# Increase Firefox Browser Speed



## Dr Dave (Apr 8, 2002)

We found a way to boost browser performance in Firefox (and Mozilla) to a level you literally won't believe? The update takes two minutes, requires no add-ins or purchases, and blows your hair back when you surf even the most dog-slow Web sites.

. To boost Firefox, simply do the following after launching your browser.

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar (no spaces) and hit Return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:
--network.http.pipelining
--network.http.proxy.pipelining
--network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request at a time to a Web page. When you enable pipelining, the browser will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. (This tells the browser to make 30 requests at once.)

3. 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 acting on received information.

Okay. That's all it takes.


----------



## vanillag1rl (Sep 28, 2004)

K i tried it, will try it at home.
Just replying so this will go in my subscribe threads thanks


----------



## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Thanks Dr Dave 
That last tweak in your list , "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" seems to make a worthwile difference. I've done the other tweaks in the past and think they are equally wothwhile.

Thanks :up:


----------



## mach9 (Jan 26, 2004)

Dr.Dave:
Thanks. Had done the first 3 already. The last one makes a noticeable difference for me. Many thanks.


----------



## t bone (Jul 2, 2004)

thanks Dr. D...good tip :up:


----------



## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

I do notice a difference for this one.


----------



## Kramer55 (Jan 18, 2005)

wow, thanks that is really fast.


----------



## oldie (Sep 28, 2003)

Dr Dave. May I have your kind permission to copy this tweak elsewhere?

Regards - Oldie


----------



## dugq (Jul 16, 2004)

I came across this on another forum, I haven't tested it since I rarely use FF, but I though some of you may be interested

You can use the "chromeEdit" extension to play around with the settings and see which works best for you... After installing ChromeEdit just add the settings in the user.js tab.. 

Quick and Dirty Settings 
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true); 
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true); 
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); 
These were some settings I ran across sometime ago. Pipelining does multiple data requests at once and should speed things up. I believe IE did this before and this was partially attributable to the speed advantage that IE had over older versions of Mozilla/Netscape. Initial Paint Delay actually slows down the rendering of the ENTIRE page but since users tend to start reading before the entire page is rendered, setting this to a low value gives the impression that the page loads faster. 
The following configurations are based off of recommendations off of the Mozillazine thread with some editing on points that I do not agree with 
Common to all configurations 
These are the settings that seem to be common to all configuration files regardless of connection speed or computer speed with a couple of additions - plugin paths can be found with about lugins and the bookmark menu delay is turned off. 

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true); 
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true); 
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8); 
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5); 
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", true); 
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0); 

Fast Computer Fast Connection 
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true); 
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000); 
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000); 
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); 
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8); 
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536); 
A couple settings of note - Firefox is allocated 4096 KB of memory by default and in this configuration we give it roughly 65MB as denoted by the last line. This can be changed according to what is used. 

Fast Computer, Slower Connection 
This configuration is more suited to people without ultra fast connections. We are not talking about dial up connections but slower DSL / Cable connections. 
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000); 
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000); 
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", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); 
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536); 

Fast Computer, Slow Connection 
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true); 
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true); 
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000); 
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191); 
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000); 
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); 
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); 
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536); 

Slow Computer, Fast Connection 
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000); 
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5); 
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000); 
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); 
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000); 
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8); 
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true); 
One of the changes made for this particular configuration is the final line where the status bar is disabled for changing web pages to save processor time. 

Slow Computer, Slow Connection 
We have entered the doldrums of the dial-up user 
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000); 
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000); 
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); 
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000); 
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32); 
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8); 
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4); 
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true); 

Some of the options we chose not to include as opposed to suggestions on the Mozillazine threads included the suggestion of catching SSL pages. Regardless of computer speed, one of the common trends is that pipelining is a good thing. Those with faster computers and gobs of memory may want to up the amount of memory available to Firefox while those with slower computers can still increase the default 4MB to something higher. This was not done in our configuration files however. Powerusers are also welcome to disable the status bar to eek out that extra CPU cycle or two.


----------



## funkdmonkey (Dec 7, 2004)

Wow thanks Dave, my browsing speeds have further increased, IE is going down.


----------



## Ralphn (Jan 19, 2004)

Thanks Dr Dave, notice a big difference he too, super tip. Ralphn


----------



## jparr111 (Dec 17, 2004)

Already had the 1st 3. Thanks for the 4th.


----------



## Sooky 47 (Nov 6, 2001)

Hi there,
quick question: do any of these changes effect sharing cable connection through wireless router? 

thanks,
Lu


----------



## jparr111 (Dec 17, 2004)

I think router only helps with blocking virus's. You can pick up SPY's browsing.


----------



## Kenny94 (Dec 16, 2004)

Dr Dave,

There's no doubt a difference in browser performance. Ran these browsers test at:

http://www.numion.com/Stopwatch/

http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed/index.html

Thanks for the tweak/tip. 
Kenny


----------



## Suprem (Feb 18, 2005)

Nice find, I won't be using IE any more....Bye bye IE.


----------



## vlrbsf (Jan 11, 2002)

Is there something like this for IE?


----------



## Omega_Shadow (Aug 2, 2004)

Holy Crap! And here I thought Firefox was fast before!! Most pages display in a few seconds _or less!!_

Thanx for the tip! :up:


----------



## dmonixed (Feb 12, 2005)

i read about this tweak at in the firefox forums and there is an official page where a firefox team member explains the tweak and includes a link to the instructions, i would try to find and read this page before doing this to your browser, what is says is they have the settings set for a variety of OS and that they are set the way they are for a reason, they do not recomend or advise against doing this, basically it depends on your system and what not, but from what i gather it also slows down that total load time of a page, but if it works for your system its probably a pretty nice tweak to know but it will not help all systems, also i read that some webpages do not support pipelinging and will not work, i will try to find a link to this page and post it so you can read for yourself, myself i am plenty happy with my firefox browser as it is so im not going to play with anything that i dont know how it will effect my internet, just something to think about, its always good to find out what the company has to say about things like this....link to come


----------



## khalil1974 (Feb 17, 2005)

Hope we can also have a tweak setting like this in Internet Explorer????


----------



## Kenny94 (Dec 16, 2004)

khalil1974 said:


> Hope we can also have a tweak setting like this in Internet Explorer????


Here's an newsletter that I subscribe to.

This newsletter is published by:
Cloudeight Internet LLC
P.O. Box 558
Hastings, Michigan 49058

Cloudeight Internet LLC worte:
This is a browser for all of those who like Internet Explorer but wish it had the increasingly popular 'tabbed browsing' feature. SlimBrowser runs on the Internet Explorer core which means Web pages work exactly like they do in Internet Explorer. So, if you're not willing to trade in Internet Explorer for Firefox but would like some of the advanced features which Firefox has (and which will, reportedly, be included in Internet Explorer 7) grab a copy of SlimBrowser right now. See the author's description below or click here to read the entire description.

"...Slim Browser is a tabbed multiple-site browser. It incorporates a large collection of powerful features like built-in popup killer, skinned window frame, form filler, site group, quick-search, auto login, hidden sites, built-in commands and scripting, online translation, script error suppression, blacklist / whitelist filtering, URL Alias. It brings you convenient and comfortable browsing. ...." If you're looking for something new and not ready to toss Internet Explorer, try Slim Browser and see why it's our Freeware Program of The Week at: http://flashpeak.com/sbrowser/

Kenny94 worte:
I've download Slim Browser and it is a pretty neat browser. Internet Explorer 7.0 will be out sometime this summer. Rumor around the campfire is, they are trying to make it faster than Firefox???? Let's face it. Microsoft and Netscape/Mozilla are not the best of friends!!!


----------



## why94 (Jan 4, 2005)

wow i did that and it really does speed it up thanks alot :up:


----------



## Lusi (Feb 22, 2005)

*dingy redhead look* Uhm every time I try to do the drop down from the address bar , when I hit enter I get this message: about is not a registered protocol. What gives?


----------



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

You need to type in something more than just "about". you will want to input "about:config" or you can use "about:blank" to bring up a blank page. typing "about" wont do squat.

Late,


----------



## rez410 (Dec 29, 2004)

Anyone,

I did this tweak and the pages load faster. but now every few minutes a little window comes up while im offline and says something like "your computer is trying to connect to www.[COLOR=DarkRed]some website[/COLOR].com" and has the connect button on it or cancel. It comes up every 5 mins or so. any ideas how to stop this??


----------



## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

In my opinion, its a completely unrelated issue.


----------



## rez410 (Dec 29, 2004)

maybe but it started happening as soon as i got finished doing them few things to FF


----------



## bosshogg151 (Jan 18, 2004)

Go to the " Security " forum and post a Hijack log and ask if they see a trojan/hijacker on your system.


----------



## dmonixed (Feb 12, 2005)

yea, rez410, i agree with bosshogg, and you should create your own thread for that type of issue anyways. this is a tips & tricks forum, posting your own thread is the best idea for that issue anyway because there are plenty of people that run and use this site that are more than willing to help if they spot a problem they think they could help, but you wont get much response from just a few users who view this thread, this site is great for free tech support if used correctly, you could start by searching the forums for something like ff tweak problem or something along those lines because it is very possible someone has had the same problem as well, if you can't find anything then you should post a thread, just some suggestions for you to find what you need when you need it, and searching is also helpful so you do not post something that has been posted over and over so people do not have to continue giving people the same solution over and over, not that you cant go about it the way you have but its not a very productive way to find the answer......
and i would be willing to help if i could but you need to be more specific and give more info, like what is the website that its trying to connect to and if you have dial-up watch out for a dialer you wont be too happy with the phone bills that they could rack up, if you have dialup.... from the info you provided i would disconnect phone cord while offline so a dialer cannont make a connection without you knowing, just to be safe, better that than sorry


----------



## Lusi (Feb 22, 2005)

bigavvystyle: I did type in more than just about...I used about config, but I must have put it in wrong or something because I CCP'd from yours, dropped it in and got the page to come up. 

Thanks.


----------



## norton (Mar 10, 2001)

I have used this tweak for sometime and found it to work great. To add to it I made these changes in the about:config and IMHO pages load even faster. This works best if using a broadband connection.TSG Forums home page generated in 0.192 seconds. Try it and check your results.  
If you want to reset any of the preferences, simply right-click on it and select Reset.

network.http.max-connections: 48

network.http.max-connections-per-server: 24

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy: 12

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server: 6


----------



## MrBojangles (Feb 7, 2005)

Thanks Doc


----------



## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

Thanks Doc :up:


----------



## Techmonkeys (Feb 10, 2005)

For those of ya still using IE then dont fret it is possible for you to speed up your browsing too. DOWNLOAD FIREFOX 

Just Kidding, take a look here at the post by Chris4564:

http://www.techmonkeys.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=304


----------



## Dr Dave (Apr 8, 2002)

Yes, Oldie you have my permission, especially since Google already has this forum page listed.


----------



## Suprem (Feb 18, 2005)

Nice tweak, I use most of them and I am very impressed in the results. I can run norton in the background and firefox running and it wont even glitch.


----------



## golferguy (Jan 27, 2004)

Good day all, Being new to this, I have a question.

In step two Dr Daves says to:

Alter the entries as follows:
Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. (This tells the browser to make 30 requests at once.)

Do I replace, for example, "network.http.pipelining" with the word "true"?  

Hopefully, I can work my way through the other steps. Thanks.

Golferguy


----------



## MightyQueenC (Jul 7, 2004)

golferguy said:


> Good day all, Being new to this, I have a question.
> 
> In step two Dr Daves says to:
> 
> ...


Hi there, golferguy

If you haven't figured it out yet, you scroll down to "network.http.pipelining", then highlight it then double-click it and it will change from false to true. Same with the others; when you double-click the line you want to change ie "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", it will have a number in there...so just change it. :up:

Carolyn


----------



## jfriedlund (Mar 8, 2005)

You can also scroll down, left click once to highlight, then right click, select "toggle" and it will change to "true" plus give you a few additional options


----------



## rameam (Mar 15, 2003)

After looking at this link http://www.techmonkeys.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=304, I'm wondering if the modifications listed that edit the user.js file are the same as the ones Dr Dave listed at the beginning of this thread, and it just requires that many lines to arrive at the same end. Or are these more mods that can be made to increase the speed even more?

I use dialup and cannot believe the difference in speed since I started using Firefox, then modifying it, even though I had installed the slim browser for IE and had increased my speed quite a bit. It doesn't even compare to Firefox.

Firefox is amazing!

Would appreciate anyone's comments about the modifications.


----------



## Kenny94 (Dec 16, 2004)

Trend Micro's free online virus scanner could only be accessed through Internet Explorer http://housecall.trendmicro.com/  Here's a non-ActiveX link where you can run the Trend scan using FireFox or indeed any browser that supports Java at: http://fr.trendmicro-europe.com/consumer/products/housecall_launch.php  ..............


----------



## MustBNuts (Aug 21, 2003)

thanks for the great tip, Doc....it was so good that I quoted it elsewhere (in here)...and only later remembered that I got it from here...  

MBN


----------

