dump on minimize tip and occasionally minimize Firefox it will work even smoother
db
Imran // Apr 30, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I have a weird problem. My browsers (IE and Firefox) both have a delayed response. That means to say, after typing the URL it takes some time for the pages to start appearing. Even a simple google search takes a good 30 seconds plus! This cannot be attributed to my connection speed because http://www.speedtest.net reports that my connection download speed is greater than 7000Kb/s and upload speed is greater than 450Kb/s. Is there anything that I can do to improve this. It just started acting this way a couple of days ago. I have NOD32 and Zone Alarm installed. Tried disabling both of them. Still not improving.
Please help!
Thanks
Imran, while your speedtest results sound impressive, I’m pretty sure that the test doesn’t use an http connection to do the download and so is nt necessarily reflecting accurately the connection speed you have to the web, but rather measures a file download.
When you say there is a delay do you mean that the page begins to load but takes a long time to complete, or does nothing start for 30 seconds? If the former then it is more than likely a connection speed issue. If the latter then I would suggest your ISP’s DNS is not working properly. Try OpenDNS
Come back and let us know how you get on
db
Imran // May 1, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Hi David,
Well it doesn’t respond for sometime (it varies from time to time) and then the page loads in a flash!!! That’s another reason why I thought it cannot be attributed to connection speed.
Well I am not sure about the techniques used at http://www.speedtest.net but Virgin Media (my ISP) is charging me for a 10Mbps connection.
Like I said, it just started few days ago. Before that, it worked like lightning. As per your advice let me try using OpenDNS to see if it works. If there is anything else you want me try, please let me know.
Thanks once again.
Cheers!
Yeah, I’m paying for a Virgin connection too, that is often slower than it should be, I think they cover their backs in the T&Cs but I suspect the UK regulator OfCom will step unto the breach some time soon and clamp down on poor speeds.
Anyway, back to your problem, you say it’s more about a delay before a page displays, that is odd.
However, you could try this
Type “about:config” into the address bar without the quotes, hit enter/return.
Now, right-click anywhere in the window and select New –> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” (no quotes) and set its value to zero. That should stop any painting delay.
Let us know…
db
Imran // May 2, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Hi David,
Tried that, but it still hasnt really changed anything. I also wanted to add that this is not a firefox specific problem because IE and Safari too have the same kind of delayed response.
Initially, I was suspecting if it was my firewall but disabling that also doesnt solve the problem. I installed Adware and Spybot S&D and scanned the machine. It dint come up with any suspected malware/spyware.
Is there anything else that you might think worth trying before I really get frustrated with this computer and go for a format and reinstallation of OS???
Do let me know…
Cheers..
In the words of Kate Bush, as sung to Peter Gabriel, “Don’t give up…please…don’t give up”.
Certainly, don’t opt for the format and OS reinstallation malarkey that’s the default help desk response…there has to be something simple we’ve overlooked. Have you ever run and MTU tweaker? If yes, it could be that, if not, find one and give it a try.
db
Imran // May 2, 2008 at 10:00 pm
No I havent. Could you tell me which is the best MTU Tweaker that I could download?
I really hope this fixes the issue. Its really starting to affect my work.
Imran
Try this one Imran
http://www.freshdevices.com/tweak_fix_settings.html
db
Michael // Jul 4, 2008 at 3:13 am
Using FasterFox is very bad manners. It preloads a LOT of pages, most of which you will never view. Thus it increases the Internet traffic you create many times over. If everyone did this, the Internet would come to a crawl.
Using FasterFox is taking a “me me me” attitude. Of course, most people don’t realize this. Still, I wonder how many would not use if they did.
PS: I like this font you’re using. Looking through the CSS, it seems to be “Georgia.” It’s very readable. I should trying playing with more body fonts myself.
Point taken Michael, personally I don’t use FasterFox. I wonder, however, whether there might be a way to tie in pre-fetching with a kind of bit torrent type system so that we all pre-fetch and cache each other’s pages…oh wait a minute…security alert…
Glad you like the font, yes, it’s easy design for one’s own machine, but not every system will have Georgia, so this site may look slightly different to other people from what you and I see.
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