Speed Up Firefox

From TheBestCaseScenario

WARNING

Modifying your system registry can cause problems if not peformed correctly. Failure to follow all procoutions beforehand will result in you screaming and pulling your hair out!

ALWAYS BACKUP your entire system or at least the files your changing.

Intro

Firefox is one of the best web browsers you can use, but like everything else it does have its down sides, one of these with Firefox is that webpages and downloads can sometimes be slower than they could be.

What you will need

• Firefox 2.0 or above
• And registry editor (Regedit)

Pipelining requests

It allows for more simultaneous connections to web servers. Note that the HTTP specs suggest for 4 concurrent connections. Setting this value to 10 allows for more web page components being downloaded at the same time, noticeably improving browsing. To appy the tweak, follow the simple instructions below:

1. In the address bar, type: about:config

2. Locate and change the following values (by double-clicking on them):

network.http.max-connections = 24 (default is 24)

network.http.max-connections-per-server = 10 (default is 8 )

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy = 8 (default is 4)

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server = 4 (default is 2)

network.http.pipelining = true (default is false)

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = 10 ( default is 4)

network.http.proxy.pipelining = true (default is false)

3. Optionally, you can also tweak the following settings:

content.notify.backoffcount = 5

ui.submenuDelay = 0

Note: Setting the number of connections per server to a much higher number (over ~10) can cause web servers to drop some requests, resulting in incomplete pages, increased retransmissions, etc., so it is not recommended.

Reduce Initial Page Delay

By default, Firefox waits 0.25 seconds (250ms) before beginning to draw web pages. To reduce this initial delay, do the following: 1. In the browser address bar, type: about:config 2. Anywhere in the browser window, right-click and create: NEW > String 3. Name the string: nglayout.initialpaint.delay (no spaces) and set its value to 0 (or something sensible, in milliseconds).

Note: This setting is not present by default.

Advanced Firefox Settings

You will find settings that may increase your perceived page loading time a bit further. Note that those are most likely best left at the default values. These settings generally do no exist under the Firefox about:config, and need to be created if you'd like to experiment with them.

• content.interrupt.parsing - default/recommended is true. When true, parsing can be interrupted to process UI events.
• content.max.tokenizing.time recommended value ~ 2250000. Defines maximum number of microseconds between reflows.
• content.notify.interval - recommended value ~ 750000
• content.notify.ontimer - recommended set to true. If so, doesn't reflow pages more often than the content.notify.interva timer.
• content.switch.threshold - raising the value will make the browser more responsive at the expense of page load time.
• browser.cache.memory.capacity - memory, in KB reserved for caching decoded images. Default varies with RAM

Pipelining requests (Windows)

To do this you will need to edit your registry, if you are happy with your speed then you can skip this, this should only be used as a last resort or if you want every last ounce of speed from your internet connection.

• Locate to "HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Internet Settings"
• right click
• add new DWORD
• name it "MaxConnectionsPerServer" (no quotes)
• click ok
• right click the one you just added and select "modify."
• change value to "00000010" (no quotes)
• Repeat with "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"

you also need to check the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Internet Settings" key's to see if they exist, if they do then change the values to the same as above, if not then create the keys as above.

Source

This was taken from the website SpeedGuide.net and adapted with the permission of Philip of SpeedGuide