Speed Up Firefox!

On broadband and using Firefox, looking for more speed?
Check this out :- Link

27,502 views 22 replies
Reply #1 Top
Whoa!!

what a speed increase ...blistering!

Thanks for the tip. Appreciate it
Reply #2 Top
I really want to make the switch but did not because of
A: Speed and
2: No Tiggz or Danilo skin aps.

I didn't try it, but I assume this takes care of the speed. One more issue to go.
Reply #3 Top
Interesting... Will try when I get back to England. ...and for the internett to get connected again... we ordered a 2Mbit line...
Reply #4 Top
Yup that Tip got Insto-Memorized, Here. Thank You...Works like a darned, Champ.
Reply #5 Top
Hi guys - I played with this some months ago, mainly as I was suffering quite alot from timing out problems with an earlier build. I reset it again as it wasn't the answer for me at the time and can cause problems of its own on some sites. -

http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips#oth_pipelining

This is the link from Mozilla's Hints & Tips page re pipelining. If I remember correctly Opera has pipelining enabled by default.

There is also an extension called Pref Buttons which amongst other options allows the placing of pipelining into the toolbar so that it can be switched off when you try to access a site that isn't set up to deal. I have tested that it can be installed on Firefox 1.0 but I haven't field tested it for function or investigated the setting changes in the config file yet. If you are interested here's a link:-

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=86

Once installed you simply add the option to the toolbar through the usual toolbar 'customize' route.


Additional: Have since looked at the config change - it simply changes the network http pipelining from false to true - it doesn't alter the max requests from the default setting of 4 or the proxy.pipelining value from false to true.
Reply #6 Top
Oh, my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I set my homepage to WinCustomize, and normally, it takes more then 3 minutes to load the page fully, and after I configured it, I took, like around 30 seconds!!! Thanks!!!
Reply #7 Top
Thanks for the tip, Coffeegrinder. That speeds things up noticably.
You can also speed up your browsing (regardless of connection) using Cablenut, and some other registry tweaks at: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1722550,00.asp
Reply #8 Top
Good Grief!! The difference is amazing. I went to a site that usually takes forever to load, even on broadband, and it popped up just like a blink of an eye kind of thing. Thanks for the tip.
Reply #9 Top
excellent! a big for the tip coffeegrinder
Reply #10 Top
Cool...I like tweaks!
Reply #11 Top
Wow!

Very nice!

Many thanks for this most handy tweak, it works perfectly! =D

Happy New speedy Year!
Reply #12 Top
Great tweaks. Both the Firefox ones and the Cablenut ones. Things are so fast right now. Amazing. Thanks so much.
Reply #13 Top
Nice. This page loaded in under 3 seconds...
Reply #14 Top
I'm not totally sure about the max requests being 30 (I've even seen this set at 100). From what little reading I've done - some state that 8 is as much as is can be usefully tweaked or even worked by Firefox (this tweak is also available for IE by the way which I understand also has a default value of 4) and many say that there is a reason that 4 is the default setting and consider those who max it up to be less than Community minded (not a dig at anyone here - just useful to know if you spread this tip off site )

I am far from technically informed - but it seems that having a site which has a lot of browsers making unncessarily high multiple requests may in fact, ultimately slow it down for everyone and that depending on the way a site is configured may even result in your IP being banned.

It might be interesting to hear from those who manage the servers here as to their thoughts.

Not to put a downer on what is a much quoted and oft valued tip from Coffeegrinder - just to put a little perspective and some additional thought into it - you don't have to raise the max requests to enable the pipelining value to be changed from false to true.

P.S. I could provide some links to forums where this has been discussed - but one of the most informative threads became so heated it would not be allowed on a family site - it's amazing how intense a discussion about this tip can get.
Reply #15 Top
Ref: network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to 30

I think this is the relevent reference/hard coding as to why the value is pointless above 8.

http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/netwerk/protocol/http/src/nsHttp.h#96

Perhaps someone with better grounding in this than I, could check out if this is the relevant info - and if it is still valid.
Reply #17 Top

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1120116#1120116

As this whole max.requests as it applies to pipelining has been niggling me for ages wherever I've seen it and now its finally arrived here at WC - I resolved to follow it through and see if I could put some bones on this.
I finally found what I think is a definitive answer and the correct coding that backs it up thanks to a responder at Mozillazine. Its not some computer geek answer so if you're at all interested take a look.

Remember - its not the pipelining itself - its the pipelining.maxrequests that is often erroneously advised - it should be no higher than 8. Sorry to beat this one to death - it was a recurring itch I needed to scratch.
Reply #18 Top
I enabled pipelining and set the maxrequests to 30 based on the initial link and pages load much faster (on cable here).

HOWEVER - I've noticed a dramatic drop in file download speeds since making the change. Typically was getting 180-350k/sec before depending on the site, now lucky to break 75k/sec. Is this one of those trade-off scenarios or a fluke? The D/L speed change coincided with the config changes.

Win2K SP4

Thanks,
Daiwa
Reply #19 Top
WHen I first read this thread I changed the value to 30, as suggested. After reading more, I have changed it to 8, and I see the same speed I was getting when set to 30. THanks for the follow-up info, CTJ
Reply #21 Top
I also originally changed the maxrequests to 30 based on original link, but after following and reading The Journeyman's links, changed to 8. Still see a dramatic speed increase. Thanks for the tip Coffeegrinder!!!!! Thanks to The Journeyman for getting the details straight, I appreciate it!!!!!
Reply #22 Top
Glad that some people are seeing a speed advantage and thanks to The Journeyman for your input and detailed explanations.