Improving Firefox speed

davidsteve · 10-07-2009, 08:27 PM

Guys,

We always look around to improve speed of our browser. I am sharing with you a tip that helped me to improve speed and memory usage to great extent.

In address bar of firefox type about:config and you will be able to view and modify the internal configuration settings. There are countless, and now we will see about settings that can improve our speed. This is the advanced configuration for FireFox.

Move down and find an entry namely network.dns.disableIPv6. Double-click it to change the value from "false" to "true". This stops the browser from searching for IPv6 website entries (which are only used in special circumstances, and currently only waste time waiting for a response to time out).

Next have a look at the following entries:
o network.http.pipelining
o network.http.proxy.pipelining
o network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

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.

Alter the entries as follows:
o Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
o Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
o Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

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. In some cases this behaviour may lengthen the overall time it takes to display a complicated or badly-designed page, but it will appear more responsive.

If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages 2-3 times faster now.

Thanks for reading this.

~~TJ Belfiore~~ · 10-07-2009, 11:40 PM

HELLO, davidsteve!

This is all very nice and I thank you for providing it but... what does it all do?

I do not use a broadband connection.. I have wireless... why wouldn't this work for me? Does it work with all versions of Firefox? What if I Linux.. or Mac.. would it still work?

valmiki.prasad · 10-09-2009, 09:57 PM

Hello Davidsteve,
Thanks a lot 4 ur info. It worked great. But now ipv6 based websites are being deployed round the globe and in our routine life if we come across an ipv6 based website, then firefox won't open it and instead it shows "page cannot be displyed" message. so how to know that a website is based on ipv6 or v4???
reply me soon plz....

Regards

blackbeagle · 10-15-2009, 12:17 AM

I've done some of these tweaks before and as strange as it may sound, they actually worked. When I run tests on my speeds, I went from about 4.8 MB/S to about 5.1 MB/S. That's on most sites.

~~TJ Belfiore~~ · 10-15-2009, 02:03 AM

OK, it worked . . . but, how do you know that your ISP just didn't allow more bandwidth or.. maybe you were downloading something at the time when it was at a lower speed..

Did anyone actually test this stuff?

**koala** · 10-15-2009, 02:49 AM

TJ, these tweaks are well known and have been used by Firefox users for a long time. They've also been posted here at TSF before. Addons like Fasterfox use them along with a few other settings.

~~TJ Belfiore~~ · 10-15-2009, 03:02 AM

If they're so familiar - - - why has this thread been posted?

**koala** · 10-15-2009, 03:06 AM

Because apparently not everyone is familiar with them.

2005: Speeding up Firefox
2009: [SOLVED] About:config

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/1...tp-pipelining/
http://www.donsalva.com/5-easy-to-do...irefox-faster/
http://tatumweb.com/blog/2007/01/05/...irefox-faster/
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/...irefoxhack.htm
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/tec...icks-ever.html

ss999 · 10-15-2009, 05:27 AM

I'm not sure, but I think that if everybody increases their connections per server limit, the Internet will slow down. Browsers come with a limit for a reason.

Anyone who increases it it's just making everything slower.

**koala** · 10-15-2009, 05:44 AM

Good point. It won't slow the internet down, but might have an effect on some websites that throttle the bandwidth for greedy users.

Fasterfox and other tweaking addons allow you to set the numbers conservatively or aggressively, or you can do it manually by following the instructions below.

30 is too high, so should be dropped to about 8.

See post #7 from Speeding up Firefox

Quote:

Originally Posted by keithy397

Maximum recommended optimal setting changes (from Mozilla sources) are:-

network.http.max-connections from 24 to 40.
network.http.max-connections-per-server from 8 to 16.
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy from 4 to 16.
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server from 2 to 16.
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests from 4 to 8.
network.http.pipelining to enabled
network.http.proxy.pipelining to enabled

So anything lower than the max settings would be fine I would guess.

10-07-2009, 08:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
davidsteve Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Win xp	Improving Firefox speed Guys, We always look around to improve speed of our browser. I am sharing with you a tip that helped me to improve speed and memory usage to great extent. In address bar of firefox type about:config and you will be able to view and modify the internal configuration settings. There are countless, and now we will see about settings that can improve our speed. This is the advanced configuration for FireFox. Move down and find an entry namely network.dns.disableIPv6. Double-click it to change the value from "false" to "true". This stops the browser from searching for IPv6 website entries (which are only used in special circumstances, and currently only waste time waiting for a response to time out). Next have a look at the following entries: o network.http.pipelining o network.http.proxy.pipelining o network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 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. Alter the entries as follows: o Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true" o Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true" o Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once. 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. In some cases this behaviour may lengthen the overall time it takes to display a complicated or badly-designed page, but it will appear more responsive. If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages 2-3 times faster now. Thanks for reading this.

10-07-2009, 11:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
~~TJ Belfiore~~ Troubled Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: 530 Posts: 3,520 OS: 7 x64, XP x32 Blog Entries: 1	Re: Improving Firefox speed HELLO, davidsteve! This is all very nice and I thank you for providing it but... what does it all do? I do not use a broadband connection.. I have wireless... why wouldn't this work for me? Does it work with all versions of Firefox? What if I Linux.. or Mac.. would it still work?

10-09-2009, 09:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
valmiki.prasad Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: India Posts: 61 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium	Re: Improving Firefox speed Hello Davidsteve, Thanks a lot 4 ur info. It worked great. But now ipv6 based websites are being deployed round the globe and in our routine life if we come across an ipv6 based website, then firefox won't open it and instead it shows "page cannot be displyed" message. so how to know that a website is based on ipv6 or v4??? reply me soon plz.... Regards

10-15-2009, 12:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
blackbeagle Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Lakeville Posts: 275 OS: XP Pro Service pk 2	Re: Improving Firefox speed I've done some of these tweaks before and as strange as it may sound, they actually worked. When I run tests on my speeds, I went from about 4.8 MB/S to about 5.1 MB/S. That's on most sites.

10-15-2009, 02:03 AM	#5 (permalink)
~~TJ Belfiore~~ Troubled Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: 530 Posts: 3,520 OS: 7 x64, XP x32 Blog Entries: 1	Re: Improving Firefox speed OK, it worked . . . but, how do you know that your ISP just didn't allow more bandwidth or.. maybe you were downloading something at the time when it was at a lower speed.. Did anyone actually test this stuff?

10-15-2009, 02:49 AM	#6 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,381 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Improving Firefox speed TJ, these tweaks are well known and have been used by Firefox users for a long time. They've also been posted here at TSF before. Addons like Fasterfox use them along with a few other settings. __________________ 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

10-15-2009, 03:02 AM	#7 (permalink)
~~TJ Belfiore~~ Troubled Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: 530 Posts: 3,520 OS: 7 x64, XP x32 Blog Entries: 1	Re: Improving Firefox speed If they're so familiar - - - why has this thread been posted?

10-15-2009, 03:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,381 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Improving Firefox speed Because apparently not everyone is familiar with them. 2005: Speeding up Firefox 2009: [SOLVED] About:config http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/1...tp-pipelining/ http://www.donsalva.com/5-easy-to-do...irefox-faster/ http://tatumweb.com/blog/2007/01/05/...irefox-faster/ http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/...irefoxhack.htm http://www.lifehack.org/articles/tec...icks-ever.html __________________ 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

10-15-2009, 05:27 AM	#9 (permalink)
ss999 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 45 OS: VistaPremium	Re: Improving Firefox speed I'm not sure, but I think that if everybody increases their connections per server limit, the Internet will slow down. Browsers come with a limit for a reason. Anyone who increases it it's just making everything slower.