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Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

1 edit

13 recommendations

Grail Knight

Premium Member

[FireFox] Tweaking Firefox for Fun & Speed

I have been testing some speed tweaks for Firefox v2.0 and 3.0 series browser and have come up with IMO a nice combination for computers with broadband connections regardless of the computers processor speed. Users of Fasterfox will recognize some of the tweaks but some are not included in Fasterfox. This is the original way of tweaking Firefox and IMO still the best way.

You can place these lines of code below in your user.js. Restart Fx when done.

Note* If after restarting Firefox the tweaks do not transfer over to the prefs.js file you can do an about:config from the address bar and manually enter them into the prefs.js.

Your Firefox should now be noticeably peppier.

Enjoy and feel free to post some of your own tweaks.

---------------------------------------------
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 360000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 120000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);

user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 20);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 16);

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 50);

user_pref("network.http.keep-alive.timeout", 30);
user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 4);
user_pref("network.http.connect.timeout", 30);
user_pref("network.dnsCacheExpiration", 60);
user_pref("network.dnsCacheEntries", 20);
user_pref("network.ftp.idleConnectionTimeout", 60);
-------------------------------------------------------

Edit* Corrected spelling and added some new info.

Sir Raleigh
MVM
join:2001-07-31
Raleigh, NC

1 edit

Sir Raleigh

MVM

Thanks GK. A great set of tweaks.

I installed them all except the two relating to "network.dnsCache.....", which I have set to "0" because I'm using AnalogX's FastCache to store my DNS requests, and I can tell a world of difference.

BTW, the way you have them grouped would suggest the items in each group are related to each other in some way. Are there any notes that can be attached to each group to indicate what each group does?

EDIT: Added "BTW..."

Smuuth
Tanstaafl
Premium Member
join:2001-03-22
Aurora, CO

1 edit

Smuuth to Grail Knight

Premium Member

to Grail Knight
I also want to say thank you, GK. Not just for this post of great tweaks (which I just installed and already see the difference), but for all the help I get on this forum from you and all the other regulars on here. You guys (and/or gals) are amazing.

BTW, (and you probably already know this) an amazing little editor which I use for editing preference files like user.js is something called Win32Pad. It has a lot of features I find useful and missing in Notepad.

DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium Member
join:2000-05-14
Hedgesville, WV

DataDoc to Grail Knight

Premium Member

to Grail Knight
Thanks, for this and all of your (and Sir Raleigh's) help and support of this forum.

One question, should we uninstall FasterFox before making these tweaks? It sounds like it won't be needed.

Sir Raleigh
MVM
join:2001-07-31
Raleigh, NC

2 edits

Sir Raleigh

MVM

Yes, I would uninstall FasterFox.

Each time Firefox loads it reads, if it's there, the three files; user.js, userChrome,css, and userContent.css and adds the contents to whatever area within Firefox it's designed for. If you have FasterFox installed it could then overwrite the changes you made in user.js/about:config negating your changes.

For changes to about:config, I've always used user.js and then save a copy elsewhere. That way you will always have a record of what changes you've made to about:config without having to remember these changes. Also, if the "perfs.js" file (which is the about:config entries) ever gets corrupted and you reinstall Firefox or have to create a new Profile again you can just place a copy of your user.js file back in your Profiles root directory and when you start Firefox everything's back the way it was.

Cudni
La Merma - Vigilado
MVM
join:2003-12-20
Someshire

Cudni to Grail Knight

MVM

to Grail Knight
Thanks for the tweaks. I used them in my user.js

You will hear from me if they don't make my FF fly

Cudni

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight to DataDoc

Premium Member

to DataDoc
You do not need Fasterfox using the tweaks I posted.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to Sir Raleigh

Premium Member

to Sir Raleigh
Your all welcome.

The explanations for what each item does is located here:

»kb.mozillazine.org/Categ ··· ferences

I just have been changing parameters and testing until I found the optimal settings that work well on various types of broadband connections.

Usually the tweaks are listed for:

fast computer/slower connection
fast computer/fast connection

and so on and so forth.
--------------
That was time consuming when applying the tweaks for friends and family members with different types of computers and connections so I attempted to find a happy medium which is what I posted.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to Smuuth

Premium Member

to Smuuth
You are welcome.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to Cudni

Premium Member

to Cudni
Your welcome.

Please let me know how they work out.

I can make adjustments if needed.

You will have to bear with me though I have a touch of the flu and will be here off and on depending on how I feel.

kingb71
join:2000-10-09
Mississauga, ON

kingb71

Member

GK, thanks for this & all of your Mozilla product tweaking help, you are a valuable resource to this forum!

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight

Premium Member

Thank you and you are welcome.

Just having some fun with my favorite browser and thought I would share.

AB57
Premium Member
join:2006-04-04
equatorial

AB57 to Grail Knight

Premium Member

to Grail Knight
Whoa! These pages have been flying by so fast-- I finally got one to slow down long enough to make this post!

Thank you, G.K.! I'll integrate these with those others you recently posted.

BTW, who's going to pay these Internet speeding tickets Verizon keeps writing me now?

And I hope you feel better real fast, too.

timcuth
Braves Fan
Premium Member
join:2000-09-18
Pelham, AL

timcuth to Grail Knight

Premium Member

to Grail Knight
Another big Thank You! I just installed these tweaks and my Firefox seems faster.

Tim

crossedeyed
Troublemaker
join:2004-07-30
Malvern, AR

crossedeyed

Member

Wow, talk about a LARGE differance. Thanks GK

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight to timcuth

Premium Member

to timcuth
Your welcome.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to crossedeyed

Premium Member

to crossedeyed
Good deal.

You are welcome.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to AB57

Premium Member

to AB57
Thank you.

I will be up to speed myself in a couple of days hopefully.

kingb71
join:2000-10-09
Mississauga, ON

kingb71

Member

did you add any new settings when you edited your original post?
I'm very impressed with these btw, especially on my laptop.
Hope you're feeling better!

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight

Premium Member

I did not change any settings when I edited my post.

Just wanted to let people know what to do if their settings did not take through use of the user.js.
quote:
Hope you're feeling better!
Thanks

kingb71
join:2000-10-09
Mississauga, ON

1 edit

kingb71

Member

great!
Just checking, so I won't have to make any additional changes.

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight

Premium Member

If I change anything I will make a separate note but I am going to leave things as they are. Seems to be working well for everyone so far.

jmorlan
Hmm... That's funny.
MVM
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA

jmorlan

MVM

No problems here, but I honestly don't see significant improvement either.

Some sites seem slightly faster but at least one site seems slightly slower.

Are there some tests we can run before & after?

Thanks.

Lanik
Lab-nik

join:2001-06-25
San Francisco, CA

Lanik to Sir Raleigh

to Sir Raleigh
said by Sir Raleigh:

Yes, I would uninstall FasterFox.
I finally decided to remove it as well. Plus one of the settings is incorrect in the extension. Probably best to set it yourself just like above.

Oh thanks Grail Knight See Profile feel better.

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight to jmorlan

Premium Member

to jmorlan
You may not see anything at all.

If you want to test speed here are 2 sites.

You can always Google for more.

»www.24fun.com/downloadce ··· benchjs/

»review.zdnet.com/7004-72 ··· 6-0.html

Remember you can play with the numbers to suit your needs just make sure you refer to the site below so you do not go outside of any of the parameters and adversely affect your speed.

»kb.mozillazine.org/Categ ··· ferences
hfam95
join:2003-06-20
Woodbridge, VA

hfam95 to Grail Knight

Member

to Grail Knight
is there a way to put this into stylish?

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight

Premium Member

Stylish is for tweaking how a site looks.

Thses tweaks do not have anything to do with visual effects or .css.

fphall
The Guardian
Premium Member
join:2003-11-01
Bristol, CT

fphall to Smuuth

Premium Member

to Smuuth
Smuuth: It would have been nice if you had asked permission to use my dogs picture for your avatar. :-(

Smuuth
Tanstaafl
Premium Member
join:2001-03-22
Aurora, CO

Smuuth

Premium Member

said by fphall:

Smuuth: It would have been nice if you had asked permission to use my dogs picture for your avatar. :-(
WTH are you talking about?

CCat
We're all quite mad here
MVM
join:2005-12-06
Wonderland

CCat to Grail Knight

MVM

to Grail Knight
Tried out the tweaks and had a substantial boost in speed. Thanks GK.