6. Increase the cache size
As you browse the web so Firefox stores site images and scripts in a local memory cache, where they can be speedily retrieved if you revisit the same page. If you have plenty of RAM (2 GB of more), leave Firefox running all the time and regularly return to pages then you can improve performance by increasing this cache size. Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type browser.cache.memory.capacity, click OK, enter 65536 and click OK, then restart your browser to get the new, larger cache.
7. Enable TraceMonkey
TraceMonkey is a new Firefox feature that converts slow Javascript into super-speedy x86 code, and so lets it run some functions anything up to 20 times faster than the current version. It's still buggy so isn't available in the regular Firefox download yet, but if you're willing to risk the odd crash or two then there's an easy way to try it out.
Install the latest nightly build (ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/), launch it, type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Type JIT in the filter box, then double-click javascript.options.jit.chrome and javascript.options.jit.content to change their values to true, and that's it - you're running the fastest Firefox Javascript engine ever.
8. Compress data
If you've a slow internet connection then it may feel like you'll never get Firefox to perform properly, but that's not necessarily true. Install toonel.net (toonel.net) and this clever Java applet will re-route your web traffic through its own server, compressing it at the same time, so there's much less to download. And it can even compress JPEGs by allowing you to reduce their quality. This all helps to cut your data transfer, useful if you're on a limited 1 GB-per-month account, and can at best double your browsing performance.
Read Techradar's 'Turbocharge Windows for free' to boost the speed of your PC in five minutes
Your comments (10) Click to add a new comment
wildsignals
October 14th 2008
10. I put them in exactly as described. While they did speed up FF3 for me, most major sites will prevent more than 2-3 sessions to the same IP anyway. So for me, a site like CNN just hung on loading images, while other sites were fine. But it's like you said, there's a good reason for defaults to be set as they are. A great deal of testing goes into software such as this and that's something that was likely the reason for the defaults. It was very good to learn about the FF configs though. Keep the info coming! Thanks!
Alert a moderator
hokieradar45
October 10th 2008
9. Picked the mods I thought would best serve me and they have not disappointed, Firefox has never run this fast for me, like - grease lighting!
Did have to uninstall Minefield, even thought it worked great, it isn't compatible with RoboForm and several other extensions I depend on. Bummer...
Alert a moderator
trice22
September 29th 2008
8. I can't recommend to follow these instructions.
Might be just me, but ever since I've tried the here suggested modifications I'm getting at least one JS error on EVERY page, produced by a FF own file:
nsSessionStore.js (line 1896):
[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIDOMLocation.host]" nsresult: "0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: file:///Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/components/nsSessionStore.js :: sss_saveState :: line 1896" data: no]
[Break on this error] this._writeFile(this._sessionFile, oState.toSource());
Now I'll have to undo all changes! —Sure was a waste of time.
—trice22
Alert a moderator
mathis
September 28th 2008
7. hey anyone! this is on topic/ can anyone relate? any reason why opening/loading new tabs is suddenly, ongoing, so slow in firefox? It wasn't like this for me before!!!!!!
Alert a moderator
smo
September 26th 2008
6. ...or you can try one of these things found at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9020880&source=rss_news50
Alert a moderator
stewsofdoom
September 24th 2008
5. There are MUCH BETTER tips avaliable than those.
See : http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20125122-Tweaking-for-FunSpeed-Fx-v3-Series
Alert a moderator
Tell us what you think
You need to Log in or register to post comments