Need Solution to Speed Up Firefox 2 Application for Loading, NOT URL Speed Up.

montecarlo1987 · 12-22-2007, 01:22 PM

Hello. Happy Holidays!

I have a question regarding Mozilla Firefox 2. I notice when I click on the Firefox icon (whether in my Quick Launch Bar, my Start Menu Shortcuts listing, or on the desktop), it can take up to 15 to 20 seconds for the application to open. Now, I have heard that installed extensions can slow it down which makes sense. I have installed 35 of them as add-ons. However, I have disabled (NOTE: NOT un-installed) all, but 11 to still run. The ones running are: Adblock Filterset. G Updater, Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper, Ask Toolbar for Firefox, Forecastfox Enhanced, Locator, Mouse Gestures, Speed Dial, Split Browser, Test size toolbar, and WOT. I find these still useful. Now, when I say Firefox is slow to load, I do not mean the loading of the web sites, I mean the loading of the Firefox 2 application to come up on the desktop. I have seen a lot information on the web about increasing the speed of loading of web sites by going into about:config & about:cache and changing things like the pipelining and adding a new integer, etc. ...and even changing the memory cache size to a bigger size. Now, this is not going to have any impact on how fast Firefox 2 application will load. ...or will it? (It only affects the web sites speed for loading up, right?!?) I also notice the first time after a reboot/restart of the system, it can take up to 30-40 seconds to load Firefox 2. Then after I close the Firefox window and reopen it at a later time, it will take less time consistently between system restarts. What solutions can you provide me that can speed up the loading of Firefox? ...any more add-on(s) you recommend to speed up of Firefox application to run (Yah, more add-ons!)? What are the steps? Thank you!

**koala** · 12-22-2007, 02:36 PM

Hi, welcome to TSF

Firefox has always been slow to open compared to IE, because IE is so deeply integrated into the Windows operating system and has most of its components loaded when you boot into Windows.

The about:config tweaks you mention affect various aspects of how Firefox loads pages, but as far as I'm aware they can't improve the program's loading time.

Try creating a new profile with no addons or themes, then reboot the computer and load Firefox with this new profile to see how its start time compares to your normal profile with all its extras.

Flatiron · 12-22-2007, 04:09 PM

Some like this and some don't.
Digg - Firefox preloader makes Firefox load as fast as IE
Firefox Preloader : Speed Start Up of Firefox
SourceForge.net: Firefox Preloader
-----------
Or
Right click on Firefox's Icon > Properties > in the Target: field type
/Prefetch:1 after
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" so it looks like
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1
Remember there's a space between firefox.exe" & /Prefetch:1
and Firefox will load faster.
------------------
How to fix the Firefox memory leak
----
Let's face it, Firefox is a memory hog at times especially when left open for extended periods of time. Well there's a way to fix that with this tweak every time you minimize Firefox it will release some memory, try it! It works!

Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize -> Press Enter.
Now select True and then press Enter.
Restart Firefox.

Now when you minimize Firefox it will release some memory.

http://jayaprakashkv.blogspot.com/20...f-firefox.html

**koala** · 12-22-2007, 04:52 PM

As Flatiron says, prefetching is not without its problems, so you need to be aware of the potential consequences if you decide to use it.

http://lwn.net/Articles/139725/

Quote:

Prefetching in this way can lead to a number of undesirable consequences: unwanted cookies, bandwidth use, etc. More seriously, it could lead to accesses to truly unwanted sites: stumbling into non-work-safe sites is already too easy, without one's browser deciding to fetch additional pages from arbitrary servers with no user participation. Should an unpleasant Firefox security hole be discovered, prefetching could, for the right sort of vulnerability, be exploited to compromise systems. That would be an unwelcome sort of surprise.

12-22-2007, 01:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
montecarlo1987 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: NY State, not NYC Posts: 10 OS: Windows XP SP2 Home & Windows Vista Ultimate	Need Solution to Speed Up Firefox 2 Application for Loading, NOT URL Speed Up. Hello. Happy Holidays! I have a question regarding Mozilla Firefox 2. I notice when I click on the Firefox icon (whether in my Quick Launch Bar, my Start Menu Shortcuts listing, or on the desktop), it can take up to 15 to 20 seconds for the application to open. Now, I have heard that installed extensions can slow it down which makes sense. I have installed 35 of them as add-ons. However, I have disabled (NOTE: NOT un-installed) all, but 11 to still run. The ones running are: Adblock Filterset. G Updater, Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper, Ask Toolbar for Firefox, Forecastfox Enhanced, Locator, Mouse Gestures, Speed Dial, Split Browser, Test size toolbar, and WOT. I find these still useful. Now, when I say Firefox is slow to load, I do not mean the loading of the web sites, I mean the loading of the Firefox 2 application to come up on the desktop. I have seen a lot information on the web about increasing the speed of loading of web sites by going into about:config & about:cache and changing things like the pipelining and adding a new integer, etc. ...and even changing the memory cache size to a bigger size. Now, this is not going to have any impact on how fast Firefox 2 application will load. ...or will it? (It only affects the web sites speed for loading up, right?!?) I also notice the first time after a reboot/restart of the system, it can take up to 30-40 seconds to load Firefox 2. Then after I close the Firefox window and reopen it at a later time, it will take less time consistently between system restarts. What solutions can you provide me that can speed up the loading of Firefox? ...any more add-on(s) you recommend to speed up of Firefox application to run (Yah, more add-ons!)? What are the steps? Thank you!

12-22-2007, 02:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,386 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Need Solution to Speed Up Firefox 2 Application for Loading, NOT URL Speed Up. Hi, welcome to TSF Firefox has always been slow to open compared to IE, because IE is so deeply integrated into the Windows operating system and has most of its components loaded when you boot into Windows. The about:config tweaks you mention affect various aspects of how Firefox loads pages, but as far as I'm aware they can't improve the program's loading time. Try creating a new profile with no addons or themes, then reboot the computer and load Firefox with this new profile to see how its start time compares to your normal profile with all its extras. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

12-22-2007, 04:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
Flatiron Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ozark, Alabama Posts: 494 OS: Vista Home Premium SP2 My System	Re: Need Solution to Speed Up Firefox 2 Application for Loading, NOT URL Speed Up. Some like this and some don't. Digg - Firefox preloader makes Firefox load as fast as IE Firefox Preloader : Speed Start Up of Firefox SourceForge.net: Firefox Preloader ----------- Or Right click on Firefox's Icon > Properties > in the Target: field type /Prefetch:1 after "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" so it looks like "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1 Remember there's a space between firefox.exe" & /Prefetch:1 and Firefox will load faster. ------------------ How to fix the Firefox memory leak ---- Let's face it, Firefox is a memory hog at times especially when left open for extended periods of time. Well there's a way to fix that with this tweak every time you minimize Firefox it will release some memory, try it! It works! Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean. In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize -> Press Enter. Now select True and then press Enter. Restart Firefox. Now when you minimize Firefox it will release some memory. http://jayaprakashkv.blogspot.com/20...f-firefox.html __________________ Encouragement Can Change A Persons Life.