Firefox Tweaks

[MrDeathLNX]

Here's a couple of tweaks I've heard through the grapevine for Firefox:

Type about:config into the address line of Firefox. This is basically a file that lets you control almost every setting possible in Firefox. Scroll down and change the value of the following:

network.http.pipelining

network.http.proxy.pipelining (both normally set to false, change them to true)

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests (normally at 4, change to a larger number like 30)

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 times.

Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

(Credit goes to my friend Sheets)

Enjoy!

[clavicle]

Really a nice find! I think more tweaks could be posted for ready use!

[Tarun]

These have actually been posted before. Also on my site, in the forums there is a Tweak section with a ton of tweaks.

[firefoxthebomb]

Nice tweaks thanks

[2forza]

Wow...thanks Its really working tho

is there possible to make a reg file for it? (im newb)

regfile for my unattended...

[SiMoNsAyS]

@2forza, these are not regkeys, are stored on prefs.js on your profile dir.

you can simply export that archive

[2forza]

lol ok

thanks

[George27]

This can be done using a FF extension called "tweak network settings". You can find it at _http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/

[sonu27]

Here are a few more:

Fix a memory leak in Firefox 1.0

Firefox is supposed to dynamically release memory from its RAM cache to other Windows applications as needed. Unfortunately, Firefox 1.0 seems to consume more memory than it should, which hurts performance, when set to the default of 51200 KB (51 MB).

To solve this, Firefox power users recommend limiting the memory cache using the Configuration Console. This frees up memory for other apps, speeding up everything to a greater or a lesser extent, depending on your machine and the applications you run. Here's how the trick works:

Step 1. Type about:config into Firefox's Address Bar and press Enter.

Step 2. Right-click any row, then click New, Integer. Type or paste the following preference name into the dialog box that appears (this is a hidden preference that doesn't exist in the Configuration Console until you create it):

browser.cache.memory.capacity

Step 3. Click OK, then enter the following integer number into the next dialog box, representing 16 MB of RAM for the cache:

16000

Step 4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of Firefox and restart it.

Move the disk cache to a faster or larger location

Many Windows users like to locate their disk cache files on a separate hard drive from Windows. This can improve the performance of Windows or whatever program is using the cache, or it can free up space on a primary partition. (The disk cache should not be confused with the RAM cache described above.)

To move Firefox's disk cache, use about:config to create a new preference. (This is another hidden preference that doesn't appear until you create it.)

Type browser.cache.disk.parent_directory into the dialog box that appears, then click OK. In the Value dialog box, enter c:\folder, providing the foldername in which you wish the file to be located.

Force frames to be resizable on Web pages

If you visit Web sites that divide their pages into rectangular frames, but some of the frames aren't wide enough for you to see all of the words, you can tell Firefox to put borders around all frames so they're resizable.

To do this, use about:config to change layout.frames.force_resizability from "false" to "true."

Speeding up the maximizing of Firefox

By default, when you minimize Firefox, it gives back to Windows most of the RAM the browser was using. It sometimes can take several seconds for the browser window to become fully loaded when you restore the window to its original size. This is one of those "version 1.0" things, in my opinion, that will become more streamlined in future bump revs of the program.

Fortunately, there's a hidden setting that can accomplish the restoration of Firefox windows much more quickly:

Step 1. Use about:config to create a new, Boolean value. Type or paste the following string into the dialog box that appears:

config.trim_on_minimize

Step 2. Click OK to close the dialog box. Change the value from "true" to "false" and restart Firefox.

This doesn't piggishly retain all of the RAM that Firefox has claimed. If Windows needs more RAM to devote to another application, Windows can take it. What the setting does is prevent Firefox from giving up most of its RAM until the memory is actually required elsewhere.

Setting this item to "false" may noticeably slow down other applications while Firefox is minimized, if your PC has less than 256 MB of RAM. If so, change the setting back to "true."

Speeding up Firefox on Windows XP

You can speed up the loading of Firefox on Windows XP by adding it to the programs that XP "prefetches."

To do this, right-click the Start Menu item for Firefox, or any icon you use to start Firefox, and open the Properties dialog box. Add a space plus /Prefetch:1 to the command line and click OK. The resulting line might look as follows:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1