Make Firefox run up to 4 times faster
Firefox is an excellent and already fast browser but can be made to run up to 4 times faster – I kid you not.
If you are using Internet Explorer … please change to Firefox now. Also if you are using an old version you should upgrade. Download here.
Adjust your configurations
These settings are for those that are browsing a lot, have broadband and are using many tabs. These are my recommended settings, feel of course free to adjust as you see fit for you.
Open a new tab and write about:config in the URL window.
Copy and paste the Preference Names below in the filter field and then double click on the name. Values of false will then change to true and vice versa. If it is a number field you will need to insert the new number.
browser.history_expire_days_min change to 10 (default: 90)
Number of days to keep browser history.
This helps performance by reducing the amount of information that must be kept in memory while the browser is running.
browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers change to 1 (default: -1)
Limits the maximum number of pages stored in memory in such a way that they don’t have to be re-parsed when pressing Back and Forward. If you, like me, are not using the Back and Forward buttons that much but rather tabs then I see no reason for Firefox to keep a lot of memory with this.
network.http.max-connections change to 100 (default: 30)
The total number of HTTP connections the application can make is limited by this preference.
network.http.max-connections-per-server change to 20 (default: 15)
Same as above but per server. Should not be set higher than 20. Read more.
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server change to 8 (default: 6)
This preference takes values between 1 and 255 inclusive, directly corresponding to the maximum number of HTTP keep-alive connections the application can have open at once to a single server.
It is, however, considered poor etiquette to make too many connections to a server and may lead to you being banned from that server. Anything above 10 is excessive.
network.http.pipelining change to true (default: false)
In HTTP 1.1, multiple requests can be sent before any responses are received. This is known as pipelining. Pipelining reduces network load and can reduce page loading times over high-latency connections, but not all servers support it.
network.http.proxy.pipelining change to true (default: false)
If a proxy server is configured, this preference controls whether to attempt to use pipelining with the proxy server.
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests change to 8 (default: 4)
This preference specifies the maximum number of requests to pipeline at once when pipelining is enabled.
Maximum is 8. Read more.
network.http.request.max-start-delay change to 0 (default: 10)
Number of seconds keep-alive connections must wait before they are allowed to exceed the maximum.
network.prefetch-next change to false (default: true)
Link prefetching is when a webpage hints to the browser that certain pages are likely to be visited, so the browser downloads them immediately so they can be displayed immediately when the user requests it. This preference controls whether link prefetching is enabled.
Configurations that has to be created
To create a new configuration just right click on a white space and click new.
config.trim_on_minimize as new boolean with value of true
Allow Windows to swap out memory when the program is minimized.
nglayout.initialpaint.delay create as new integer with value of 100 (default: 250)
The number of milliseconds to wait before first displaying the page.
Lower values will make a page initially display more quickly, but will make the page take longer to finish rendering. Higher values will have the opposite effect.
Some other configuration settings that are useful
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth change to 70 (default 100)
You also often have a lot of tabs open? This setting will decrease the minimum width of the tab so that more fits in before you need to scroll to see more tabs.
Check for problematic extensions
Extensions can leak memory and have a negative effect on the performance of Firefox.
- Uninstall extensions you are not using.
- Check the list of problematic extensions and either uninstall or disable while not in use.
- Extensions should also be disabled while not in use.
Block Flash
If you want you can also block flash as flash is “just evil”. Just install the FlashBlock extension. And if there is any flash that you anyway want to see just click the button and it will start.
Then, restart Firefox and experience how much faster it is.
Jim Westergren is a company owner from Sweden who lives together with his wife and son. Some of his interests are SEO, web development, writing and
Excellent, thank you very much. I also use tabbing per default, and I switch a lot. After entering your tips (only some of them), and restarting FireFox, I instantly noticed an increase in speed.
How did you know that those hacks would make Firefox four times faster? How did you test it?
That’s great to hear Lars
I don’t say “four times faster” but “up to 4 times faster” which is very realistic based on my own observation.
Works excellent!
Thanks for these hacks
Didn’t know about the browser.tabs.tabMinWidth – Thanks! – Just using a few of these tips helped Firefox run faster on my computer. Is there a way to ditch to backward & forward buttons? I never use them any more and they’re taking up valuable space on my browser.
I love tabs!! As if you couldn’t tell..
Sure there is! Simply right-click on Firefox’s toolbar, and choose Customize. In the dialog box, select “Use small icons”.
Great article, shame about the “flash is just evil” comment – oh well, I guess you can’t have it all
Hey mate you did excellent work! It is really helps.. My FF crashes every 1-2 days when I open many pages. Now works fine!
Simply awesome. Thank you for taking the time to collate these tips. My firefox browser has never felt so snappy.
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Thank you for the great information… I did the process now to my firefox and it works will and made it faster too…. Again, thanks for the info…
Amazing, I cant imagine FF can be made more faster
Thanks a lot Jim.
Finally, found what I was looking for
By the way, ant tricks for IE ?
Regards
@DrOTN,
Sorry don’t know any such tricks for IE but try Google.
Thanks for article. I hope you don’t mind if I translated some of it.
btw:
nglayout.initialpaint.delay change to 100 (default: 250) should be
nglayout.initialpaint.delay create as new integer with value of 100 (default: 250)
Hi Mohamed,
Of course you can translate it. A link back here would be nice.
Thanks a lot for the correction.
Nice job Jim,
Thanks for this article and I wanna say why not Firefox done all of this configurations before? why they set all configurations like this.
Hi Matt,
In the new version 3.5 of Firefox I haven’t checked what are the default configurations. One reason I believe why it has to be set is because Firefox can’t know how fast connection you have. Many of the above settings for example is only suitable to those with a high broadband connection.
Thanks Jim, may be!
Thanks! My netbook was surfing the internet slow. Found this site searching, Huge improvement!
Wow, awesome information, very good, my firefox now runs like thunder.. thanks, keep it the excellent job..
Hi Jim, thanks for this post.
thanks for sharing
i will try this
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the tricks, i applied this and its working.
Thanks,
James
Thanks for information…
Its working for me…
Thank you..
Is there anything similar to IE…? Its so dull always….